I went with a couple friends to see “A Wrinkle in Time,” directed by Ava DuVernay. My heart jumped when Mrs. Who, played by Mindy Kaling, quoted Rumi, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” Just days before, my spiritual director had shared Rumi’s quote as a way to help me reflect on a deep hurt that has made it hard to pray. In thinking that my work as a “good Christian pastor” was to forgive, I had not brought the wound to Jesus. Instead, I obsessed over the bitterness and resentment arising from it… and felt frustrated every time those feelings surged within me.
My spiritual director encouraged me to go deeper – to the wound itself – and to meet Jesus there. After all, Jesus also suffered deep, deep wounds. The resurrected Lord still carries his bodily wounds – the holes in his hands, his feet, his sides – the place where “sorrow and love flow mingled down” (thank you, Isaac Watts!). Rather than resent the wound, she encouraged me to think of my wound as a place of encounter with the divine: “the place where the Light enters you.”
“A Wrinkle in Time” takes this further: Meg Murray’s wound is where love shines forth. It is her love for her father, her mother, her brother that ultimately defeats the darkness. Her fault of being terribly stubborn saves the day — because stubborn love can heal, unlike stubborn hate or stubborn apathy.
It strikes me that “A Wrinkle in Time” is a Lenten story. Christians give themselves intentional space during Lent to reflect not only on our sin sickness, but also on the hurt we suffer because of the sin sickness of others. Lent is a time to be honest about our fragility, our imperfections and our wounds. Lent reminds us that God’s light conquered sin’s darkness when Jesus was crucified and then rose again. In Jesus’ wounds, we find healing. In our own wounds, we experience the love of God. May our wounds be the places where God’s light can enter in and heal.
RACHEL YOUNG is the associate pastor of spiritual formation at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church, in Houston, Texas. She is married to Josh, who also serves on staff at Clear Lake Presbyterian as the director of contemporary worship and media.