Category Archives: Lent

An Embodied Lent- Week 6

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Lent 6, April 10, 2022: Embody Sacrifice 

Blessings this Holy Week to you!

Yesterday, on Palm Sunday, as our children led the palm processional, we begin the final week of Lent which is also known as Holy Week. Do everything you can to make this week a priority. Let yourself focus on spiritual practices, take time to be quiet, to feel the sadness of the week, and make plans to attend a Maundy Thursday service, Good Friday service, and/or Easter Vigil service as we sit in the heaviness of the death of Jesus, our Lord. 

Though our lectionary scripture takes us to Luke’s version of the Last Supper, we know from John’s version that during this final supper Jesus had with his friends, he bent down and washed their feet. This act of service took a lot of sacrifice on Jesus’ part; he sacrificed his ‘power over’ and embraced a ‘power with’ in order to serve his friends. In Luke’s version, we see the disciples arguing at dinner about who is the greatest of them. Jesus corrects them saying, the greatest one among you serves and then says, “But I am among you as one who serves.” Wow.

When we serve others, we are hopefully motivated by love (though other motives are certainly possible). If motivated by love, we are sacrificing our time and energy, redirecting it from being spent on ourselves to spending it on others. When we admit we don’t actually know the best ways to serve others at times, we can be open to sacrificing a need to control and embrace learning. When we choose to live in contrast to the insatiable greed that our society operates within, that may lead us to sacrifice in certain ways. These sacrifices, though they can be uncomfortable, can become the soil where abundant life grows.

Scripture: Luke 19:28-40, Luke 22:14-27

Song: Listen to Lean on Me by Bill Withers 

Write or draw a prayer that embodies what sacrifice feels or looks like for you

An Embodied Lent- Week 5

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Lent 5, April 3, 2022: Embody Generosity 

Generosity is a gift that we can nurture in ourselves by practicing it over and over. We can be generous with our hearts, willing to lower our walls and open our hearts to others. We can be generous with our time, putting down our screens, and giving our focus and attention to someone when they are talking with us. We can be generous with our words and seek to give people around us encouragement and loving words. We can be generous with our finances and give to further the work of love in the world. Our generosity is an out-flowing of our love. 

We can learn a lot about generosity from Mary. Her heart was full and rejoicing that Jesus had raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus came to her home to share in table fellowship, Mary took very expensive oil, bent down and washed Jesus feet using her hair. This is an intimate and embodied act of worship as Mary prepares/ anoints Jesus for the brutality of his upcoming death. Mary did not try to deny Jesus’ death. Instead, she prepares him for it in an incredible act of generosity that puzzled his followers. Mary’s love is what compelled her to give this extravagant, generous gift. May our love compel us to be generous, too. 

Scripture: John 12:1-7

Song: Listen to Kind and Generous by Natalie Merchant. 

Write or draw a prayer that embodies what generosity feels or looks like for you.

An Embodied Lent- Week 4

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Lent 4, March 27: Embody Forgiveness

I have often heard, and learned from experience, that when you don’t forgive someone, you really do it to the detriment of yourself. They hurt you, leaving a wound you wish wasn’t there. You are left feeling angry, hurt, and betrayed. These emotions become welcome friends to our hearts, and while they may give a temporary reprieve from the hurt, they eventually start wreaking havoc. Before long, they can creep in and take hold of our joy and peace. 

I’ve also heard that not forgiving means that you have given the perpetrators of your pain more power over you than you could ever realize. You give them the power to affect your joy and peace. That’s a lot of power to give away.

Forgiving them seems counter-intuitive. It seems like you are relinquishing your power, your stand, your pride, and are becoming weak. But maybe the act of forgiveness is one of the most courageous, strength-requiring acts that a human can endeavor to achieve. It hurts to have been wronged. You may have been given an apology, or maybe not. But as unlikely as it seems, forgiveness is one of the routes of healing. Forgiving is taking back the power that they once had over you. It’s allowing a new day to be just that, a new day. This does not necessarily mean that you communicate that forgiveness; it may be that the best way to forgive someone who brought toxicity into your life is to create boundaries where they are no longer in your life. If you have wounds that are stealing joy and peace, may you have the courage this Lenten season to begin the personal work of forgiveness. 

