Image by Nils von Kalm
By Nils von Kalm
Lent is a solemn time of year for me. In a way, it’s possibly my favourite time in the Christian calendar, alongside Christmas. They are my favourite times for vastly different reasons though.
The season of Lent is traditionally seen as a time of sacrifice in preparation for the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. For people like me, who tend to a more melancholic temperament, Lent is something I can relate to quite intimately.
As well as being on the melancholic side, it is my life experiences that make Lent relatable for me. Without making too much of a point of it, I have known a fair amount of suffering in my life, even though I live in one of the most affluent countries in the world and have everything I want materially.
It is the times in my life that I have suffered the most that have been the times when I have also grown the most. It has been said by a few people that life is about how you deal with loss, ultimately to the loss of your life. It is through my losses, much more than through my successes, that I have learned my greatest lessons in life.
Our culture doesn’t deal well with loss though. Sadly, much of the Western church is no different. We turn the volume louder in our praise and worship sessions and sing endlessly of God’s favour and blessing.
This is not to undermine the fact of God’s blessing, but the way it is often played out in our churches does not reflect what I read in the pages of Scripture. Every leader in both the Old and New Testaments went through a wilderness experience. And the author of most of the New Testament, St Paul, experienced lashings, shipwrecks, beatings and rejection as part of his journey of faith. Paul above anyone knew what it was to suffer.
And as for Jesus himself, he was known as a man of sorrows, familiar with grief (Isaiah 53:3). When he told his followers that he was going to die, they simply could not comprehend that this could happen to the messiah. But it was this fact of a crucified messiah, humiliating and shameful as that concept was in Roman times, that slowly turned the Empire on its head.
Those first Christians knew that the way to life in Christ was through death. They even rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer for their faith (Acts 5:41).
As we approach Easter, Lent reminds us that there is no resurrection without death. Franciscan priest Richard Rohr talks about the great paradox of Christian faith being that, to live we must “die before we die”. It is easy to forget that being Christian is not about self-fulfillment, it is about self-emptying. Philippians 2:6-8 reminds us that Jesus emptied himself to die a shameful and humiliating death on a Roman cross. It was only after this that he was raised to new life.
The wonderful paradox of Christian faith is that we die to live, we suffer to gain glory, and we surrender to gain the victory we have always longed for.
This is what Lent reminds me of. Lent is not a time of morbidity; it is instead a time of reality. Life is hard, and our self-sufficient attempts to make it easy ultimately fail. It is in acknowledgment of the crucified One, in submission to him, that I find the life and meaning that my life has been seeking from the day I came into this world. As I look forward to Resurrection Sunday, I continue to trudge the road of life, joyful in hope, and hopeful in perseverance that my trudging is not in vain.
The great Christian hope is that the suffering the world experiences now will not compare to the glory that awaits us (Romans 8:18). Jesus is making all things new. This solemn time of Lent will pass, but it must be walked through, not walked around. It is in walking through it though that we realise the hope that we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).
Far from being morbid, Lent is about this hope. It is even about joy. That is why Paul could boast in his weaknesses and glory in his sufferings. He knew that strength lay in weakness, that victory lay in defeat.
Lent runs counter to the culture of success and winning that characterizes our world. Lent is a witness that the road to life is narrow and uphill, but the point is that it is the road to life. In these days of violence and fear, a broken world needs Lent like never before.
By Rowan Wyatt
At this time of Lent one is thinking of the preparation of the return of the living Christ, the Messiah, the Holy Son of God. We think about our own preparations at this time with prayer and searching thought, looking to that Easter day at the end of the Lenten period.
On the journey of life as a Christian one of the preparations we make is following the sacrament of Baptism, dying to ourselves, being ‘buried’ and then passing up through the cleansing waters to be a new creation in Christ. So with that thought of dying and being ‘born-again’ (John 3:3), we see that preparation for baptism and preparation for Lent are very similar indeed.
Before I moved to Tunbridge Wells I lived in a small village and every Easter Sunday we would head out of the church building at sunrise to pray and worship as the sun rose. We would stand by the shores of the vast lake and wait for the sun to peep over the tree tops on the horizon. As it did the waters of the lake would burn with a vibrant orange gold colour and we would all cheer and pray aloud creating a wonderfully blessed atmosphere and a very poignant moment. We all used to look at the water and think of Jesus passing through the waters on his Baptism and how we had followed him.
