Virtual Retreat with Christine Sine on March 2nd 10 am – 12 pm (PST)
What do you long for as you look towards Easter?
How can we create Beauty from the ashes of the past?
How do we enter into God’s Lenten story that prepares us for the death and resurrection of Easter?
The Lenten season is meant to be a time for reflection, retreat and refocusing in preparation for our celebration of Easter. Yet most of us find it hard to take time out of our busy schedules for this much needed reorientation time.
Christine Sine will host a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflection that will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of our chaotic lives.
Join us March 2nd 10 am-12 pm PST (check my timezone) or watch the recording later.
You can still sign up for all three virtual winter/spring retreats at a considerable discount. You will receive the recording of the first retreat and access to the next two retreats with Christine on March 2nd and May 11th.
Lent serves as an opportunity for believers to draw closer to God, examining their lives and seeking a deeper connection with their faith. Amidst the various practices embraced during this time, the use of scripture memorization cards emerges as a valuable tool for spiritual enrichment. Scripture cards like these ones (https://creatoriq.cc/3SKBggN)
As we embark on this Lenten journey, let us embrace the significance of this season and consider incorporating scripture memorization cards into our daily practices. 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.
Resources to enrich your lenten celebration. Includes downloads of: A Journey Into Wholeness, Lent/Easter Prayer Cards, and 40 Daily Ideas Guide for Lent.
Welcome to the season of Lent. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the day on which we traditionally paint ash crosses on our foreheads as a sign of our mortality. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is a wonderful practice that I hope you will embrace. If you are unable to attend a church service, consider creating your own ashes. It may make priests cringe, as they are not consecrated, but, maybe it’s the liturgical rebel in me that says, I can adapt this to be more meaningful for me and it is a very meaningful practice that I highly recommend. I like to use some of the palm Sunday crosses or palms I was given the previous year and often add post it notes on which I write what I plan to give up during Lent.
This year (see video) I burnt my palms in the new Lenten garden I talk about in my Meditation Monday: Creating a New Lenten Garden. I created it to help me focus during Lent and keeping the burnt palms in it for the first few days enhances that focus. As I burnt the palms, I asked myself the 2 questions I suggest in my Meditation Monday “For love of God what is one thing I will give up during Lent?” and “For love of the world what is one thing I will give up for this season? These are 2 questions I will return to regularly over the next few weeks. For love of the world, God gave up so much, what am I willing to give up in return?
I am also preparing for my Lenten Quiet Day Retreat: Beauty from Ashes coming up on March 2nd. Scheduling time to pause in our busy lives to pray, to reflect and refocus is an important part of Lent and I hope you will join us for this retreat time. The purpose of Lent is to prepare us for the wonder of Easter and the resurrection of Christ. In this retreat we will share scriptures, read poems and reflect on the story of death and resurrection that is the centre for Lent and Easter celebrations. Have you signed up? Don’t forget. It is only a couple of weeks away.
A great place to begin your Lenten reflections is with Bill Borror’s post Come and See in which he stated: “Lent invites us to deny our appetites” a little in order to expand our hearts and lives for God. It is a temporary saying no to the good things of this life, to taste the better eternal things of Christ. It’s a rebooting if you would of our ordinary routines, in order to glimpse the extraordinary mysteries of God all around us, that we tend to miss in the course of our busy, noisy day to day existence.
In her Freerange Friday The Invitation of Lent, Lilly Lewin reminded us that this is a wilderness experience, and comments: “One thing about being in the wilderness…it invites us to pay attention. To notice. You don’t survive very long in extreme wilderness situations or even on a simple hike in the forest if you aren’t paying attention…Paying attention to the path, to the weather, to dangers that might be ahead.”
On Thursday in Big Change (Transfiguration) Sunday Rodney Marsh reminded us that the Sunday before Lent is Transfiguration Sunday, celebrating when Jesus met Elijah and Moses on the mountain. I needed this reminder. As Rodney said, Jesus’ disciples shared this experience because they were willing to follow Jesus into a lonely place, expecting to pray. It is on the mountain top, in the place of prayer, alone with Jesus that we usually receive our direction for the future.
