Lent One 2024: Lent – at its best – is a gift. We haven’t always treated it as a gift, mind you, given our tendency to think and see life in an either/or binary manner, but that’s not Lent’s fault. It’s just how things are. Notice that I don’t ascribe blame here because, you see, I’ve been persuaded that an emphasis on original blessing, not original sin, resonates more with the grace of God that Jesus reveals. So, my days with spiritualities of shame, blame, or judgment are mostly over! Not that I ignore sin, ok I just try to keep it in perspective.
Yes, I know this departs from traditional Western theology that starts with human depravity; clearly Calvin and Augustine have their place. But so, too the well-respected minority report whose lineage harkens back to the generous orthodoxy practiced by the desert fathers and mothers of the 3rd CE, the joyous panentheism of the Celtic Church in the 4th century, and the heart and soul of St. Francis of Assisi who chose to incarnate the beauty of following Jesus and his love in the 1200s. What’s more, original blessing is a path proclaimed by mystics of every stripe, context, and tradition. The poetry of Kabir puts it like this:
Friend: hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think... and think... while you are alive.
What you call "salvation" belongs to the time before death.
If you don't break your ropes while you're alive,
do you think ghosts will do it after?
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic just because the body is rotten is fantasy. What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death. But if you make love and embrace the divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire.
This is at least PART of what I hear in today’s text when Jesus announced: The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; so repent and believe in the good news. I want to unpack those words – especially fulfilled, kingdom, repent, and believe – because they too have been sullied and diminished by centuries of clerics more jazzed with penitence than celebration – which is why we don’t hear them as part of God’s gift in 2024. In the beginning, if you will, repentance and belief were ALL about changing direction so that we might become fully our best selves as God intended. Pope Francis likes to say that If you want to grow closer to God during Lent, then:
Fast from hurting words and say kind words, fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude. Fast from anger and be filled with patience. Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope. Fast from worry and have trust in God. Fast from complaints; contemplate simplicity. Fast from pressures and be prayerful. Fast from bitterness; fill your hearts with joy. Fast from doing and simply be. Fast from grudges and be reconciled Fast from words and be silent and listen.
In this spirit the practice of a Holy Lent has to do with choices: letting go of or holding on to whatever binds and exhausts us; clearing away inner distractions so that there’s more room within to be filled with grace. Dr. Alicia Britt Cole, popular Christian author, writes: Lent can be a much-needed mentor in an age obsessed with visible, measurable, manageable, and tweetable outcomes, for it invites us to walk with Jesus and his disciples as they encounter the parts of life we’d rather avoid: grief, conflict, misunderstanding, betrayal, restriction, rejection, and pain. Easter CAN be a celebration of salvation as the stunningly satisfying fruit of letting go and letting God. Lent shows us how to become empty so that we might be filled.
St. Paul encouraged this when he taught that in everything God can work for good for those who love the Lord. Not that all things ARE good, but God’s love can transform even the Cross into a source of new life. Eugene Peterson restates this truth when Jesus talks about blessings in the Sermon on the Mount saying: You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope for with less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you because only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less for that’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
Are you still with me? Have I at least suggested why a spirituality of original blessing might have merit? I hope so because I want to explore what gets in our way: what inhibits, distracts, or prevents us from resting more consistently into God’s grace. What slows us down from trusting that the Lord is truly within and among us, ok? Look, we ALL have wounds and fears, right? There are social constructs that encourage conformity as well as bullies, insecurities, institutions of oppresssion and so much more. But that was true in the days of Jesus, too. So, what does he MEAN by insisting that: The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; so repent and believe the good news? The Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament studies and wisdom-keeper of our United Church tradition, believes that Lent is the great departure where we practice giving up:
The greedy, anxious anti-neighborliness of our economy, the exclusionary nature of our politics that fears the other, and our self-indulgent consumerism that devours creation be-cause these things keep us from trusting that grace is a gift: a gift to be simple, a gift to be free; a gift to come down where we ought to be.
