The Gift of Lent

As we begin Lent today, we have another opportunity to approach this weeks between now and Easter as a time of spiritual seeking and growth. Often, Lent is associated with "giving up" something: chocolate, coffee, television, or any number of other pleasurable things. How differently might we approach Lent if we instead saw it as a unique time to gain a new appreciation for our faith and how we live it out.

I was reminded of this when I read an essay about Lent several months ago in the March 9, 2010 issue of The Christian Century. In "Lent's Terrible Gift," Kay Lynn Northcutt, who teaches at Philips Seminary in Oklahoma, writes about how we practice dying during Lent. Balancing a couple of personal stories with the writing of Thomas Merton, Northcutt makes this intriguing suggestion about how to view the season of Lent:

The question "Am I free?" is the terrible gift Lent comes bearing in its arms for us this and every year. Lent asks us how we are living our lives, and reminds us that we die the way we live. Lent is the time not for giving up something of little consequence, but for identifying what is most essential in our lives, what it is that we are living for. As Merton put it, "Ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for" (My Argument with the Gestapo). That is Lent's terrible gift: an examination of our living.

This is a time for asking what are the most important parts of your life right now. After making that list, look it over and pray about it for a few days and ask if these things should be the so important. Death, in Northcutt's assessment, has the potential to help us look at our priorities with fresh eyes, so we can consider whether we are living well or not.

Will you be happy with what you see? Probably not, though I hope you find that certain important things are well balanced and present in your life. After you appreciate those things, imagine what changes you can make to bring other parts of your life into similar balance, with emphasis on the right things. And take the next few days, between now and Easter, to try to better live into that balance. Then this current season of Lent, with it's "terrible gift," will be time well spent.

Lenten Devotional Resources

Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday.  It is a good opportunity to consciously explore and deepen our relationships with God in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter.

Central Christian offers these devotional resources for Lent.

Again, we have purchased copies of the 2011 Lenten edition of "Fellowship of Prayer" from Chalice Press.  This season's devotions are written by Rev. Holly McKissick, founding pastor of Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas.  Copies are available on the front table in the Narthex.

The West Virginia Region has prepared another set of "Mountaintop Prayerscapes," with devotions written by ministers of the region -- including two by me -- and a few by others, including one this year by Rev. Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  This devotional material is available online, although a few printed copies are available on the front table in the Narthex.  You may also sign up to receive the devotions by email, or read them through the Region's Facebook page.

The general church is offering "40 Days... 40 Ways..." this Lenten season, featuring daily devotions from the staff of many of the wider ministries of the denomination.  You can read these on the Christian Church's Facebook page or by signing up to receive the daily devotion here.

Coming Up Sunday, January 23

On Sunday, we'll continue our series "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," exploring how we can keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year. In "Unshaken Consolation," we'll consider Paul's teaching preserved at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, in which he tells the struggling and fractious church in Corinth: "Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation" (2 Corinthians 1:7).

Beginning with inspiration from another popular Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," we will consider how the anxieties and afflictions of our lives threaten the spirit of comfort and joy that most of us enjoy during our Christmas celebrations. We will consider how our faith affects this, both in understanding our challenges and appreciating the hope we have through Christ.

In addition to the sermon on Sunday, we will have a special prayer time as part of the global Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We will again pray Jesus' prayer, recorded in the gospel of John, that "all may be one" through faith.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

For over 100 years, Christians from all over the world have shared a week of special services and prayers for the unity of the church. Called the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," it encourages churches to pray that God help eliminate the divisions between all those who should be brothers and sisters in Christ. This year's celebration begins today and continues until January 25.

The Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, founded by the same group of Episcopal friars who initiated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, prepares a devotional guide for the week. Available online here, I encourage you to add these scriptures, reflections, and prayers to your personal spiritual time this week. (You can also look around the site to learn much more about the history and significance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.)

Why is this important? In the words of Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, an ordained Disciples minister who currently serves as the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches: "The Week of Prayer is not just a nice occasion for friends to gather; it is a time to give thanks to God for the gift and promise of unity, to be renewed in our ecumenical resolve by the assurance of God's leading, and to recommit ourselves to participate in what God is doing to overcome the barriers between God's children." Amen!

"Echoes of Comfort and Joy" Continues Sunday, January 16

The January sermon series, "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," continues this week during Sunday worship. "Is Anyone Cheerful? Let Them Sing Praise" will consider the lessons offered at the end of the epistle of James, 5:13-20, which begins: "Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise." (5:13 NRSV)

Last week, we admitted that tough times will come, and they will challenge the Christmas spirit we hope to carry throughout the new year. The comfort, in the words of Paul, was that, in the hard times, we could "persevere with prayer." This, however, tends to be a mostly individual response to challenges and catastrophes. The words of James offer a fuller community response, in which we are lifted up by one another in hard times and in which we find forgiveness and healing alongside each other.

By the way, this week's sermon is the result of last October's Furnace Dinner. The silent auction featured a future sermon whose title and Biblical text would be selected by the highest bidder. After some high stakes bidding and negotiation, Larry Wakefield earned the right, and he has selected these verses from James 5. Hopefully the sermon based on his suggestions will meet his expectations.

New Sermon Series Begins Sunday, January 9

Have you finished packing up all of the Christmas decorations yet? (Or have you even started?) Perhaps you have a few more Christmas cookies to eat or a few "thank yous" left to write? Regardless, I hope that your Christmas spirit has outlasted your Christmas "to-do" list.

One of the great gifts of Christmas is that it usually sends us into the New Year full of hope and love, feeling good about ourselves, our families, and our relationships with God. Our challenge is to make those feelings last, rather than crumble as soon as we go back to the grind of work or school, as we face the to-do list of all the things we didn't do in order to get through the holidays, or as we start paying the stack of bills facing us in January.

This Sunday, we begin a sermon series that addresses the period after Christmas, when we're trying to hold onto the Christmas spirit, despite the challenges that inevitably arise. Called "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," the four-week series looks at several New Testament writings meant to encourage us, guide us, and make our darker moments more understandable and more bearable, reminding us that we should never lose hope in Christ.

This week, with "Joy, Patience, Perseverance," we look at one verse in Paul's letter to the Romans, 12:12: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." This is a good way to approach the new year, if not life in general. Sunday we'll celebrate, we'll admit that hard times may be ahead, and we'll remember the promise we have that God will always be there for us -- a promise incarnated in the "God with Us" born in a stable and named Jesus.

Regional Midwinter Retreat -- Registration Now Open

The Christian Church in West Virginia will again host a Midwinter Youth Retreat from Friday evening, February 11 through Sunday morning, February 13. This year's retreat, "The Word on the Street: Conversations with God's People," will be held at Cedar Lakes Conference Center outside Ripley, WV.

The retreat is for young people in grades 6 through 12. (There will also be a gathering of post-high schoolers from around the region this weekend as well.) It is an opportunity for young people to see their friends -- and make new ones -- from around West Virginia in a nurturing setting.

Registration forms and more information of what to bring and what to expect are available from me. You may also submit registration forms and payments online through the region's website.