by Rodney Marsh Note: This is a re-submission of an older post, found here, relevant for Lent in these times
Here is a repost of a blog post from 2018. It was written before the trauma of the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. It seems humanity is intent on destroying God’s world either slowly through climate disasters or quickly through nuclear war. Our common future, it seems, will involve ‘hard testing’ for all of us and these world-changing events will require true faithfulness to Jesus by his followers. Jesus instructed his followers to “pray like this” and he taught them an Abba Prayer in five easily remember Aramaic phrases. I believe he was teaching his disciples to learn and use this prayer daily. This blog examines what Jesus meant by asking us to pray “Lead us not into temptation” or “Do not bring us to the time of trial” or “Do not bring us to hard testing.”
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A crisis seems to be rapidly developing in the Western democracies. At the 2018 Garma Festival, Richard Flanagan said, “The world is being undone before us. History is once more moving, and it is moving to fragmentation on the basis of concocted differences…….. The bonfire of our vanities is fully loaded with the fuel of growing inequality, fear and division.” I hear the ‘ring of truth’ in his prophecy.
In his day, Jesus often spoke of an imminent, destructive, worldwide crisis or trial. So, when Jesus taught his followers to ask our Father, “Lead us not into trial”, he meant, “don’t, please God don’t push us into the time of crisis before you’ve made us ready for it. Don’t push us until you’ve given us what we need to face it.” (Rowan Williams). Our daily prayer, “…do not bring us to the time of trial” is not therefore, motivated by the desire to avoid inevitable suffering nor is it a desperate plea filled with fear, rather it is a request for courage to face what is coming. It is a prayer made in faith that our Father will see us through whatever is ahead.
When we teach our children to pray, “do not bring us to the time of trial” we are joining with them to travel together through dark valleys and well as the light plains. We face, with confidence, the unforeseen, and often uncontrollable, frightening circumstances of our lives because we know we never travel alone. As the storm clouds were gathering around Jesus, his own daily prayer was “do not bring us to the time of trial”. Consequently Jesus became strong to face what was to come and he told his followers, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, You will soon be set free.” Perhaps, when a coming firestorm fuelled with “growing inequality, fear and division” can be seen approaching us, and our nation, it is the time, once again, to teach our children to pray, “do not bring us to the time of trial” in faith and hope, every day.
Prayer: Our Father, it seems there are storms ahead today. Please let the storm pass, but if it does not, stay with us. In the storm, strengthen us. Grant faith to replace fear. Then enable us to stand up, and lift our heads to welcome our freedom. Amen.
Notes:
- The Garma Festival is an annual gathering of the Yolngu clans of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia. They come together for a 4-day celebration of art, music, dance, ceremony and song and to which they graciously invite other Australians. Booker Prize winning Tasmania author, Richard Flannagan spoke at the 2018 Festival. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/05/the-world-is-being-undone-before-us-if-we-do-not-reimagine-australia-we-will-be-undone-too.
- We should note that, in context, the word Jesus uses for “the time of trial” probably does not mean a “temptation”, as translated in the traditional version of the Lord’s Prayer. The translation ‘temptation’ carries the modern implication “to be tempted to do something morally wrong”. The word Jesus used does not carry this moral tone. Rather the word means rather “crisis” or “trial” such as the trial Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. God decided to say “No!” to Jesus’ garden prayer (the only recorded time) to “take away this cup” (‘to be delivered from this hard test’), Instead the Father strengthened Jesus to do what had to be done.
Looking for resources to embrace Lent? We have several wonderful options available in our shop. Or visit our Lent & Easter Resource Page to find them–from liturgies to activities to inspirational posts to free downloads and more
by John van de Laar
This article is an excerpt from the new Lent Liturgical and Spiritual Practice guide from Sacredise entitled Irrepressible—How Lent can lead us to resilience. You can find the entire guide in the store at Sacredise.com: https://sacredise.com/irrepressible/
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Today is Ash Wednesday. It is a significant day in the Liturgical Calendar, but I doubt it is one of the most popular celebrations in our faith. Even the word ‘celebration’ seems strangely incongruous when speaking of Ash Wednesday. Traditionally this day is seen to be about confessing sin, acknowledging our mortality, and repenting or changing our ways to be more faithful, obedient, and righteous. It begins the Lenten season, which extends the confession and repentance into a six-week process. Originally, Lent was a time of preparation for baptismal candidates in which they would learn what it means to follow Christ before making their public commitment at their baptism on Easter Sunday.
