Lent: A Post-Harvest Time of Descent

“Christ and the soul must die. Christ and the soul must rise. That pattern must happen many times before we understand it.” - Richard Rohr

Lent is a time where we re-orient ourselves around the death and resurrection of Christ. A time of transition where we descend from the life of Christ into the death of Christ. We begin this journey with Ash Wednesday as we remember the dust from which we were made and the ground to which we are returning. And we end the journey as we pass through the death of Christ, sit with him in the tomb, and wait for resurrection.

We see this transition all over the created order, but one of the greatest parallels is in the transition from the fall harvest to winter dormancy. 

When I met with a vinedresser friend of mine in a vineyard in Traverse City, he told me what happens to vines when they make this transition from life to death. The season of harvest and outward production is over; the fruit has been taken to the wineries and the vine shifts its focus away from ripening grapes to a new focus: the roots.

Before the leaves start to change color, they soak up the remaining energy they can grab from the sun and push the energy into the roots in order to prepare for bud break next year. 

Like lent, it is a season of descent. 
The fruit descends off the vine.
The energy descends into the roots.
The focus descends into the soil; 
into what is unseen and hidden.

During this descent, the color withdraws from the leaves and all its externals are stripped away. No more fruit. No more green. To the outside world, it begins to look barren, even dead. 

This is the journey to the Cross. The great descent into the grave. We know this pattern don’t we? We pass through this phase many times throughout our life. Consider these transitions and how they too, reflect this transition:

The end of a work project
The loss of a loved one
The fallout from a failure
A divorce or break up 
The ending of a season of ministry
The transition into parenthood
The transition between jobs or leadership
The beginning of a sabbatical

In all of these patterns, something that was once alive is dying or ending. All the externals are stripped away and we too, feel barren and lifeless. Some seasons through this transition impact us more significantly than others, but when we allow ourselves to surrender to Christ under the shadow of the cross, these deaths are where He does His most transformative work.

Notice the Inward Turning

While in harvest months, we may rightly be preoccupied with the activity and celebration of harvesting, as the leaves turn to beautiful shades of gold and orange, our energy must channel inward. We deepen our roots into the soil and channel our attention toward unseen growth. I love how William Bridges describes this in his book, Transitions: making Sense of Life’s Changes:

“It’s not the events outside us that make the transition; it’s the inner-reorientation and meaning-redefinition we make to incorporate the changes.”

In other words - it’s not the external changes of the fruit being stripped away or the change in color that make the change significant. It’s what happens on the inside of the vine, and within us that causes the greatest amount of change.

When the fruit is gone, we have a chance to focus our energy and attention on our foundation, the true source of our growth and our identity. Transitions from life to death are an inner-reorientation opportunity. 

A chance to remember who we are and who God is. A time to wrestle with the meaning and eternal weight of what God is doing during these times. 

This hidden growth under the soil is what propels us into fruitfulness for the next season.

It’s the deepening of our souls when we go through a loss. 
It’s the turning towards Christ when we fail or sin.
It’s the surrendering of our attachments to what we produce.
It’s the forming of our attachment to the true vine.
It’s the anchoring of our belonging in Christ after we have been rejected.

I love how Terry Walling describes the inner work that happens in us in these seasons of transition:

“Individuals consolidate past learning, process issues of character, deepen convictions and values, and are prepared for the next phase of their development.”  - Terry Walling: Stuck! Navigating Life and Leadership Transitions

In lent, we descend with Christ into the depths of darkness, death, and human suffering and He leads us to the cross. He meets us here in this time of solitude, silence, and the hiddenness of the tomb and transfigures our pain into something beautiful in the resurrection.

In this inward turning, we must have the courage to let Christ shine a light on the condition of our hearts and the broken condition of our world. Here, we become keenly aware again of our need for a savior.

At this time, the Father says to us, “Return to me. Repent.” We return, in repentance, to the soil from which we were created as we remember our frail human condition. We re-anchor ourselves in the love and forgiveness of Christ as we see more clearly our own  And here, we follow Jesus as he descends all the way to the grave.

Jesus knew that the way up is down. He lived this pattern. The way to resurrection fruit is through post-harvest descent into dormancy. And like vines, this season is essential in order to bear the kind of fruit that is eternal.

Why We Need Season of Descent

In our industrial culture, we have forgotten this art of dormancy. We have forgotten the necessity of slowing down to channel growth inward and downward to conserve energy for the next harvest season. We tend to live as though it is always harvest time. We fix our attention on fruit bearing and live like everything always moves up and to the right. We are always producing. We must continue to bear fruit. 

But this is not the way vines were designed. They can’t always be in harvest season. The time of descent into dormancy for plants is critical for life to flourish. They need times of withdrawal, rest, and restoration in order to prepare for the next growing season. Vines are not machines that produce fruit in all seasons, and neither are we.

While our culture perceives withdrawal, descent, and slowing down for seasons of dormancy as a sign of failure, the created world teaches us that this way is natural. Life does not progress on a linear graph, but through a circle where we repeat the pattern of life, death, and resurrection many times over. And each time through, we hopefully grow more into Christ-likeness. We bear better, more quality fruit.

Reflect:

• Are you in a season of loss, transition, or descent in some other way?

• How might God be at work in this season where you cannot see?

• In what ways might God be preparing you through this season of inner growth for the next harvest season?

A Prayer:

Lord, As I descend with you into the grave of loss,
humility, and suffering during lent,
help me to open myself to Your work there.
Help me to not see this season as a waste,
but a time you are being incredibly intentional to form me into Your image.
Thank you for going there first so I know the way. 
Amen