Dear All of Us,
How about this?
40% of premature deaths
are preventable.
That's a billboard sized
CHANGE CALL
That shocker got to Katy Milkman.
She is a behavioral scientist at the
Warton School,
University of Pennsylvania.
She just published How to Change.
It's packed with research-based paths
to personal growth and wellbeing.
She tops it off with:
Change isn't one and done.
Those of us who try to stay away
from bedtime snacks know all about that.
At our deepest level,
all the way to Center Self,
Change isn't one and done.
Followers of Jesus
early on faced that.
They annually dedicated
forty days and forty nights
to a spiritual, communal
CHANGE CALL
They named it Lent -
after the Spring
"lengthen"-ing
(lenting) of day light
and nature's fresh Spring start
as they strove for
spiritual light and renewal.
They took their cue
from Jesus and his
CHANGE CALL
The inaugural and
oft recurrent theme
of his ministry and
preaching was change.
"Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven has come near."
Matthew 4:17
Unfortunately, there's a
bit of a snag
in the translations here.
Good old Jerome was the first
to translate the
Greek Scriptures into Latin.
He mistranslated the Greek
"metanoia"
as the Latin
"rependere,"
thus our English repent.
Repent
is too narrow a translation.
Metanoia is an
expansive,
encompassing
CHANGE CALL
It means
change your mind,
change your heart,
change your direction
so completely and powerfully
that it changes your whole
way of life.
That certainly means change
from the limits of sin.
Even more it means changing
to a life embrace
of the good and full,
the kingdom of heaven.
Metanoia is Greek for
the Hebrew "return."
In short, metanoia is a
Course Corrective
Lent is about to begin.
In Lent we turn away
from sin,
personal and societal.
In Lent we (re)turn
to Kingdom Life.
Lent is a
CHANGE CALL
never one and done.
So, yes in Lent we see and
step away from sin.
That's repentance.
That's dealing with the negative.
Metanoia points positive as well.
We see and embrace anew
(renew) Life in
The Kingdom of Heaven
So, embracing Metanoia,
what are five negatives,
wrong headed,
wrong hearted,
wrong directed
foul ups that
down us and others?
Honestly and practically
for me they are:
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
What are five
kingdom attitudes,
kingdom approaches,
kingdom directions
that need to be embraced?
Honestly and practically
for me they are:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
________________________________
________________________________
What are the five most pressing
sins in church and society
that cry for repentance?
Honestly and practically
as I see it they are:
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
What are the five
kingdom attitudes,
kingdom approaches,
kingdom directions,
that need to be embraced
by church and society?
Honestly and practically
as I see it they are:
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
We ask The Spirit for light.
We listen deep to Jesus in scripture.
We reflect on "as is."
We reflect on "as can be."
What needs change?
What does that mean?
What does all this come to for us
individually and collectively?
Positive, practical steps
I will take are:
(take all the time and space needed)
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
and more as needed
From that time on Jesus
began to announce
"Change your hearts and lives!
Here comes
the kingdom of heaven."
Luke 5:31-32
Common English Bible
a much better translation for
CHANGE CALL
Let's pray for each other,
for the church,
for the world.
May this Lent lengthen
the light of our living.
John Frank
******
LENTEN RETREAT
Online
"Divided No More:
Rejoining Our
Inner and Outer Lives"
Lead by Parker Palmer
12:00 - 2:00 PM
Central USA Time
Center For Courage and Renewal
March 20, 2022
******
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warm hearted,
bright
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VISITORS
here at
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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Here's to lots of Lent Light.
See you next week.
******
