Welcome to Lent and the journey with Jesus towards the Cross and the wholeness of God’s eternal world. As you know it is my belief that Lent is not meant to be about denial and sacrifice but about transformation and the area of transformation I will focus on this year is reconciliation. To begin our series Stop Playing Games: Join God’s Reconciling Work For Lent, lets revisit our theme and remind ourselves of God’s call to reconciliation.
The good news of the gospel is God’s desire to reconcile all things to God self. This is an holistic plan, that embraces not just our inner transformation and reconciliation to God but restoration of creation, the making of peace where there is enmity, healing where there is brokenness and renewal wherever the image of God is distorted. Our creator has begun a process of redemption to restore all things to what they were meant to be. The season of Lent is a great time to remind ourselves of that and look at ways we can participate in God’s great plan. .
For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross (Col 1:19-20)
The question is how do we get there? As Kerry Dearborn asks in her inspiring new book Drinking from the Wells of New Creation What transforms approaches to reconciliation from being empty verbal niceties or guilt-assauging “quick fixes” to dynamic expressions of the gospel? (68)
She believes that through the Holy Spirit, God’s love has flooded our hearts, united us with God and empowered us to participate in the reconciliation established by God through Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Our goal is to share in the Spirit’s nurturing and life-giving work.
To share in the Spirit’s nature is to create a safe place for life to grow and flourish. In the work of reconciliation it requires drawing close enough to extend a kind of incubating warmth that participates in the Spirit’s work of re-creation. (43)
She goes on to explain that it is the imagination that opens the heart’s floodgates to both receive and release the Spirit’s love to others. First the imagination is the solvent breaking down old ways of seeing the world. Second its creative facility offers us a new vision of life and hope, reshaping our desires and expectations around God’s vision of reconciliation. Third its integrative power connects heart, mind and body to this new vision and catalyzes responses. (69)
It is this good news and the power of the imagination to reshape and transform our responses so that God’s great plan for reconciliation becomes central to all we are and do, that will be the central theme for our Lenten reflections.
This is a big topic and one that we will obviously only be able to scratch the surface of. There are so many areas in which we need to see reconciliation. God longs for us to draw close and embrace the inner restoration and reconciliation to the image of God within us. God also desires racial reconciliation, economic reconciliation and reconciliation to the land and our calling to be good stewards. These are but a few of the areas we hope to touch on.
As we begin our journey together I am reminded of Native American activist Richard Twiss who, not long before he died said to me: “We don’t want you to invite us to your table we want you to invite us to sit down and create a new table together.” In the same spirit, Diana Butler Bass says: Tolerance allows divergent opinions to exist; hospitality welcomes and invites others into dialogue in a spirit of love and trust.
For reconciliation there must be collaboration and hospitality that opens our hearts and our minds to the reconciling love of God. That is just what we want to do and we hope that you will join us on the journey.
Help us learn together and create a new table at which all of us can sit down as equals, affirming and celebrating our differences and the ways that God’s life and light are uniquely revealed.
Stir your imagination and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you. Do you have a story of reconciliation – within yourself, to God, to others, or to God’s world you would like to share? There is still time to sign up to contribute to the Lenten blog series this year. Leave a comment below and I will send you details of how to submit your article.
Do you know of others whose stories should be told during Lent this year? Invite them to be a part of this too. We hope that this will be a rich season of learning and transformation for all of us as we journey together toward the cross.
Playing for the ashes… it conjures up for many of us, at least from Australia or England, the test cricket match between the two countries, a fiercely fought game that dates back over a hundred years. But that is not what I am writing about here. The ashes that I am thinking of have nothing to do with a game but with Ash Wednesday which ushers in probably the most serious event of history – Jesus final days and his walk towards the Cross.
For many of us, today marks the beginning of a personal journey too as we join Jesus in his final days. Unfortunately, many of us treat the season of Lent like a game – more like the cricket match called The Ashes than like the serious turn around time it is meant to be. We come to the season with a list of trivial things we intend to give up – TV, video games, chocolate, but most of us don’t really take the season seriously or use it as a time to dig deeply into our hearts to sweep out the corners in which sin has accumulated. The ashes used in church services on Ash Wednesday are traditionally made by burning the Palm Sunday crosses from the previous year so a couple of years ago I decided to experiment.
