“There is tension within me during Lent. On one side I feel the somberness of the season and call to repentance and sober reflection. On the other side I want to dance and sing because everything is bursting into life. Surely this is part of the foolishness of Lent and of the God who is revealed during this season.” Writing my Meditation Monday: Foolish Things For God, was not easy because of this tension. Yet living in tension between what is and what is longed for is what Lent is all about. We long for a world in which pain and suffering and death are overcome, yet we live in the reality of a world filled with injustice, violence and disease. Lent is a time not just to acknowledge the tensions, but to fill our fuel tanks so that we are better equipped to commit our lives to making a difference as we seek to bring glimpses of God’s shalom world into being.
I love what Cole Arthur Riley says in Black Liturgies, which I am currently reading. She suggests that purpose is not a straight line but a landscape. Our purpose is not just vocation but every decision we make is related to our purpose and should, mirror the divine and guide us closer to God and God’s purposes. She comments: “how we spend our days is a matter of choice, place, privilege and how willing we are to proceed down the corridor… if you are called to anything it will sound like freedom.” Lent is about freedom to live as God intends us to, and that will always mean we live in tension.
Some of the tension I feel is probably reflected in my post last week Contemplative Garden Books Updated. For me this is a wonderful time of year not only to plan the garden, but also to reflect on the presence of God in the garden. As you know one of the delights of my life is the revelation of God in nature and I heartily recommend contemplative practices that embrace creation to you.
Lilly Lewin’s Freerange Friday: Gifts in the Wilderness had me thinking about what I see as gifts in this Lenten season. Like her I see many gifts in this season and am drawn to the beauty of sunsets and the finding of heart shaped rocks. What are the gifts you are finding in the wilderness?
I appreciate Diane Woodrow drawing on my own reflections from last week and interpreting them for her own situation in her post Letting Go As she says: “perhaps we all need some time over this Lenten season to stop, to think about whether the things, whether many or few, are what God really wants us to be doing. And then be brave enough to have gaps in our lives where there is nothing to do!”
Rodney Marsh, writing from Western Australia took us in another direction, reflecting on what he is learning from bandicoots in his garden. We used to have bandicoots in our yard too, but I must confess I did not see them as a learning experience at that time. I love what he learned from Eric the bandicoot though: “Be still. You are in a safe place. Attend to your prayer word and be, like me. Look and live and you will make some wonderful friends – like me. But forget to attend, wander off and move, and I will be gone. Be still.”
Tomorrow we will post the second episode of Liturgical Rebels. An interview with poet Drew Jackson, whose book God Speaks Through Wombs I used for Advent last year. His poetry is part protest, part Biblical commentary and provides a fresh perspective as he weaves the Biblical narrative with contemporary issues of justice, lament and hope. I loved interviewing Drew and hope you enjoy this episode as much as I do.
Thank you for bearing with us as we work through the transitions at Godspace. I am excited about the future. Episode 3 of the Liturgical Rebels will be an interview with Scott Erickson. This week I have another interview lined up, with Kreg Yingst, an artist and illustrator with a focus on block printing, whose inspiring prayers and block prints you might be familiar with from his instagram account. www.instagram.com/psalmprayers Next week Lilly Lewin and I will chat to one of my favourite liturgical rebels, Mark Pierson from New Zealand. Mark is a Baptist minister, and worship curator who introduced both Lilly and I to the possibilities of out of the box approaches to spiritual practices and worship.
I appreciate your prayers and your patience as we work through these transitions.
Let me end with another prayer I wrote this week.
Have you ever watched
A seed burst into life
From a loamy grave,
And gasped in awe
At the miracle of resurrection?
Hope and promise in a garden.
The story of God
Written throughout the earth.
Signposts of love and light and beauty.
Many blessings on your journey through Lent
Christine Sine
The Liturgical rebels is now Live. Don’t forget to view the first episode before the second is released on Wednesday.
NOTE: as an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through links above.
by Christine Sine
Over the last few days spring has burst forth in Seattle. The daffodils are smiling. Crocuses fill the lawn and flowering trees are bursting into bloom all around the neighbourhood. There is tension within me during this season of Lent. On one side I feel the somberness of the season and call to repentance and sober reflection. On the other side I want to dance and sing because everything is bursting into life. Surely this is part of the foolishness of Lent and of the God who is revealed during this season.
