This Lent season, I am embarking on something new. Using the great “theologian” J.R.R. Tolkien’s texts The Lord of the Rings, we will explore the Fellowship’s journey and how our own journey through Lent shows similar themes. There are scripture references as well parts of Tolkien’s texts that I encourage you to read (the Roman numerals are book numbers found in one of his three main works Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, followed by chapter numbers). Each day, you’ll find daily reflections and scriptures here. The road goes ever, ever on!

Ash Wednesday: The Fellowship has been established, and their journey begins. What’s fascinating about this particular group is that they are all the free peoples of Middle Earth- men, elves, dwarves, and hobbits. All these people have their own cultures, way of life, and beliefs for that matter. However, something bigger is pulling them together to work for the good- to save Middle Earth and ensure peace to all. This journey they are about to partake in is more than a mere quest with an end goal- but it’s an opportunity to grow. To understand their limits. To hear from those outside their normal surroundings. Jesus is calling us to do just that. This time we have in lent is our time to be like the Fellowship. (Corinthians 12: 12-27) (Fellowship of the Ring II-3). 

On Ash Wednesday, we have a moment where we remember our humanity, a day marked by repentance and a humble reminder that we are dust- “and to dust we shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The significance is that the ashes are made from the burned palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. This is meant to be a cycle. This is meant to remind us that we embark and live into the possibility of resurrection more than just once in our life, but everyday. The Fellowship set off on their quest thinking the possibilities, the failures, the struggles, the questions, all coming back to the same idea- we have to try, because we only have this one chance. We are lucky to have more than one chance to do good in this life, to strive for a better world. Do we take those chances? Do we step onto the road, and see how we can be at work in the world in, with, and through God, to live into resurrection? It is more than just an idea of something to look forward to, but a way of life!