The Eastern Orthodox speak of the Great Lent as a concentrated season dedicated to moving beyond self-pity and regret with specific practices set aside for each week including intensified prayer, vigorous fasting, and acts of generosity for the poor. This year I want to talk about Lent with you as a way to get UN-stuck: NOT a season focused upon our profound or pervasive sinfulness – but rather a way to face and address the inertia that keeps us from recognizing God’s love in our lives. It’s been said that ALL of us sometimes fail to recognize something: Jews do not recognize Jesus as Messiah, Protestants don’t recognize the spiritual authority of the Pope, and Baptists don’t recognize one another in the liquor store.
The problem is that when habit, culture, confusion, and exhaustion block us from recognizing the sacred in every one and every thing: we’re stuck – creatively clogged, spiritually constipated, and ethically malnourished. You might even say that our imagination has atrophied, and our soul is star-ving This condition inclines us to forget or ignore that in the beginning God created us ALL from the same dust and dirt and called it ALL good. Very, very good. This was brought home to me earlier this week when I read that:
Spiders dream. That monkeys playfully tease their predators. That dolphins have accents That lions can be scared silly by one lone mongoose. That otters hold hands. And that ants bury their dead. Both science and spirituality affirm that ALL of creation is not only good, but linked together in an inescapable network of mutuality where whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. There is NOT their life and ours nor your life and mine. There is just ONE life as MLK told us: Either we learn to live together as sisters and brothers; or, we else we perish together as fools.
Clearly, something is stuck when good people all over creation choose NOT to recognize the sacred presence in ALL life. Look at Israel and Palestine – Russia and Ukraine – the Muslim and Hindu vio-lence in India – or the so-called troubles of my kin in Northern Ireland. Once upon a time it truly made sense to stay stuck in our basal ganglia – our fight or flight reptilian brain. But in the 21st century we know that what harms one directly hurts us all indirectly. To paraphrase St. Paul, we practice Lent year after year because when I was a child, I spoke as a child, thought as a child, and acted as a child; but when I matured, I put childish and reptilian things away so that I might live unstuck. That’s why Lent always frames our unclogging with one of the gospel stories about the baptism of Jesus, his time in the desert, and his first call to repentance.
This is another place I tend to take a minority report: traditionalists interpret both the baptism of Jesus and his time in the desert as something extraordinary. These events are seen as bold, charismatic happenings. But I believe both the baptism of Jesus and his time in the wilderness were more spiritual rites of passage designed to give him space to think, feel, and pray about his emerging ministry. It was his way of getting unstuck from culture and religion.
As one called into the prophetic tradition of ancient Israel, Jesus would have needed training. You may recall that last week in the story of Elijah and Elisha, the younger prophet was an ap-prentice who literally was passed the mantle of Elijah. Now, we don’t often make this connection between Jesus and John the Baptist but the story tells us that Jesus went to John for baptism. My hunch is that there’s more going on here than meets the eye – like Jesus being trained in the wisdom of God’s first revealed word in nature. I see John training Jesus as a wisdom-keeping mentor who KNEW how to read the signs in the sky, the birds of the air, the unforced rhythms of grace in nature. So, when Jesus is finally baptized it’s more the culmination of his training not a spontaneous act of the spirit: it’s a ritual initiating him as a prophet. Same for his 40 days and nights in the wilderness: that, too, sounds like a traditional rite of passage where a spiritual novice sets out on a vision quest to integrate holy and human wisdom.
And as is often the case for an extended retreat – and that’s what the 40 days is all about – a LONG time not an exact number like 40 years in the desert or 40 days on Noah’s ark. During these lengthy retreats people regularly experience doubts and questions as well as bits of clarity. A clue to this interpretation is that while in the desert Jesus was tested by his shadows AND ministered to and cared for by animals and angels. He heard in his heart that he was God’s beloved at his baptism – now he takes some time out to discern what that means. His prophetic journey began with Jesus being the carpenter’s kid, but after training in the way of the prophet and getting unstuck on his vision quest, he becomes an avatar of sha-lom and an advocate for spiritual transformation. That’s why I believe Jesus articulates the meaning of HIS new life metaphorically saying:
Time has been pregnant with possibilities – a necessary season of waiting and gestation – but now time is filled full with so much grace that it’s giving birth to a new way of being called the kingdom of God.