I must confess I have found it very hard to settle into my Lenten practices this year, partly because of this bursting forth of spring which I so long for as the days start to lengthen, and partly because of the launch of my new podcast, The Liturgical Rebels. I am delighted at the response to the first episode and really appreciate your comments and affirmation. The second episode, an interview with black poet Drew Jackson will be launched on Wednesday. Drew and I talk about poetry as spiritual practice and how it can help us express the laments and joys of life while enabling us to sit longer in the questions life raises not looking for answers but sitting in the mystery of all things. We also discuss his amazing sensitivity to to women in the gospels and how poetry enables us to access our anger and see it as an invitation to uncover the mystery of life and let go of a need for answers and control. He is a wonderful person to interview.
In some ways it seems foolish to launch a podcast like this at the beginning of Lent, but in other ways it seems very appropriate as part of what I encourage us to do is to break outside the realms of convention and do foolish things like experimenting with new approaches to spiritual practices.
One consistent practices I am engaged in for Lent is reading Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies. It is every bit as impacting as her first book This Here Flesh which makes it a slow read as I fond myself stopping, savouring the words, reflecting and writing poetry in response. Yesterday it was this prayer that held my attention, a prayer that speaks of the tensions I too feel in this season of Lent.
God of every beautiful thing. Make us people of wonder. Show us how to hold on to nuance and vision when our souls become addicted to pain, to the unlovely. It is far easier to see the gloom and decay; so often it sings a louder song. Attune our hearts to the good still stirring in our midst, not that we would give ourselves to toxic positivity or neglect the pain of the world, but that we would be people capable of existing in the tension. Grant us habits of sacred pause. Let us marvel not just at the grand or majestic, but beauty’s name etched into every ordinary moment. Let the mundane swell with a mystery that makes us breathe deeper still. And by this, may we be sustained and kept from despair. Amen. (Black Liturgies 35)
Because of the tension I feel in Lent this year I am including two of the contrasting outputs of the last week for me. The first is a Lenten reflection on the Foolishness of God. The second is some poetry I wrote over the last few weeks as I immersed myself in the wonder of spring and of God’s bursting forth into our world in new ways. Both, I feel, speak of the wonder and the foolishness of God and the way God’s holy presence is manifested in our world. enjoy
There is Wonder in the World
There is wonder in the world,
We cannot comprehend,
Miracles of light and beauty,
Mystery of things that grow
In the depths of night.
No science can explain the splendor,
Or help us understand
When sunset colours
Take our breath away,
And bring us to tears.
Why do strangers show compassion,
For people half a world away,
And care when violence
Rips society apart?
Why do we ache
When forests are destroyed
And species made extinct,
As though the spark of God
Is snuffed out?
This world is alive with God.
Divine love shimmers through creation.
All is infused with holy presence
Filled with love and life and beauty.
God of Every Beautiful Thing
God of every beautiful thing,
Give us eyes to see the wonder,
Of your world,
Let it disrupt our days with sacred pauses,
So that we marvel,
Not just at majestic mountains
And sweeping vistas,
But at the sparks of mystery
Carved in every ordinary thing
That fills this earth.
Let our hearts swell with delight,
At every wrinkled face
That graces our days
With the image of God,
And glory in the divine light
Enlivening every humdrum moment,
With the joy
Of holy presence.
3
The Liturgical rebels is now Live. Don’t forget to view the first episode before the second is released on Wednesday.
NOTE: as an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through links above.
By Lilly Lewin
We are moving ahead in the Lenten Season. This Sunday will mark WEEK 2. I am not a rule follower when it comes to Lent. I believe we get to start where we are and begin our Lenten Journey when we can. So if you haven’t figured out what you want to do for Lent or focus on during Lent…DO NOT PANIC OR BEAT YOURSELF UP! Once upon a time Lent was only a week, not 40 days. So wherever you are today give yourself permission and grace to just BE YOU and know that you are deeply loved by the CREATOR of the Universe! I feel like we all need this reminder! I know that I do because my social media feeds are full of people being more busy and more productive than I am, and the news is filled with the crap of racism that is happening in my home town and the violence of war and genocide and political disagreements. There is a lot of heaviness in our world. WE NEED TO BE STILL and KNOW that God is in control!