This is not a bad thing in itself. There is great value in setting aside extended times to reflect on what it means to embrace the way of Christ and live it out more wholeheartedly in our daily lives. But there is also a danger here—at least in how Lent has been observed in my experience of the Church. A faith that makes us feel bad about ourselves is neither healthy nor likely to lead to the kind of positive transformation we seek. But this can easily be the effect of our observance of this season. It is common to hear phrases from our Scriptures and liturgies that reinforce the message that we are worthless sinners who deserve nothing but condemnation:
The worst of sinners
A worm, not a human
Not worthy to gather up the crumbs
Deny yourself
Think of others as better than yourselves
Dust you are and to dust you will return…
There is value in humility, recognising our flaws and brokenness, and committing to becoming more whole and generous. But ironically, the worse we feel about ourselves the less capable we are of doing this important work. We spiral into a deeper brokenness where we feel worthless, incapacitated, and paralysed by our self-loathing and/or self-doubt.
I was raised on Christian teachings about humility, confession, sin, repentance, denying myself and putting others first. It is in my DNA to think of myself as broken, unworthy, and in need of improvement. And I have gained much that I am grateful for in these teachings. But they also did me great harm. In denying myself, I lost my sense of self and allowed myself to become little more than a function of the needs of those around me. In always putting others first, I became empty and lost my capacity for enjoyment and vibrant living. In constantly focussing on what was wrong, inadequate, not-enough, or worthless about myself, I became incapable of seeing my giftedness, my value, my contribution, and my goodness. I allowed myself to be dismissed, humiliated, mistreated, and even abused because I felt that it was wrong to stand up for myself and I always worked hard to see things from the other person’s perspective.
For most of my life, my faith had a very unhealthy impact on my sense of self. It took a long time, but eventually I realised that all this focus on how bad I was did not make me better. I was not more capable of serving others and I was not empowered to contribute more or to make more of a positive impact on my world. Rather, I found myself paralysed, withdrawn, and afraid to step out and show up, because I did not believe I had anything of value to give. I doubted my ideas and visions for doing ministry and I submitted myself to the agendas of my leaders, even when they were self-serving or hurtful to others. A faith that makes us feel less, bad, and unworthy is neither biblical nor spiritual.
But this is not all that Scripture tells us about ourselves. Jesus calls us friends. He claims that bringing abundant life is central to his mission. We are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ and God’s good and loving thoughts about us ‘cannot be numbered.’ To love God and our neighbour we must also love ourselves. And we are not just dust. The molecules and atoms within us were born in the cosmos. It is a scientific fact that we are stardust!
For Ash Wednesday—and Lent—to be only about how bad we are, to see repentance only as admitting our sin and committing to be better, is neither healthy nor helpful. And it will not bring about the wholeness, goodness, and willingness to serve and give to others that we seek. It is when we have a vision of our best selves and we feel that we are good and whole—and constantly moving toward greater goodness and wholeness—that we are most able to live full and connected lives.
It is only those who are insecure and who feel inadequate and unworthy that crave the approval of others. These are the play-actors (hypocrites) to whom Jesus refers in his Sermon on the Mount. It is those who know that they are irrepressible (star)dust that don’t need applause. These are the ones who can do their own work of growth and their generous work of serving others in quiet, unassuming ways regardless of the recognition or applause of others. And this is where abundant life is found.