My own tale of baptismal preparation is an example of how NOT to do it. I wasn’t ready. I really wasn’t ready! I had only been a Christian for a few weeks and knew nothing of faith, knew nothing at all of what Baptism meant. My church had no classes and were so keen for this rare event, in their church, of baptizing a new believer that I was fast tracked through it, having little idea what was going on. Whilst I don’t doubt God was present during my baptism I don’t feel I was truly baptized, that lack of preparation and ignorance of what I was doing I feel robbed me of the kind of baptismal experience others would later relate to me. I still feel that my ill prepared baptism requires a conclusion so I am going to seek to renew my Baptismal vows at my church, then I will feel I have truly died with Christ and rose again, a new creation.
I feel Lent is just the right time to begin considering Baptism if you so far have not passed through the waters. The preparation runs parallel to the Lenten period leading up to that Easter day where we celebrate the risen Christ. The two run in tandem and I hope to have the chance to renew my Baptismal vows around Easter time.
Buried in Water By R.R. Wyatt
From the Jordan banks you stepped
Through the growing crowd gathered
And the flowing clear water glistened joyfully
As your foot first entered in.
There standing open mouthed, waist deep
The Baptist cousin waits and watches
You wade confidently in to the swirling coolness
Of the bubbling blessing waters.
There in the sky a white speck descends
Outlined against the sun soars a dove
Majestically angelic as from where it came
A spirit holy proffers benediction.
Plunged deep under into the depths
Fulfilling all righteousness, you rose
Dripping diamonds into the rivers riches
And settling softly on you, the dove.
And to the sound of applause my eyes open
Dripping water, hair plastered to skin
My clothes a tightened sodden shroud
I died along with you in that blessed water.
© Rowan Robert Wyatt 2015
photo by Joy Lenton
post by Christine Sine
This last weekend we celebrate my husband, Tom’s 80th birthday. Some of our friends came from Texas, California, Oregon and British Columbia to join a crowd from here in Seattle. We partied heartily and so as you can imagine I am finding the idea of fasting, which is our theme as we enter the third week since Lent began, a little challenging to think about.
photo by Tom Balke
Yet in many ways there was some serious fasting going on this weekend too. Many of our guests had sacrificed quite a lot to be with us. Some had given up a day’s wages, others had spent a lot on air tickets, and still others gave up days of their time to help cook an amazing meal for 70 people or get creative with our decorations and creative offerings for Tom.
In an address during Lent in 2015, Pope Francis said:
if we’re going to fast from anything this Lent, Francis suggests that even more than candy or alcohol, we fast from indifference towards others.
I feel that our celebrations this last weekend were an amazing example of this type of fasting. People gave up so much to rejoice with us. Yet together we gained a rich feast.
Tom with our cook Gil George and friend Kim Balke
Feasting and fasting are often intertwined. We give up our personal comforts to help those who lack provision. We give up our indulgences so that everyone can have enough. We give up our freedoms so that others can be liberated.
As God reminds us in Isaiah 58:
What I want in a fast is this: to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice, to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression. A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none, giving those who are homeless a space in your home, giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family. (Isaiah 58:6-7, The Voice)
True fasting, this kind of fasting is, I think, a feast in disguise, as the quote above, from Joy Lenton’s blog, suggests. The fasting of our personal wants is a real fasting of indifference and it should be shared not just with friends but all around us. The riches we gain are far more nourishing and satisfying than what we “give up”. Our doing without opens our eyes and ears to appreciate in new ways the abundance of God around us. And the sharing of that abundance brings a wave of delight and joy that is rarely experienced on our own.
What is Your Response?
Sit quietly, close your eyes and do some reminiscing. Think back over the last couple of years. What situations come to mind that at the time seemed like fasts but were in fact feast in disguise? What occasions can you remember where initially you felt you were giving up something of importance that turned out to be a reaping of abundance instead?
What does this teach you about yourself, about others and about God? Is there a change in your behaviour that God might be asking of you this week in response?
Wilderness by Michael Moore
Back in the early 1990’s (Nov 90 – Mar 94), I was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. It was my first Active duty assignment with the Air Force. Moving from a small yoked parish in Northern Minnesota (two churches, combined membership of maybe 120) to this installation was mind blowing! I went from having three serious counseling cases in three years to having perhaps as many as 40 in one week. During that time, our nation went to war. And we are still at war today. The lives of military members and the life of this chaplain changed drastically when the phrases deployment and expeditionary cycle came into our lexicon.
In 1993, I was able to attend a concert that Michael Card, a Christian musician, put on in Wichita Falls. It was a transformative moment for me. The setting was very simple. His piano was at the center of the stage and he didn’t have a back-up band. It was just Michael Card, his piano, and the audience. He would stop to talk in between his songs. He talked about the development/writing of the particular song and what the message was that he hoped would come from it.