I have spent the last few days up in Michigan on the lake. I needed some cold weather, and a water view to fill up my cup so I can keep pouring it out. I needed the beauty of bare trees and walking in the woods. I needed the rocky beach and the sand and waves. I really need to feel the cold wind on my face and see the largeness of Lake Michigan. Many people go to warm weather beaches in the winter, but being from the South, I JUST NEED MORE WINTER! It grounds me and allows me to want to look for the newness of spring! It is a real gift to retreat here. God has given my husband and I a chance to talk, reconnect and look towards the year ahead. I have thought about all the gifts of last year and watched for the gifts Jesus is giving me each day! On Pilgrimage, I call these God Surprises!
Here are some of the Gifts and God Surprises I have received:
God has gifted us with a beautiful sunset almost every night! Sunsets remind me of God’s love and creativity. I used to say when I was little that I wanted the job of painting sunsets when I got to heaven! My former boss, Father Roger Foote said a spiritual director told him to receive each sunset from Jesus as if it was JUST FOR YOU! So that’s what I’ve been doing. Receiving the sunsets as special gifts of love from Jesus each evening.
Another gift has been watching for hearts. I found them in wood stumps, and leaves and there are so many rocks on our Lake Michigan beach, I started noticing all the heart shaped ones and receiving these as signs of God’s love for me. And I’m working on an idea for an art piece with my new rock collection of heart rocks and drift wood.
WHAT GIFTS OF LOVE are you noticing this Lenten Season so far? How can you take time to notice and watch for these? What things, like sunsets, remind you of God’s love for you?
The Season of Lent begins with the invitation to reflect on the Wilderness experience of Jesus following his baptism. This week in our thinplace gathering we used an Isaiah passage to reflect on the Wilderness.
Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah, who bore you, for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from me and my justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.
7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others, and do not be dismayed when they revile you. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my deliverance will be forever and my salvation to all generations.9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago! Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with rejoicing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ISAIAH 51:1-11
What do you notice as you read this passage? What does the Holy Spirit highlight for you? What questions come up? What is God’s invitation to you?
What is the invitation?
We see the Wilderness again in this Isaiah passage.
For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
How is your life going right now? In what ways are you experiencing the WILDERNESS?
How does this Isaiah passage give you hope in your wilderness?
What Is bringing you JOY in your life right now? Take time to remember and be thankful.
The Word Lent began to be used in the 13th century
Middle English lente springtime, Lent, from Old English lencten; akin to Old High German lenzin spring.
Lent= Spring…and in our part of the world Spring brings life back to our yards and gardens.
Where do you need to experience a bit of Spring right now? Talk to Jesus about this.
What could bring that SPRING rebirth and beauty back into your life this Lent? Could you invest in some flowers, could you plant something new in your yard or plan a garden for later after the frost? Could you visit an art museum and look for all the signs of spring in the art? Or in your walks around the neighborhood? Watching for signs of spring as you walk.
READ THE POEM PRAYER by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
Patient Trust
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
excerpted from Hearts on Fire
ACTIONS/INVITATIONS for you this Lenten Season:
Plan to get our in Nature. What if you invite someone to join you for walks in Lent. It could be as simple as a walk around your neighborhood. It could be a walk in a nearby park. Or plan a special walk or hike in a place a bit farther away that you and your family go on to reflect on Jesus and the beauty around you.
Create a centerpiece for you table…to remind you of the wilderness
It can be for the table where you eat your meals, or for your coffee table where you will see it daily.
Sand, rocks, maybe some succulents or dried flowers….things that represent the wilderness to you.
BE with those who suffer. The Wilderness is not a plush or posh environment. It reveals or can represent the harsh reality and suffering of our world. Take some time to consider the suffering happening in our world today. Spend some time praying for the places and people in the wilderness. Who might you help who is suffering in real life this Lent?
Do something that reminds you that you are the BELOVED of God. You might choose to Wrap yourself in God’s love with a favorite blanket each day. You might drink from a cup with a heart, or something else.
Create a Lenten Playlist of songs that reflect the Wilderness and/or the Love of God for you.
Let Jesus LOVE YOU this Lent!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Garden season is beginning here in Seattle. The crocuses and snowdrops are out and the daffodils are just beginning to smile at us. Flowering trees have burst into bloom around the neighbourhood too. In my garden room I have planted a whole slew of both flower and vegetable seeds and next week will plant tomato seeds. It is a wonderful time of year and gardening often forms the focus for my contemplation.
I love gardening, and find that it is a wonderful place to connect to God and find refreshment and healing for my soul. For many of us this connection is enhanced by the creation of special spaces that are specially designed to strengthen these connections. Even the small contemplative gardens I create to sit on my desk provide inspiration, refreshment and at times healing as I sit and meditate on them. I am one of a growing number of people around the planet that finding themselves drawn into the contemplative nature of gardens. I hope that this list of books will help all of us enter more deeply into this aspect of gardening.