Clearly, something is stuck when good people all over creation choose NOT to recognize the sacred presence in ALL life. Look at Israel and Palestine – Russia and Ukraine – the Muslim and Hindu vio-lence in India – or the so-called troubles of my kin in Northern Ireland. Once upon a time it truly made sense to stay stuck in our basal ganglia – our fight or flight reptilian brain. But in the 21st century we know that what harms one directly hurts us all indirectly. To paraphrase St. Paul, we practice Lent year after year because when I was a child, I spoke as a child, thought as a child, and acted as a child; but when I matured, I put childish and reptilian things away so that I might live unstuck. That’s why Lent always frames our unclogging with one of the gospel stories about the baptism of Jesus, his time in the desert, and his first call to repentance.
This is another place I tend to take a minority report: traditionalists interpret both the baptism of Jesus and his time in the desert as something extraordinary. These events are seen as bold, charismatic happenings. But I believe both the baptism of Jesus and his time in the wilderness were more spiritual rites of passage designed to give him space to think, feel, and pray about his emerging ministry. It was his way of getting unstuck from culture and religion.
As one called into the prophetic tradition of ancient Israel, Jesus would have needed training. You may recall that last week in the story of Elijah and Elisha, the younger prophet was an ap-prentice who literally was passed the mantle of Elijah. Now, we don’t often make this connection between Jesus and John the Baptist but the story tells us that Jesus went to John for baptism. My hunch is that there’s more going on here than meets the eye – like Jesus being trained in the wisdom of God’s first revealed word in nature. I see John training Jesus as a wisdom-keeping mentor who KNEW how to read the signs in the sky, the birds of the air, the unforced rhythms of grace in nature. So, when Jesus is finally baptized it’s more the culmination of his training not a spontaneous act of the spirit: it’s a ritual initiating him as a prophet. Same for his 40 days and nights in the wilderness: that, too, sounds like a traditional rite of passage where a spiritual novice sets out on a vision quest to integrate holy and human wisdom.
And as is often the case for an extended retreat – and that’s what the 40 days is all about – a LONG time not an exact number like 40 years in the desert or 40 days on Noah’s ark. During these lengthy retreats people regularly experience doubts and questions as well as bits of clarity. A clue to this interpretation is that while in the desert Jesus was tested by his shadows AND ministered to and cared for by animals and angels. He heard in his heart that he was God’s beloved at his baptism – now he takes some time out to discern what that means. His prophetic journey began with Jesus being the carpenter’s kid, but after training in the way of the prophet and getting unstuck on his vision quest, he becomes an avatar of sha-lom and an advocate for spiritual transformation. That’s why I believe Jesus articulates the meaning of HIS new life metaphorically saying:
Time has been pregnant with possibilities – a necessary season of waiting and gestation – but now time is filled full with so much grace that it’s giving birth to a new way of being called the kingdom of God.
That’s my paraphrase, of course, with tradition stating: The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; so repent and believe in the good news. But that’s what fulfilled means: the Greek word St. Mark uses is pleroo – meaning to be complete, to ripen and mature, to bring to birth a final realization. It’s the gospel’s translation of the Aramaic, d’mala, spoken by Jesus – and shows up all over the place in the Bible. In the Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew has Jesus saying: do not think that I have come to loosen or abolish Torah and the Prophets; no, I have come to fill them full and complete them. St. Luke opens saying: I am writing so that you may know the d’mala – the complete truth about the one we know as Jesus – who makes us whole. And St. John starts by noting that: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father who is filled full with grace and truth (that is, made complete and whole – d’mala/pleroo.
The Bible scholars that I trust note that in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew to fulfill is: To carry out or bring to realization, to perform or do as is a person's duty; to obey, satisfy, complete, and incarnate the Commandments. Two hundred and forty times the Hebrew Bible uses a cognate of d’mala – maley – and it’s also used 52 times in the New Testament. That’s also why I hear Jesus saying something like this: we can each become complete or mature as God intended – filled full with grace like I was during my baptism – if we choose to welcome rather than oppose God’s love and practice getting unstuck.
