The Long Way Around

In a climactic episode of Dr. Who, the Doctor travels, quite literally and metaphorically to the end of the universe in a quest to find and revive his sweet friend, Clara whom he has lost to curse of death. When he arrives at the dying place where all things are dying, he meets a little boy and he tells him to go to the city, find someone important, and tell them he has arrived and that he has come the long way.

The great "time-lord," time traveler, "fixer," doctor, and, sometimes, Christ-figure, who can leap through time is his own unique way, could only save Clara one way --- he had to travel through the eons the long way and the hard way.

That was the most powerful and spiritual Dr. Who I have ever seen and it will stay with me for a long time.

Lent is about God doing things the hard way and taking the long way to redeem.

It trickles down to us to invite us to eliminate the shortcuts in our lives and we seek to be redemptive and reconciling forces in the world.

Some journeys cannot be taken the short way.