A Daily Lent

Mandate to Love Maundy Thursday – April 9, 2020 Maundy Thursday – or Holy Thursday – remembers Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples in the Upper Room. The word Maundy is an Anglo-French word derived from the Latin mandatum . In mandatum you see the root for “mandate,” thus the word typically means “commandment.” The word, then, refers to the new commandment Jesus gives his disciples during the Last Supper in the Upper Room: “ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another .” (John 13:34). In these days of physical distancing, when we are separated from other people and from places that comfort us, Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper present their own challenge. “ Love one another ,” and, “ As I have loved you, so you must love one another ,” yet we are physical apart from those who typically make up our world. Put us in the company of others, and we can come up with ways to love one another. But separate us, ask us...

Practice God’s Presence during Holy Week Palm Sunday – April 5, 2020 On Palm Sunday we remember that Jesus rode into Jerusalem to begin the last week of his life. He must have looked triumphant as people hailed him “King!” It was a reception that could have led to a coronation; yet, the reality did not match the appearance. He was moving not toward an earthly throne, but toward a cross. Progress in the spiritual life is difficult to measure. The usual tracks and markers don’t work. Appearance doesn’t always match reality. Movement takes place slowly, over time, as we give greater attentiveness to the presence of God within us, to those around us, and to the created world in which we live. For some people, that attentiveness comes naturally in the created world. Brilliant sunsets, vast sandy beaches, and mountain vistas consistently make it onto our lists of ways we sense our connection to God. They bring us to awe and wonder. Others find their connection to God through other ...

Listening As Openness and Willingness Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent – March 26, 2020 Benedict of Nursia wrote a guide for persons who sought to live in community out of a common desire to orient life around God. That guide is called The Rule of Benedict. And the “vows” we have explored this week are all integral to Benedictine spirituality. The Benedictine vow of stability means that we stand still and attend to who we are in this moment. We intentionally nourish the soul, we tend to the fires of the inner life. We do not move at such a frantic pace that we cease to know ourselves. Be still. The vow of continual conversion means that we are always journeying on. God is continually forming us, shaping us as the people God created us to be. We continue to journey, to explore, and to make new discoveries, both in the outer world and in the our own inner world. We are still moving. The vow of obedience , as Esther de Waal describes it below, simply asks us to listen . . ....

Seeing What Is Real Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – March 18, 2020 A spiritual practice is a contemplative practice if it helps you see the truth about God, self, others, and the world. Life is as simple – and as painfully difficult – as that. Most persons never question their perception of the truth. They experience life through their own filters (attachments, beliefs, fears) and never take time or energy to consider the filters. And for many persons, over the course of a lifetime, their filters never change. They die in old age clutching the same filters through which they saw God, self, others, and the world when they were 10 years old. The role of spiritual practice is to help us cut through the illusions of life. A good spiritual practice will help you see what is real more clearly. When you see, you may not like what you see, but then, liking what you see is not the point. Do you want to see the truth? Or are you content to continue seeing an illusion? [Before any...

Wide Roads and Narrow Roads Thursday of the Second Week of Lent In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his followers using this analogy: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13-14, NIV). You may want to shift your thinking a bit today. Traditionally, this passage has been used as a description of a person’s relationship to sin. The wide road is the road of a sin-filled life, I’ve heard often. But today, consider instead that Jesus is talking about our inner landscape. The wide road is not the life of wanton sin, but a life that basically flows along with the way things are, influenced by cultural mores, social patterns, and values that are generally accepted by a community or nation. The wide-road person is not reflective, that is, he or she does not question the validity of those values,...

Hold Together Doing and Being Monday of the First Week in Lent – March 2, 2020 In the spiritual life, we are not asked to make a choice between doing and being, Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42), the contemplative life and the active life. In truth, everything we do is infused with who we are. Our being always shapes our doing. In the language of the Luke 10:38-42 story, we are invited to do our Martha-work in a Mary-way. In other words, to be about our lives with a sense of being centered and anchored in the deeper reality of God. Henri Nouwen wrote about the tension of activity and contemplation in this way: There is little doubt that Jesus’ life was a very busy life. He was busy teaching his disciples, preaching to the crowds, healing the sick, exorcising demons, responding to questions from foes and friends, and moving from one place to another. Jesus was so involved in activities that it became difficult to have any time alone. The following story gives us the picture: “Th...

