PJ’s Page-
I am writing this newsletter article on the literal eve of Lent. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the day we make and mark our dusty beginning into this penitential season.
Many folks observe this season by giving something up as a spiritual discipline. They give up chocolate or soda or caffeine as a model of sacrifice. You have heard me say before that giving up caffeine or chocolate will only make me cranky. So I generally try to add a spiritual discipline to my days during this season. In past years, I’ve intentionally added a twenty minute walk each day. Or twenty minutes of time sitting in silence. This year, I am committing to writing almost every day, with a group of fellow writers, responding to a Lenten prompt offered each day. If you have any interest in reading what I write, it will be posted on my blog at runningtotelltheothers.blogspot.com.
Several years ago my Lenten discipline involved praying daily for those people in my life who had hurt me. With great trepidation I listed six people I would commit to name and hold before God – one each week. I must admit, this felt like a scary thing to do. Not because I thought God was unaware of my tender hurts, but because I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to offer my prayers in this way. Some days, it was all I could do to simply name the person and then sit quietly, trusting that God understood the flip flops of my heart. Other days I was able to offer more in my prayers…blessings for them… prayers for reconciliation.
All of these years later, that Lenten discipline remains a powerful memory for me. I was able to see that forgiveness is an ongoing process and doesn’t mean that I forget the wrong, or that I necessarily want to tell them about my prayers, or that I even want to talk to them again. But in that time with God, I was able to place the hurt there, in God’s hands, and let it go.
Forgiveness is messy, but it is also a gift. This year, during our mid-week Lenten worship, we will consider together the gift of forgiveness. That’s actually the theme for our time together: The Gift of Forgiveness. (See details elsewhere in this newsletter for the shape of the evenings.)
An additional component to our time together is the opportunity to receive an almost daily Lenten reflection related to the Gift of Forgiveness. This will not be a devotional reading as much as it will be a short thought, quote, or idea to invite you into your own reflection. These reflections will be posted on our Facebook page and sent to you via email.
However you do it, I invite you to keep a holy Lent. Join us for our mid week worship each Wednesday, which happens in the Fellowship Hall around the table, which is where I suspect the early church often worshipped. Join us on Sundays for worship with this community of faith. Practice the gift of forgiveness. Consider the addition of a spiritual discipline. Give up chocolate or caffeine, if you must!
Lenten blessings,
PJ+