Lent is coming...what's your practice?

Lent begins this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday to be exact.  It's the 40 day period leading us to the joyous celebration of Easter.  The season of Lent is a time of repentance, a time to reflect on God's relationship with us and in essence think about and actually address the things that get in the way of God's love and grace in our lives.  The traditional focus in Lent is through prayer, fasting and giving of alms.  

When I was younger, there was a focus on giving something up for Lent.  One year I wanted to give up Brussels spouts.  (Truth is, I didn't like them back then, at all.) Come to find out Lent isn't about giving up things you don't like as much as it is giving things up that take time or space from God's presence in your life.  More recently, there has been a trend to take something on for Lent.  Either an additional devotional practice, a new way for you to serve, or an act of kindness that you extend to different people.  Some people give something up, like a daily cup of coffee from their favorite coffee shop and then donate that money to a charity or church. 

There are lots of options for the season.  This year, since my word of the year is 'intentional,' I want to  be intentional about my focus this Lent.  As I thought about ways to be intentional, I realized that I needed to think about what my goal or hopeful outcome at the end of the season would be. 

I realized that I wanted to help myself develop habits that would help my body, mind, and spirit deepen in relationship with God and with others in these ways:

• To see and experience Jesus every day.  
• To live out my best life (the life that God has in store for me)
• To help me love others more deeply and to be more deeply loved.  

As I thought about the above, I realized that I wanted to add or remove things that would help my emotional, physical, spiritual and mental wellbeing.  I believe all these areas are part of who I am as a child of God and who God created me and calls me to be in the world.  

That being said, I came up with 11 practices/activities/habits to incorporate into the 40 day Lenten journey.  

1) Read the Chronicles of Narnia.  I know as a kid, my dad read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe aloud to me.  (He has a great Aslan voice.)  I have not read the entire series and per recommendation of a friend, Lent would be a good time to read at least the first book in the series.  We'll see how the rest of the books pan out, but I feel like it's a good time to engage with these characters and these stories as we journey to the cross and the empty tomb.  

2) Drink at least 3 nalgenes of water a day.  Some days I'm really good at this and other days, I'm walking around mostly dehydrated.  This is a way to help my body function - run, recover, work, rest and play to the best of its ability.  Not to mention, my body is a gift from God, and I want to take care of it as best as I can.  

3) Write every day.  I've been working through the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron in hopes of helping my inner creative being emerge and begin the process of writing a devotional book.  I've been working through this book as a class.  Part of the class invites the reader to write 3 pages every morning.  I've started this, but want to make this an intentional focus this Lent partly for the opportunity to write, but also the opportunity to reflect on the season and the reading I'm doing this season.  

4) Write down where I see Jesus - every day.  Pretty self explanatory, but a good one to keep track of for 40 days.  

5) Cut out sugar.  I went sugar free in January and I noticed energy and solid workouts without added sugar in my diet.  I'll start this on March 1 (after celebrating my nephew's 6th birthday).  It will take on the form of baked goods, processed foods and candy - not to mention other sugar added items.  

6) Set time for a weekly Artist's Date.  This comes from The Artist's Way.  It is an intentional weekly date with myself to nurture my inner artist and creator.  

7) Nightly check-ins.  A short journal entry to include highs and lows from the day and where I saw Jesus that day, too.  

8) Date night 2X a month.  How does this help me to see Jesus and to live out my best life?  By helping me to love and be loved and experience love and time with my husband.  It is life and spirit giving.  

9) Get 7.5+ hours of sleep each night.  

10) Daily devotions.  My devotional life ebbs and flows.  This 40 day period is a perfect time to enter back into the practice of centering prayer through scripture, poems and meditation.  

11) Weekly friend dates.  Either a walk or a meal or time with a friend - outside of work time to again, help me see God's love in my life and in the lives of my friends.  


And there you have it....my Lenten practice or practices or habits to help me see and experience Jesus every day, live out my best life (the one God is calling me into daily) and to more fully love and be loved.  

What are your practices?  Changes?  Giving something up?  Taking something on?  
What is your 40 day focus?  
Whatever it is, my prayer for you is that it gives you time and space to connect more deeply with the God in whom you believe.  May this journey be the holy trek you need right now.  

+peace

Choose life.