We have always been God’s beloved – since the start of time when God created us and called it good . To trust this deeply, to live into original blessing not original sin, is to take up residence in the kingdom of God. So, let me say a word about kingdom, ok? The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault offers this clue about the meaning of God’s kingdom when she writes:
Throughout the Gospel accounts, Jesus uses one particular phrase repeatedly: “the Kingdom of Heaven” (or sometimes the Kingdom of God.)” These words stand out everywhere: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like this,” “The Kingdom of God is like that,” “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you,” “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Whatever this Kingdom is, it’s clearly of foundational importance to what Jesus was trying to teach. Many Christians today, particularly those of an evangelical persuasion, assume that the Kingdom of Heaven means the place you go when you die — if you’ve been “saved.” But that’s NOT what Jesus teaches: time and again he tells us that the kingdom is within us, that it is at hand, that it is NOW not later. Bourgeault adds: you don’t DIE into it; you awaken unto it.
· Others equate the Kingdom with an earthly utopia. For them the Kingdom of Heaven would be a realm of peace and justice, where human beings live together in harmony with a fair distribution of economic assets. For thousands of years, prophets and visionaries have labored to bring into being their respective versions of this kind of Kingdom. (NOTE: this is clearly how John the Baptist talked about the kingdom of God – same for the prophets of ancient Israel – and even the first disciples of Jesus.) But it’s NOT how Jesus understood it because the main problem with earthly utopias is that they never seem to last. So, Jesus rejected this understanding as well: when his followers wanted to proclaim him the Messiah, the divinely anointed king of Israel who would in-augurate the reign of God’s justice upon the earth, Jesus shrank from that saying, strongly and unequivocally, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
The BEST scholars of our era insist that the: Kingdom is really a metaphor for a state of conscious-ness; it’s not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place.” This take on the kingdom: sees no separation between God and humans, between humans and other humans, or beyond humanity and the rest of creation. We’re ALL in this together and whatever blesses one ripples through life like a pebble spreading blessings to the whole pond. And THAT, beloved, is the deeper and more important understanding of repentance. Metanoia is NOT a feeling of remorse or shame over some indiscretion, failing, or sin. No, to repent is to radically trust God’s grace – trust it so profoundly that it changes – meta – our mind and way of knowing – nous – from the inside out so that we become the person God has desired us to be from the beginning.
When you know you are the beloved child of God, one who trusts God’s grace beyond every other truth, then you, too can live into the inner peace that Jesus shared with a wounded world. You, too, can share compassion, creativity, and courage tenderly because you know God is God, so you don’t have to try to do it all – just your part. And THAT is why we keep practicing Lent as a gift – not a burden – but a gift that encourages us to get unstuck – a gift that promises grace in ways that nourish, ripen, fortify, and empower us with new minds: metanoia.
Lent has historically been defined as relinquishing – letting go – self-emptying or renunciation – and the Via Negativa has its place. How does the Serenity Prayer put it: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It’s a time-tested way to practice fasting, prayer, and sharing with the poor. But a new spirit is emerging about Lent that’s guided by the Via Positiva – adding a practice that fills us full – instead of just emptying. Tricia Gates Brown – lay theologian, poet, dreamer, and author – recently put it like this:
A few years ago, I created a practice that brought Lent to life for me—a new way to commemorate the season. You see, for me, Lenten imagery is strikingly about the darkness and dormancy preceding Easter, like the darkness and dormancy of winter that precedes Spring. A plant goes dormant in wintertime, but does not die. In fact, the nourishment of winter is essential to its growth. Winter is when roots are strengthened, made ready for the coming vitality. The imagery and symbolism of Lent also points to the tomb, to the time between Jesus’ crucifixion and resur-rection, when something mysterious happens. We don’t know quite what that mystery was, but the lacuna of the tomb prepared the way—the way for Easter, for the Jesus Movement.
Much like Pope Francis, Dr. Brown suggests that maybe some of us will want to add a spirituality of addition to our spiritual toolbox as well as the practice of letting go in subtraction.
