Today’s prayer is the first of a series taken from the Lenten prayer cards we published.
It is adapted from a longer litany for Lent that I wrote several years ago which appears in the Lenten devotional A Journey Into Wholeness.
A couple of 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.
Image via http://www.101woonideeen.nl/blog/woonbeurs-humade-and-kintsugi.html
There is an ancient Japanese art, from the 15th century, called Kintsugi. It is, essentially, the art of taking broken pieces of porcelain and remaking them into pots. These are usually sealed with gold resin.
It is said, a vessel fixed by Kintsugi will be more beautiful, more precious, than before it was broken.
And when I first found out about Kintsugi, the first thing I thought – (apart from ‘Wow, that’s a strange word’) – was how this reminded me of grace. And how this one word, and what it means, can give us hope of a new tomorrow.
We are broken people, living in a broken world. We’ve all messed up, made mistakes, got regrets. In some way all of us have participated in the fallen-ness of this world. And we’re all in need of grace.
Grace is at the heart of our faith. It’s where our journey of discipleship must begin. And it can only begin when we allow God to shine the light of grace on our brokenness. We all know where we struggle, where we’ve made mistakes. There may be some mistakes we were never aware of, but we all have regrets, actions we wish we’d left undone, words we wish we’d never said, thoughts we wish we’d never had.
And we can keep running from them. Hiding in the dark, keeping these issues away from the light, and denying they even happened. We call this ‘burying the past’, but all this does is build up inside, until it begins to control us, haunt us, and overwhelm us.
If we are wanting to truly grow, if we want to know the most intimacy a person can have with the divine, we must be willing to let Him shine His light of grace on our lives. To expose ourselves to the truth about ourselves – both the bad, but also the good.
The good is that we are already loved. Already accepted. Already have infinite value and worth. We did when we were conceived, and we always have had. We never have to prove ourselves to anyone, and we need have no fear. Because we are and always will be loved, valuable, and precious.
When we allow the light of grace to expose this truth, we discover hope. We discover the opportunity of a new tomorrow. We see a new story can be written.
God takes the broken pieces of our lives, and puts them together, to make something more beautiful than we could ever have imagined. This process takes a lifetime, journeying with the divine, falling down and getting up again. Being broken, and repaired, again and again.
So this lent, allow God to shine the light of His grace on you. Let Him expose the truth of both your brokenness and your infinite value.
And allow Him to reshape you, to make a new creation. More beautiful than you ever realised. More precious than you will ever understand.
Submit yourself, to God’s Kintsugi of Grace.
James Prescott is a writer, author and blogger. He blogs regularly at www.jamesprescott.co.uk on encouragement, telling a better story, and discovering hope in a broken world. His first full length book, “Mosaic of Grace: God’s Beautiful Reshaping of Our Broken Lives” is available later this year. For more information, check out his blog and follow him on Twitter at @JamesPrescott77
The Inner Battle
by Lynne M. Baab
I was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1997, and soon after that I had a conversation about Lent with the senior minister at the church where I was an associate pastor. He told me he’d read an interesting article about why Lent was irrelevant, and he gave me a copy of the article.
I pondered that article for a long time. The author talked about the fact that post-resurrection, our focus is supposed to be on Jesus’ triumph over death, sin, evil and Satan. All that negative power had been broken in Jesus’ resurrection, the author said, and we need to focus on that amazing gift. Lent, the author said, focuses too much on the negative – Jesus’ painful journey to the cross – and we are called to focus on the positive. Every day should be a day of joy and celebration of God’s power over the forces of evil.
The article reminded me of the issues raised in Romans 7 and 8. In Romans 7, Paul describes the inner battle of wanting to follow God and do good things, but he also felt pulled in another direction: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . . I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (verses 15 and 18). He goes on to say that he delights in God’s law in his inner being but he also experiences himself as captive to sin (verses 22 and 23).
Then he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who can rescue from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (verses 24 and 25). Paul goes on in chapter 8 to describe what the rescued life can be like in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I believe we live in the tension of Romans 7 and Romans 8. Both are true. We still fight our inner drives to do things we know are counterproductive for us and the people around us. This tension between the sin at work in us and the triumph of Jesus over sin is a real and pervasive part of life on earth, even life as a follower of Jesus. It’s sad. It’s hard. It takes constant effort, constant trust in God, constant reliance on the Holy Spirit to trust God in the midst of inner forces pulling us elsewhere. But there are moments – many wonderful moments – when God’s power does break into our lives and we experience God’s joy, peace and hope.
To argue, as the author of that article on Lent did, that Jesus’ triumph over sin, death and the devil is fully realized on earth is inaccurate and destructive. It’s simply not true, and it damages Christians to have the expectation that because they now follow Jesus, everything will go well in their inner being.
I’ve struggled with food, eating and weight for decades. It’s gotten better. God has brought amazing healing, but the inner battle of thinking that food will solve emotional issues still rages within me sometimes. The fact that this battle still recurs is so sad. It’s hard. It takes constant effort, constant trust in God, constant reliance on the Holy Spirit to fight those inner voices. And there are moments – many wonderful moments – when God’s power does break into my life and I experience God’s joy, peace and hope.