Looking for resources to embrace Lent? We have several wonderful options available in our shop. Or visit our Lent & Easter Resource Page to find them–from liturgies to activities to inspirational posts to free downloads and more – including the above resource!
by Carol Dixon, featured photo by Mike Erskine, Unsplash of St David’s Cathedral, Wales
I have always wanted to visit the smallest city in the UK – St David’s in Wales, with a population of just 1,600 people. It has a beautiful cathedral and is named after the patron Saint of Wales whose saint’s day is celebrated on 1 March. Recently I was delighted to discover that David had a distant connection to Northumberland, the most northerly county of England where I live. Seemingly his grandfather was the great King Cunedda of the Votadini (also known as the Goddodin) who populated the east coast north of Hadrian’s Wall as far as the River Forth in Roman times. Cunedda and his warrior band moved from their tribal homelands to North Wales in the early 5th century. This migration is believed to have been motivated by battles in the North and/or the invitation by the Welsh to help them to repel Irish raiders. Whatever the reason, it was part of the violent times after the Romans left Britain around 407 AD.
St David as a boy with his mother, St Non – St Bridget’s Church, Llansantffraed, Ceredigion
David’s birth was shrouded in mystery as his mother, St Non was a nun who was raped and abandoned by one of Cunedda’s sons. David was reputed to have been born in a storm, and some believe it was a miracle that he survived – but despite his difficult start in life it seems that David was as people said ‘under the eye of God.’ He was a clever boy and, after being cared for by his mother in his early childhood, when he was older he was sent to a monastery for his education. He learned easily, and as a young man he studied under St Paulinus of Wales who was cured of his blindness by David. After becoming a priest David traveled all over the country as a missionary later settling with a band of brothers at what is now St David’s where they lived and worked as a community. He and his fellow monks were vegetarians living on a basic diet, drinking water from a nearby spring and cultivating healing plants.
St David’s emblem (©Jo Woolf www.thehazeltree.co.uk)
David was known as a great preacher and words from his last sermon were preserved and have encouraged Christians down the ages: Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things for God.
As a member of the Companions of Brother Lawrence, whose aim is trying to practice the presence of God in daily life, this reminded me of Brother Lawrence’s thoughts on keeping close to God: ‘We ought to act very simply with God, speaking familiarly with him and asking for God’s help in situations as they arise. God would not fail to give it.’
Sometimes if I feel that the problems that face our world today are overwhelming me, it’s good to remember that David too lived in very turbulent times and take to heart these simple words: Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things for God.
When we feel that the small things we do can make little difference – a smile and a thank you to a weary shop assistant or busy bus driver, making a cup of tea for a harassed mum, sending a card to someone who is lonely or under the weather – or that our faith is too weak, we need to recall Jesus story of the mustard seed, how the kingdom of heaven starts from small beginnings: ‘The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds but when it has grown it becomes larger than all the plants in the garden, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.‘ (Matt 13:32 ESV)
A Mustard seed prayer (for the down at heart):
Maybe you would like to take time to rejoice in your faith and think about what little things you might do for God today.
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Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and many of us will go to church to be anointed with ashes. This year it seems this practice has added significance as we already feel we have ashes not just on our foreheads, but in our mouths. To the lament of COVID, economic injustice, and climate change, we have added the ashes of war in Ukraine. It is a difficult time and we all feel a heavy weight as we head into Lent.
Ash Wednesday ashes were traditionally made by burning the Palm Sunday palms from the year before, and I loved to collect a few palms, allow them to dry out over the year and then burn them for my own personal Ash Wednesday observance. However, last year you may remember, I didn’t have any palms so I burned one of my out-of-date masks instead. It wasn’t done as a protest against mask mandates or because I didn’t intend to wear masks again, even though at that point we thought that mask-wearing would soon be over. It was done in gratitude for the protection that these masks gave me from the virus.
This year as we enter the third year of mask-wearing I am burning one of my masks again. I am so grateful for the protection these masks give me, and though their impact palls into insignificance compared to that of the importance of the crosses of Palm Sunday, they are a symbol that all of us are familiar with these days. They are a symbol we can all identify with, and they are a sign of God’s protection around us and of the hope God gives us in the midst of all kinds of tragedies.
This year, I am not just burning my mask. I am using it as a token of transformation, a way to remind myself and those around me that the journey of Lent is preparing us for the beauty of Easter Sunday. And entering that beauty of the resurrection is only possible because of God’s surrounding mask-like presence.