Burning my cross and palms for the previous year has become a part of my Lenten ritual. I deliberately keep my Palm Sunday crosses as a reminder throughout the year of Jesus sacrifice then I burn them at the beginning of Lent to remind myself that the repentance I seek at this season is only possible because of the incomprehensible gift of Christ and his death on a cross 2,000 years ago. This year my crosses were burned at our pre-Lent retreat Stop Playing Games Return to Our Senses for Lent. It seemed an appropriate theme for the ceremony.
Burning my Palm Sunday cross each year has a big impact on me. It reminds me that the crucifixion is not really meant to be the focus of our mourning and fasting. We mourn and fast not because we are heading to the cross but because we want to shed all that disrupts our intimate walk with God. We look beyond the cross to the life of God’s kingdom. Asking myself what still needs to be repented of and transformed in my life so that I can be an effective citizen of God’s resurrection created world is probably the most important question of Lent. I want to become all that God intends me to be. I want to leave behind all that prevents me from becoming that person. I want to thirst for righteousness and hunger for justice rather than for water and food.
As part of my preparation for Lent each year I write an prayer for Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. I have updated the links to previous prayers and added more links to other inspirational prayers that you might like to check out.
Here is a link to my 2016 Ash Wednesday prayer.
My own 2015 Ash Wednesday prayer was adapted from Isaiah 58 – one of my favourite scriptures to meditate on at this season.
I suggest that after you read through the prayer, you then read the scripture Isaiah 58:5-12 in The Voice translation. and then again in the New Living Translation. and finally in The Message. Spend time thinking about the implications of these verses for your life and how God might challenge you to live them out during the season of Lent.
My prayer for Ash Wednesday 2014 comes out of my own deep desire to be transformed and to see something new of God’s image emerge in my life
You might also like to check out some of the prayers from previous years.
This prayer was adapted by Odyssey ministries in the following video. Putting prayers like this to music with photos is a practice that I find very faith building. Perhaps it is a practice you would like to enter into during this Lenten season.
Another prayer for Ash Wednesday 2012
And our Lenten meditation from 2012
The featured music: “O Redemptor” from the CD “Prayers of St. Brendan” by Jeff Johnson
© 2011 Ark Records Used with permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Other inspirational Ash Wednesday Prayers
Churchyear.net has a great collection of prayers for Ash Wednesday
Faith and Worship has a great Ash Wednesday Liturgy
From the United Methodist Church another Ash Wednesday Prayer
Resources from Textweek.com are always worth revisiting.
From Catholics Online links to a rich array of Ash Wednesday prayers
An Ash Wednesday Collect from Bosco Peters in New Zealand
I enjoyed this interesting reflection on the contrast between Lent and Carnival
You may also like to listen to T.S. Eliot read the first part of his famous Ash Wednesday poem and reflect on what he says. Or read the entire poem and commentary.
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Monday before Ash Wednesday is called Clean Monday and the first week of Lent is often called clean week. The idea is based on the verse above. Though the dates for Eastern Lent (called Great Lent) and Easter are different from those we use in the Western church, I think it is a day well worth meditating on.
This is the traditional day for spring cleaning and today I plan to clean out my office space and set up my sacred space ready for Lent.
As I reflected on this, I realized that this desire to clean things up is far more significant and more intentional than we realize.
If we want to do a thorough job of cleaning, first we must notice that something is dirty, not the way it is meant to be. Second, we must make time to do something about it. Third, we must take action. Cleaning is a very intentional activity. Dirt does not disappear without a concerted effort to get rid of it. Sometimes it requires a lot of work. We need to recruit help and purchase supplies.
In some ways, cleaning is a thankless job because a space never remains clean. We need to do the job over and over again. However, hopefully in the back of our minds is our vision of what the space could look like if it was clean and its inspiration keeps us cleaning.
What is your response?
Read through the scripture above several times. Think of an area in your home that you would like to see cleaned up. Visualize in your mind how you would like it to look. What would you need to do to accomplish that? What are the parallels you see in your life to the physical cleansing you need to embark on?
As I read through the Isaiah passage, I was struck by the three dimensions of spiritual cleanliness – personal cleanliness, in our attitudes towards the most vulnerable in our world, and towards the earth. Cleanliness is not just some inner resolve, it involves outward actions too.