In her post Bent on Loving Us, Jenny Gehman talks about the upright position we assume when we fly and compares it to how Jesus came into the world. “To prepare for his arrival, he had to assume not an upright position but a bent one. And bend he did, into the tiniest of seeds in a woman’s dark womb.” Great insights from a new and unusual way of thinking of the gospel story.
As you get ready for Lent this year consider what helps you focus and keep focused during these weeks of preparation for Easter. This prayer “Fall In Love” by Father Pedro Arrupe is a great one to use at the beginning of Lent and also for Valentine’s Day.
Here is another prayer I wrote a couple of years ago you might like to use.
Jesus you came to save us.
We are marked with ashes,
We are but dust,
Only you can change our unclean souls.
Bring us to repentance,
Wash away the scars,
Plant seeds in the desert,
Bring life where death once reigned.
Cleanse us with the water of life.
Transform us God of all.
Restore our sight,
Renew our planet,
Teach us your wondrous truths.
Speak words that bring wholeness,
To us,
To our communities,
To the earth our island home.
Many blessings
Join Christine Sine on March 2nd 10a-12p PST (check my timezone) or watch the recording later.
What do you long for as you look towards Easter?
How can we create Beauty from the ashes of the past?
The Lenten season is meant to be a time for reflection, retreat and refocusing in preparation for our celebration of Easter. Yet most of us find it hard to take time out of our busy schedules for this much needed reorientation time.
Join Christine Sine for a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflection that will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of our chaotic lives
by Christine Sine
I have gone from not thinking about Lent at all to having it become the main focus of my time. Over the weekend I created my Lenten garden. It was a fun contemplative process to work out the theme, find plants, rocks and other decorations and then put the garden together. It has been a wonderful way to prepare myself for Ash Wednesday and the whole season of Lent. I know it will provide a wonderful tool for centering myself each morning as I begin my day with God. It gave me an opportunity to think about Lent and what I hope to learn from it this year.
My theme for the year is “For Love of the world God did foolish things” so my first step was decorating a stone and writing the words around the decoration as a centre piece for the garden. Painting the rock gave me plenty of time to think about what the love of God means to me and how I have seen it expressed in my life and around the world during my lifetime. It was this that inspired the poem I wrote last week:
For love of the world,
This beautiful yet pain filled earth
On which we live,
God does foolish things.
How strange and unwise,
To send a much beloved son
To dwell amongst us,
Knowing he would die
A tragic and painful death.
Only love would be so reckless,
And so vulnerable.
Only God would care so much
For those who
despised and rejected Holy love.
For love of the world,
God does foolish things,
That turn the world upside down.
And bring life where we expected death.
(c) Christine Sin 2024
Unlike for Advent, when I bought several new objects to decorate my sacred space with, for Lent I wanted to only use repurposed objects. Lent is a season for cutting back and fasting, not one for spending. I chose plants from my huge collection of succulents, that I felt best represented the wilderness into which Jesus retreated. The desert is not dead. The plants that grow are able to survive with very little water however and they remind me that Lent is a time for learning to do without even the life giving water that we usually drink in abundance. I added sand to make it feel a little like a desert, and then more small stones, sprinkling my collection of heart shaped rocks around the entire garden.
Behind the garden I placed a plaque that Lilly Lewin gave me several years ago to emphasize my theme. As Lent progresses it is possible that I will add other Lenten symbols like crosses to the garden but I feel that this will work well for the beginning of Lent.
One of my practices for Ash Wednesday is to burn the crosses and palms from last year’s Palm Sunday parade. I will probably sprinkle some of the ash over the garden too. Will continue to share reflections as the garden inspires me.
This is the first contemplative garden I have created for almost a year and it is good to come back to this practice again. I love the whole process of its creation which begins with dreaming, then moves through the gathering of materials to creating before I get to the stage at which it is ready to be used for meditation. Finally, after Easter I will enter the last stage of the garden’s life – letting go, a hard but necessary step. As I comment in my book Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening, “Accepting and incorporating impermanence into our rituals enables us to accept and embrace change in a healthy and liberating way. We let go of our desire for permanence, of control, of acquisitiveness and even of our creative process. It is hard but we learn a lot in the process about ourselves, about God and God’s good creation.” it seems even more relevant as Lent slides into Easter.
As we look ahead towards Lent there are two questions I find myself grappling with that I would also like to challenge you to consider:
For love of God what is one thing you would like to give up during Lent?
