by Christine Sine
“Pray and wield a mighty pen” These words from the introduction to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Lenten devotional God On the Cross have held my attention this week as I prepared myself to enter Lent. What does this have to do with my theme Breaking Down Walls you may ask? From my perspective quite a lot. As I prayed this week and asked God about what walls I needed to break down, the word “guilt” was impressed on me — specifically guilt that tells me I don’t measure up to what God wants of me, guilt that says I should be out there doing more to help the poor, to relieve suffering and to heal the sick rather than writing about it.
Educated Into Freedom
God’s People first came into existence when the children of Israel were delivered from slavery in Egypt and called out into the desert to be educated in freedom, to learn how to live with no other master but God himself.”
These words of Thomas Merton, are something of a mantra for me as I enter Lent each year. They came back to me as I smashed my first wall in my Lenten garden and spread the fragment round my plants today. You need to be freed from guilt this Lenten, guilt that tells you to be someone you are not and to do something I have not called you to do in this season of life.
Is this a freedom that God is prompting you too to enter into during Lent? Is God asking you to let go of the slavery of trying to be someone you are not called to be in this season of life? Where does your freedom lie?
first wall broken down
Breaking Down Walls
The first wall God often asks us to break down is the wall behind which we have hidden the image of God within us. For me that image has revolved around a misconception of who God has called me to be in this season of life. When I allow guilt to creep in I not only distort that image, I belittle the wonder of who my creator God is and wisdom with which God has created me.
Pray And Wield a Mighty Pen.
Gift of Wonder arrives
Wield it in words – I don’t think it is by accident that these words came to me only hours before my copies of The Gift of Wonder were delivered to my door. This is the fruit of my pen over the last year. It has already brought change into my life and into the lives of some of my launch team who are already reading and talking about it. I am humbled as I sit before God and ponder this. “Your words, when anointed by the Holy Spirit, encourage and strengthen others. They enable others to express their gifts more freely and so become the people God intends them to be.” Wow – how easily I could have continued to hide behind my wall of guilt and not been liberated into the freedom of recognizing how God is working in my life. and there is more…
Wield it in poetry – My pen does’t just write, it creates – firstly poetry which started coming to me about 10 years ago. Like so many others, I increasing find expression in poetic words. It liberates my soul and sets my imagination free. It encourages me to dream new dreams and express praise and worship in new and joyful ways. It delights me and I think it delights the heart of God too.
Wield it in imagery. When I become busy or when I wallow in guilt, I stop painting rocks and doing calligraphy. The designs, shapes and colours that give me joy and delight the heart of God are bound once more into slavery. Today I have broken down that wall and am once more free to pull out my paint pens and my water colours. I am unleashing the creativity that is part of the image of God within me and I know that it will find freedom in fresh expressions and insights that come from the heart of God.
Find the freedom of using your gifts for strengthening, for healing, for empowering I sense God is saying to me, perhaps our Holy God is saying the same to you. I am not sure what that will look like in the future for me or for you, but as I walk this journey of Lent with God’s spirit as my guide, I am sure that I will find out. I hope you will too.
What practices have you let go of that have sent you back into the bonds of slavery? How is God prompting you to break those bonds and find the freedom of following God alone?
As we move into the first full week of Lent I encourage you to take time to ask God what walls need to be broken down in your innermost being. How can you be liberated into freedom and find the joy of once more following God alone?
March is Women’s History Month, a wonderful time to honour some of the women of history who have shaped and formed us. I have always found inspiration from the lives of those who have gone before. Their footprints provide places for me to stand and words and prayers encourage and strengthen me as I too seek to move forward into the ways of God. It seems appropriate that we celebrate the lives of some of these women during this season of Lent.
Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens
Teresa of Avila is one such person. In her classic The Interior Castle she says: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.” I have decided to add this book to my Lenten reading as I guiltily realized yesterday that there are presently no women on my list and yet much of my inspiration comes from women.
In many ways Teresa of Avila was a very ordinary person – struggling with some of the same life challenges we struggle with today. But out of that struggle came a rich inner prayer life that continues to inspire many today.
Here is one of my favourites of her prayer/poems. Read it through several times. Listen to the beautiful musical rendition at the end of the post. Allow their truths to take root in your heart. I prayed this prayer several times this morning as I considered the plight of the 12 million people whose lives are at risk in the Horn of Africa because of drought. As you read this prayer and listen to the music may you too consider what action God may ask of you as a result of reading and meditating on them
“Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world.”
Music by David Ogden
by Lilly Lewin
This week we started our Lenten practice at thinplaceNASHVILLE, with a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner at a local cafe. Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday is the day before Lent actually begins. It’s a day to clean out all the fat, and sugar, etc from the pantry and prepare for the Lenten fast.