I was experiencing significant spiritual burn-out by that point thanks to too many death notifications, having to identify the body of my colleague who had been murdered, and lots of high stress counseling cases. And, with the work-load and hours, personal spiritual development and refreshment had taken a back burner. My spirit was parched. Spiritually, I was running on empty. So when Michael Card began to talk about his next song, “In the Wilderness”, he hit a chord deep within my spirit.
When you are tired and weary… When your prayers seem empty and your scripture study is dry… Don’t give up! Keep on Praying! Keep on Reading! Keep on Walking with the Lord! Everybody has wilderness experiences in their lives… He said, “I have had them in mine…” And then he sat down and began playing the song. Here are the lyrics:
In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness
But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness
In the wilderness we wander
In the wilderness we weep
In the wasteland of our wanting
Where the darkness seems so deep
We search for the beginning
For an exodus to hold
We find that those who follow Him
Must often walk alone
In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness
But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness
In the wilderness we’re wondering
For a way to understand
In the wilderness there’s not a way
For the ways become a man
And the man’s become the exodus
The way to holy ground
Wandering in the wilderness
Is the best way to be found
In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
In the wilderness
But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness
Groaning and growing
Amidst the desert days
The windy winter wilderness
Can blow the self away
In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness
But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness
And that’s the painful promise
Of the wilderness
Lyrics by Michael Card
Michael Card helped me to find my way to the well of the Lord’s refreshment that evening. And his words and the song have stayed with me all these years as I have traversed the world and ministered in a wide variety of settings. In the Wilderness, God gives grace sufficient to survive any test.
When Jesus went to the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan after 40 days and nights of fasting and praying, God gave Christ sufficient grace to survive that test. As Jesus drew closer to Jerusalem and the Cross, God gave him grace sufficient for the test. And on the cross, God’s grace was sufficient.
Lent is a time of self-reflection in the church year. It is a time to go inward and take inventory of your spiritual life and journey. While these are things we are called to do each and every day, Lent is a special season set aside to do just that. I have walked with a lot of people through the years through their own personal wildernesses. And I have walked through many wildernesses of my own.
The picture above is of a place on the Western edge of Ireland called The Burren (Gaelic Boireann, meaning “great rock”). It is a desolate looking place and especially harsh when the wind is blowing off of the North Atlantic. At first glance, all you see are jagged rocks that are completely barren. However, as Denise and I got out of the car and began to walk over the rocks, it was amazing! The rocks that looked so harsh, jagged, and barren were actually holding life. There were plants flowering and growing out of the cracks in the rock where dirt and seed had lodged. Even in the “wilderness” hope was alive in the form of those rugged and beautiful flowers!
Dear reader, are you walking through the wilderness? Are you tired? Are you feeling like life is empty? You are in the wilderness. But you are NOT alone! Take it from a Padre who has plenty of wilderness experience, you are not alone. In the words of Michael Card, keep praying… keep reading Scripture… keep walking… For the Lord walks with you. May God bless and keep you as you walk through the wilderness with grace sufficient for any test.
Hunger by Alex Tang
By Alex Tang
I feel like I am a jigsaw puzzle – partially assembled but with many pieces missing. There are pieces of me all over the place. Some pieces are lodged in my wife, children and grandchildren, friends, workplace, church, hobbies, and my social tribes. Other pieces are hidden deep inside my inner being. Some pieces are hidden so deep that I am unaware of them. All my life, I have felt a sense of incompleteness, fragmentation and longing. This longing is a siren call for completeness; for the jigsaw to be assembled; for every piece to be in its rightful place. Then I believe I can really know who I am from the picture on the jigsaw. I recognize this feeling as a hunger for shalom; for wholeness and completeness.
Shalom is a beautiful word in Hebrew. Often translated to English as peace, shalom in the Hebrew context has a far deeper meaning. It denotes wholeness, completeness, fulfilment and contentment. Shalom gives the sense of living in the Garden of Eden with God before the Fall. It implies reconciliation of broken relationships. Shalom gives the picture of a soul fully expressed to its full God-given potential, at peace with itself, with God, with other people and with creation. It affirms everything is in its rightful place.
The New Testament describes Jesus as shalom in two ways. Firstly, Jesus is shalom. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace [shalom] (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus is Completeness as God. Secondly, Jesus becomes shalom for us. Paul explains, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace [shalom] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. . . . But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:1–2, 8–10). By his death on the cross, Jesus becomes shalom or the means of reconciliation with God for us. This shalom with God for us is a one-off event. It is a total and complete reconciliation. The broken relationship is fully healed. This happened more than two thousand years ago.
