From Lent to Easter 2024

A prayer for humility

You know my weakness, Lord. Every morning I make a resolution to practice humility and in the evening I recognize that I have committed again many faults of pride. At this I am tempted to become discouraged but I know that discouragement is also pride. Therefore, O my God, I want to base my hope in you alone. Since you can do everything, deign to bring to birth in my soul the virtue I desire. To obtain this grace of your infinite mercy I will very often repeat: “O Jesus, gentle and humble of heart make my heart like yours!” Amen.
St. Therese of Lisieux

Shhhhh. The practice of silence.

The first feast of the preparation for Lent in the Orthodox tradition is centered on a deep desire, even hunger, for God and for His righteousness. The practice I believe presses this out is fasting. This most certainly means in some ways fasting from food – to allow our hunger for physical nourishment train us in our hunger for God. But there are other ways of fasting as well – what John the apostle wrote of countering the “lust of the eyes”.

The second feast centers on the desire or virtue of humility. The story told is one familiar to most of us and that is the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, found in Luke 18:10-14. This is a desire for “the right order of things”, where we acknowledge our rightful place before God and even before other people. I think that one of the spiritual practices that might help us fulfill this desire is the practice of silence.

This passage from the Old Testament describes the position all of earth takes before the Lord.

But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.
Habakkuk 2:20

And then from Revelation 8:1 – this beautiful picture is painted: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour”.

Silence – something we rarely experience. I remember one time in high school I went with some friends to the Smoky Mountains. There, for some reason, I found myself alone – and I sat on the hill against a tree and looked out at this incredible beauty – the mist rising, the blue-gray color of distant mountain, the smell of fresh air. It was glorious. Yet even the beauty didn’t keep me from feeling lonely. But I was transformed just a few minutes later. I noticed the silence. Absolutely no noise of human life – no cars, no talking, no trains in the distance. I didn’t even hear the normal sounds of birds, or leaves rustling, or animals scurrying. It was the most quiet I had ever been around. In that stillness I felt great peace – all high school angst at being alone gone.

How many places are left with that kind of quiet – but I feel like if I could keep faith with that silence, I would know my place. I would not strive to be the smartest, the fastest, the most…(anything).

“In reality, true, good silence always belongs to someone who is willing to let others have his place, and especially the Completely-Other, God. In contrast, external noise characterizes the individual who wants to occupy an over-important place, to strut or to show off, or else who wants to fill his interior emptiness, as is the case in many stores and public facilities, and also particularly in the waiting rooms of some dentists, hairdressers…, where they impose incessant background music on you”.
Internet article – unknown.

In the brief time I have committed to this practice – I have been so aware of just how often I seek place, or recognition or superiority. In conversation with someone who is sharing a story, I am already moving ahead looking for my own story that matches theirs. Now friends, I am not at all encouraging self-analysis or what Leanne Payne called the disease of introspection. I want to be aware of how deeply God is calling me to this, and I can only do that as I listen to Him. His voice exhorts, but it exhorts with the utmost love and patience. Silence is such a gift – one that grants us, as well as those around us – peace and stillness. When we are not distracted by our own noise and can really listen to those we are in conversation with, it is transformative.

“The fruit of silence is prayer…Jesus is always waiting for us in silence. In this silence he listens to us and speaks to our souls…And then we will hear his voice…In this silence, we find a new energy and a real unity” (St. Teresa).

Here are some questions that might help direct this practice if you decide that this is something God is calling you to:

Do I spend any time in silence each day?
Do I seek out silence? Or do I fill in any opportunity for quiet time with noise instead?
Do I turn on music in the car when I could drive in silence for a while?
Do I speak when words are unnecessary?
Do I seek that place of deep quiet just sitting in God’s presence?

Perhaps for some of us – silence is not just something we’ve rarely thought about. It can be a trigger for anxiety. It could be that the dread of it is part of our emotional or psychological or even spiritual defenses. So, I ask you to be gentle with yourself, and do what God is calling you to. In any attempt you make to do this, ask Him for His peace and healing word. We are not looking to be heroes in the spiritual arena. Let this be a reminder to you that any practice you are being drawn to should be made out of a sense of what God is calling you to. Remember as well that God is with you, He is in you, and He is forming Christ in you.