For love of the world what is one thing you would like to give up for this season?
When I asked participants this at a retreat several years ago, people commented that it is easier to think of what they want to give up for God than to think of what they are willing to give up for the good of the world. Yet there is so much that we need to think about giving up. Perhaps there are privileges of wealth and education we need to give up. Or prejudice against those of other faiths, sexual orientations, or ethnic groups. Or you might consider giving up your car or the heat in your house for several day. Whatever you choose it might make you look foolish in the eyes of your friends or the world but if it makes God’s world a better place it is worth it.
I pray that you too will take time to develop a good focus for Lent and work towards a process that helps prepare you for the wonderful celebration of Easter. As part of your Lenten observances consider joining us for our upcoming Lenten Quiet Day retreat: Beauty Into Ashes.
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Join Christine Sine on March 2nd 10a-12p PST (check my timezone) or watch the recording later.
What do you long for as you look towards Easter?
How can we create Beauty from the ashes of the past?
The Lenten season is meant to be a time for reflection, retreat and refocusing in preparation for our celebration of Easter. Yet most of us find it hard to take time out of our busy schedules for this much needed reorientation time.
Join Christine Sine for a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflection that will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of our chaotic lives.
by Bill Borror
We all have come to the point that after trying everything else to get our internet, computers, or phones to start working again, we simply must shut them down and reboot. The good news is that often does the trick. It’s not magic (even though most of us do not understand why it works). Sometimes addition by subtraction is the solution.
Lent invites us to deny our appetites’ a little in order to expand our hearts and lives for God. It is a temporary saying no to the good things of this life, to taste the better eternal things of Christ. It’s a rebooting if you would of our ordinary routines, in order to glimpse the extraordinary mysteries of God all around us, that we tend to miss in the course of our busy, nosey day to day existence.
I encourage each of you to consider giving up something you enjoy for Lent and setting aside the money that you would spend on that pleasure and donating it to those who are in need. Remember this is something done out of freedom and what you give up is totally between you and God. However, it can also be a corporate discipline done by a family, couple, or community. The very process of coming up with a mutually agreed upon sacrifice and then deciding on where to give the money can be a Lenten exercise in forbearance itself.
Perhaps even more important than giving something up for Lent, is that you consider taking on something. The following are few suggestions:
- Try adding fifteen minutes of prayer and reading the Bible to your daily schedule.
- Read a book on Christian spirituality (i.e. Merton’s No Man is an Island.)
- Take an extra few minute to look around at the beauty of creation.
- Look for the face of Christ in the people around you.
- Speak a kind word to a stranger or person in distress.
- Visit someone who could use encouragement.
- Add ten minutes of purposeful silence to your day-remember God is always there.
Lent is remembering we are dust and to dust we shall return. But it is also a leaning into the truth we are also the children of the living God.
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The Season of Lent is the season of the Church Year that allows us to reflect on the Wilderness experience of Jesus following his baptism. The 40 days Jesus spent before his ministry began. It also gives us the opportunity to prepare our hearts for the crucifixion and for resurrection.
What’s the Invitation? What is the Holy Spirit inviting me to this Lent? What is Jesus inviting each of us to this Lenten Season?
At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”
At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.” MARK 1:9-15 The Message
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted[a] by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” MARK 1:9-15 NIV
Mark is the short and intense Gospel…we don’t get all the details of the temptations like we do in Matthew and Luke. You can also read Matthew 4 and Luke 4:1-13
What do you notice from this passage? What are the invitations you see or feel for your Lenten practice this year?
I notice that Jesus has been told he is BELOVED. He has his identity secured in his baptism. He is greatly loved and not alone. How can I receive that invitation this Lent? What do I need to do to accept and live into my Belovedness?
I need to go back to my practice of being wrapped in God’s love. I have a special blanket that I use to represent God’s love for me. I need to use it DAILY to wrap it around me and truly experience the love of God.
What things remind you that you are God’s Beloved?
I notice that Lent starts in the Wilderness.
This year, I am really noticing the wilderness …In both the harsh reality of wilderness and the need I have for the beauty of nature in wilderness.