At the cafe, I created a centerpiece on the table that included all the ingredients for making pancakes from scratch, and included a box of instant mix too. I had the prayer printed out so everyone could follow along. Our group is pretty introverted, so we didn’t pray, or even read it aloud together as we would do if we were at our usual spot. Instead, I allowed everyone to read it on their own while we waited for our orders. We spent some time catching up on our days and talked about what some our Lenten practices might be and closed our meal with a communal blueberry pancake.
If you have never celebrated Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. It’s not too late to start. Why not make pancakes for breakfast or dinner this weekend and use the Pancake Prayer Reflection below to help you start your Lenten practice. You can go out to eat if you don’t want to cook! Take time to consider the questions and ponder the ingredients. You might even take time to journal the questions. If you are doing this with a group of friends, or with your family, take time to share your thoughts and learn from one another.
I pray that we all will grow closer to Jesus, and experience more and more of his great love as we begin our Lenten journey. I’m posting more ideas for Lent on my Facebook page and on instagram @lillylewin so follow along!
PANCAKE PRAYER:
On this Shrove Tuesday, as we prepare for Lent, Consider the things that make up pancakes…Consider these Ingredients
Pick one that resonates with you.
What is God speaking to you about through the ingredients? What is God’s recipe for you this year for Lent? Ask Jesus to show you!
Flour
Sugar
Eggs
Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
Butter or Oil
OR Pancake Mix
FLOUR… the staff of life
It its the main ingredient
It makes pancakes, breads, and cookies!
Add Baking Powder or Yeast and it Rises!
Flour comes in lots of forms:
Bleached
Whole Wheat
Gluten Free
Almond and Rice Flours
It also comes pre-sifted…
CONSIDER:
What does God want to mix up in your life this Lent?
What does Jesus want to make new?
What does God want to create, make, bake?
What does God want to sift into your life? Does your life need sifting? Or reheated?
SUGAR… the sweetness of life
adds sweetness
too much makes us fat
too much causes inflammation
there is real sugar and there is artificial sugar
things can be exchanged for it, like applesauce, honey, molasses CONSIDER:
What areas of your life need sweetening in a good way?
How can you bring sweetness to the world?
Pinch of Salt:
Are you felling salty or in need of salt today?
Are you bringing flavor to your world or just leaving a bitter taste in people’s lives?
EGGS:
they provide the protein
might cause an allergy attack
multiple ways to cook them outside of a recipe for pancakes
CONSIDER:
Are you feeling scrambled ? too busy? need focus?
Are you feeling allergic to life, to God, to people?
Are you feeling dried out and over cooked?
Talk to God about this!
BUTTER, OIL, FAT…
Gives life it’s richness, and makes Julia Child smile!
Butter makes everything taste better
CONSIDER:
How is God mixing you together this Lent?
What new ingredients does Jesus want to add?
Any substitutions need to be made?
Do you need to change out artificial for real ingredients?
What new dish or new menu does God want to show you between now and Easter?
What special meal does God want to create with you and for you?
RECEIVE THE LOVE
Imagine the Pancakes cooking on the griddle.
Perfect pancakes, light and airy, browned just right.
Picture them stacked on a plate,
Rich butter on the top.
Perhaps with blueberries or strawberries added in or on the top.
Perhaps filled with chocolate chips and topped with whipped cream!
The butter melts.
The syrup flows.
Imagine this to be a gift from Jesus to you!
Allow this image to represent the
The Richness and Abundance of God’s Love you…
The Richness and Abundance of Jesus’s Love for us today and always!
Let’s taste and receive this Love today and each day between now and Easter.
AMEN
©lillylewin freerangeworship.com 2019
NOTE: my original inspiration came from the AD for the Iona community shrove tuesday service. You can purchase the service here. If you don’t know the Iona community, they have great resources for prayer and liturgies too! I’ve had the amazing opportunity to stay with the community on the island of Iona, it’s one of my favorite places on the planet!
by Christine Sine
What are you reading for Lent this year? This is a question I am often asked at this time of year so I thought I would share my personal preferences as we enter a new season of Lent. I find that it easy for me to get bogged down in the feeling that I must save the world at this season, or at least save myself to be more effective in the world (hence that graphic above)
I must confess I have been a little overwhelmed by all the offerings out there this year too, which doesn’t help my focus. Sp I have decided to stick to old faithfuls. I suspect that some other reading will be added as I go but for the moment I have three devotionals that I plan to dig into at different times of the day or week. I have downloaded them all onto my kindle because I will be doing a lot of travel over the next month and having something reliable to read on the plane is something that I find creates stability and normalcy for me. So here is my list:
Walter Brueggemann: A Way Other Than Our Own
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: God Is On The Cross
Richard Rohr: Wondrous Encounters
And unless you think I am stuck in the mud, I am also reading Prayer: Forty Days of Practice by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson on the side – well worth reflecting on the artwork as well as the short practice.