Another complementary practice to silence could be finding ways to honor or defer to others, in words or deeds. Especially in our relationship with God, we can find ways to honor Him. We can honor Him as Job did, ²¹ “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” ²²In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (Job 1:21-22 ESV).

¹⁴If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. (2Ch 7:14-16).

Holy Father, as we long to express our repentance through humility, may we be quiet, even silent before You. Enlarge our hearts, dear Holy Spirit, that there might be great space there to dwell in the quiet places. Make our silences be a way to deepen humility in us, and may we rightly honor you and others, in the same way Your Son and our Savior Jesus did. Amen.

Lectio Divina – Fasting

³ ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. ⁴ Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ (Isa 58:3-9 ESV)

This is a very long passage to read devotionally – but it’s worth it if we press into it. I started by asking observation questions of the text – the who, what, when, where… questions. If you make a list of the things the Lord accuses the Israelites of – and then a list of the kind of fast He requires – it starts to flow! Also there is an if…then… aspect of the passage and the result of doing the kind of fast God requires is beautiful! It will be helpful to study it first, then read it slowly with lectio divina in mind.

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Lectio Quote – Fasting

In the following quote you could substitute fasting/temperance for the virtues Lewis comments on: chastity and charity. Read it slowly and devotionally. Chew on it, and digest it!

We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity—like perfect charity—will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God’s help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Simon and Schuster, Touchstone Edition, 1996), p. 94

rocks, and bread, desires and ways…

In my last post, I wrote of the way the Orthodox Tradition prepares for Lent (which is of course a preparation itself for Easter!) For five Sundays before Lent begins, there is a story from Scripture and a desire or virtue that fills out a full picture of repentance. As I reflected on those desires I wondered if there would be a spiritual practice that might help live out that particular desire. I want to help us follow the path from desired virtue to repentance by engaging in ways that make our Lenten practices “practical” and real. In the past I have found myself making great plans for Lent with all the things I will either abstain from or engage in! And to be honest, I peter out sometime the second or third week. Did you know why January 17^th is a significant date? It is the day that most people give up their New Year’s resolutions and fall back into bad habits.

I might also say that I’m not trying to be comprehensive in my suggestions of practices that might help us on our journey. But hopefully it might spur us on!

I’ve written about this before, but I want to re-emphasize the reason I believe spiritual practice is a better term than disciplines as we seek maturity in Christ. In fact, I would say I prefer the idea of formation in Christ, or maturity instead of becoming Christlike. We don’t start with ways to build bigger muscles of Christlikeness (which can primarily be measured by changed behavior sometimes without a corresponding change in heart). Instead, we start with Paul in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ, and is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” The language that better fits our becoming in this sense is incarnational reality. We are in Christ, and we engage in spiritual practices in order to be more fully formed in Him. Of course, I understand that those on the spiritual disciplines wagon want the same thing we all do! We want to grow in Christ! So please, disagree with me if that’s your conviction!

Back to desires and repentance! As you read from the post earlier this week the first desire is the longing for God and for His righteousness. The story used here is that of Zacchaeus, which is found in Luke 19: 2-8. Please go there and read it. You might agree that this longing is a hunger than can only be filled as we center ourselves in Christ and let Him fill us. So, the more natural practice for this desire is fasting. And this is where we begin: in the desert with Christ. Satan’s first temptation to Jesus was to tell him he could turn stones into bread. And Jesus says to him:

It is written, man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

Rocks and bread – how often are we tempted to settle for rocks when the bread of life is there for us? He was given for us that we would no longer hunger or thirst (Joh. 6:35). But I hate to be hungry. I have to say that hunger is my kryptonite.

There is great wisdom from Schmemann here:

“What then is fasting for us Christians? It is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself by which He liberates us from the total dependence on food, matter, and the world. By no means is our liberation a full one. Living still in the fallen world, in the world of the Old Adam, being part of it, we still depend on food. But just as our death–through which we still must pass–has become by virtue of Christ’s Death a passage into life, the food we eat and the life it sustains can be life in God and for God”
Schmemann on fasting

There are many things to fast from, but I think we would do well to begin with fasting from food, as we are able and led. Schmemann continues: “Ultimately to fast means only one thing: to be hungry–to go to the limit of that human condition which depends entirely on food and being hungry, to discover that this dependency is not the whole truth about man, that hunger itself is first of all a spiritual state and that it is in its last reality hunger for God” (ibid).