The wilderness of the world! I am feeling the uncertainty of life….I have a lot of anxiety about where our country is heading and I feel the weight of all the suffering due to hatred and violence and war. …it’s a bleak unsafe wilderness. I need to acknowledge this reality and allow Jesus to hold it for me! I remember that I am not alone in the wilderness!
How about you? How is your life feeling?
How do you view wilderness? How are you viewing wilderness right now?
One thing about being in the wilderness…it invites us to pay attention. To notice. You don’t survive very long in extreme wilderness situations or even on a simple hike in the forest if you aren’t paying attention…Paying attention to the path, to the weather, to dangers that might be ahead.
And we get an invitation to be prepared for the wilderness. Did I wear the right shoes? Did I bring water and snacks, do I have the right outerwear in case the weather changes?
How are we being invited to pay attention this Lent? What do I need to pay more attention to in the days ahead?
I feel the Lord’s invitation to get outside and get to places of beauty. To walk and breathe and notice. It’s often so easy to just sit and scroll on my phone. Or to just get caught up in the list of things to do around the house that I don’t stop and breathe. I don’t get outside.
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.
Jesus wasn’t alone in the wilderness! This gives me hope!
Yes he was tempted by the devil, but THE SPIRIT was with him. And the angels were caring for him and the wild animals were there too.
Who and what has Jesus put in our wilderness to care and comfort us?
I need to notice the people and animals and even the angels and thank God for these!
An Invitation to Be present, to Notice, to get outside in the actual wilderness. An invitation to know that I am greatly loved by God and I am not alone! I will ponder these invitations in the days ahead and put them into practice too.
What is the invitation of the wilderness for you?
God of the Wilderness, we receive the Invitation to join you on the journey this Lent. Open our hearts to fall more in love with you over these coming days. Help us to see the beauty around us in the wilderness. Help us to seek you and know that you are with us even in the harshness of our world. Thank you Jesus that we are not alone and we are greatly loved. AMEN
Check out 40 Days Toward Love... a Prayer Kit for Lent that uses prayer hearts to pray with each day. A personal/family version can be downloaded or there is one for churches too. This can be used any time, not just for Lent.
by Rodney Marsh
“Jesus was completely changed” Mk 9:2
It seems it was Jesus’ habit to go, by himself, to pray daily in a ‘lonely place’. This day was different. Peter had, six days earlier, told Jesus that his disciples believed Jesus was the promised ‘coming King’. In response, Jesus’ words became dark and he predicted his death. Would his followers continue to follow him? After all he also spoke about a ‘resurrection’. Peter’s interpreter (Mark) tells us what happened on the seventh day after Peter’s confession (sundown day 6), Jesus led Peter, James and John up a mountain. There Jesus’ friends experienced a blazing vision of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah, complete with an enveloping cloud and the voice of God saying, “This is my son, and I love him. Listen to what he says!”(v7). For Jesus and his disciples this was a reaffirmation of Jesus’ baptismal status as “my son” and a promise of God’s support (“I love him”). Moses and Elijah had both received mountain top commissions to rescue God’s people, so God’s words also included an affirmation that Jesus and his friends were on the right track and Peter et al (including you and me) should do (thats was to ‘listen’ means) what Jesus’ says. The lessons of Big Change Sunday: Like Jesus, we too daily need, and will daily receive, affirmation from God that we are a much loved child of God – if we are willing to go to pray with Jesus in a lonely place. Like Jesus, every day we will receive affirmation that we are on the right track and will receive strength for the journey – if we are willing to go to pray with Jesus in a lonely place. Like Peter, James & John these gifts will come after we name Jesus’ as our Lord and are willing to continue to follow where he leads.
Climbing Mountains with Jesus
Mountains – I’ve seen a few, climbed some (little ones),
Mountain top experiences – I’ve had a few, but they never lasted,
When I met Jesus I discovered there were lots more mountains to climb – big ones, and every day too,
I am still climbing. Every day,
Every day the track gets steeper and narrower but so much easier because, though,
I still cannot see the path ahead, my shepherd always gently guides me in the right direction,
And on the Jesus’ trail, I have never been afraid or alone.
Resources to enrich your lenten celebration. Includes downloads of: A Journey Into Wholeness, Lent/Easter Prayer Cards, and 40 Daily Ideas Guide for Lent.
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