Lent Day Three: FAST

As I mentioned in my two earlier posts, Lent is the period of forty days (plus the Sundays in between) before Easter that is characterized by prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial. Sometimes these things can be done in a manner that is hollow. My goal for us is that we use this time together to be formed and to grow into more spiritually mature people. My goal is for us to learn together new ways of following Jesus and to discover the difference that following Him makes.

I’m excited about this journey and am looking forward to being transformed “from glory to glory’ (as the apostle Paul described it) with you…

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we would be focusing on what Scot McKnight refers to as “The Jesus Creed,” and what Mark Batterson refers to a “Primal Christianity.” I will refer to the verses below as the “Jesus Creed,” the “Primo Credo” (in an attempt to coalesce the thoughts of McKnight and Batterson), and also the SHEMA:

Today’s Verse:

Hear, O Israel:
the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
~Mark 12:29-31

Lent is often thought of as a time of “giving up”(fasting).

This tradition stretches past the beginnings of Christianity to the Jewish faith itself. But at Lent, there is another (less utilized) practice, known as “taking on” wherein a person begins to something they didn’t do before (it’s the opposite of giving up).

Now before you get any silly ideas about taking on eating chocolate three meals a day or any other such thing- this practice is intended to be utilized in order to discipline ourselves toward doing something good (that we normally would not do) for ourselves, others, and God.

This Lent, I suggest we “take on” the task of reciting the Primo Credo...

 in the morning upon rising and at night upon retiring (at least).

 

As we take on this task, we will still end up “fasting” something.

 

We will be fasting spiritual sloppiness.

 

We will be abstaining from complacency.

Get it?

The righteous Jews of Jesus’ day (and Jesus was a righteous Jew) did this. What they recited was known as the SHEMA (that means “hear” in Hebrew) and it is the same as above, minus the last two lines. You can find the SHEMA in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. The last two lines come from the book of Leviticus (and other places in the Old Testament, too). It is stressed quite often by God that the Hebrew people were to be a hospitable people who loved the “alien and the stranger”. Jesus co-mingled the two thoughts (loving God and loving others) and told those who asked Him what was the "Greatest Commandment" that all the laws that God had given man could be categorized as falling under one of these two thoughts.

Since we are making a point of setting ourselves apart for the next 30-some-odd in order that God might reveal Himself to us and grow us toward Himself, I think it makes sense that we recite these verses and meditate on them in the days leading up to Resurrection Sunday.

As we begin talking about “taking on” a practice, we must first and foremost be clear in our minds as to our intentions. We do not practice spiritual disciplines with the goal of impressing God, or even with the goal of somehow making ourselves more holy or righteous. The Latin word “disciple” means "student" and it is the word from which we derive both words- “discipline” and “disciple.” Hence, when we practice a discipline such a s fasting, or "taking on," we cause our  bodies, minds, hearts and souls away from the unintentional, and impose upon ourselves a studious attitude. In other words, we choose to focus our actions, thoughts…our very lives on God in order to learn from Him, and to be changed and formed by Him. In the words of a very wise man:

 “Work to become, not to acquire.” ~Confucius.

And so it is with soul work, to…We do it to, by His grace, become like Him, but we don’t do it to acquire salvation or acquire His adulation. So to sum this up: our efforts with regard to spiritual disciplines, at Lent or any other time, to not earn us salvation, they force us to grow. Dallas Willard puts it this way:

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it's opposed to earning.”

The effort of reciting the SHEMA does this for us in many ways-but only if we recite it intentionally and not just in wrote fashion. It is the word of God, and because the Word of God is “living and active’ (Hebrews 4:12)-as we say it, think it, and contemplate it takes on a life of its own and burrows down into the deepest part of us and it begins to “form” us. We become students (disciples) to the lessons that the Word wants to teach us.

And so we listen to and learn our lessons….

Prayer:

~COME I THIS DAY~

Come I this day to the Father,
Come I this day to the Son,
Come I to the Holy Spirit,
Come I to the Three in One.

God, and Spirit, and Jesus,
Come I Every Morning,
Come I Every Night…
Come I with my heart,
Come I with my soul,
Come I with my mind;
Come I with my might.