It is critical to understand that fasting or any other practice of abstaining we commit to is not a physical challenge alone. It must have its roots in a spiritual commitment – a commitment to surrender to God the things we most desperately hold on to.

In our times, there are many things to fast from, and probably many of us have already committed to reducing time on social media, gaming, screen time. The apostle John had no idea what we struggle with in our modern world. But in writing to churches dealing with heresy (the main heresy being the denial of the Incarnation of Christ), John writes this:

For everything in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:16

The Latin concept/word for lust here is concupiscence, which refers to an ardent powerful longing that is usually sensual in nature. John in this verse is warning the church of this concupiscence of the flesh but also the concupiscence of the eyes. When Gnosticism, which essentially is a denial of the body’s goodness, infects a people it usually results in all manner of sensual excess and transgression. We can quickly see the danger of this in the use of pornography but in this day, in our culture there is much that the eye is drawn to which falls in this category. Josef Pieper refers to this as visual noise. What the eyes are drawn to when given over to virtue and godly desire is the good and the beautiful. Gaze for a moment on the beauty in a child’s face, or the glory seen in a flower or mountain, and you see an eternal reality. But visual noise is an endless search for entertainment and utter meaninglessness. So much is out there that draws our attention away from the truth that there is barely any place to simply rest our eyes. I am so guilty of the mindless scrolling through Instagram or other social media. I am particularly fond of the “dear Abby” advice columns (did I just admit to that?!). Visual noise distracts, dulls, and kills the capacity for restraint and temperance.

Fasting has the power to restrain our fleshly urges. The picture for me here is how Josef Pieper describes temperance: “[it is] …the shore, the banks, from whose solidarity the stream receives the gift of straight unhindered course, of force, descent, and velocity” (The Four Cardinal Virtues).

Temperance is the shore, the banks, from whose solidarity the stream receives the gift of straight unhindered course, of force, descent and velocity.

“The Four Cardinal Virtues”

Temperance is the way to keep our hungers, our desires within the right boundaries! Fasting, whether food or other things, is one way of pressing into this beautiful virtue of temperance.

There is so much more I could say about fasting, but I’ll leave it here, and simply encourage you to read the great teachers out there who write about it from personal experiences.

To return to our desire – our hunger for God and His righteousness, fasting is a good spiritual practice to help us not only lean into that desire or that virtue but to be further trained in repentance.

The next post will cover the other desires and spiritual practices.

A word here though on fasting; as a practice we are probably going to struggle with this one in ways that differ from other practices. We need to prepare for failure. I have to end this post with this incredible wisdom from Schmemann –

…After all this said, one must still remember that however limited our fasting, if it is true fasting, it will lead to temptation, weakness, doubt and irritation. In other terms, it will be a real fight, and probably we shall fail many times. But the very discovery of Christian life as fight, and effort is the essential aspect of fasting. A faith which has not overcome doubts and temptation is seldom a real faith. No progress in Christian life is possible, alas, without the bitter experience of failures
Great Lent: 103-104

We must also remember that our only hope in overcoming our failures or challenges is in remembering who we are. We are in Christ! ONLY through His life in us can we hope to mature, to be formed in Him, to be made whole.

Friends, we need companions on the way – on this beautiful journey toward Easter. Let’s walk alongside each other as we press into repentance and spiritual practices. Ask a friend, share your decisions about the practices you choose. Commit to praying for another person, and when you fall off the path, be resolute and quick to return to the journey!

Lenten Repentance

Have you ever really wanted something? I mean to really want it! Did your desire for it transcend everything else in your life? I have wanted so many things, so many times. But one thing sticks out in my memory. I think I was about 11 – and all I wanted for my birthday was a bow and arrow set. I mean, I really wanted it. I pestered my parents until I was blue in the face – but my birthday came and went and no bow and arrow. I was crushed, confused, and greatly disappointed. I have no idea why I didn’t get it – it seemed like everyone else got what they wanted! (I’m pretty sure my desire was not really about the bow and arrow!)

