LENTEN RETREAT II
ASH WEDNESDAY
Welcome
Session I
PAUSE
is available by
scrolling down
below this posting
******
Dear All of Us,
What's with us?
We wouldn't be
caught dead
with egg on our face,
yet one Wednesday a year,
and this year on
Valentine's Day to boot,
we go running around town
with this great big black
Smudge
on our foreheads
all day!
What gives?
Well, it's a sign of
what's on our mind
as a we begin Lent,
OR SHOULD BE!.
It's a sign that
things need to be
cleared up,
cleaned up.
It's a sign
that a lot has been
smudged
dirty dark.
It's a sign
that we're pausing
six plus weeks
to face that dark
and embrace the light.
In a small way
we are doing what
The Desert
Mothers and Fathers
did big time.
They got out of
dark Dodge
to find space and place
to live the light.
They headed out
to live out
"Essential Christianity,"
pure and simple.
Lent is a look around.
What's what with us?
As John Wesley put it:
"How is it with your soul?"
Soul is core self.
So how is it with core
me
church
nation
world
We each look, see
and answer for
"me"
We all look and see
and answer
together
for
"church"
"nation"
"world"
The answer is
too often
too much
"Smudged dirty dark!"
We can try to
deny, dilute, duck
or
we can
face the dark
and look for the light.
Lent is truth telling,
tough stuff,
but we have
neutered it
by limiting it to
religious rituals,
commonized customs,
that don't come within
a galaxy of reality and need:
- give up candy for Lent
- throw a little cash
to the food pantry
- attend The Stations of the Cross
- purple up the church
In the meantime,
and it really is
"mean"
- we tolerate to accept to support
28,000
so horridly far
being hideously
war slaughtered
in Palestine.
Cattle for our dinner table
are slaughtered
more humanely!
A quick shot
to the head and done.
Not so Palestinian civilians.
Babies to grandmas and grandpas
are right now slaughtered with
raping, bombing, dislocation,
starving, traumatizing
before the kill!!
- Christianity has become
Christ Lite
and
Christ doesn't come that way!
Lots of container, little content,
"Essential Christianity"
is the Cinderella of church
- politics, governance, social order,
culture, earth and atmosphere,
abused to within inches of collapse.
- God is doing a beautiful job of Creation.
Look at what we do to it.
- Jesus came and gave
to redeem, restore,
refresh and renew.
How many of us have
deeply and completely
bought in,
taken God at his
"Word"
How many actually live
"Essential Christianity"?
It's a sin
all of it
It calls for repentance.
Repentance means
"counterweight."
That translates into
change
We depart dark.
We transition to light.
In our place,
time and clime,
we do as did as the
Desert Mothers and Father -
we relocate,
not so much
our street address
as our whole way
of addressing life.
It's a core call.
It's an actual move
beyond religiosity to
hearty, joyous,
practical living of
"Essential Christianity."
And it is outrageously
WONDERFUL
This Retreat Week
we see and name
the dark
we repent it all
we pray and purpose
to really accept
and vigorously live
"Essential Christianity"
as did the
Desert Mothers
and Fathers
They relocated
and did they ever
"Lighten UP!"
We can as well and
well it sure will be!
Richard Rohr charts
four essential elements
of how those pioneers
vacated Dark Dodge,
moved to, centered in on
"Essential Christianity"
with their
Retreat Forward.
We'll "one a week" them
Leave
Solitude
Silence
Method (1)
We'll take a good look at
Leave
next week.
This retreat week
it is best
to see and name
the far from best
in our personal lives
and
in our shared lives
church
culture
nation
world
What ties us down,
trips us upside down,
keeps us from running
with vigor and joy
in the light and land of
"Essential Christianity"
What smudges things up
to so sadly a
downer
???
In our group sharing,
or with a trusted
spiritual friend,
we "soak in scripture"
choosing one or more
of the following:
Joel2:12-13
Hebrews 12:1-3
Matthew 25:31-46
What do they basically say?
What does that mean
for our daily, practical life,
individually and as
The Gathered?
How can we help each other
Live the Light?
It's no fun facing the dark.
It's a liberating joy
to see the light,
to light up in
Jesus
The Light
of the World,
way too bright
for any sort of
Smudge
******
NEXT ISSUE:
Online Posting: Wednesday
February 21, 2024
Email Delivery: Friday
February 23, 2024
******
Warm Welcome
to the groups
joining in here
this past week
from
Japan
and
Singapore
How good to be together
"In Christ"
******
A SPECIAL THANKS
to
NICK MINNICH
He works
quietly, generously,
effectively,
"doing digital"
for us all here at
frankly speaking.
Again, many thanks
Nick
******
(1) Daily Meditations,
Center for Action
and Contemplation
May 4, 2015
******
Welcome all to our
Lenten Retreat
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frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot,com
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Thanks
Even now,
says the Lord God,
"return to me
with your whole heart"
Joel 2:12
Praying for our
whole hearted
Retreat Forward.
Love to all.
John Frank
******
