by Lilly Lewin
MOVE towards LOVE
I’ve been fortunate to live in many different places. In one town Lent was what you found in your belly button or your dryer, it was not a season of the Church Year. In another town where we lived, Lenten specials were advertised on every fast food sign offering fish sandwiches on Fridays and there were fish fry dinners offered around town. What about you? When you hear the word Lent what comes to mind? What does the word make you think of or feel?
What if we saw the season of Lent as a MOVEMENT towards LOVE this year?
This is a confession prayer station that I created for a Sacred Space prayer experience long ago and I’ve used it many times since, most recently in a Sacred Space called “MOVE TOWARD LOVE” You can use this prayer of confession on your own, with your family, your small group, youth group, or even your entire church. You can create it as a prayer station or pass around the Lint Brush in your small group or around your dinner table and talk about the Lint, the junk, the sin, that sticks to each of us. If you do it with your entire church or a bigger group, you can create multiple prayer stations around the worship space. You also can do it as a corporate response, by having a Lint Brush on each row and have people pass it down as they pray.
Find a Lint Brush.
LENT OR LINT?
When you hear the word LENT what comes to mind?
Do you think LINT or LENT?
Do you think about MOVING towards Easter?
Or do you just think about the stuff in your dryer?
Do you think “sack cloth and ashes”? Does it make you feel guilty?
Do you think about giving stuff up for Lent like chocolate or cokes/soft drinks?
Or do you think of LENT as an opportunity to MOVE closer to Jesus?
Consider LENT…
Ask Jesus to show you today.
LINT…the junk that sticks to each of us.
What JUNK sticks to you ?
What is the SIN that entangles you and
Keeps you from where God wants to take you?
What is keeping you from MOVING and starting an Adventure with God?
USE THE LINT BRUSH.
As you roll the lint brush on your clothes.
Use it as an act of confession.
Ask Jesus to remove the LINT in your life,
The junk, the sin that keeps you from MOVING toward the Love of JESUS!
Ask Jesus to remove the stuff that keeps you from MOVING into the Adventure you are called you to live!
Tell Jesus your LINT.
Give it to HIM.
Ask Jesus to remove it!
He will because He loves you!
MOVE towards LOVE this Lent!
With Lent only a few weeks away, I know that many of you are looking for apps, scripture plans and devotionals to guide your journey. Obviously there are hundreds out there. Written, online, downloadable; you choose. I have tried to provide a few from a variety of theological perspectives. If there are others you think should be on the list, please let me know. And by the way, the photo is of a 500 year old Bible – seemed appropriate for the season especially (at least to me) that though the method we use to study may change, the message is timeless.
Daily Readings
- Sacred Space – Daily Prayer with the Irish Jesuits
- Pray as You Go – also from the Jesuits. Daily prayer for portable MP3 players.
- Live Lent – Embracing Justice. Lent for 2022. Here on Apple or on Android
- Biblegateway.com’s Reading plan for Lent – can also be downloaded as an app.
- Church Father’s Lenten Reading Plan – a downloadable reading plan
- Download The Bible App – The plans deliver a relevant scripture verse to users each day that are themed around the topic selected by the user with one specifically for Lent.
- Interesting 5 apps for Lent from ccr.org.uk.
- Prayers for Lent and Advent on Googleplay
- Seven Apps to Help You Through Lent
- 10 Catholic Apps for Lent
- The Daily Office From the Book of Common Prayer
- Presbyterian USA daily readings
- Presbyterian Mission for 2021, 2022, and also 2023
- Catholic Gallery – Daily Mass Readings for 2022, and for 2023
- Reflections from Forward Day by Day
- Pittsburg Theological Seminary for 2022 and for 2023
And don’t forget the free resources available from Godspace
- 40 Daily Ideas Guide for Lent – FREE download
- Hungering for Life – Creative Exercises for Lent – FREE download
- Maundy Thursday Agape Liturgy – FREE download
- Gospel Eyes by Jeannie Kendall – FREE download
- Resources For Lent
- Music For Lent
- Five Ways to Foster Creativity in Kids During Lent
- Seven Tips for Creating Sacred Space For Lent
- Let’s Get Creative with Lent
- Let’s Get Creative – Doodle Your Way Through the Lenten Calendar
- Stations of the Cross – by Lilly Lewin
- Lenten Reflection Video by Christine Sine
- Is This A Fast – meditation video by Christine Sine
- An Invitation To Journey – Lenten Video by Christine Sine
- Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? This meditation is designed for Good Friday and does not have music.
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week including our free downloads.
By Emily Huff —
On the United Nations’ webpage dedicated to the World Day of Social Justice, social justice is defined as “an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.”