So how will I accomplish this? This year, by creating artwork from the ashes. I found this simple recipe for paint made from ashes which you might like to experiment with, and planned to use it as my painting medium, but ended up using it more as a medium for calligraphy where I wrote the word beauty, outlined it with glue and then sprinkled the ashes on it to create the image below. At the retreat on Saturday I added the outlines to each of the letters and reflected on the ways that beauty continues to change. Now let me assure you I am not an artist, but as John O’Donohue reminds us in his book Beauty “If our style of looking becomes beautiful, then beauty will become visible and shine forth for us. We will be surprised to discover beauty in unexpected places where the ungraceful eye would never linger.” (P19) So what I hope my journey through Lent will teach me is to look at my artwork with a graceful eye that sees beauty not just in my lettering, but hidden secretly in everything I see around me and maybe I will continue to add more beauty to the lettering I created.
Beauty from Ashes
At the Finding Beauty in the Ashes of Lent retreat on Saturday Lilly Lewin introduced us to another practice that is a great one for Lent. Get some different coloured sheets of paper, then spend time reflecting on the things you are grieving. Write each one on a different coloured piece of paper. Read Isaiah 61, preferably in The Message translation which tells us that God promises “to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, and give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes” Now draw a simple sketch of a garment, cut your paper into strips and paste them on, making a multi-colored coat which you can use as a focus for your prayers throughout Lent – making something beautiful from the ashes of Lent.
A garment of praise from our laments and grief
If you are more artistic or like collage, you might like to paint over your garment and end up with a collage, like this instead. The image becomes your reminder of God’s ability to transform ashes into beauty.
Collage E Nordfors
You might also like to go out and buy yourself a rose or two, or even a whole bouquet as Lilly suggested in her Freerange Friday a couple of weeks ago! Let these roses be a reminder throughout Lent of the great love and hope of Jesus! Let them be a reminder that Jesus can turn even ashes into things of beauty for each of us!
Last but not least inspired by John O’Donohue’s interview on Krista Tippet’s podcast On Being, I wrote the poem below. There are so many different ways for us to express our imaginations and create graphic symbols that speak to us in both words and pictures. These symbols help us anchor our souls in the challenging journeys we are embarking on so I hope that you will take time to create your own Ashes into Beauty images in the medium you feel most comfortable with and let us journey together through Lent to a new way of looking so that we see the beauty shining forth.
Rise From the Ashes
It is strange to be here,
In the presence of the God of life,
The Holy One
Within, without, wondrously all around.
It is strange to be here,
Helping to shape the world
With our God given imaginations,
Holding onto beauty
In all things and at every moment.
Mystery, delight, wonder,
Rise from the ashes.
They never leave us,
When we always keep
Something beautiful in our minds.
(c) Christine Sine
Inspired by John O’Donohue and Blasé Pascal
Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin on Wednesday, March 23rd 2022 at 9 am PT (check my timezone) for our next FB Live happening on our Godspace Light Community Facebook Group! Can’t make it? No worries–we upload the sessions on our youtube channel so you can still enjoy the lively discussions and interesting topics. And catch us live for the next session–happening here!
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“Down In the River to Pray”
Traditional American spiritual, public domain
Arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Within our Darkest Night (Dans Nos Obscurites)”
By J. Berthier — copyright 1991, all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“The Lord Is My Light”
Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“Što Oko Ne Vidje (What No Eye has Seen)”
By the Taizé community, copyright 2010, all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org
I gather myself together
in circles of returning to you,
thinking carefully over the day,
winding around pathways of memory.
I seat myself in the evening light,
shadows flickering between
each stroke of my pen
and my growing awareness of you.
If I look at what has happened
and take a moment to wonder
about both the good and the bad,
I will find wisdom buried here.
In fact, I may pause, lay aside
all things for a time,
let everything drop, for a walk
in the darkening garden.
I listen for the last call of sunset birds
preparing for the nest,
a final snatch of insects hovering,
and the rumble of people homeward bound.
I am surrounded by you, three-natured God,
I offer my sounds, under trees –
prayers among the settling down of the earth,
beneath a welcome of stars.