Creativity, Contemplation and Gardening
- Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening by Vigen Guroian. A delightful collection of garden meditations from an Orthodox Christian perspective.
- Gardens for the Soul by Pamela Woods. A beautifully illustrated book that provides great insights on designing outdoor spaces using ancient symbols, healing plants and Feng shui.
- Rooted in the Spirit: Exploring Inspirational Gardens by Maureen Gilmer. This is another beautifully illustrated and very practical book that helps you link your gardening to spirituality.
- Cultivating Sacred Space – Gardening for the Soul by Elizabeth Murray. This book invites us into sacred gardens at every season giving inspiration and ideas for our own sacred spaces.
- Everyday Sanctuary A Workbook for Designing a Sacred Garden Space by Jessi Bloom. This is an informative workbook that helps you design sacred space in the garden.
- Landscapes of Prayer by Margaret Silf. A beautiful book of prayer reflections exploring 9 different natural landscapes
- Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for A Modern World by John O’Donohue. A treasure that celebrates the beauty and mystery of everyday things.
- Reclaiming the Wild Soul: How Earth’s Landscapes Restore Us to Wholeness by Mary Reynolds Thompson. A journey into five great landscapes of our world that reconnects us to a rich source of wisdom, healing and wholeness.
- All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss. Twenty-five meditations reflecting on how wild animals adapt when darkness descends.
- Morning Altars by Day Schildkret. The best process I have found for contemplative practice with nature.
- Earth, Our Original Monastery by Christine Valters Painter.
- Farming While Black by Leah Penniman. Not explicitly Christian, but makes connections between racial and environmental justice/reconciliation.
- Slow Seasons: A Creative Guide to Reconnecting with Nature the Celtic Way by Rosie Steer. An excellent guide through the Celtic seasons and their significance for today.
- To Garden With God by Christine Sine. This book may be getting old but it is still one of my most popular A good read as preparation for the garden season.
Other Books
- The Sanctuary Garden: Creating a Place of Refuge in Your Yard or Garden by Christopher Forrest McDowell and Tricia Clark-McDowell
- When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature by Thomas Merton
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The Inward Garden: Creating a Place of Beauty and Meaning by Julie Moir Messervy
- The Pursuit of Paradise by Jane Brown
- Monastic Gardens by Mick Hales
- Upstream by Mary Oliver
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Steward-Smith
NOTE: As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small amount for purchases made through links above.
Spirituality of Gardening Online Course
The Spirituality of Gardening Online Course is a prerecorded course with 6 sessions that you might like to watch as the garden season begins in the Northern hemisphere.
This course will be given live on May 11th. It will be interactive with contemplative garden practices and much laughter involved.
Christine’s post Relinquish, Let Go and Lily’s post on Jesus going into the wilderness, I think, sit hand in hand. Letting go of things is like going into the wilderness. We’ve got used to what we do and we do it well, so why let go? Some of the reason can be that, like with Christine, new projects call us and there are only so many hours in the day. Some of the reasons are that even though we might have the time and the energy they are not what God has for us. Now that can be a hard one. It’s one I’m going through so I can speak from experience. I was doing a few writing workshops and projects and working with children, which I am also good at and love. In fact I wasn’t doing as much as I used to do in my 40s and I still had the energy to do it, but something was niggling in the back of my head/heart.
You know that feeling when God’s still small voice is pulling on you. Those things you love are not giving you the joy they used to. You put it down to needing more zinc, hormones being out of sync, partner/children not pulling their weight, seasonal light deficiency. So you change your diet, get a SAD lamp, sort out a chores list for the family, but still something isn’t quite right.
For me God got fed up of me not listening and it was my 84 year old mother’s health scare that brought things to a grinding halt. No worries she is fine now she’s slowed down a bit and decided she isn’t 30 any more. But the worry of her not being around and me being so busy that I didn’t have time to drive down country for 6 hours to see her. So it caused me to have to rethink things and hold things lightly.
But isn’t it a shame that I didn’t hear that still small voice in my heart that was trying so hard to tell me not necessarily to slow down but that there are things that I was doing that I am not meant to be doing. Interestingly in everything I do now those I work with know that if there is another health scare I will drop everything and just go. And of course, because I’m only doing the things God wants me to everyone I work with is content with that.
