Revelation of Love

Today's video is rather interesting, as a conversation between three brothers from the Society of St. John the Evangelist.  It's a bit longer (it's Sunday - hopefully you're not working and you have time for a 5 minute video) than usual, but here are men who have dedicated their lives to God, asking questions and expressing the doubts, vulnerabilites, fears and questions that many of us have at times in our lives.

So in addition to the question they pose to you:  Can you allow yourself to be vulnerable and be embraced?, let's also ask:

Have there been times when you have felt wrapped in God's love? 

Have there been times when, perhaps after the fact rather than in the midst, you have felt God's love and guidance through some pretty tough times?

Have there been times when you've experienced the "tough love" God provides to help us learn something (i.e., the brick thrown when you're going too fast to pay attention)?  What were you doing, and what did you learn?

Are there times when you feel unloveable, and therefore unable to feel the love of God surrounding you?  What do you do to get out of that situation?
 

Praying with Imagination

Well, since today's "video" is a compilation of the past three, I went to the portion of the SSJE website that offers "Monastic Wisdom".  There, there's a five-part series on Living Prayer, each of which gives an example of traditional methods of prayer.  Today, we'll address Praying with Imagination, which you can listen to, or read, as you wish.

Praying with imagination seems to be a bit more than traditional "prayer", but more of a meditation, where you place yourself into an event from one of the Bible's passages.

So after reading or listening to the sermon, and following the guided meditation, think about the following questions:

• Did you enjoy this method?
• If you were to try it again, what events would you use to put yourself into?
• In the spirit of Lent, choose one of the last days in the Gospels leading up to Christ's crucifixion - what do you choose?  What do you learn?
• Is this potentially a method of prayer that might be used with children, to help them become more connected with Christ?

 

A Wish for Your Journey

Today's video from SSJE gives us more of a meditation than a question, for today, they ask you to determine one wish that you would like to see fulfilled in the journey you're on.

Referring to John 14:23-29, there's an excellent post about finding the way, and the tools that Christ gave to us that we might do so.

So in this Lenten Journey, or in this journey we call life, what is a wish that you would have for your own spiritual edification?  Do you feel like Solomon, having to choose what gift God will grant to you?  Or are you thinking about the multitude of gifts God provides and trying to narrow it down to just one?  Or perhaps you're trying to summarize it all into one grand wish...

No one said you can't have more than one wish for your journey.  Just write down the first one now.

A New Word

Today's video talks about Christ bringing a new Word.  We can look at this in several ways - literally, there are "words" that we focus on, that bring meaning into our lives.  For instance, "service" is a word that can define how you look at the work you do, what you do for others, what you do for the Church, what you can offer to God.  "Love" is a word with so many meanings, and yet, to imbue your life with love for others, with love of God's creation, with love for ourselves that we might exemplify the commandments brought to us by Christ - is to set an example for others to follow.

Another way of looking at the "new Word", with a capital W, would be to note that Christ and the Word have always been synonymous - that Christ has always been and always is, and always will be One with the Father.  The Word has also been synonymous with creation, and each day there are new mysteries and discoveries and vistas to explore.

So what new Word is God speaking to you today?
 

Sermon for Ash Wednesday

PattiAnn Bennett, Rector at St. Michael's and All Angels in Eureka, Montana sent the following sermon on this occasion of Ash Wednesday:

Ash Wednesday March 5, 2014 

 

And we begin the season of Lent with the mark of ashes on our heads and go out into the night marked as Christ’s own forever...not unlike our marking at Baptism with holy oil and those very words...but with this marking we hear, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return..” We join the saints over so many generations who have gathered to do the same thing, receiving the same thing and hearing the same words and leaving with the same intent...

 

We confess that we have sinned against God in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved God with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

 

And each of our repentences will take on it’s own personal, secret form. We may choose to leave something behind, a behavior, a negative energy, a bad habit, then work at it every day on purpose for the next weeks intent to make a change. Perhaps we’ll take something on, a new discipline, something personal that has meaning and makes sense only to us.

 

Take something on, let something go. We fast, are particular, make a deal, a pact, a promise to do something that gets our attention, makes us uneasy, puts us out of our comfort zone, on purpose in the comfort and safety of our own home and life...

 

Why would anyone do that?

 

We do it to grow our relationship with God. We do it to deepen our prayer life. We do it to sharpen our senses and bring us to the edge of this world and the next. The practices we take on in Lent guide us through a season of intentional growth, often uncomfortable, but leading toward wholeness with God in Christ.

 

The Imposition of Ashes comes from the early church where sinners could only come back to the church after a period of repenting. During that period, repentents’ wore sackcloth and covered themselves with ashes...Ashes symbolize our earthiness, our mortality, our here and nowness. Ashes symbolize our commitment to the faith and to being drawn here tonight.

 

They symbolize the beginning of our journey through the next weeks of attempting to set ourselves right with God and our neighbor, correcting wrongs and reflecting on who we are as Christ’s own.

 

The word Lent means the lengthening of daylight hours...it means spring...the season when plants begin to grow after lying dormant all winter...in light of this we might think of ourselves the next few weeks as seeds that are in the dark cold ground, growing up with God’s help, sprouting, rising above and reaching for the light...

 

Matthew writes: whenever you give alms, you shouldn’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you fast, don’t look dismal but put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you...in other words whatever we have decided to do is between us and God, no one else. In secret, not so the world can see and be impressed or feel sorry. But like the spring seed in the ground where only God knows how hard we’re working and what is becoming of us.

 

Lent is a spare season, not like Advent or Epiphany. Lent isn’t bright or loud, it is quiet and still. It casts a different light, a smaller closer light illuminating our-selves to ourselves. We become shadowy as we look within, take stock, turn around, go a different way...repent.

 

When I was young my family went to church this night to receive a cross of ashes on our heads. I didn’t really get what was happening, but I did get that it was important and historical. We went like millions have over the centuries, to be initiated, marked, and then, like them, expected to act differently. It happened at church, not at the store or the movie theater or the gas station but at church on holy ground amidst the mystery of God.

 

Why ashes?

 

Ashes symbolize what’s left when it’s all over. We’re here for a little while really and it matters who we become and how we act and the way we love. We all die, so what we do with the life God has given is important and we need to remember that...So tonight, like every year for centuries, the faithful gather to be marked, reminded that who we are and what we do and how we love matters. Amen.

Ash Wednesday

Today we begin our Lenten series "Love Life" sponsored by the Brothers of the Society of St. John the Evangelist.  The first video can be found here.  The transcript of the video is below it, just in case you can't actually watch it.

The questions to ponder today are "Where can you know abundant life? Where can you still grow?"

The first question refers to John 10:10:  "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Does your answer to that first question change any with the addition of the Bible verse?

 

SSJE: Love Life Series

Just a reminder that our Lenten project, Love Life will begin tomorrow.  There are approximately 9 videos (short ones) to watch before we begin, so head over and watch when you've got about 20 minutes to spare.  Questions, meditations, answers, suggestions, ideas, etc. - these all begin tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.