February 20th has been a United Nations special observance day annually since 2008 in an effort to promote global awareness and action around issues of social justice to promote development and human dignity. The focus has been on working to guarantee fair outcomes for all in the areas of employment, social dialogue and social protection.
As a way to honor this day, I wanted to share a recent reflection after reading one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons when he preached on Luke 10:33: “But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.”
Dr. King said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
When I first read the second part of the quote, I actually misread it. I thought it said, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”
And I think that this mistake in the reading is quite helpful in understanding social justice. First we must ask if we do not stop, what will happen to our brothers and sisters? Yes- but also, what will happen to me if we do not take the time to stop? For in the body of Christ, our neighbor’s pain certainly is our business. If we look away and think it has no connection to us, we are foolish and we are missing God’s call to serve.
As we ponder what this means in our own lives and what an invitation to us might be on this day observing Social Justice, I want to offer Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s words again as a guide:
“Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know your will. Give us the courage to do your will. Give us the devotion to love your will. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.”
For many of us, Lent is a season for listening – to God, to each other and to the world around us.
Here are some suggestions – from many different perspectives and understandings. Some are classics like Foster, Keating and Merton.
Enjoy and make sure you listen well!
- Anderson, Keith: A Spirituality of Listening: Living What We Hear
- Baab, Lynne: The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry
- Bill, J. Brent: Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality
- Boss, Gayle: Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing
- Brenner, Juliet: Contemplative Vision: A Guide to Christian Art and Prayer
- Buechner, Frederick: Listening to Your Life
- Cyzewski, Ed: Flee, Be Silent, Pray
- de Caussade, Jean-Pierre: The Sacrament of the Present Moment
- Deere, Jack: Surprised by the Voice of God
- Goll, James W.: The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence
- Guenther, Margaret: Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
- Fr. Gabriel: Divine Intimacy
- Foster: Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home
- _______ Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer
- Hart, Thomas: The Art of Christian Listening
- Hipps, Shane: Flickering Pixels
- Huggett, Joyce: The Joy of Listening to God
- Iyer, Pico: Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going NoWhere
- Keating, Thomas: Invitation to Love
- Kelly, Thomas: A Testament of Devotion
- Kidd, Sue Monk: When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions
- Lenton, Joy (A Godspace Writer!): Experiencing Lent: Sensing the Sacred in Our Midst
- Long, Anne: Listening
- Loring, Patricia: Listening Spirituality
- Merton: Thoughts in Solitude
- __________ Contemplative Prayer
- __________ Dialogues with Silence
- Nepo, Mark: Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred
- Newell, J. Phillip: Listening for the Heartbeat of God
- Nouwen, Henri: The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Wisdom, Prayer and Silence
- Palmer, Parker: Let Your Life Speak
- _______________ A Hidden Wholeness
- Phillips, Susan: Candlelight: Illuminating The Art of Spiritual Direction
- Rohr, Richard: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
- Schade, Leah: For the Beauty of the Earth – A Lenten Devotional
- Valters Paintner, Christine: Lectio Divina: the Sacred Art
- _____________ The Soul’s Slow Ripening
- Virkler, Mark: How to Hear God’s Voice
- Wilson, Rod: How Do I Help a Hurting Friend
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week including our free downloads.
NOTE: As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small amount for products purchased through appropriate links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
Music is such a wonderful aid to meditation and reflection that I realize the need to help all of us find appropriate music to assist us in this. Obviously, there are hundreds if not thousands of songs and musical pieces out there that would be appropriate so I have tried to post a sampling from different traditions. Also, I must confess that I am not a music expert by any sense of the imagination. I rely on Paul Neeley who posts extensively on music resources for all seasons of the church year. He recommends a few of these in particular: “A Song of Penitence” by Ryan Flanigan and “Rend Your Hearts” by The McMakens. Check out his link to Lenten, Holy Week and Easter resources.
Please add your suggestions in the comment section too. What is your favorite music for Lent? for Easter?
Here are some of the best resources (some outside the box) that I have found in the music area for Lent and Easter. Again I have tried to draw from a variety of traditions.
- GIA Publications has a very rich array of music for the season.
- Discipleship Ministries has good music resources for Lent, mainly available as free downloads.
- Liturgical Folk released this Lent album in 2019.
- Dust/Mercy by Hymns for the Architect (song for Ash Wednesday)
- Lent to Maundy Thursday by Page CXVI
- Good Friday to Easter by Page CXVI
- Engage Worship offers many worship ideas for Lent.
- Lenten Anthems from JW Pepper.
- Top 40 worship songs for Lent from Praise Charts.