Not just in the “big wide world” but in Church circles there is so often that push to be busy. The question “what have you been up to this week/today?” comes up when you meet. “Where have you been worshipping/serving God?” And if one hasn’t got a full schedule one feels like one could be missing out on some form of service/ministry/doing! Added to that the inner jealousies that other people have “ministries” and you’re just bumbling about drinking tea!
Jesus going into the wilderness just after he’d been baptised and God had affirmed him as his son was not a good PR move. In our fast paced world his “team” would have told him to grab the opportunity immediately because if he didn’t someone else might. But Jesus was secure in not just who he was but in what he was meant to do.
Did you know that if you acted out the gospels and all the things Jesus did and said in them it would not last that long at all? Jesus had lots of down time, lots of time that was not worth recording in any of the gospels, lots of time just being, not just with God but with his disciples, his friends and even, I think, his family.
Hanging out not just for the sake of “friendship evangelism” or as a “teaching opportunity” but, I think, he was hanging out to enjoy other people’s company. We can learn so much from hanging out with other people and also find out more about ourselves. We also need quiet time not just for praying, not studying, not reading but just being and letting the world flow past.
So perhaps we all need some time over this Lenten season to stop, to think about whether the things, whether many or few, are what God really wants us to be doing. And then be brave enough to have gaps in our lives where there is nothing to do!
And I’ll finish with Christine’s poem from Monday’s meditation
Stay close to your inner world,
Travel slowly through the hidden corridors
Of your heart.
Listen quietly not for answers,
But for the questions
Hiding beneath the stress,
Of your uncertainty.
Do not be afraid,
Of what you will uncover,
Of what you might relinquish,
If you become honest
With yourself.
Resources to enrich your lenten celebration. Includes downloads of: A Journey Into Wholeness, Lent/Easter Prayer Cards, and 40 Daily Ideas Guide for Lent.
by Rodney Marsh
I am very fortunate to have a garden. I love to work, play and pray in a garden. The garden’s plants and animals support and sustain me. In particular, I think I am saner than I should be had I been forced to live without my daily immersion in nature. I don’t think I could survive a Melbourne style COVID lockdown in a tower block apartment! My primary spiritual discipline consists of two half hour sessions of meditation each day and I love to sit and be still and silent in our garden for this precious time. I wish to to introduce to you some animals who decided, perhaps because I was quiet and still, that the area in which I was praying was a safe zone – safe enough enough for them to enter. Let me introduce my very favourite garden friend – Eric(a) the Bandicoot.
The four or five species of Australian Bandicoot are all small marsupials – notice the ‘kangaroo’ type rear hopping legs, short tail, and the claw like ‘hands’ (forefeet) for digging. Eric digs for his food – small soil insects and fresh roots. Eric the Bandicoot could be Erica the Bandicoot. If it is Erica, then she has space in her pouch to nurture and nurse three or four young.
An Eric Snout Pouch (looking for food) Eric’s Road Warning(With a glass eye added by a neighbour)
The most inconvenient aspect to having a resident bandicoot is the random holes dug in the lawn and garden. Snout sized holes (pouches) in the lawn or garden beds are a sure sign of bandicoot activity. Local plants usually die when their roots are disturbed, but Eric must be gentle – the plants usually survive.
Cats would have eaten Eric when he was little, but now he is too big for a cat to tackle. And too fierce, I suspect. Eric may appear cute and mild mannered, but he will defend his territory and fight other males who venture into his garden. He does not back down from a fight, and he has long claws and sharp teeth. I have twice seen a bandicoot’s courage when I watched a beak/snout stoush between a crow and a bandicoot. Both times the crow backed down and flew away. Eric is fast too. As soon as I reach for my phone camera he will swiftly hop away. Cars are the biggest modern danger to bandicoots since bandicoots will suddenly rush out of the bush and run into the path of an approaching car, and, it appears, die by car suicide.
Since Eric lives in the garden and occasionally joins me during my time of garden prayer, does he bring a message from God for me? The photo shows Eric knows how to pay attention. He’s looking at me. He is perfectly still and If I should move he will be soon gone. I thought, I too can pay attention, but, compared with Eric, I am an amateur. Anyone who has tried to meditate knows one’s mind is soon off and away, attending to various plans, memories, emotions or impending disasters or pleasures. So perhaps Eric is saying to me “Be still. You are in a safe place. Attend to your prayer word and be, like me. Look and live and you will make some wonderful friends – like me. But forget to attend, wander off and move, and I will be gone. Be still.”