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 10:31 – 42 Focus Passage : Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any good work," they replied, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (Jn. 10:31 – 33) The persons who wanted to stone Jesus appraised him as “a mere man.” We may find those words hard to fathom, knowing from hindsight what we do about Jesus. But we make similar appraisals about persons every day. We misjudge. We label. We categorize using all sorts of criteria and prejudice. Those standing with stones in their hands, feeling threatened by Jesus, considered him a “mere man.” We pigeon-hole those we see on street corners, in grocery stores, and sitting on park benches in all sorts of ways. Our characterizations over-generalize and fail to notice...

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 5:1 – 16 Focus Passage : One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." (Jn. 5:5 – 7) The challenges of being healthy of body, mind, emotion and soul sometimes outweigh the difficulties inherent in sickness and disability. Spiritual health does not happen by osmosis. It is not a matter of joining the right church or being a regular attender in worship or having parents who live with a growing faith. Spiritual health, like physical or mental health, happens with intentionality. We make decisions about how we intend to live, about the kind of persons we want to be. In the spir...

Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 20:17 – 28 Focus Passage : Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." (Matt. 20:17 – 21) The reading lays the clear-headed, discerning way that Jesus dealt with life-matters alongside the illusions with which others operated on a regular basis. Jesus recognized the path that had been laid before him, a di...

The Second Sunday of Lent Daily Reading : Luke 9:28 – 36 Focus Passage : Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. (Lk. 9:32) Eastern Orthodox Christians value this story of Jesus’ transfiguration, noting its central place in the gospel narratives. You can make the case that Jesus spent the first half of his ministry headed toward this mountain, where he “went up” with Peter, John and James. When he came down the mountain, he began the deliberate move toward Jerusalem, betrayal, trial, and crucifixion. My own spirituality has been shaped by an understanding of the story which comes from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. This interpretation of the transfiguration says that the real miracle in the story is not that Jesus’ appearance changed and that his clothes became bright; rather, the real miracle in this story is that the disciples “became fully awake” and saw Jesus – finally! – as he r...

Friday after Ash Wednesday Daily Reading : Matthew 9:14 – 15 Focus Passage : Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (Matt. 9:14 – 15) Don’t get lost in over-analysis of the passage. For a moment, simply hear Jesus say, “There is a time to fast and a time not to fast.” Let me explain why I think these words are important. Spiritual practices help us sustain a spiritual life. We do not come into a deep and life-giving connection to God by accident, as if we were a pinball that bounced randomly from place to place, and finally happened to hit the right bell. We set our intention on God. Spiritual practices are part of that intentional life. Fasting is a cornerstone spiritual practice. It involves saying “n...

Thursday after Ash Wednesday Daily Reading : Luke 9:22 – 25 Focus Passage : Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?” (Lk. 9:23 – 25) “Discipline” and “denial” are dirty words for plenty of people. The words reinforce stereotypes many people hold about what it means to follow Jesus. And many Christians feel intimidated because the words suggest something difficult and unattainable. Yet, Jesus said that those who follow and learn from him (disciples) must “deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow.” To be sure, words like “acquisition” and “accumulation” would be friendlier to modern ears. Westerners seem to be wired to “have more” and “do better.” In every facet of life, we live...

Shrove Tuesday March 5, 2019 Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of Lent. Many of us will attend a church service in which ashes are marked upon our foreheads. We will hear the traditional Ash Wednesday litany that reminds us, “Remember, from dust you have come, and to dust you shall return.” I will be with the Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church of Rogers, wearing a ministerial robe and clerical stole, standing in 36 degree temperatures, waiting in a parking lot in Downtown Rogers, Arkansas, to impose ashes on the foreheads of those who drive by. The car pulls up. “What is your name?” “Maria.” “Maria, remember your creation in God . . . from dust God created you . . . and remember your humanity . . . to dust you shall return.” The car drives away. It seems a bit mundane, imposing ashes as people pull up in their cars, rather than in the formality of an Ash Wednesday service in a beautiful Chapel somewhere. Yet, what better way to remember our human...

Resurrection Sunday – April 5, 2015 THEODORUS THE ASCETIC said, “The patriarch Abraham offered hospitality to everyone who passed by his tent, even the bad-mannered and undeserving. Because of this, he also entertained God’s angels. If we practice unconditional hospitality, we may welcome not only angels, but also the Lord himself. Jesus told us, ‘As you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’ (Matthew 25:40). It is good to be kind to everyone, especially anyone who is not able to repay you.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 373] The final spiritual practice in the Wisdom of the Wilderness series is charity. For some of us, charity is a weak word, a word to be avoided. Actually, charity is love in action, self-giving, and the generous offering of oneself for another. Of course, today is Easter, the day on which we remember and celebrate Resurrection. Resurrection entails far more than the historical event of Jesus’ rai...

