Friday, February 24, 2017
LET'S LENT
Hi There!
So, let's go dancing,
let's go out for Chinese,
let's buy a new car.
Sure,
but
" Let's Lent,"
not so sure,
in fact, I really don't want to!
Lent just is not at all sexy!
But, for sure, I will "Lent" anyway.
It's sort of like a work out -
tough to get started,
but really invigorating.
Years ago Coke had a great commercial:
"The Pause That Refreshes."
Well, that's what we do in Lent.
To keep changing the metaphor,
we pause and hit the refresh button.
We pause to
notice,
see,
feel
ever more fully the
Deep Down Goodness
in ourselves,
each other,
nature,
all creation and existence
that we nickname God.
That pause refreshes us into renewed living.
The word "Lent" tells us a lot about the forty day Work Out that it is.
"Lent" comes from "lengthen," and refers to the "lengthening" of the days this time of year.
That "lengthening" means more and more light and less and less darkness.
At the deepest level it means our Work Out allows us to be freed from darkness,
and to be drawn into the free flow of lightsomeness.
In Lent we face the darkness in us and around us and embrace the illumination Jesus offers.
Jesus once again addressed them:
"I am the world's Light.
No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness.
I provide plenty of light to live in."
John 8:12
The Message
Lent begins with something literally on our minds - ASHES !
We acknowledge the death and decay within and about.
Lent ends with LILLIES !,
fresh, beautiful aliveness that pushed free from the tomb of dark dirt.
Two Lenten Symbols: Death and Resurrection.
It's relatively easy to do a few "churchy" things and call it Lent.
NO WAY !
ILLUSION !
Lent really is a Work Out, as in "work" "out."
We get worked out of the dark, deadly stuff in us and around us.
We get worked free and worked into the intensity of the world's Light.
It takes resolve to go through the Work Out that is Lent,
to see the deadly dark and be pulled free, to be en - LIGHTED, en - LIVENED.
So, how does all this come down?
Well, there are all sorts of exercises possible for this Work Out.
Here is just one of them.
We spend at least fifteen minutes each day alone in a quiet place and way.
We close our eyes, and gently breath slower and deeper.
Then we calmly ponder one of the leit motifs, the Light Motifs, included below.
What light does it offer?
How can that light play out in our heads, our attitudes, our behaviors, our life styles,
our care of creation, our care of each other as we bask in the world's Light?
Here's an example based on Romans 13:12.
Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness
and put on the armor of light.
Being very specific and nakedly honest:
- What "deeds of darkness" get into my head and behavior?
- What "deeds of darkness" cloud our culture and society?
- What will it take for me to break free from all that?
- How will I do it?
What does the "armor of light" mean in terms of
- how I face and embrace my true self?
- how I earn and spend my money?
- how I sculpt an authentic life style?
- How I let myself be enfolded into
the Love Who Is God?
- how I do all I can for the poor and marginalized ?
- how I embrace and support life in community ?
- how I pour myself into a creative flow
for the common good ?
Most people get the best bang for their buck by writing their awarenesses
relative to the above in a journal.
Be sure to keep it in a secure place, where no one else can get at it and make a million dollars
selling it to The National Inquirer!!!!!!!
Here are a few leit motifs with which to Work Out:
- "You are all children of the light and children of the day.
. "We do not belong to the night or to the darkness." 1 Thessalonians 5:5
- "...but if we walk in the Light as he himself is in the Light,
we have fellowship with one another..." 1 John 1:7
- "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested
as having been wrought in God." John 3:21
- " ...for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of
the Light ( for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth."
Ephesians 5: 8-9
- " I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation
to the ends of the earth." Acts 13:47
LENT IS A WORK OUT
TO
LIGHTEN UP !
Let's pray for each other every one of the forty Days our Lenten Work Out.
It's so good to be with you!1
Holding you in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
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