As you read through these verses, what came to your mind? In what ways could you “clean up your act”?
1. Personally – what dirt do you notice in your personal life that needs to be cleaned up?
2. Towards the most vulnerable – are there dirty corners in your attitudes towards those at the margins? Do you take advantage of cheap labour, show contempt for the homeless or conflict with those of other ethnic backgrounds? How could you work for justice and compassion for the world’s vulnerable?
3. Towards the earth – healthy food and a healthy earth require good organic production methods, responsible consumption and conservation of the earth’s resources. What changes could you make in your lifestyle that result in more healthy food and a healthy earth?
Read through the Isaiah passage again and listen to the song below. Listen for God’s promptings. What other areas of your life or your neighbourhood is God asking you to clean up during this season? What are the intentional actions you need to take to make that possible?
It’s Valentine’s Day, to be honest not a celebration that I have ever really approved of. I see it as yet another commercial venture to encourage us to buy and consume more – especially chocolate. I struggle with it a lot because it seems to me that the love we celebrate on this day is the very antithesis of the love of God. It started out as a religious celebration commemorating the life of St Valentine, one of the early Christian martyrs but today is more a celebration of romantic, erotic love and another opportunity for the consumer culture to have us all out there buying lots of chocolates, roses and other gifts that we don’t really need. I was overwhelmed as I walked through the supermarket yesterday by the array of red flowers, red chocolate boxes and red cup cakes that were strategically placed to jump out at me as I entered the store. This is not what love is about.
The bible tells us God is love and Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds and love our neighbours as ourselves. This is a very different love from that touted on Valentine’s day.
I struggle because most chocolate is not ethically produced and there is no way we can love our neighbours, those who produce chocolate, when their lives are lived in misery. An article in Huffington post states:
According to an investigative report by the BBC, hundreds of thousands of children are being purchased from their parents or outright stolen and then shipped to Ivory Coast, where they are enslaved on cocoa farms. Destitute parents in these poverty-stricken lands sell their children to traffickers believing that they will find honest work in Ivory Coast and send some of their earnings home. The terrible reality is that these children, 11-to-16-years-old but sometimes younger, are forced to do hard manual labor 80 to 100 hours a week. They are paid nothing, receive no education, are under fed, and are often viciously beaten if they try to escape. Most will never see their families again.
But chocolate is good for us and it is easy to ignore its dark underside, especially on a day like this. And love is good for us. My husband Tom sees this as a day to affirm his love for me and for others, something that I always deeply appreciate. And God is a God of love. Affirming love for God, for each other and for God’s world are extremely important, but that means being concerned for those who live in misery so that we can enjoy cheap chocolates today.
So what do we do about it? Here are some suggestions:
- Start the day by reading Paul’s wonderful description of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Read it in a few different versions (available at Biblegateway.com)
- Read some of the wonderful love poems of Christian saints. My favourite is Fall in Love by Father Pedro Arrupe. I also love this reflection on How to Love God by Mother Teresa
- Be generous with your love. The New American Dream suggests rebooting Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day, seeing it not as a day to receive gifts of love but to give them. They suggest saying “yes” every time you are asked for a donation, a handout or a request. Give a $5 tip for a $2 cup of coffee. Bring in lunch for your co-workers. Certainly something to consider.
- Be generous with your gratitude. I think this is also a good day to show gratitude to those who love you and whom you love. Make phone calls to friends you have not spoken to for a while. Tell them how much you appreciate them.
- Purchase only ethically produced gifts and chocolates. Are you supporting conflict chocolate…yes, conflict chocolate, like conflict diamonds but with more caffeine.? How to Buy a Conflict Free Valentine’s Gift, gives some good suggestions on how to make more informed choices. There are many fair traded chocolate companies out there that we can support, and many of them are small locally owned companies, like Theo chocolates here in Seattle that we visited on Valentine’s day several years ago.
- Reach out to those who produce your chocolate and other favourite Valentine’s gifts. Watch The Dark Side of Chocolate with a group of friends and consider ways to make a difference in the lives of those who suffer for our indulgences.
Let me know what you plan to do this Valentine’s day in the spirit of the love of God?
Discern together – Supper at Emmaus by Roy de Maistre
I am in a very busy season of life, feeling I am juggling an ever increasing load of work, seeking ways to maximize my productivity and increase my efficiency all the time.