In the Gospel story of what has become known as the Prodigal Son/Child, we see several chances for the family members to forgive. The son must forgive himself for causing his family so much pain and loss because we see that he starts to believe that he is mistake rather than he made a mistake. The father (and probably mother!) must forgive their son for his immature and thoughtless actions. The older brother must forgive his dad for the anger he holds for having not been seen and recognized for the good work he has done for his family. There is need for forgiveness all around.

One of the most beautiful elements of this story though is not just the forgiveness but the embodiment of the forgiveness. The parents runs to the child and embraces him with no reservation. The thing that we thought would happen (the child meeting an angry parent) does not happen, and instead the child is welcomed with complete welcome and love. This is what forgiveness looks like and it is how God longs for God’s children to come home.

So if you are holding something this Lent that is no longer yours to hold, may you have the strength and courage, because you have been forgiven, to let it go, to be opened, and to take your power back.

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Song: Listen to No Hard Feelings by the Avett Brothers

Write or draw a prayer that embodies what forgiveness feels or looks like for you.

An Embodied Lent -Week 3

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Lent 3, March 20, 2022: Embody Spirituality 

Isaiah’s vision of wholeness, like our Lord’s supper, is a vision of people being fed without cost and the thirsty being properly hydrated. This is a radical kin-dom vision where all have their hunger and thirst satiated. It is one we can work towards making a reality. In a spiritual sense, Isaiah writes, “Listen carefully to me and eat what is good; enjoy the richest of feasts.” In many ways, tending to our spiritual life, feeding and nourishing our spirits with spiritual practices like centering prayer, Lectio Divina, walking prayers, breath prayers, chanting psalms, journaling, guided meditation, Taize, meditative walks, reflective reading of scripture, and the Examen of St. Ignatius are all ways to “eat what is good.” Psalm 34:8 says, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” When we feed our hearts, minds, and spirits with this “good food,” we embody a spirituality that is deep, wide, and full of wisdom. 

Psalm 63 begins, 

“God! My God! It’s you—I search for you!

    My whole being thirsts for you!

    My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.

Yes, I’ve seen you in the sanctuary;I’ve seen your power and glory.

My lips praise you because your faithful love is better than life itself!

So I will bless you as long as I’m alive; I will lift up my hands in your name.

I’m fully satisfied— as with a rich dinner.”

Lent is a beautiful time to let God feed your soul. Lent has these boundaries of six weeks, so you are not committing to a year long program, as some of us are nervous to do. Let yourself lean into practices which embody spirituality this Lent. And in doing so, may God nurture something deeply beautiful in your spiritual life. 

Scripture: Psalm 63:1-8, Isaiah 55:1-3

Song: Center your heart as you listen to Taize songs. Check out Wait for the Lord, Prepare the Way of the Lord, and Bless the Lord.

Write or draw a prayer that embodies what spirituality feels or looks like for you.

An Embodied Lent- Week 2

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Lent 2, March 13, 2022: Embody Justice

Jesus cared about justice. He cared about the agrarian crisis that workers were undergoing in the 1st century; he cared about the family farmland that was being snatched up and the waters that had been fished for generations becoming over-fished. He cared about the heavy Roman taxes that workers were being subjected to and the system of debt that these taxes often created. Jesus saw what injustices created by systems that use people as pawns do to people, and he refused to participate in that kind of kingdom. 

In light of what Jesus stood for, he rode into Jerusalem in protest and contrast to how lord Caesar would have entered a conquered city. Jesus entered not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. He was surrounded by disciples with palm branches instead of spear tips. He came knowing that he would be tortured and murdered. Yet, he brought his body to Jerusalem, for he would not participate in the rotten power system that named Caesar “lord” and oppressed so many. The embodiment of the crucifixion is God’s deep embodiment within human suffering, injustice, and heartbreak. 

The Gospels are clear: Jesus cares about justice. So, too, should we. We care not just about immediate needs like food, clothing, and housing, but also about why those immediate needs exist in the first place. Why were these people hungry? Why were they thirsty? Why did they have no clothes, and why were they in prison? In other words, we have a Gospel imperative to look upstream at what is polluting the water.