To desire something deeply makes one vulnerable. It has the power to expose us and the power to ruin us. But God made us for desire! He made us to direct the whole of our hearts in desire to the good He has for us. When desire is directed toward the thing we were made for – it moves us, it transforms us. It is like being shot out of a cannon! The desire for a life with God is the thing we were made for. And our God-driven desires picture for us the gift He has for us during this season of Lent.

I was not aware of this before my time preparing for Lent last year, but I discovered that the Orthodox Church spends five weeks before the first day of Lent in preparing for it! Can you imagine spending five weeks preparing for the preparation of Easter? As I continue my thoughts about desire, I need to say just how indebted I am to Father Alexander Schmemann for his great book: “Great Lent: the Journey to Pascha”.

There are five feasts in the weeks before Lent begins, and they all center around godly desire. Each week stresses a particular desire which together displays a picture of repentance. It’s beautiful and I want to somehow bring us into an experience of each desire as a facet of this wonderful jewel of repentance.

The first feast centers on the story of Zaccheaus from Luke 19:2-8. Zacchaeus had such a desire to meet Jesus, and yet there was no way to get close to Jesus because of his limitations (he was short… – like some of the rest of us). I love what Schmemann says about this:

…ours is to desire that which is deepest and truest in ourselves, to acknowledge the thirst and hunger for the Absolute which is in us whether we know it or not, and which, when we deviate from it and turn our desires away, makes us indeed a “useless passion.” And if we desire deeply enough, strongly enough, Christ will respond.
Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 16

The first desire reveals a deep hunger for God and His righteousness. This is the virtue of godly desire.

The second feast tells the story of the tax-collector and the Pharisee, from Luke 18: 10-14. We know how that story goes. The Pharisee comes to the temple full of presumption (and full of himself). In his “prayers” to God he says – “I am so glad I am not like that guy over there!” The tax collector comes to the temple, acutely aware of his deep need for forgiveness and simply cries out “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

“The lenten season begins then by a quest, a prayer for humility which is the beginning of true repentance. For repentance, above everything else, is a return to the genuine order of things. It is, therefore, rooted in humility and humility – the divine and beautiful humility – is its fruit and its seed”
Great Lent, p. 18.

This desire is for: A return to the right order of things – This is the virtue of humility – God is God and we are not!

The third feast tells the story of The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32; a familiar story, where the second son leaves his home to make his way in the world. He squanders all he had and has given his heart (and his desires) to things that cannot last, unlovely cravings and sins. He “repents” and turns back toward home, not expecting grace or kindness. He is totally sickened by his wastefulness and sin.

To truly repent means that we realize just how far we are from home. In our wanderings “something pure and precious and beautiful has been hopelessly broken in the very texture of my existence” … and through our confession, through our longings – we turn our faces home – and there the Father not only meets us at the door, He runs to greet us. He says – “Oh how I have longed for this day – My joy is overflowing…” This reveals Lent itself as pilgrimage and repentance as return. We see that the real prodigal in this story is the Father – generous and lavish in His love for us!

“It is easy indeed to confess that I have not fasted on prescribed days, or missed my prayers, or become angry. It is quite a different thing to realize suddenly that I have defiled and lost my spiritual beauty, that I am far away from my real home, my real life, and that something precious and pure and beautiful has been hopelessly broken in the very texture of my existence. Yet this, and only this, is repentance, and therefore it is also a deep desire to return, to go back, to recover that lost home”
Great Lent: p. 21-22

This is a deep desire to return to God and is the virtue of contrition, godly sorrow over our sinfulness.

The fourth feast is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of preparation. The story commemorating this is the Last Judgment, from Matthew 25:31-46. It marks Christ’s words to those there on the Last Judgment. The scripture says that when Christ comes in glory and sits on his throne he will say: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then they asked Him, “when did we do this”? His response? – “when you did it to the least of these!”

Christian love is the “possible impossibility” to see Christ in another man, whoever he is, and whom God, in his eternal and mysterious plan, has decided to introduce into my life, be it only for a few minutes, not as an occasion for a “good deed” or an exercise in philanthropy, but as the beginning of an eternal companionship in God himself.
Great Lent, p. 23.

This form of repentance brings a deepening love for “the other“– and is the virtue of love. It gives us the grace to see and care for the needs of others.