The Bandicoot looked at me
The bandicoot is still, silent
It knows how to just be
Watchful and waiting
Just as his Lord instructed.
“I know better than this bandicoot …
I will gather information, data
Then I will act to my advantage, then
I will do more, have more, be more,” says I.
The bandicoot looks at me with one eye and
He has a one word reply,
“Why? … and …
“If you forget to attend, wander off and move
I will be gone and so will your life.”
So I fix my eyes on the Bandicoot’s eye
I am still, I wait, I attend and then …
I see – when I do less, have less, are less
I am more, I am whole, I am One.
This bandicoot is my friend …
And my teacher.
3
The Liturgical Rebels Podcast empowers followers of Jesus to creatively reconstruct their faith and spiritual practices. Through conversation with groundbreaking practitioners from around the world who think creatively about new approaches to spirituality, we will emphasize the sacredness of all things and uncover ways in which God speaks to us through nature and creativity, through restorative justice and environmental concern, and through the mundane and ordinary acts of daily life. This podcast is for those who don’t want to just deconstruct, but also to reconstruct faith and spiritual practices; those who want to reshape belief and practice to journey closer to God and the wholeness, peace, justice and flourishing God intends not just for us as individuals but for the earth and all its inhabitants.
On Friday we launched my new podcast The Liturgical Rebels. It has been an exciting few days. I am overwhelmed by the number of you who have not only listened to this first episode, but also encouraged me with your words of affirmation and eagerness to listen to the next episode. I am very grateful for Melissa Kelly and Forrest Inslee without whose help it would never have seen the light of day. I love the fascinating people I get to interview and the new opportunities it is opening up for other involvement in God’s work.
As we move towards the second Sunday of Lent however, I realize that adding a big new project like this to my life also means relinquishing some of what I currently give my time and energy to. As I commented in yesterday’s Meditation Monday: Relinquish, Let Go “Lent is about relinquishment. It confronts us with our mortality, our vulnerability, our ambitions. It confronts us with how seriously we will follow Jesus into the future. “ It is a good season to reflect on hard questions like those I posed yesterday “For love of God, for love of the world and for love of myself and my inner wellbeing what am I willing to give up?” They have very serious consequences for my life. I appreciate your prayers as I grapple with this, as part of what I am rethinking is my involvement with godspacelight.com and I hope to be able to hand the resource centre which I know so many of you rely on, over to someone else.
I have also decided to cancel the Lenten Quiet Day on March 2nd. There are many other similar offerings available and I feel it is not the best use of my time. My apologies to those of you this may inconvenience. I will however still facilitate the Spirituality of Gardening webinar on May 11. I am really looking forward to this event, which is not just for gardeners, but for anyone who loves to get out and experience the wonder of God in the natural world. The garden has seemingly endless lessons to teach us about God and what it means to be a person of faith. We read about the miracle of the fish and the loaves in the Bible but experience a miracle every time we harvest God’s bounty. We read about the death and resurrection of Christ in the gospels, but experience it every time we plant a seed in the ground and watch it burst into life.
In her Freerange Friday: The Invitation of Lent Part 2 Lilly Lewin reminds us that a Lent invites us to be present with Jesus in the wilderness. She comments: “My fear often blocks my faith. The bitterness of the world gets under my skin and I become like it, sadly more hateful rather than more loving.” I think this is so true for all of us.
In Embracing Lent: A Spiritual Journey with Scripture Memorization Cards Hilary Horn reminds us of the power of scripture memorization as a practice during this season. As she says, By committing these verses to heart, we open ourselves to a richer and more profound experience of Lent, ultimately drawing nearer to the spiritual renewal that Easter promises.
I hope that you are fully engaged in this journey through Lent, taking time for reflection, introspection and outreach into God’s world. I pray that you too will take seriously the questions I have posed for this season and allow God to liberate you into relinquishment. Let me end with part of the poem from yesterday’s Meditation Monday which was inspired by my reading of Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies, because I think that this an important focus for all of us at this time.
Stay close to your inner world,
Travel slowly through the hidden corridors
Of your heart.
Listen quietly not for answers,
But for the questions
Hiding beneath the stress,
Of your uncertainty.
Do not be afraid,
Of what you will uncover,
Of what you might relinquish,
If you become honest
With yourself.
Many blessings
Christine Sine
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