In Lent, we go deep into the roots, into a time of mystery and tomb, into nourishment and dormancy. Thinking of Lent only as a time to focus on ‘sinfulness’ and giving things up as a kind of penance, doesn’t resonate with Lent as a time to delve deep into the roots of a thing. Anticipating Lent, I started to ask: How do I want to go deeper this year? What calls me into a practice of deeper reflection?
She said that one year exploring quantum physics took her deeper. Another year it was taking in new music. And most recently it was simply sitting in nature and rejoicing in its bounty as a human be-ing not a do-ing. And I’d like to suggest WE give this alternative Lent a go. What would it mean to enter a Holy Lent as a six-week retreat dedicated to going deep into the roots of something that would nourish YOU – fill you full – so that your joy expressed God’s grace just by the way you walk-ed around? Would you be willing to try it? Explore it? Walk around with it for a season?
I’m not talking about burdening yourself with something too big or too grand, ok? About 30 years ago when I started to get serious about the contemplative life, I told Fr. Jim O’Donnell, my spiritual director, that this Lent: I’m going to fast two days a week, pray and chant the Psalms every morning, and spend some time in our local soup kitchen. To which he said, “Slow down, big guy, slow down. Just light a blasted candle every morning as you pause to breathe in a sacred breath. Too often we come up with grandiose plans that only disappoint. So, just light a freakin candle, man, ok?”
And that’s my invitation for you: start small – don’t set yourself up for failure. And to help remind you to go slow and start small – like the proverbial mustard seed – here’s a Lenten tool. Take this wee glass rock and… what? Carry it with you? Place it somewhere you’ll see it regularly as a reminder to start small? Whatever… but take this home with you as you try this out.
We’ll check in each week as Lent ripens, ok? The GIFT of Lent is renewal – a time to rest, to go deeper into trust and grace – and do so with joy. Remember that Jesus told his disciples: I have come so that your JOY may be full. In that spirit, let those with ears to hear: hear.
The Bible scholars that I trust note that in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew to fulfill is: To carry out or bring to realization, to perform or do as is a person's duty; to obey, satisfy, complete, and incarnate the Commandments. Two hundred and forty times the Hebrew Bible uses a cognate of d’mala – maley – and it’s also used 52 times in the New Testament. That’s also why I hear Jesus saying something like this: we can each become complete or mature as God intended – filled full with grace like I was during my baptism – if we choose to welcome rather than oppose God’s love and practice getting unstuck.
We have always been God’s beloved – since the start of time when God created us and called it good . To trust this deeply, to live into original blessing not original sin, is to take up residence in the kingdom of God. So, let me say a word about kingdom, ok? The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault offers this clue about the meaning of God’s kingdom when she writes:
Throughout the Gospel accounts, Jesus uses one particular phrase repeatedly: “the Kingdom of Heaven” (or sometimes the Kingdom of God.)” These words stand out everywhere: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like this,” “The Kingdom of God is like that,” “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you,” “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Whatever this Kingdom is, it’s clearly of foundational importance to what Jesus was trying to teach. Many Christians today, particularly those of an evangelical persuasion, assume that the Kingdom of Heaven means the place you go when you die — if you’ve been “saved.” But that’s NOT what Jesus teaches: time and again he tells us that the kingdom is within us, that it is at hand, that it is NOW not later. Bourgeault adds: you don’t DIE into it; you awaken unto it.
· Others equate the Kingdom with an earthly utopia. For them the Kingdom of Heaven would be a realm of peace and justice, where human beings live together in harmony with a fair distribution of economic assets. For thousands of years, prophets and visionaries have labored to bring into being their respective versions of this kind of Kingdom. (NOTE: this is clearly how John the Baptist talked about the kingdom of God – same for the prophets of ancient Israel – and even the first disciples of Jesus.) But it’s NOT how Jesus understood it because the main problem with earthly utopias is that they never seem to last. So, Jesus rejected this understanding as well: when his followers wanted to proclaim him the Messiah, the divinely anointed king of Israel who would in-augurate the reign of God’s justice upon the earth, Jesus shrank from that saying, strongly and unequivocally, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
The BEST scholars of our era insist that the: Kingdom is really a metaphor for a state of conscious-ness; it’s not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place.” This take on the kingdom: sees no separation between God and humans, between humans and other humans, or beyond humanity and the rest of creation. We’re ALL in this together and whatever blesses one ripples through life like a pebble spreading blessings to the whole pond. And THAT, beloved, is the deeper and more important understanding of repentance. Metanoia is NOT a feeling of remorse or shame over some indiscretion, failing, or sin. No, to repent is to radically trust God’s grace – trust it so profoundly that it changes – meta – our mind and way of knowing – nous – from the inside out so that we become the person God has desired us to be from the beginning.