The final feast is celebrated on the last Sunday before Lent and the story is from Matthew 6:14-21, with Christ’s commands to forgive those who have sinned against us. He says that our own forgiveness is at risk when we refuse to forgive our enemies. Schmemann says, “The triumph of sin, the main sign of its rule over the world, is division, opposition, separation, hatred. Therefore, the first break through this fortress of sin is forgiveness”. – a return to unity, peace, brotherhood” (GL:27).

This desire moves us to “lay down our arms” – and is the virtue of forgiveness – as we confess and receive, we are more naturally open to forgiving others…but the warning is clear – forgive that you may be forgiven.

This picture of repentance then centers on these five desires or virtues: hunger for God, humility, contrition, love and forgiveness.

One way we can keep faith with our baptisms is to seek out spiritual practices that correspond to these desires. I will write more on that later, but there is one practice that I have felt called to in regard to humility and that is the practice of silence. This has not gone well so far (insert laughing emoji here) – if my goal has actually been success in the practice! But this decision, this practice has revealed how much ugly pride there is in my heart and how much disdain for others I have. I have been confronted with my need to feel superior – and one way this is manifested is that I roll my eyes a lot (sometimes externally, often internally) when I think what someone has done or said is beneath me – my superior intellect or even my spiritual prowess. “Ouch! Dr. Marvin, you can help me!” (cue the first scene of What About Bob).

That’s enough for now – Let me leave you with this incredible word from John Shea on repentance:

“The more deeply one enters into the experience of the sacred the more one is aware of one’s own personal evil and the destructive forces in society. The fact that one is alive to what is possible for humankind sharpens one’s sense that we are fallen people. The awareness of sin is the inevitable consequence of having met grace… This grace-judgment dynamic reveals that the center of Christian life is repentance. This does not mean that the distinguishing mark of the Christian is breast-beating. Feeling sorry, acknowledging guilt, and prolonging regret may be components of the human condition, but they are not what Jesus means by repentance. Repentance is the response to grace that overcomes the past and opens out to a new future. Repentance distinguishes Christian life as one of struggle and conversion and pervades it, not with remorse, but with hope. The message of Jesus is not “Repent,” but “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”

The Lord’s Prayer in Lent: Spiritual Practices

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Dear Father, we acknowledge that You live in a high and holy place. We bless the holiness of Your name. In this season of Lent we ask that Your kingdom would come here on earth as it is in the heavens – Your dwelling place. May Your good and perfect will be done. We ask Lord, that You would give us all that we need to set apart this journey toward Easter. Teach us the rhythm of confession and forgive us for all our sins and give us grace to forgive others. Give us boldness to confess any unholy posture toward those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation by giving us grace and the understanding of its power. Deliver us from evil – for with You only goodness, and glory, and power and grace belong to you. Only You. Amen.

Confessional Prayer – Spiritual Practices

Confession of sin is a powerful Lenten practice as we learn to turn back from the far country of our failings, and excesses. It is also a good way to practice dying, a dying that puts us in mind of our baptisms. “To practice death is to practice freedom. A man who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave.” Montaigne

Begin by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Now let him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? Have you failed in keeping the promises and practices He has called you to in this season?

Then, simply confess in as specific a way you can the sins that trouble you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

Receive His assurance of pardon – ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ . (Eph 1:7-9 ESV)

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in his forgiveness ask him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

Who is like a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression For the remnant of his inheritance He does not retain his anger forever, Because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers From the days of old. Micah 7:18-20

Lectio Divina – Spiritual Practices In Lent

¹⁸ “Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people.¹⁹ Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 22:18-19 (ESV))

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Every Moment Holy: A Liturgy For Those Who Have Done Harm

My soul is chastened within me, O God.
Yet even in this crush of conviction
there flickers a spark of hope,
for you have told us you discipline those whom you love.

I have harmed another, O Lord, and now
I have neither peace nor rest.
Yet I recognize in my own agitation
the stirrings of your Spirit who works in us, ever for our good.

I have run from your presence
and from my conscience,
but I would run no more, O Lord.

I have hidden myself in shadows,
seeking to avoid your face,
even as did my father Adam and
my mother Eve in their first guilt.