Justice-making has starting points that include examining one’s own biases and origins of those biases, lamenting the way you have acted on those negative biases, examining the privileges that you have based on various identities that you hold, learning about systems that hold certain identities supreme, praying for God’s direction, listening to the voices of persons who have experienced injustices and learning from them the ways that they seek justice, partnering with organizations and organizers who have been doing this work for many years, adopting a sense of humility that allows you to learn and invites others to learn with you, and joining communities that can hold each other accountable in doing this good, holy work. This work of justice-making can lead to an abundance in life that is liberating and redemptive. Thanks be to God for the chance to do the work and a wonderful community to do it within. 

Scripture: Luke 13:31-35

Song: Ella’s Song by Sweet Honey in the Rock

Write or draw a prayer that embodies how you understand a God who cares about justice for all creation. What does God’s kin-dom (kinship relationships) or kingdom look like?

An Embodied Lent- Week 1

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Lent 1, March 6, 2022: Embody Worship  

For this Lenten 2022 season, the theme of this series will be embodiment. In a time when we have not been able to safely gather our bodies in person, now that the pandemic has lightened, we long for embodiment… hugging, looking into each other’s eyes, eating together, are all gifts that we haven’t had for a while. I hope this series on embodiment as it follows the Lenten Revised Common Lectionary is a good guide on your journey!

Worship is embodied. In faith communities, we gather and bring our bodies to worship the One who created us. We join our voices in singing as we feel the reverberations of the organ in our bodies. We bring gifts to offer to God, raising them in the air during our Doxology, in praise to God from whom all blessings flow. 

When we can, we hug each other and shake hands, or smile and share the sign of Christ’s peace with each other. Maybe we share a meal after Sunday’s worship with folks of the gathered community. Members joining by livestream are able to share prayer concerns through Facebook, light a candle at home as our Christ candle is lit, and text each other the peace of Christ. 

The physical actions of worship include touching, kneeling, standing, passing, embracing, lifting, bowing, feasting, fasting, singing, reciting, and offering. These actions work to unify our bodies, beliefs, hands, minds, faith, deeds, theologies, and practices; they coalesce in a holy way to lead us to community.

The ways that we bring our bodies, minds and hearts to God in worship make a difference in our spiritual journeys. The faithfulness of bringing our bodies, minds, and hearts back to worship, over and over again, and create rhythms that hold us in times of worry, sadness, loss, or fear. This kind of faithful worship also helps us deepen community with people in our village who can hold us in those difficult seasons of life. The Servant Song by Richard Gillard contains these lyrics: 

“We are pilgrims on a journey, we are travelers on the road;

we are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you, in the night-time of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh I’ll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow, till we’ve seen this journey through.” 

May our embodied, faithful worship invite us fellow-journeyers to live in community where we laugh and weep together, holding each other till we have seen this journey through. 

Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Luke 4:1-2 

Song: Listen to Beautiful Things by Gungor

Write or draw a prayer that embodies your own unique worship of God.

Lenten Field Guide (Week 6)

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Lenten Field Guide // Week 6: Holy Week

Blessings, dear ones, as we near the Sunday that is known both as Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday and as we enter a Holy Week that we’ve not experienced before.

Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, once said “do not spend your lives being poster children of the status quo.” My prayer is that this intentionally long, thought-out, difficult Lenten journey has brought forth important insight and inspiration for you. We are only in April of 2020. There is much left of this year to be intentional about.

In a time where creative living is especially important, how is God leading you to be prophetic, inspired, and love-filled? How is God healing wounds that need to become scars? How are we resisting living only for ourselves? How is God transforming greed and selfishness in our lives into leading lives that create space for others to live? How are we becoming more accountable to our theologies? How are we becoming more accountable to the planet that we live on and are tasked with caring for? How are we leading lives of integrity during wilderness times?

Thanks be to God for the chance to examine these questions in this Lenten season.

Scripture to consider: Read the two chapters of the Passion Narrative according to Matthew 26:6- 27:66.

Acts of Justice and Resistance: What acts of justice and resistance have you gotten interested in checking out this Lent? How is the Holy Spirit leading you to make a more just world?

