From the Editor

LENTEN ROSE

We have a Lenten rose near our front door. Every spring its leaves reach up and give us flowers the color of red wine. One day it looks dead, and the next it goes green as buds push themselves out of the death and decay and stretch to the sky. It’s an early flower and by the time the roses and tulips and fritillarias come out it’s just a plant with big green leaves. But the Lenten rose comes early and, though near to the ground, is dramatic.

This flower is said to symbolize serenity, tranquility and peace. Alternately, it can also symbolize scandal or anxiety. I’m not sure how those two meanings happened. It’s a strange combination of meanings oddly appropriate for this particular moment.

Human connections seem to have a similar mix of positive and negative. This finds echoes in this issue of Connections. I’m thinking specifically of Pat Cirrincione’s article on being an influencer, or Charlene Miller’s story of faith and abuse or Wallace Alcorn’s article about his own family and the families of slaves who found liberation from his grandfather.

Life can be messy, but also, the family of God can transcend the human families we cling to and free us as we move toward heaven. As daring as some of these stories are, they don’t hide the hard things. When it comes to family truths, neither does the Bible. There’s no whitewashing the big and little mess-ups. But that’s not the end of any story.

And as I have been working on these stories, Ukraine is never far from my heart and mind— praying for our brothers and sisters there. I’ve also been struck with the family of God, how Scripture points us to new relationships and transcendent realities. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor 12:26) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Eph. 2:19)

While there are tough and hard things in some of the stories we tell and the lives we live, we serve and follow a Savior who is taking us out of this world and into the next, taking us to a place where we are eternal family. We should light the way this Easter so others may find the open welcoming arms of Jesus.

WIL TRIGGS