Holy Saturday – April 4, 2015 A brother at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you.” So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said to him, “What is this, Father?” The old man said to them, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.” When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him. [Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers , pp. 138 – 139.] Abba Moses was a former robber, who gave up his life of marauding and thievery to live as a monk dedicated to God in the desert. A formerly vicious man, late in life Moses became known for his compassion. To others, he seemed to embody God’s generosity and mercy. Scetis was one of the large monastic communitie...

Good Friday – April 3, 2015 AN OLDER MONK AND A YOUNGER MONK were in Cellia. The older suggested that they live together. The younger refused, saying, “I am a sinner, Abba. I must not live with you.” But the older monk insisted. The old man was pure in heart, and the younger monk did not want him to discover that he sometimes had sexual cravings. The older monk said, “I will go away for a week. When I return, we can talk about this again.” Seven days later, the younger decided to test the older by saying, “While you were gone, I was strongly tempted. I went into town on an errand, and I ended up in bed with a woman.” The older monk asked, “Are you penitent?” “Yes.” “Then I will carry half the burden of this sin with you.” The younger man responded, “Now I know we can stay together.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , pp. 146 – 147] Most people feel that their own sin is so unique, so dark, so despicable, that no one else would understand it, much less st...

Maundy Thursday – April 2, 2015 ON A FEAST DAY IN CELLIA, brothers gathered to eat a meal at church. One of them told a server, “I do not eat anything that has been cooked. I only eat salted food.” The server called out to another, “This brother does not eat cooked food! Bring him some salt.” One of the brothers told the one on the restricted diet, “You would have done better to eat meat alone in your cell today than to have had this announced in front of everyone.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 355] The spiritual practice of self-control reminds me that my own will and desire is not the defining context for life. Certainly it is one context for life, just not the only one. The story of MY life is always lived out in the context of the story of OUR life . . . whatever the “our” may be for you and me. “Our life” may include family, church, community, and work . . . but it also includes “our life” as a human family, who you are and who I am as a part of the la...

Wednesday of Holy Week – April 1, 2015 AMMA SYNCLETICA said, “We should always be discreet, remaining a part of the community rather than following our own desires. We are exiles from the world. We devote ourselves to faith in God. We have no need of the things we have abandoned. In the world, we had status and a wide variety of food. Here we have a little to eat and not much of anything else.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 3] I am highly introverted by nature. I prefer a corner of the room and a good book to a lot of conversation. Often, I’m slow to respond in conversation or when asked for my opinion. My opinions do not form by speaking them – as with many extraverts – but by thinking about them, slowly letting them gestate within me. [I once heard a young adult talk about dating someone who was high introvertly. She said that in the course of normal conversation, he would go silent . . . then several days later, he would pick up the conversation from tha...

Tuesday of Holy Week – March 31, 2015 A BROTHER became tired of his community and the behavior of others often annoyed him. He decided, “I will go off somewhere by myself. Then I will neither talk nor listen and shall be at peace. This anger I feel will depart.” He went out into the desert and made his home in a cave. One day he placed a water jug he had filled on the ground. It rolled over, spilling its contents. He filled it again and it fell over again. When this happened the third time, he became enraged, took hold of the jug and smashed it against the rocks. Calming down, he realized that anger had mocked him. “Here I am by myself and anger has beaten me. I will return to the community. Wherever we live, we need to work at being patient with God’s help.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 110] The brother in this story could be any of us. The impulse to move away from difficulties, troubles, and struggles lives within us. We see our own interior land...

Monday of Holy Week – March 30, 2015 Two old men had lived together for many years and had never fought with one another. The first said to the other, “Let us also have a fight like other people do.” The other replied, “I do not know how to fight.” The first said to him, “Look, I will put a brick between us, and I will say, ‘It is mine,’ and you say, ‘No, it is mine,’ and so the fight will begin.” So they put a brick between them and the first said, “This brick is mine,” and the other said, “No, it is mine,” and the first responded, “If it is yours, take it and go” – so they gave it up without being able to find an occasion for an argument. [Benedicta Ward, The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers , p. 37] This is one of the classic stories from the Desert tradition, quaint and almost too good to be true. Two old men who had lived together for many, many years did not know how to have a fight. I’d venture to say that even those who have lived in close proximity for a short period ...