Preparing for Lent

 

This week we begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday.  Like the season of Advent (when we get ready for Christ’s birth), Lent is a time of preparation for the mystery of Holy Week and Easter.  I encourage you to view the time between now and Wednesday thinking of how the coming weeks can be a holy time of reflection and renewal.

 

What might replenish your soul?

What might be refreshing you given all that is going on in your life?

How can you be intentional and prayerful about the season of Lent this year?

Is there a stirring/swirling within you that is longing to be heard?  Note: this stirring and swirling could be a positive – something you are curious about OR something unresolved that you are avoiding or not dealing with.  Remember how the Spirit surfs over the chaos creatively in Genesis 1:1 ~ Lent can be a time of letting your soul surf over all that is moving in your life.

And since Easter is a celebration of new life, how can you be most alive this Lent?

 

A couple of suggestions:

1.     Our theme for Lent on Sunday mornings is “Table Talk” based on Jesus’ teaching and preaching in the Gospel of John after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.  You can create an altar in your home using one of your tables.  You could put a special cloth on that table, fresh flowers, and a Bible.  You could put a box of crayons and blank paper to color your prayers every day.  You could put special photographs of sacred places and people that you hold each day in prayer.  Let your imagination loose and run wild.  I would love to see a photo of YOUR table.

2.      Our theme for Morning Meditations during Lent is focusing on the narrative of Lazarus.  You will learn more about this beloved son of God in the coming weeks.  But I pray leaning in and listening to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (sorry, spoiler alert) might awake us to the beauty of new life around and within us.

3.      I will be posting videos on a project I am calling, “Your Lenten Toy Box” on YouTube and Facebook.  I hope you will enjoy these and find them meaningful.

4.      There are classes at the church starting this Thursday morning at 11 am focusing on moving, drumming, and storytelling.  Call today to RSVP.

 

I pray Lent this year will help you explore the interior and exterior of your faith.  I pray as you enter this holy time there are more than a few traces of God’s grace.  As always, if you want to talk, I welcome the opportunity and blessing to journey with you in the coming days and weeks.

 

May you be enfolded by an embrace of the Eternal now and throughout the weeks to come. Amen.