We are one day away from beginning the observation of Lent in our community and in much of the Christian Church worldwide.  This past Saturday we began tuning our hearts toward what God may be wanting to do in us as we examined Jesus teaching at Nazareth and how Jesus challenges us to see him in ways that we don’t often expect.

This year we are joining with Spring Hill United Methodist Church for Ash Wednesday and will then journey together through Lent using this guide that my friend Brody Harper help me put together. Feel free to download it. Use it and journey with us.

Maybe a good framework to use is examining your intent and practices as you see them played out in your rituals, your story and your relationships.  In other words what are the things you do over and over again and where do they say that your allegiances lie (rituals)?  What are you involved in that says who you are?  What would a biographer say is the arc of your life (story)?  How are you relationships – with God, yourself, your family, your friends, your community (relationships)? Is there work that needs to be done in these areas?

Remember Lent is not just about giving something up? It’s about laying down thins that are keeping you from being everything that God created you to be and picking up things that do this. I’ll be honest Lent is a struggle.  It is hard work. It takes commitment but just like the exodus, the exile the 3 days in the tomb, the waiting of the church there is redemption in the end and how we handle the waiting is as important as how we handle the victory.

Praying that you join the journey with us.

Peace ~

William

2010 Lent Book

“The shepherd goes before, to see that the way is practicable and safe. He is armed in order to defend his charge, and in that he is very courageous. Many adventures with wild beasts occur not unlike that recounted by David; and though there are no lion here, wolves, leopards, and panthers still prowl about these wild wadys. They not infrequently attack the flock in the very presence of the shepherd. I have listened with interest to their descriptions of desperate fights with those savage beasts. And when the thief and the robber come, and come they do, the faithful shepherd has often to defend his flock at the hazard of his life” –William M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1885): 3:594.