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Yes I take this season very seriously. I try to spend time in silence and listening. Time reading and reflecting, time in creative expression (that’s where my Lenten garden comes in) and time journalling. In some ways it is a busy season but in others I find it relaxing and energizing.
What disciplines are you committing to during Lent this year?
by Christine Sine
March 8th is International Women’s Day and it seems very fitting to remember the women of this world, especially those who are mistreated, during Lent.
Several years ago I came across this beautiful prayer written by Deborah Hirt, Intern at Franciscans International. It is no longer posted on their website but I think it is such a wonderful rendition of the Francis prayer that I like to repost it each year.
Lord, make me an instrument of peace:
Bless all women who daily strive to bring peace to their communities, their homes and their hearts. Give them strength to continue to turn swords into plowshares.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love:
We pray for all women who face prejudice, inequality and gender disparities. Help us seeand to face the discrimination against women inall the many forms it may take.
Where there is injury, pardon:
Comfort all women who suffer from the pain of war, violence, and abuse. Help them to become instruments of their own reconciliation and peace.
Where there is division, unity:
Forgive all women and men who let differences breed hate and discrimination. Let your example of valuing all of creation help us to see that we are equal partners in the stewardship of your world.
Where there is darkness, light; where there is untruth, truth:
Comfort all women who struggle in the darkness of abuse, poverty, and loneliness. May we stand with them in light to acknowledge their suffering and strive to remove the burdens of shame or embarrassment.
Where there is doubt, true faith:
We pray for all women who live in fear of their husbands, fathers, and forces that control their lives. Help them to be empowered to be their true selves through your everlasting love and faith.
Where there is despair, hope:
We pray for all women who live in the despair of poverty, violence, trafficking, slavery,and abuse. May the light of your love bring them hope.
Where there is sadness, new joy:
Help us to see the strength and goodness in all women and men.
Transform our hearts to celebrate the love and grace of all people.
And may we be blessed with the courage of St. Clare of Assisi to follow our own path of love for you and all sisters and brothers.
by Christine Sine
Yesterday I completed my Lenten garden combining succulents with broken pieces of slate to emphasize my Lenten theme “Breaking Down Walls For Lent”. My intention is to remove one of the walls each week, break it into small pieces and sprinkle them over the garden. This exercise will provide a focus for my Lenten reflections.
Each week will have a specific focus. I want to reflect on what walls stop me:
- loving God with my whole heart.
- loving myself and who God has created me to be.
- loving my neighbors with an open and accepting heart.
- loving God’s creation and being a responsible steward of all God has created.
In the final week of Lent I will seek God’s guidance for the year ahead – how can I draw the lessons I have learned in the wilderness into my life in a way that will enrich me, my relationship to God, to others and to God’s creation?
It might be a lot to ask of this Lenten season but I hope you will walk with me and discover more of God on your Lenten journey too.
Each week I will ask myself the following questions:
What are the walls that confine me?
What is behind my wall and how will breaking it down change that?
What do I need to do before I break down this wall?
Who can help me break down my wall?
What have I already learned?
Lenten garden
Reflecting on my garden this morning has already taught me a lot.
Some of the walls I can’t see over. I can only imagine what is on the other side and it is easy to imagine something gross and evil lurks there. I want to strengthen the wall and protect myself from these evil influences.
Alternatively I can imagine that the grass is greener on the other side. I want to move the wall so that I can have easy access to its hidden riches. Then it occurred to me – maybe those riches I want to grab hold of belong to someone else. Maybe the wall protects them from my influence and desire to have what does not belong to me.
Some of the walls I can see over but I can’t reach what is on the other side. Again I want to pull down these wall without thought to their purpose. Walls can protect plants from wind and storm. They can provide a warm surface that radiates heat to tender plants. Or support vines that like to climb. What would happen if I broke down the wall?
This breaking down of walls is complicated. It requires a lot of research and soul searching investigating a wall’s purpose and the effect my breaking it down will have on myself and on others. I need to examine my motivation in destroying it and listen to both those who want to strengthen it and those who want to see it demolished before I act.
What Is Your Response?
As you begin your Lenten journey what are the questions God has laid on your heart? What will prompt you to walk each day with Christ into the wilderness to learn to follow him with your whole heart?
by Christine Sine
Today’s prayer is inspired by Psalm 51:12-17, one of my favorite psalms to reflect on at this season. I hope that you too will take some time to reflect on this psalm as we begin the journey of Lent. Maybe it will inspire you to write your own prayer/poem for the season.
Psalm 51:10-17 New Living Translation (NLT)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[a] from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
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