I savour what you do in my moments
of feeling, living and breathing;
I offer my heart as the final song of this day,
a slow-turning surrender.
Painting from Raw Pixel by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
Editor’s Note: You can find Jenneth Graser’s Prayer for the Morning here!
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by Tom Sine
“No Justification for a Brazen Invasion” declares the New York Times!
Explosions were reported in cities across Ukraine early Thursday morning after President Vladimir Putin of Russia vowed in a speech to “demilitarize” the neighboring nation…The magnitude of the Russian Gambit is staggering…an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign European state is an active declaration of war on a scale on a continent and in a century when it was thought to be no longer possible.” No Justification for Brazen Invasion” Editorial, the New York Times, February 24, 2022.
The government in Ukraine is arming civilians. Thousands of older citizens and moms with children are fleeing Ukraine. Many are praying. They need our prayers as well.
As Putin has launched this violent Russian invasion of Ukraine it is essential we recognize both the unwarranted nature of this attack and the consequences of this invasion on the lives of those who live there. It is also essential we recognize this is only the beginning of Putin’s plans to invade and take over other independent nations in Europe.
Any additional invasion into Europe by Putin will bring a military response from not only NATO but the United States as well. In other words, this ongoing aggression in Europe could tragically ignite another World War which would do much more devastating harm than simply raise our gas prices.
President Biden and leaders in Europe are immediately increasing the pain on not only Putin and the Russian economy but for Russian business executives. Those dramatic actions will also have a painful impact on the regular citizens, on ordinary Russians.
Let me take you on a quick trip back to another leader in Europe that embarked on invasions of other European counties that those of us who are over 80 can remember.
Join me for just a few moments as I invite you to travel back with me to the 1940s. That other leader in Europe was named Adolph Hitler, who was also determined to invade and capture other countries in Europe to expand his power and influence. As you know his aggression also spread into Asia.
Just before Christmas in 1941, I was 5 years old living in Twin Falls Idaho with my parents. On one bright morning on December 7, my mother Katherine pulled me up on her bed. She asked me to listen to the small radio near her bed.
I listened to a very dramatic voice declaring “This day will live in Infamy!” I was, of course, listening to President Franklin Roosevelt’s announcement. “This day of infamy!” what Roosevelt was announcing was the attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. This announcement led America to become involved in the dreadful wars in both Europe and Asia.
After Christmas 1941 my dad took a job in San Francisco building ships to transport troops for this war. Moving to San Francisco was very interesting for me as a 6-year-old. However, because of World War II, our family had to get used to serious rationing of food and other consumer goods….which became the new normal.
Frankly what was much worse than rationed consumer goods was the regular air raid drills day and night. They were very unsettling for us kids…because we never knew if it was the real deal or not. After that first year of that war, we started hearing from people in our neighborhood who had sons and husbands primarily in Europe.
The reason I am sharing this personal narrative is to convey to readers a new troubling possibility. We are on the threshold of a new global military crisis that is a much bigger deal than increasing gas prices. For people in Ukraine, they are losing loved ones to this invasion every single day that Putin continues to seek to capture Ukraine and kill any who stand in his way. Huge numbers of citizens are also becoming refugees fleeing to other countries. Do remember Ukraine is only one of a number of countries in Europe that Putin has stated he intends to capture and dominate.
I encourage readers to continue to support the increasingly stronger action that President Biden is now taking in collaboration with the European Union with the strong support of both democrats and republicans in the US. We all need to ensure that this aggression in Ukraine does not expand into another larger European war.
I urge people of faith to focus on the challenges facing our neighbors in Ukraine rather than focusing on a few inconveniences we are suffering as consumers in the US. We need to not only pray for our neighbors in Ukraine we need to generously respond to the rapidly growing needs of the people in Ukraine.
I urge you to not only pray for the people but to also make contributions to organizations reaching out to those in Ukraine that are in need and those who have become refugees escaping the Russian invasion. Join those supporting Christian organizations like World Vision that are reaching out to the vulnerable people in Ukraine.
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