Artists use the word “chiaroscuro” to describe strong contrasts of light and dark that make paintings come alive. A painting with even tones doesn’t work very well. The watercolor painting above is by my husband, Dave Baab. The setting is Lake Hawea on the South Island of New Zealand. Notice how the painting simply would not work without the dark patches.
My life is full of chiaroscuro, and the dark and light are both at work within me. The dark makes the light so valuable and precious, and I know the light is triumphing and will one day triumph completely. Lent provides us the opportunity to journey with Jesus to the cross, to focus on those places within us where our own inner voices battle with our desire to follow and obey God, to feel sad about this inner darkness and mourn, knowing that God’s resurrection power is also at work in us.
Bio
Today’s post is written by Lynne M Baab. Lynne is the author of numerous books on Christian spiritual practices, including Sabbath Keeping,Fasting, and Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation. She teaches pastoral theology in New Zealand. Her website has numerous articles she’s written about spiritual practices, as well as information about her books.
Lent – Not Denial But Transformation
Its Ash Wednesday, (yes it is already Ash Wednesday in Australia and New Zealand) the one day of the year when Christians still flock to church for a mid week service. In some circles it’s become a bit of a fashion statement to have ashes on our foreheads for a day or two. Though traditionally a Catholic observance, Ash Wednesday service and the forty days of Lent which follow, are gaining popularity in a wide variety of denominations from Baptist to Pentecostal.
Most of us think of Lent with a list of trivial things we intent to give up – TV, video games, social media, chocolate, or coffee. Some of us fast for a day or two and get a warm glow of satisfaction because of our sacrifices. Unfortunately these observances make little if any difference to the ongoing journey of our lives and few of us think about using this time to dig deep in our hearts to sweep out the corners in which sin has accumulated, creating barriers between us and God.
Lent is not really about sacrifice and deprivation, it is about freedom and transformation. This is not a time to wallow in our sins and shout woe is me, though it is a time to acknowledge our brokenness, repent of our sins and journey towards wholeness. It is a time to acknowledge the deep longing of our hearts for a more intimate walk with God and consider ways that we might accomplish that.
In the early church Lent was a time of preparation for those about to be baptized. Today it is more often regarded as a season of soul-searching and repentance for all Christians as a preparation for the joy and celebration of Easter. In both cases the focus of Lent is on how to become more effective representatives of Christ and act as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom now, in this world, in anticipation of that day when Christ will make all things new.
A couple of months ago I came across this quote from Thomas Merton’s Seasons of Celebration.
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 into freedom, to learn to live with no other master but God himself. (13)
For me Merton’s words sum up the true purpose of Lent. God wants to educate us into the true freedom of following God with all our hearts and minds and actions. In this season God wants to liberate us from the bondages of our slavery to self centredness, greed, busyness, and rampant consumerism. God wants us to help others be liberated from the bondages of poverty, sex trafficking, imprisonment, addictions, injustice and disease. And God wants us to commit to the liberation of our earth from pollution, deforestation and species extinction.
Burning the ashes
The ashes used in church services on Ash Wednesday are traditionally made by burning the Palm Sunday crosses from the previous year. Last year I did just that and it was so impacting that I have started a new tradition that I intend to perform each year. I burnt my cross, reminding 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. Burning my cross reminds me that the crucifixion is not really about fasting and mourning but rather about transformation. We look beyond the cross to the joy of entering the life of God’s kingdom and this is indeed a season to prepare us for that new life in Christ.
As you are anointed with ashes today and begin your journey through Lent think about the parts of your life that still need to be transformed. What is one place of brokenness you long to see transformed? What practices could you adopt during Lent to see that transformation occur and experience the freedom of following God in new ways?
Read this prayer and spend a few minutes thinking about your commitments for this season. Write them in your journal or on a card you carry with you for the next 40 days.
For more Lenten resources:
A free download for the 40+ days of Lent
Daily Scripture Readings for Lent
And keep your eyes open for upcoming lists on Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu via http://theforgivenessproject.com
Today’s prayer is attributed to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu adapted from an original prayer by Sir Francis Drake. I first posted this prayer a couple of years ago and it continues to be one of the most popular on my blog. I thought I would post it again as it is so appropriate for the season of Lent.
Disturb us, O Lord
when we are too well-pleased with ourselves
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,
because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, O Lord
when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the water of life
when, having fallen in love with time,
we have ceased to dream of eternity
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord
to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas
where storms show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes
and invited the brave to follow.
Amen
A couple of years ago I also obtained a copy of Desmond Tutu’s An African Prayer Book. It has some wonderful prayers in it and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to enrich their prayer life.
My prayer for Ash Wednesday this year 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.
- Ash Wednesday Prayer for 2013
- Ash Wednesday Prayer for 2012
- Another prayer for Ash Wednesday 2012
- Ash Wednesday Prayer 2011
- Ash Wednesday Prayer 2010
- 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.
Also check out this short meditation which Odyssey Networks produced last year as an adaption from one of my Ash Wednesday prayers. It appears on their mobile app Call On Faith and I thought that some of you might appreciate it.
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.
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