Devotion for March 18, 2021 from Pastor Barbara Caine of Holy Redeemer:
Pastor Barbara Foltin, a colleague of mine at Faith Lutheran Church in Castro Valley, wrote a great devotion this week, so I’m sending it along to you all. Enjoy!
“For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from the Lord.” (Psalm 62:5)
This Lent 2021 is a time to cocoon, finding our imaginal discs that transform us, together and individually as Christians, into who God is calling us to be.
What are imaginal discs, you ask?
During metamorphosis, a caterpillar spins a cocoon or chrysalis and transforms in the pupal stage. In the pupal stage, it looks from the outside like the caterpillar is sleeping in the cocoon, but dramatic changes are happening inside. The body of the larva breaks down entirely, as the caterpillar digests itself. What had been the caterpillar’s body turns into goo, except for the imaginal discs, which are activated to form the body parts of a new butterfly or moth. Cells reorganize into the pupa, which molts ultimately in an adult form, with wings to fly.
As a church, as a society and as Christians, this time of dealing with a global pandemic is a time to cocoon, so God will activate our imaginal discs. It’s too soon to say exactly what our “new normal” will be for our church and our lives, but we trust that Jesus is actively transforming us to fly.
This poem by Rilke reflects on the blessings of profound darkness and a time to cocoon:
…But when I lean over the chasm of myself—
it seems
my God is dark
and like a web: a hundred roots
silently drinking.
This is the ferment I grow out of.
More I don’t know, because my branches
rest in deep silence, stirred only by the wind.
(from: Rilke’s Book of Hours ~ Love Poems to God)
Discussion Questions:
1. Where do you see God’s transformation happening in your congregation?
2. What feels like goo right now?
3. Where are the imaginal discs already activated?
Together, we move forward in faith, to spread God’s hope!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Barbara Foltin
Faith Lutheran of Castro Valley