As I pondered my “efficiency” over these weeks I was reminded of a book I read several years ago by Ruby Payne entitled A Framework for Understanding Poverty. In the book she talks about something most of us rarely think about – what people give up in order to move from poverty to the middle class or from the middle class to wealth. The major thing that people need to be willing to give up is relationships. Specifically she feels that to move from poverty to the middle class we need to be willing to give up relationships for efficiency.
Its true, the busier we get – and our middle class lifestyles are extremely busy, the less time we have for meaningful relationships. Our relationships to our families and to our friends and to God can suffer severely and our relationships to God’s worldwide community is often not even on the screen. We stop eating meals together, schedule our summers with programs rather than family outings, and sit in front of screens rather than people. No wonder family breakups are common and our indifference to the suffer of others is epidemic.
This was all brought home to me this morning as I reread Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, by Henri Nowen, Donald MacNeill, and Douglas Morrison.
“Discipleship is walking together on the same path. While still living wholly in the world, we have discovered each other as fellow travellers on the same path and have formed a new community…. We have become a new people with a new mind, a new way of seeing and hearing, and a new hope because of our common fellowship with Christ.”
We cannot walk together unless we are willing to take time for each other and that might mean being willing to give up some of our efficiency and productivity for relationships. In order to be good followers of Christ I think we need to revisit our values and the principles that under gird our lives.
Supper At Emmaus by He Qi
After Jesus resurrection he appeared to his disciples on several occasions. The thing that intrigues me is the intimacy and seeming inefficiency of these appearances. He wastes a whole day walking with 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus, he relaxes on the beach in Galilee making breakfast for his friends and he takes time to calm the fears and anxieties of those who afraid. Not what we would expect of someone whose great sacrifice had just brought salvation to the world. Maybe all of us would be more effective followers of Christ if we focussed less on accomplishing tasks and more on developing and nurturing relationships. What do you think?
Evening Prayer for Lenten Season
Let us seek the living God whose love is close at hand,
Let us pray to the One who waits patiently to be found.
May we abandon our dishonest ways,
And give up our unrighteous thoughts.
Let us come back to God with repentant hearts,
Let us come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins.
God is merciful and kind to those who return,
God’s love is extravagant and forgiving to all who come near.
Let us change our lives and not our clothes,
Let us come back to the God who never leaves us.
Though our sins are like scarlet wounds,
They will be washed away and become white as snow.
(Pause to remind yourself of the places in which you have experienced God’s forgiveness and redemptive love)
Have mercy on us, O God,
Because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
Blot out the sins that stain us.
Wash us clean from our guilt,
And purify our hearts from our sin.
Renew our inner spirit to become steadfast and unswerving,
So that we will be willing to obey you.
Do not turn us away from your loving presence O God,
Restore the joy of your salvation within us.
The sacrifice you desire is a penitent spirit,
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God
Read evening psalms for the day from the Daily Lectionary.
God may we reach within this night,
To the hidden places of our souls.
May we uncover the sins that bind us.
May we reach without this night,
Into the brokenness of our world.
May we expose our indifference to its cries.
May we reach down this night,
Into the pollution of creation.
May we admit to our part in its contamination.
God may we reach upward this night,
Into your forgiving embrace.
May we find the joy of eternal life.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and forever. Amen.
(Pause to offer up your own prayers and intercessions)
Lord we have denied you,
Each time we refused to see you in the faces of the hungry and the homeless.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we have betrayed you ,
Each time we have kept our distance from the anguish of the oppressed and the persecuted.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we have mocked you,
Each time we have pretended we do not know how radically you call us to live.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we are lost and have strayed,
Reconcile us to your image and make us new.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
All merciful One, God of infinite love and compassion, though we have strayed you have never abandoned us. In this season of repentance we come confessing our sins and reaching out for the healing power of your forgiveness. Through Christ our Lord, give us renewed and truthful hearts that will follow you in all of our ways.
Righteous God,
Compassionate and generous one
Who forgives our sins and has mercy on us
Fill our hidden places with your healing light,
Breathe on us afresh this night and grant us rest.
May your compassion bloom in us
May your righteousness bear fruit
May your generosity encourage us to share
May your love grow strong and deep within us
Breathe on us afresh this night and grant us rest.
Amen
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