February 16, 2020

6^th Sunday after Epiphany

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm 119:1-8

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Matthew 5:21-37

Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and suitable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

Today’s gospel is a hard one to hear, right?  I mean it sounds like we are being hit over the head with the law.  And even with Jesus saying, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you, it seems that the laws being decreed are even stricter.  Not what I’m looking for when wanting to hear the words of Jesus. 

But what happens if we, or when we read these as laws of love?   As laws that call us into leading and living full lives that nurture relationships and community, that bring God to the forefront of all that we say and do? 

Isn’t that who God is calling us to be? 

Isn’t that Jesus command and call for each of us really, to live our best lives?

It’s like God created us and said, this isn’t just good, but this is really good, now go, live your best lives!  And what happened?  We messed up.  Time and time again.  Yet God comes back in with a word of love and the action of grace and sends us on our way again. 

And so here we are…claimed and called to live our best lives.  Yet when we think about living our best lives – it’s not just for ourselves, but for the whole world.  Let me say that again, it’s not about living our best lives for ourselves, but for the whole dang world.  These commands that Jesus declares are to help and guide us into living more fully into God’s love.  Which impacts more than our own little lives and homes…but the rest of the world as well.    

Our gospel lesson today is that not so gentle reminder that the thoughts we have, the words we speak and the actions we take can have deep and far reaching impacts on those around us not just in our own homes but in our schools, places of work, communities, nation and world. 

God wants us and Jesus calls us to live lives of integrity and lives that are not only life giving to others, but life giving to ourselves as well. 

Right?  God wants us and Jesus calls us to live lives of integrity.  Lives that are lived honestly and completely.  Lives that when lived are life giving not just to ourselves but to others as well.  That how we act and treat others deeply impacts the greater world around us.  That we are called to live lives that fulfill God’s call to love and serve, and when that happens, when we do that, not only are our lives, hearts and souls filled, but also the lives of those around us.  

And it seems to me that living the fullest, deepest life means completely surrendering to God’s call and law in our lives.  What I mean is that we are called to fully live into who God created us and calls us to be.  Doing things that do not cause others to stumble, but living and acting in a holy way by doing acts of love and service that truly let Christ’s light shine in all that we say and do. 

God’s call is clear.  The truth is that we can’t do it.  (Not on our own anyway…)  Try as we might, when given the opportunity to live our God’s word to choose life, we often fall short. 

Am I right?  We cut down those around us for having different opinions instead of listening and engaging in dialogue.  We don’t build up others around us because we are afraid that they will outshine us.  We don’t love others fully because we are afraid that a love that deep and that holy won’t be returned or even accepted.  We would rather live in the perceived safety of our own personal space bubbles surrounded by our own stuff so we don’t have to put ourselves in places where we might learn and grown through our interactions with others. 

It’s easier to stay comfortable.

And safe. 

But here’s the thing. God is still going to call us, wherever we might be, to draw us out of those safe spaces and into the places where we will learn and grow. 

God will still nudge us, some times gently and other times with the force of a mighty wind, into places and conversations where we will be given the space to listen, to speak, to learn and to be God’s presence all within the community of others. 

This call for us today is because of God’s great and amazing and unending love for each and every one of us. 

God as a loving parent in our lives, wants the best and only the best for us.  Right?  Wants us to live our best lives!  God, as a loving parent truly wants the best for each and every one of us, for each of God’s beloved children.

So, out of this unconditional love, God will continue to call us to live our best lives. 

Lives with hope and promise.

Lives that will give life to others.

Lives that will nurture, strengthen and build up community.

Lives that will transform the world as we know it through acts of service and love. 

As we heard from Moses in the reading from Deuteronomy, there are options for the future… “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

We have the opportunity friends, to choose life. 

What does that look like for you? 

Is it serving on a Wednesday evening by filling college care packages? 

Is it helping to provide food for a funeral meal?

Does it look like calling or visiting a friend you haven’t seen in a while? 

Is it joining the prayer chain so you can pray for the people of this place as part of your daily devotions? 

Is it volunteering at the food pantry? 

It will look different for each of us. 

But given the opportunity, choose life…

Choose life, friends, so that you and your descendants may live…

Choose life, friends, loving the Lord your God, living out God’s loving call in your lives…

Choose life, friends, so that all may know God’s abundant love, grace and peace in our world. 

And now, may the peace which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.