When you know you are the beloved child of God, one who trusts God’s grace beyond every other truth, then you, too can live into the inner peace that Jesus shared with a wounded world. You, too, can share compassion, creativity, and courage tenderly because you know God is God, so you don’t have to try to do it all – just your part. And THAT is why we keep practicing Lent as a gift – not a burden – but a gift that encourages us to get unstuck – a gift that promises grace in ways that nourish, ripen, fortify, and empower us with new minds: metanoia.
Lent has historically been defined as relinquishing – letting go – self-emptying or renunciation – and the Via Negativa has its place. How does the Serenity Prayer put it: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It’s a time-tested way to practice fasting, prayer, and sharing with the poor. But a new spirit is emerging about Lent that’s guided by the Via Positiva – adding a practice that fills us full – instead of just emptying. Tricia Gates Brown – lay theologian, poet, dreamer, and author – recently put it like this:
A few years ago, I created a practice that brought Lent to life for me—a new way to commemorate the season. You see, for me, Lenten imagery is strikingly about the darkness and dormancy preceding Easter, like the darkness and dormancy of winter that precedes Spring. A plant goes dormant in wintertime, but does not die. In fact, the nourishment of winter is essential to its growth. Winter is when roots are strengthened, made ready for the coming vitality. The imagery and symbolism of Lent also points to the tomb, to the time between Jesus’ crucifixion and resur-rection, when something mysterious happens. We don’t know quite what that mystery was, but the lacuna of the tomb prepared the way—the way for Easter, for the Jesus Movement.
Much like Pope Francis, Dr. Brown suggests that maybe some of us will want to add a spirituality of addition to our spiritual toolbox as well as the practice of letting go in subtraction.
In Lent, we go deep into the roots, into a time of mystery and tomb, into nourishment and dormancy. Thinking of Lent only as a time to focus on ‘sinfulness’ and giving things up as a kind of penance, doesn’t resonate with Lent as a time to delve deep into the roots of a thing. Anticipating Lent, I started to ask: How do I want to go deeper this year? What calls me into a practice of deeper reflection?
She said that one year exploring quantum physics took her deeper. Another year it was taking in new music. And most recently it was simply sitting in nature and rejoicing in its bounty as a human be-ing not a do-ing. And I’d like to suggest WE give this alternative Lent a go. What would it mean to enter a Holy Lent as a six-week retreat dedicated to going deep into the roots of something that would nourish YOU – fill you full – so that your joy expressed God’s grace just by the way you walk-ed around? Would you be willing to try it? Explore it? Walk around with it for a season?
I’m not talking about burdening yourself with something too big or too grand, ok? About 30 years ago when I started to get serious about the contemplative life, I told Fr. Jim O’Donnell, my spiritual director, that this Lent: I’m going to fast two days a week, pray and chant the Psalms every morning, and spend some time in our local soup kitchen. To which he said, “Slow down, big guy, slow down. Just light a blasted candle every morning as you pause to breathe in a sacred breath. Too often we come up with grandiose plans that only disappoint. So, just light a freakin candle, man, ok?”
And that’s my invitation for you: start small – don’t set yourself up for failure. And to help remind you to go slow and start small – like the proverbial mustard seed – here’s a Lenten tool. Take this wee glass rock and… what? Carry it with you? Place it somewhere you’ll see it regularly as a reminder to start small? Whatever… but take this home with you as you try this out.
We’ll check in each week as Lent ripens, ok? The GIFT of Lent is renewal – a time to rest, to go deeper into trust and grace – and do so with joy. Remember that Jesus told his disciples: I have come so that your JOY may be full. In that spirit, let those with ears to hear: hear.
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