How is Lent going?
We are almost half way through.
This coming Sunday 31 March is called by various names, Laetare, Refreshment Sunday or in the English tradition...Mothering Sunday.
It is a bit of respite from Lenten rigours.
This week I invite you to spend 5-10 minute each day in simple meditation. Here are a couple of ways you can do it.
Pick a time each day (early morning, lunchtime or early evening all seem to work)
And decide on a place. This can be anywhere. Sit on your bed, in your car, in the garden or find a park bench, perhaps do this on the bus as you go to work, school or where ever..be creative.
The advantage of a particular place is that it means when you get there you have already made a decision you are going to be meditating
Allow about 5-10 minutes (you can always do more if that's how it works out)
Make sure you are comfortable.
Then count your breath
In - 1,2
Out -3,4
In -5,6
Out- 7, 8
In -9,10
Out -11, 12
Then do it two or three times
Do that for a few times,
then if you want increase the count up to 4
In - 1,2,3,4
Out -5,6,7,8...and so on
When you have had enough take one deep cleansing breath
Sit for a minute or two, and then go.
This can work whether you do it with religious symbolism (eg, Make the sign of the Cross at the beginning and the end)
or without anything religious
Wednesday 27 March 2019
Sunday 10 March 2019
Like everything it's about people
For the week of 11-18 March...but of course also for the whole of Lent and Beyond
While I don't think we should make people into 'projects'
People are the legitimate focus of Christian life.
Well, God, is the principal focus
and God constantly reminds us
through Jesus, through the prophets
& through our experience
that our godly encounter is mediated through people.
20 Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters,[a] are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister[b] whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
1 John 4:20
I suggest that during Lent you look at the people who God has committed to your care:
they are usually a small group, maybe one or two particularly stand out,
who might I particularly care for this Lent,
and how?
Some ways (but not all ways) you could consider:
- Can I physically help someone who is in a difficult spot?
- Can I be with someone who seems to be struggling or lonely?
- Who needs my time, a most valued gift in our crazy world?
- Who can I pray for every day?
- Is there a relationship which needs particular work, reconciliation, forgiveness, help or support?
As I say we shouldn't make people into PROJECTS...so this must be kept in the heart, between me and God. Don't patronise anyone by telling them you have made them your special project! (ironically we may well be theirs!)
Wednesday 6 March 2019
Lent has begun
For Thursday 7-Monday 10 March 2019 (but can be used any time)
- Take a short time each day to be quiet. Being aware of God's presence say the Lord's Prayer
- Readings for this week can include:
- you could read one or part of the readings in each of the quiet times
- What do you hear Jesus saying to you during this time?
- Can you talk with him about anything that is of concern, and listen to what he says.
Peace be with you.
Monday 20 March 2017
Is prayer worth the effort?
Someone actually suggested we might pray
I could hear the cynics laugh (mainly we said yes! yes! prayer is good...but not quite believing....and not being so rude as to say it!).
I do actually believe that prayer...even crude prayer...money, success, (more importantly) ... healing, forgiveness....opens for us a new way
Simple commitment to a (perhaps) need to call for prayer.
I said to people....There is nothing to stop you
Prayer is not so much designed to manipulate God as to orient us to what God might want for us.
I steadfastly say ...God wants more for us than we want for ourselves...I partly get this.
Maybe we should open ourselves to this....heaven knows what prevents us
Labels:
#5marksoflove,
#5marksofmission,
#marymags,
Jesus,
prayer,
sex
Friday 17 March 2017
Tend to others
These are reflexions from the “5 Marks of Love” a Lenten series of the Brothers of St John the Evangelist (The Cowley Fathers) in North America, which we continue to reflect on during this Lent. This week we we think about TEND...the call to respond to human need by loving service
Christ is already everywhere present in the world. He is with those who
suffer in body, mind, or spirit. He is present in communities of poverty
and despair. He is with those who live on the margins. He is with the
lonely, the neglected and the sick. We are not called to bring Christ to
people in need; he is already there. We are called to join him there –
physically, if we are able, and by our prayers and gifts. We are invited
to be in relationship with him where he is already present.
In order to love Christ, we must love our neighbors. In order to serve
Christ, we must serve our neighbors. In order to be transformed by
Christ’s love for all living beings, we must open our hearts and spread
our arms wide. We must make room in our hearts for all those whom
God holds in God’s heart, even our enemies and those who wish us
harm. God loves each and every one – no exceptions!
Our hearts will become as wide as God’s heart only if we are willing to
allow ourselves to be vulnerable; only if we come to listen and learn from
those we would serve; only if we are willing to embrace and share with
them our own hurts, struggles, joys and dreams; only if we are willing to
be humbled and changed in the process. There is no place for pride or
haughtiness in the service of Christ. There is no place for condescension,
sympathy or pity. We come as fellow pilgrims on the way, willing to set
aside our own needs and our own preferred ways of helping, in order
to listen – and to listen deeply – to those who seek our help.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just send in a donation to a nonprofit organization?
Or serve a meal once a month at the local soup kitchen? Donating time
and money to worthy causes is laudable, but it can sometimes distract us from the deeper questions we ought to be asking. It can allow us to stay
comfortably within the status quo. It can keep us from asking ourselves
what sort of service might really stretch us, make us uncomfortable,
challenge our assumptions about ourselves or others, or expose our
biases?
As we consider the third Mark of Love – responding to human need
by loving service – we are challenged to explore what this Mark truly means
We are summoned out of our comfort zones, and invited to
open ourselves to the transforming power of Christ, the servant of all.
——
Sitting on the bus
I was told to get off at Jabbok
But I got off at Bethel
(some call it Luz)
Nevertheless,
I had a perfect morning there
looking at the angels, up and down
wondering what the interest was;
were they brown, dark or fair?
I tried to see the point
yet Jacob,just like me,
avoiding this and that
made it holy, stately, grand;
hip not yet out of joint
I found another bus
and went along to Jabbok.
Did I see God’s face there?
…but then again back in Luz
Monday 13 March 2017
Cheese and greens
Why not do a simple thing like visit a lonely person. Take some nibbles, cheese and greens (perhaps a bottle to share even though it's Lent (get over it...the Bridegroom is still with us [Matt 9:15])
Labels:
#5marksoflove,
cauliflower,
Jesus,
marker,
parmesan,
sex
Sunday 12 March 2017
5 Marks of Love...The Hallmarks of Anglicanism
We have been well served this Lent by the Brothers of St John the Evangelist (SSJE) who have brought us a gentle Lenten reflection called 5 Marks of Love...based on the 5 Marks of Mission which our (Anglican) Communion set before us as hallmarks of what it means to be an Anglican Christian. I commend these to you as you engage with Lent this year.
Labels:
#5marksoflove,
5 Marks of Love,
Heather,
Jesus,
sex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)