Acts of Mercy: What acts of mercy have you gotten interested in checking out this Lent? How is the Holy Spirit leading you to be merciful? Offer these up to God.

Lenten Field Guide (Week 5)

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Lenten Field Guide // Week 5: When will the angels come?

     Forty days of not getting any physical sustenance is no walk in the park. One can speculate the many reasons that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to endure this terrible hardship. One possibility for the reason for this time of trial was so that Jesus could prepare his heart, body, mind, and soul for what lay ahead of him.

Pastor Heather Harriss has beautiful insight on this and writes: “What happens in the wilderness does not stay in the wilderness; rather, it plays again in the life and ministry of God’s beloved son (Matt 3:17). The answers are different on different occasions, but the choices are very much the same:

  • Jesus refuses in the desert to turn stones into bread to assuage his own hunger, but before long he will feed thousands in the wilderness with just a few loaves and some fish (Matt 14:17-21; 15:33-38), and he will teach his disciples to pray to God for their “daily bread” (Matt 6:11).
  • He refuses to take advantage of his relationship to God by hurling himself down from the heights of the Temple, but at the end of his earthly ministry he endures the taunts of others (Matt 27:38-44) while trusting God’s power to the end upon the heights of a Roman cross (Matt 27:46).
  • He turns down the devil’s offer of political leadership over the kingdoms of the world, and instead offers the kingdom of the heavens to all those who follow him in the way of righteousness.

She continues, “The wilderness tests of the Temptation account are not a one-time ordeal to get through, but they are tests of preparation for the choices Jesus makes in his earthly ministry. Indeed, readers of Matthew’s Gospel have an opportunity to see how the wilderness experience is replayed in Jesus’ encounters with persons who are sick, hungry or in need; with persons who use their connections to power (including, perhaps, the lawyers, Pharisees and Sadducees who test him in various ways; e.g., Matt 16:1; 19:3; 22:18, 35) to ascertain his loyalty; with persons who too easily worry about the world’s assessment of greatness rather than God’s (including some of his own disciples; e.g., Matt 18:1-5).”

Pastor Heather writes so beautifully about the reasons for Jesus’ temptation in the desert as preparation for his ministry and death to come. Though this may not be the reason for your own trials, it does not mean that the trials you have endured cannot also prepare you for even larger ones down the road. We can speculate that on some days of Jesus’ fasting when he was weak with hunger, he might have asked “when will the angels come?” They did eventually come and care for Jesus but on those days of starvation, I’m sure it was hard for Jesus to believe that he would once again have food. But Jesus did, once again, have food and his Spirit was all the more prepared for the evil he had to face in the coming days.

Scripture to consider: Matthew 4:1-11 

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” 5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” 11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Luke 4:14: 14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside.

John 12:23-2623 Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One to be glorified. 24 I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Creator will honor whoever serves me.

Acts of Worship: Spend some time this week reflecting on your life’s journeys. Be gentle with yourself as you remember hard times and times of grief or pain. Think about the seasons in your life that felt like you were living in an unknown wilderness. If you are a writer, write down some thoughts and reflections about this. Or if you do not prefer writing, consider sharing your story with a family member or friend. How did these experiences impact your understanding of God? How did they affect your faith in positive and negative ways? As you reflect, if you have the space, offer these reflections up to God in your own way. It’s okay if you are still angry about what happened. It’s okay if you are still sad and the wounds are not scars yet. Things do not have to be resolved for you to reflect on them.

Acts of Devotion and Spirituality:  Practice a breath prayer each day this week.

Breathe in, saying what you feel: “I am scared, God” or “I am worried, God” or “I am grateful, God” and Breathe out: “God is with me” or “I am named ‘beloved’” or “I am yours, God”

 

 

Lenten Wilderness Guide (Week 4)

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Lenten Field Guide // Week 4: Battling for the Bible

     In the story of Jesus fasting in the desert for forty days, as Jesus is fasting and praying, the devil tempts him– not using some unfamiliar text, but actually using scripture. A frequent, ever-present conflict in the Church is biblical interpretation. Some people feel that they read the bible literally though some passages read literally would be pretty tough. Some folks do not read literally and yet believe the scripture is still inspired by God but has mistakes. Some folks do not give any authority to scripture. How do you read scripture? How do you understand the Bible’s authority? Do you believe that God is still speaking or that God has spoken all God will speak as it was recorded in scripture?

