Friends,
I hope this brief note finds you doing well. Perhaps you realize that the Christian church is in the season of Lent. This is the season of the year leading up to Easter. Here are some general Lenten facts:
~ Begins on Ash Wednesday and includes 40 days minus Sundays.
~ Adapted from the word, lengthen, as in the lengthening of the days.
~ In the early church, converts used this time to prepare for baptism on Easter Sunday.
~ This time represents the time (40 days) Jesus spent in the wilderness focusing on God. His vocation was
clarified as a result.
Today many ‘give up’ something during these
40 days. This may or may not serve a spiritual purpose.
(Examples might be t.v., caffeine, alcohol, the news
media, chocolate, etc.)
Here are some practical applications for us:
~ 40 days is ten percent of a year, thus representing
a tithe.
~ Habits formed during this time can carry over.
~ ‘Giving up’ something is never trivial when it is done for the greater purpose of glorifying God. Nor is ‘taking on’ something new for a period of time.
~ Less of any one thing can mean more space and room for God. We can welcome this.
Years ago I decided to ‘take on’ something new during Lent. This year I am carefully praying through selected psalms. I take a particular psalm a week and pray through it several times over the course of the week. I read it in a few translations, new and old. I read what a good commentary or two says about this psalm. Finally I write it in my own words as a prayer.
Sunday I shared Psalm 42 with the church during our time of Morning Prayer. The extended and relaxed reflection on this psalm helped me notice the general message of the psalmist: in the midst of turmoil, as the psalmist was asked, Where is your God now?, the psalmist remembered God’s work in the past. This remembering sustained for the present. Remembering brought comfort; remembering was also a commitment.
This week I’ve moved on to another Psalm, and am finding the exercise even easier and more enjoyable. How will God use this during these forty days and beyond? We shall see.
Blessings,
Ande Myers
The photo in this email is of our Communion Table this past Sunday. The Flower Committee does a great job with seasonal displays.
Comments? - I'd love to hear from you: ande.myers@gmail.com