- From CJM Music – Music and Liturgy for Lent
- Liturgy Tools offers free-use hymns and songs for the Lenten season
- Singing from the Lectionary – Songs and Hymns for Ash Wednesday and Lent, as well as almost every week of the church calendar
Spotify Playlists
- Contemplative Music for Lent by Christine Sine
- 40 Songs for 40 Days: A Lenten Playlist
- Lenten Playlist by Erica Bye
- Drawn to You: A Lenten Playlist by Audrey Assad
Gungor’s song “Beautiful Things” is a powerful song of brokenness and transformation.
A beautiful Celtic tune called “A Lenten Journey”.
Parts 1 and 2 of “A Celtic Lenten Journey” – Harp, Voice, and Violin
And a beautiful reflective song from one of my favourite musicians, Jeff Johnson.
Handel’s “Messiah” is now traditionally known as a Christmas piece but was originally written for Easter.
“Te Deum” – 5th Century is attributed to two Fathers and Doctors of the Church, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine and is one the most majestic chants in the Liturgy of the Church.
“The St. Matthew Passion”, is a sacred oratorio from the Passions written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew (in the German translation of Martin Luther) to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of classical sacred music. If you choose to listen to this, make sure you have plenty of time – it is about 3 hours long.
“All Glory Laud and Honour” is the traditional hymn to sing on Palm Sunday.
“The Power of the Cross” – A beautiful reflective hymn for Good Friday.
And another classic – When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
The Old Rugged Cross – another old favourite
Check Out Other Godspace Resources:
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week including our free downloads.
Godspace Resources:
Lord Lead Us To Repentance – A Lenten meditation video produced in 2012
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? This meditation is designed for Good Friday and does not have music.
Is This the Fast? – A Lenten meditation produced in 2008
by Christine Sine
It’s official, Seattle has accumulated more February snow than any time since 1916. Last Saturday we all woke to a beautiful white winter wonderland, we pulled out our sleds and went off to have some fun. We weren’t the only ones. The local park was full of families sledding, skiing, snowshoeing and walking. I came home refreshed, renewed and revived.
I cannot remember the last time I took a whole day for play like this. It is sad that it takes such a rare event for many of us to get out and have some fun. Yet according to Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play nothing lights up the brain like play. He believes it is as important as oxygen for our survival and may be God’s greatest gift to humankind. (The Gift of Wonder 54) Not just to humankind but to dogs too as you will see in this short video I put together (more fun for me). enjoying the snow with community members Dan and Lisa and my dog Goldie – she makes a great sled dog!
As I reflected on this I was reminded of what I had read in David Whyte’s Consolations just a couple of days before. He is talking about the feeling of being besieged but I am using it here in a broader sense
Being besieged asks us to begin the day not with a to do list but a not to do list, a moment outside of the time bound world in which it can be reordered and reprioritized. In this space of undoing and silence we create a foundation from which to reimagine our day and ourselves.
Beginning the daily conversation from a point of view of freedom and being untethered calls us to re-see ourselves, to re–enter the world as if for the first time (David Whyte, Consolations 28)
Snow forced me to do this.
- My not to do list embraced all the things I planned to do on Saturday – no gardening, no swapping that out for other hard work, no getting caught up in what I though still needed to be done, but allowing myself to let go of all I had intended and enjoy the wonder of this rare snow day in Seattle. We began the day with a community waffle breakfast. We had planned this to be a rather hurried pre-gardening event but it was such fun to sit round the table with all the members of our small community, enjoying the fun of each other’s presence. Yes we did talk about what we would like to see happen in the garden but it was fun, not work.
- Reimagine our day and ourselves – I am not just created for work. I am created to enjoy God and to have fun, laugh, play and delight in the joy of being alive. Delight in the unexpected, let the joy of God fill you through the wonderful experiences that unfold.
- Begin in freedom and untethered. What do we need freedom from? As I thought about last Saturday I realized how easily I could have spent the day fretting about the things I couldn’t do. I could have lived in the guilt of not doing what I originally planned. I would have been frustrated and miserable. My frustrations would have created walls that stopped me enjoying the rich experience God had planned for me and the prayer above would not have bubbled up inside.
Unfortunately as I look out after a week of snow and with the promise of more on the way, I am very aware that it is not fun for everyone. This important article tore at my heart. Not only have people suffered the hardship of lost work hours and electricity, but for vulnerable kids the loss of school lunches means the loss of their one nutritious meal for the day. Being untethered however enables me to reflect on this and reach out to help those with this unexpected burden.
What Is Your Response?
Think about your own day. What would happen if you started with a “not to do” rather than a “to do” list? What might you end up doing? Who might you end up helping? How could you discover the freedom of being untethered and of reimagining your day and yourself as a child of God, made to enjoy the God of all creation and delight in the things that delights God’s heart.
Lord help us to live untethered lives, not restricted by our preconceived ideas of what we should do each day. Open our eyes to see the freshness of each new day and the opportunities for unexpected delights to emerge.
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