Though the conflict in the United Methodist Church is commonly associated by the general public with LGBTQIA persons, it is important to note that it is actually a conflict over biblical interpretation. That is a very important distinction, especially for persons who identify as LGBTQIA* persons. New Testament scholar AJ Levine once said: “the Bible should be a rock upon which our faith is built rather than a rock that is thrown at others.” The stances we take, whatever they are, have implications in our everyday lives and how those lives interact with other lives. It is important to see and understand how those play out in daily living as we seek to be accountable to our theologies and biblical interpretations.

Scripture to consider: Matthew 4:1-11

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” 5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” 11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Mark 12:13, 38-40

They sent some of the Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap him in his words… As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. 39 They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. 40 They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”

Acts of Devotion and Spirituality: Read the above scripture, Matthew 4:1-11, and practice Lectio Divina with it. Lectio Divina is an ancient practice of reading a scripture a few times over and mediating on it in prayer. There are many ways to do this; here is one!

-Go to a quiet place and ready yourself to listen to the Word of God

-Read the scripture passage out loud, once through

-Pause and recall if a word or phrase stood out to you. If so, pause and sit with it in meditation and see what it is, what it feels like, what it shows you. Wonder about it.

-Then go back and read the passage to find a fuller meaning.

-Pause again and see what came to you.

-Meditate longer. End in prayer: talking to God about what came forth.

Lenten Wilderness Guide (Week 3)

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Lenten Field Guide // Week 3: Hang in there! 

     The world that we find ourselves navigating is no doubt a fast-paced, next-day-delivery, instant-oatmeal kind of world. Therefore, when life brings us into an elongated season –especially one that involves suffering or even growth– we are often caught off guard by the length of the season. We know though that some lessons just cannot be learned overnight, as tough as that may be. Just like a golf swing cannot be perfected in one day, our spirituality cannot be quickly downloadable like a PDF file. The good stuff takes time to know intimately.

We see in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus takes a long season of forty days to engage with tough spiritual questions, all while he is starving for food. These temptations that the devil brought forth centered around Jesus’ identity and mission. Had he not known who he was or what he was here to do, perhaps the devil’s tantalizing temptations would have been harder for Jesus to resist.

As people of long-seasoned faith, we need spiritual disciplines in our lives that we practice every day–on the days when we feel like it and on the days that we do not. Just like it takes training to prepare for a college entrance exam or a 5k, our faith takes training. In order for the best of our Christian tradition to come forth from us in the hardest moments, we must practice it every day, so that it becomes our rhythm, our mother tongue. Spiritual practices like prayer, fasting, self denial, sacred time, service, justice and resistance work are just a few practices that help us live our faith values every day and prepare us for the long seasons that life will bring.

Scripture to consider: Matthew 4:1-11

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” 5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” 11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. 3 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Offering yourself and your gifts – What simple serving projects could your family do together this week? Some ideas might include:. taking a bag of groceries to the food bank, gathering old clothes to take to a shelter, writing letters or drawing cards to send to people who need them, etc.

Acts of Worship: Slow down this week and find space to wait. When you get home from work or the day’s activities, if you usually turn on the TV or get on your phone, consider leaving it off one night. Create space to sit, wait, and listen to your spirit and to God’s spirit. Perhaps there has been something nagging at you that you need to stop and listen to. Perhaps there is someone you need to talk to or reconcile with but being busy has kept you from having to face that. Perhaps you need to make a life decision but have felt stuck and need the space to talk to God about it. Whatever the case may be, sit and wait for God to make the way forward for you.

Acts of Devotion and Spirituality: As we journey through this Lenten season, there are several weeks left. Consider reading a few chapters a day to read the entirety of the Gospel of Matthew. There is often so much blessing in reading a gospel in its entirety because it situates the text in it 1st century antiquity and gives a powerful narrative to popular texts that we focus on often.