A Daily Lent

Luke 11:30 He [Jonah] was a sign from God to the people of Nineveh. In the same way, the Son of Man will be a sign from God to the people of today. For each of us, someone in our life-world is a sign of the generous presence of God, a sign that life can move toward a more integrated wholeness day by day. Most likely, the person or persons who came to your mind just now are not famous. They probably have a very limited platform. They are not widely known, not familiar household names. They do not pastor churches or serve on church staffs. They are not politicians or business executives . . . not extraordinarily powerful or among the highly educated. They are rather anonymous, quietly living in the peace and mercy of God. They avail themselves of the work of God's Spirit. They are slowly finding a new center for their work and relationships. They are generous with what they have and are learning not to continually clamor for more. They are quiet saints who are everyday si...

Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. The language of this part of the Our Father (The Lord's Prayer, the Model Prayer, or in Latin, the Pater Noster ) varies, depending on the translation you use. Some favor "trespasses," others "sins," and some "debts." In congregational prayer, I usually use "trespasses." When I say the prayer privately, I use "sins." When I want to meditate on the prayer and linger with the images, I use "debts." As an image, "debt" carries a depth of meaning for me that the others lack. I have daily experiences of being indebted to others, and of others being indebted to me. Every time I step into a store, for instance, and pay at the checkout, I'm reminded of my debt . . . I have to pay something of value in order to take out something of value. It's the way our economy works. We assign value to something and then extract pay...

Matthew 25:37 - 40 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" Those who extended help and mercy to others are called "the righteous" in this Jesus-story. But they are not righteous by virtue of something they knew that others did not know, or by virtue of trying to make something of themselves. In fact, they were "righteous" and did not know it. They did not act with generosity toward others because they thought it would earn them a reward or a title. They didn't engage the hurting of their world in order to attain the label of "righteous" or "holy" or "spiritual....

Mark 1:12 - 13 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. I think of this as a kind of edge or boundary experience, moving to (or beyond) the limits of one's ordinary routine. These kinds of experiences tend to strip down the one who engages them. Very often, when the usual, ordinary baggage of one's life is taken away, there is a deeper sense of self and purpose. A certain clarity comes, so that we see ourselves, our lives, others, and the world in a new light. These edge experiences don't always feel good, but they tend to be defining. I find it notable that the Gospels attribute this particular experience in Jesus' life to the Spirit of God, even as it includes temptation and testing. The agent of this stretching is God's Spirit, not the evil one who is trying to subvert him from stepping into God's design for his life. M...

Luke 5:31 - 32 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Before seeking a cure, you have to acknowledge sickness. Before you can be whole, you have to confess your brokenness. Before you can be rescued, you have to know that you're in peril. For people who are self-sufficient, self-nourished and self-reliant, the offers of Jesus are hollow. Jesus comes to make life whole, to put broken life together, to give coherence to what is fractured, and to bring union where there is division. If you think you already are whole ("I have it all!"), then Jesus has nothing for you, and you likely don't see any need of Jesus. This is why Jesus said it's hard for people with a lot of possessions and status to enter the kingdom of God . . . at a basic level, persons who possess a lot don't feel like there is anything they could have with God that they don't alread...

Isaiah 58:6 - 8 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind." As a spiritual practice, fasting is about saying, "No," to one thing in order to say a larger, "Yes," to something else. For instance, we can say, "No," to food in order to let our hunger remind us of the more basic spiritual hunger that lives at the heart of us. We can say, "No," to speech and noise in order to pay deeper attention to God...

Luke 9:24a If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. "Life" in this passage is "soul," and the human soul is made for expansiveness . . . made to soar . . . made to express itself in creativity. The soul resists being locked up or squeezed. To confine the human soul is to sap the life out of it; therefore, the self-protective person, living tightly and closed in on himself/herself, will not be a person who lives with soul. Notice two things today. First, if you spend time in a small room, an office, or a cubicle, notice how it feels to be in a confined space. Then find a way to spend some time in an open space, perhaps by taking a walk outside, going to a park, or just sitting under a tree. Spend some time reflecting on the two experiences. How did they feel in relationship to one another? In which setting did you feel yourself more creative? Did you sense yourself to be more alive in one than the other? Let God teach you through these experienc...

Matthew 6:6 - 8a When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you. When you pray, don't talk on and on as people do who don't know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don't be like them. Lent begins with Jesus' guidance on prayer (in Matthew 6, Jesus also includes "giving alms" and "fasting"). Since the foundation of prayer is relationship, there is no good template for how to do it. Plans and outlines for what to say and how to do it can come across as hollow. In a sense, we all find our own way into the unique relationship we have with God. How is one to stay alive and loving in a significant relationship? Does intimacy happen in public? Do long sentences and flowery words grow a relationship? The most significant prayer is not public discourse. Prayer is inhaling a few minutes of stillness. It is a whispered plea. It is the quie...

The season of Lent is the 40 day journey that leads to Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter. It invites us to an intentional journey with Jesus, who early in his ministry spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting, praying and communing with God before his public ministry. During his time in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by Satan, the Adversary, and his identity as the Son of God was confirmed within him. During Lent we walk with Jesus through this wilderness. We travel lighter. We may choose to fast regularly, or to adopt different prayer practices for the duration of these days. Those who step into Lent generally will begin with some intention, some spiritual practice that will help tend them through the season. Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. In Ash Wednesday services around the world, persons will be marked on their foreheads with a cross of ashes as a symbol of our humanity and our intention for the Lenten season. On this blog for the next 40+ days I will provide the da...