Yet we hunger for shalom. We hunger not because God’s work is not complete but because our healing has not completed. We are in the process of putting the pieces together as we grow towards spiritual maturity. This takes time. We hunger for what we will become when we are fully matured spiritually which is shalom. Hence our continuing hunger. Lent is the season when our hunger intensifies. This is because during Lent, we are reminded anew of the shalom work of Jesus; God incarnate born to die for us. We need this reminder. We need to be reminded that we must discipline our bodies, mortify our unhealthy desires and renew our easily distracted purpose of spiritual growth as we work towards shalom. We look forward to when we no longer hunger, when we finally are one with Christ, who is himself, shalom.
Graphic by Steve Wickham
Do you yearn for rest that appears ever further away?
SOMETHING I hurry against is busyness. This is about wanting to get ahead so I can earn a place of rest and contemplation. The only issue is I’ll often find myself reaching the point of frustration well before I can rest and contemplate. Then, rest and contemplation are further off than ever. Like happiness, peace proves rather elusive when all we can think of seeking is peace — when it’s ever at arm’s length away.
Whatever we desperately seek can either drive us motivationally or it can drive us away from that which we seek. What we’re desperate for ought therefore to pique our awareness. Desperation needs to be converted into intention. When intention becomes strategy, we’re well on the way to a sustained execution of our goal.
We cannot expect that just because we want something badly that that’s enough to acquire it. Again, strategy is what we need. Strategy mixed with intention will be enough to advance us toward our goal: the objective of a rested state which equates to sustained behavioural change.
We cannot ‘earn’ our rest
If we seek to earn our rest, we’ll be quite disappointed. A restful state cannot coalesce with the fury of haste. Anger drives the gentle spirit of the Greek epieikes deep into a chaotic oblivion because there are discordant goals afoot. A self-imposed pressure or pressure from another source also makes rest impossible.
Rest is a gentle place arrived at in gentleness.
Rest is a state of mind that gives the heart permission to be at ease; and, a heart that placates the mind.
Contemplation is not something that will come at us like the rest of life does. Its sweet and indelible presence needs to be invited in; it needs to be sought and then embraced. Room needs to be made for it. Space in our schedules needs to be cleared. Our pace of life needs to be slowed down overall. It needs to become important.
To ‘earn’ our rest is to drive our rest away, not that being diligent and responsible are bad things. Being quietly effectual is, of itself, possible in rest. It is possible to be industrious and restful at the same time. It’s a state of being that’s possible, but only if we take the Presence of God with us, via a rest of Christ contemplation.
A real peace – Rest by Christ Contemplation
A rest via Christ contemplation is simply the practice of a holy and reflective reverie of spiritual bliss; to be lost in one’s thoughts in the majesty of the Spirit’s Presence.
Such a practice can be taken with us; it can be enjoyed mindfully, anywhere.
A real peace is available anytime we try it, simply in enjoying the Presence of Christ with us, presently, and contemplating the fact he is with us as well as being prayerful in the moment to imagine what the Lord is saying.
We can imagine the grace of the Lord permeating us, bringing us shalom like no other peace, simply because he’s there, in our midst, slowing all of life down, because life suddenly has an eternal perspective. See the pace of the natural world. Like clockwork: no hurry or busyness there, just natural cooperation.
We can imagine his Spirit speaking in the dulcet tones of eternity, bringing the pace of our pulse down into reflectiveness. We can imagine Jesus saying, “Do you love me?” and his approving affirmation when we answer him as Peter did, “Of course I do, Lord,” even as we conjure up ways of loving him more by resting better. We imagine being a Mary, pleasing Jesus simply by stopping and being with him. We imagine communing with Jesus as Simon of Cyrene did — in a moment’s glance — in helping his Saviour carry his cross — and we imagine eternity communicated in one solitary pain-lit glance.
***
Do you hunger for peace and your place with Christ? He wants you. He wants you to want him. And he wants this for you, not for himself.
Jesus knows our peace, and he knows it’s in himself that we’ll secure it.
The rest of Christ contemplation gives us peace, and the capacity to learn the experience of joy.
No matter what is our struggle, God can help us overcome it; the rest of peace deep in our soul is the way.
Deep peace, fervent contentment, vapid joy, surging hope: all through Jesus.
Letting materialism ebb away, and the simplicity of his Spirit flow in.
But we must first enter in; slow down into Christ contemplation. To where he welcomes us, as we are.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
I had not planned to post any new Lenten prayers this year. I am so enjoying those posted by others instead. However the popularity of this prayer when I posted it on the Light for the Journey Facebook page this week prompted me to at least share this one with you. Enjoy!
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