lent and advent, the two penitential seasons of the church year, have always been observed by me, both in my family of origin, and any other family to which i belong/have belonged.
ashes on the forehead have come and gone, depending on what the peculiar (in the sense of particular) practice of a church happened to be. they are a symbol of our impending mortality, reminding us that all of our lives we walk in the shadow of the cross. (remember, Jesus received funeral gifts at his birth)...
i no longer hold to the idea that lent is the only time to be penitential, but try to hold that awareness within me all the time. i know that God sees everything i do, both wise and unwise, a fact that freaks dj out when i remind him. come to think of it, perhaps i have been my own worst enemy in that department if i am telling him that God sees us even when we engage in sexual acts...
i used to 'give up' something as an act of self-discipline. we do not eat meat on Ash Wednesdays, and when i was growing up, since we always observed meatless fridays (big help to the budget as well as being a religious observance), we also abstained from eating meat on wednesdays during lent. at various times we would go to the stations of the cross on fridays, but few churches offer that observance any longer. i gave up caffeine once for lent, and that was the second hardest addiction i ever had to break, the first being my addiction to nicotine.
now i try to add something to my spiritual life instead of taking away something from my physical life. that is a harder self-discipline than the physical. i think about who and what God is often, and so during lent i try to make that into a cogent and coherent statement of belief. sort of like my personal theology. it is meat and bread, life and love, to me ... and my discipline this year is to try to write it down more, in hopes that i will be able to get closer to what God's plan is for humanity.
the other thing i strive for, but have more difficulty with and can only do with God's grace, is to make more time in my daily life for a STRUCTURED time of prayer. i talk to God in my head all the time, like a running dialogue, but a relationship needs more structure than a random connection, and so that is what i strive for with God.
some people use this season to search their souls/hearts/lives for sinful acts. but i am aware all the time of my shortcomings "for my sin is ever before me"... there is no point in denying that, or hiding from it, or waiting until twice a year to consider that. and so i also direct my focus outward, towards bringing about Shalom... towards being a voice of reconciliation for people towards God, people towards creation, but mostly people towards each other.
the band Creed has a great song with the refrain "let's give love to all"... when i was a student in college (the first go 'round), which would have been about 1977, we were doing a Bible study, and the topic of the gifts of the Holy Spirit came up. there is a passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about the Holy Spirit giving gifts "severally as he will" (King James), and so we interpreted that to mean there might be some room for asking > each of us prayed and asked for a specific gift of and from the Holy Spirit. the gift i asked for was love, completely unaware of what the full ramifications would be, and i believe that i received that gift. and so i have the responsibility of and to that gift to try to bring love, God's love and human love, into as many lives as i can... and working toward Shalom furthers that goal...
Recent Comments