Reflections on Lent (from the Christ Church community): March 8, 2012

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Christina Peters
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1 Reflections on Lent (from the Christ Church community): March 8, 2012 The Exercise (assigned through the Christ Church weekly on March 1): Some of you may have played around with the free web program "Wordle." A person copies in a bunch of text and then receives this wonderful word mosaic that in many ways captures the essence of the written text. We are in the midst of the season of Lent. As a spiritual discipline, some people give something up for Lent. Some people take on something new. Some just try to make it through the wilderness of March in Wisconsin! I would love to create a "community wordle" about Lent. I would love for as many people as possible to answer the two questions below with 100 words or less. I will then dump everyone's text in and see what we get. Maybe this goes on the website, maybe we create a sign out in front of the church. Would you please indulge me and take a couple minutes and jot down a few sentences that come to mind? No wrong answers. All are invited to submit (whether you are a member or not). Click seth@christchurchwfb.org and answer: 1) What should one give up for Lent? (And this could be whiskey, but it could also be prejudice, impatience...etc). 2) What is Lent about for you? (no wrong answers here - please express where you're at). The Results: 1) For Lent, I give up judging people. While behind the wheel, at least during Lent, when I accuse someone of being expletive, expletive, expletive at least I stop myself in my tracks. Sometimes, I long for Easter so I can resume cursing bad drivers, etc. 2) Lent is about remembering that God doesn t judge me, Jesus forgave his crucifiers and I am blaming and judging everyone? Hmmm, not exactly walking the path! 1) Early in my marriage one piece of advice provided was If you are wrong, admit it. If you are right, shut up. I am giving up being right (but not just with my spouse). 2) In general the concept of enduring some hardship to better understand what God does provide for us usually works. Being thankful has always been an attractive tenet. But recently I am trying to be a little more proactive in my search for God in this life with mixed results. So I guess lent comes at a funny time. I am curious what Easter will bring.

2 1) What should one give up for Lent? Give up old patterns, well-worn negativity, the tendency to see the world through a skeptical lens. Give up one s self. Make strides to forego the tendency to distrust the Lord. Give up the belief that one cannot do [something]. Give up the knee-jerk reaction that one doesn t have time for the Lord. Give up routines. Pray for a spiritual breakthrough that will culminate in rejoicing on Easter. 2) What is Lent about for you? Lent is a time to see where I am in relation to God. It is a season to check my direction, to re-calibrate, to realign my daily habits and thought patterns. It is a time to commit to more devotional time, (more) intentional prayer, and to make attempts to meditate. It is a time to rein-in my actions so that I am deliberate in my priorities. 1) What should one give up for Lent? Being judgmental, critical of self and others ; getting over the depression of unemployment and illness. Antidote: trying to pray while walking dogs and thinking of 3 positive of the other or situation that irked me. 2) What is Lent about for you? Second Chances. Failing at the practices outlined in 1) above and trying again. 1. For me, it is not a time for giving up, rather a time of more intense devotion. My devotion comes in the form of reading scripture, reading other Lenten Devotional writings, and reflection. Preparing for Christ's ultimate sacrifice for my sins. 2. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to take life at God's pace. His time is different than mine. I need to let his love enfold me. I need to take His hand, as if I were a child and let Him guide me. I may have free will, but I am not in control. 1. I am trying to give up all the weight. My yoke is too heavy. I am trying to accept the idea of a lighter life. 2. Lent is the hard stuff that Christianity refuses to ignore. No view without the climb. Got to go through hell before you get to heaven. (Dante or Steve Miller, take your pick). 1. Instead of giving up, I like to be more purposeful about thinking of others, and in particular I try hard to see the best in all people.

3 2. Lent for me, is time to take stock of my own imperfections and make a conscious effort to make changes that address those flaws. 1) How about judging others by the way they look, without gettingto know them. Give this up for Lent. 2) Lent to me means trying to feel what Jesus must have felt,knowing that he was walking toward his suffering and death 1) indulgences 3) soul searching, meditation 1. For Lent, giving up or taking on something, whether physical or not,i believe, should be something that will challenge you to you grow in your faith and love in Christ. So, I've given up candy (something I love to eat) and, also, ("New this Year!") I'm working on forgiving someone. (I can't yet reconcile the relationship as, unfortunately, this person admits to no wrong doing.) 2. I love Easter - the promise of a new beginning. For me, Lent is the path, the way, that isn't always easy, but gets me to that new life. And, along the way, hopefully, I can learn more about myself and my relationship with my God. 1. something that detracts your soul or body from God 2. thankful for the potential God has given us, impatience with my weaknesses, prayful for mindful self-awareness and wholeness and forgiveness 1. I do think what one gives up for Lent is something that would not be easy. The sacrifice could be forgoing Starbucks, chocolate, sweets, etc. I personally try to focus on giving up things that I know are not good for me that I have been struggling with. In my case, fast food is an issue for me for some reason so am looking to the strength of the lent period to allow God to help me deal with it. 2. Lent is about giving something up and picking something up. Regular devotional reading and prayer have been challenges for me so I am following a Lent guide and am reading Thomas Merton s thoughts in Solitude. I am hopeful that a habit is formed and more importantly that I allow God s graces to flow into me by allowing myself to read, think, and pray like I should.

4 1. Gossip (I always try to be better about this because it is so harmful) and caffeine 2. Discipline Other General Reflections We are called to be in relationship with God. The desire for God is each and every person. During Lent I am in dialogue with myself and in dialogue with God. Lent is a time to spend more time with God. I try not to hog my time as much during Lent. I decide to share more of my time with God. Does anyone pray the rosary? There is an Anglican rosary. It helps me focus. Help me forgive someone who has not asked for forgiveness. God help me. I find myself in continual thinking about my relationship with God. That is prayer! Journaling is important to me. I put is all done on paper, just to get stuff out of my head. Journaling helps clear my mind. I ask God to help change me as much as changing the person I have an issue with. Listen! Be quiet before God! God took a risk creating humanity with free will. Humanity can say yes or no to God. God revels God s self to us through the Bible and even now in this group as we talk together. Humanity struggles with its understanding of God. We live in an age where we want to understand everything. Except we never can understand everything. Science is now saying much of what was understood is no longer true. But we still desire to understand everything. We question relationships. We question everything. Some things need to be taken on faith.

5 Community Wordle below! What words are most prominent? Are there any words that you thought might have shown up that are absent? Personally, I love that each of these words represents not just a concept, but also a real person in the community (or at the least a real person in the world somewhere!). I can t help thinking about all these flesh and blood human beings out there giving, walking, thinking, trying to be more intentional about love, prayer, life, everything. And just as the power of the wordle comes from the way the words are all crowded together, the power of a Lenten season is that we realize we are not all isolated. Even those outside the community share with us life and breath and the common dust of the earth. We are in it together. Blessing on your Lenten journey, Seth+

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