I have drawn away from the sound of your voice, fearful
of what you might speak, fearful of what obedience might require,
for I have sinned, O Father, and I am pained
at this thought, and shamed
to bring my faults into the light…

I confess, O God, that I have broken faith,
broken trust, wounded another,
and for this I repent.

Restorer of all things, redeem
the damage I have done.
Restore, remake, rekindle, rebuild.
Heal, comfort, and repair.
Knit together that which I have rent…

Forgive me, O Lord, lest I despair.
Restore me, lest I be forever lost.
For your pardon alone
is sufficient to my peace;
and your death to my resurrection.
Embrace me again to life
and to right standing with you, O God,
and to the fellowship of love
and compassion that is your church.

I am always, every moment, in need of you. Amen

This liturgy is made available through a website called: Every Moment Holy. There are several different volumes of various liturgies and they are all so good!

Go to this link: https://www.everymomentholy.com/liturgies
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The Night Before

Tomorrow marks Ash Wednesday which is a day of both remembrance and preparation. Two realities pierce our souls on this day – the mortality of all who have ever lived and loved – and then of course – the extent of our moral failure. We are marked by the dust and by the ashes. We can escape neither reality. Ash Wednesday gives us a moment to sit in those ashes and remember that we will die, and remember that outside of the saving blood of Jesus Christ we can never be what we were intended to be. Job is felled by his God when he comes to the end of himself and says: “The Job answered the LORD and said:

² “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³ ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴ ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ ⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶ therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6 ESV)
Job 42:1-6

Ash Wednesday does not stand alone in the life of the Christian – it’s the beginning of the story, the first page, the first chapter. All Glory to our Savior who walks with us from the desert of Ash Wednesday to the suffering of His death on the Cross – but even that it is not the end of the story. No. The story never ends – yet, its climax happens on the third day – The day – the human, bruised, bloody body of Christ defeated death once and for all. Can we truly grasp this? Can we come to that deep knowledge that death no longer has the power to sting, that sin has no more power to bruise or stain the hearts of the children of God?

But let’s start at the beginning. Ash Wednesday holds some powerful memories for me. In 2014, three weeks before my grandson Zekey died – my son brought him forward to receive the ashes we all received. Over him was spoken this phrase – “Ezekiel, from dust you came and to dust you shall return”. His forehead was marked with the ashes in the sign of the cross – and what this meant was this: “Zeke, you will die – but your Savior took those ashes and became them as He bore your death and your sin on the Cross.” We wept that night – real grief and yet tears of joy. It is only the Christian faith can make that declaration of freedom.

The very next year my dear friend and mentor, Leanne Payne, died on February 18th, Ash Wednesday. It was hard for those of us who were with her in the days leading up to her death. She wanted only one thing – to be with Jesus, and with loved ones who were already with Him. No one was more human than Leanne. She suffered at the end of her life – but she never let go of the reality that she, a soul with a body, belonged to and in Christ. She was a woman whose life counted for so much. She gave her all to the work of the kingdom and suffered mightily for it. Thousands of Christians throughout the world have been changed through her ministry of healing, mine included. She delighted in her smallness. Her life was a testimony to what God can do with and through one who has fully given their life to Him. We were relieved, sad and joyful that Ash Wednesday morning when she passed. Because Leanne was now in the presence of the One she loved more than life!

We are comforted, aren’t we, by the knowledge that death and sin have lost their power for those who know Christ as Savior and Lord? What a motivation that can be as we pray for and share our faith with loved ones who don’t know Him! May we press into that challenge as we journey through Lent.

But, before we leave this day – I think we are called to pause and sit in those ashes and dust and remember not only our own mortality but the death of others whom we’ve loved and grieved. There is enough room on this day – to grieve. We will make it to Easter – and in the meantime, let’s come to Jesus and let him be the dear refuge of our weary souls.

Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise,
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies.
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal;
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief
For every pain I feel.

VERSE 2

But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine;
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline.
Yet, gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust;
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust.

VERSE 3

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sov’reign grace
Be deaf when I complain?
No, still the ear of sov’reign grace
Attends the mourner’s prayer;
O may I ever find access
To breathe my sorrows there.

VERSE 4

Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat;
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And beneath Thy feet.
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat;
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet.