Lent
A journey of love
Lent is an opportunity for spiritual and personal examination,
a time to study our relationship with God and others,
a time to improve those relationships and make them more
meaningful. But our desire for a deeper connection to God,
one another, and all of God’s creation has to compete with
the rest of life. Our spiritual practices go up against our
everyday lives, busy schedules, work and family demands,
emotional trials and more.
We might feel our wheels spinning, that we we are in
the same place we were last year, as if our lives were one
ongoing circle. If we pay attention, it is something else.
We are never in the same place as we were last year or any
other year. We have, perhaps, moved a little further into the
mystery of our existence and, at the same time, perhaps a
little further out into the mystery of the world.
This season, as we explore the lectionary texts that
are our focus, we move into the mysterious heart of our
individual and communal relationship with God. Many
of our texts begin with huge promises. The promise made
to Noah and the promise to Abraham and Sarah are big
for them and their families but they are also promises for
the whole world. But neither of these stories simply ends
with the giving of the universal promise. Each of the
promise hearers must become, on the journey into their
own lives, promise receivers. And each of them struggled
to understand, as we do in this season, what it means to
inhabit and live out of these world-changing promises.
■■ Lent is traditionally a time of giving something up as
an act of reflection and devotion. What unhelpful attitude
or way of thinking would you like to give up during this
season?
■■ In this season of rainbow promises, be on the lookout
for signs of God in the midst.
■■ How would you like to feel and think differently about
yourself and the world by Easter?
Seasons of the Spirit™ SeasonsFusion Lent • Easter 2018
Copyright © Wood Lake Publishing Inc. 2017, p.8