©Tracy B. Dickerson, 2010

Lent Day Two: LIFE

 

 

Lent is the period of forty days before Easter that is characterized by prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial.

 

The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word lengten meaning ‘Spring’.

 

The symbolism of Spring is one that we will put to use during our time together. In the Spring, we think about rebirth and New life and these are concepts that are close to the heart of Eastertide.

 

Look at the lyrics below and listen to the song on the video.

 

Every Season- Nicole Nordeman

 

Use the time to contemplate where you are in your spiritual walk.

 

Every Season by Nichole Nordeman

Every evening sky, an invitation

To trace the patterned stars

And early in July, a celebration

For freedom that is ours

And I notice You

In children’s games

In those who watch them from the shade

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder

You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered

To the harvest time

Forfeiting their leaves in late September

And sending us inside

Still I notice You when change begins

And I am braced for colder winds

I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come

You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven

Finally falls asleep

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation

Shivers underneath

And still I notice you

When branches crack

And in my breath on frosted glass

Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter

You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced

Teaching us to breathe

What was frozen through is newly purposed

Turning all things green

So it is with You

And how You make me new

With every season’s change

And so it will be

As You are re-creating me

Summer, autumn, winter, spring.

 

As we move from Winter to Spring, we cannot help but think about how the circle of life moves us from life to death to life again.

 

In what parts of your life are you experiencing spiritual dormancy or death?

Have you ever experienced spiritual newness preparing to 'bravely and boldly burst forth'?

What does that feel like?

As we enter the Season of Lent, which culminates in Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, we take the time to prepare ourselves to be fully aware of where we are spiritually. Lent is the season for the experience of giving your life over in each moment- heart, soul, mind and strength- to God. This “giving over” involves a deliberate surrender to Christ and to what the Holy Spirit is showing us. As we surrender ourselves to God and let the Spirit work in us, we “die to ourselves.” But this is a good thing, not a bad one, because it is only through dying to ourselves that we gain New Life.

In Lent, we take responsibility for our actions, and passions, and we take our thoughts captive. Because we are eager to lose all those things which separate us from loving God completely, we take this time to learn ways that will form us into more loving and receptive children. Only when we are formed by the Holy Spirit into loving and receptive children can we experience fully a satisfying relationship with God. We don’t learn spiritual practices or perform spiritual disciplines as a way to curry favor with God or try to gain our salvation. We humbly acknowledge that Christ has already done that for us, because we NEVER could achieve salvation through our works. Yet we also recognize the importance of making an intentional effort to do things that are life-enhancing and which will draw our full attention to the New Life offered to us through Christ.

 

As we travel this journey together, we will be focusing on being followers of Jesus, by looking at what it means to be "formed in his image" and we'll be asking the question:

 

"So What? What difference does following Jesus make?"

 

One of the ways in which we will be doing this is by learning about what Scot McKnight refers to as “The Jesus Creed,” and what Mark Batterson refers to a Primal Christianity. We will discuss what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We will also learn and develop spiritual practices/disciplines (habits) that can heighten our desires for, awareness of, and love of God and which will also strip down the barriers that we put up within ourselves between us and God and us and others.

 

Come back daily everyday between now and Easter Sunday for more lenten thoughts.

Lent Day One: DUST

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar. According to Church tradition, the day is scheduled 46 days before Easter.  The day varies every year and falls somewhere between February 4 and as late as March 10. This practice is common in much of Christendom, being observed mainly by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent- the "40-day"  liturgical period of prayer and fasting (abstinence). Actually, there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, but the six Sundays that fall in between are considered to be "feast days" and do not count as "fast days," because as "Sabbath days" they are considered days when participants "rest" from fasting.
Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a reminder and celebration of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

The use of ashes to signify mortality is derived from this passage in Ecclesiastes...

The message and symbolism of Ash Wednesday is simple and straightforward:

We are human,

We are mortal.

We will die,

We have no say in this, but...

We do have  a bit of a say in how our souls are formed.

We can make an intentional decision to either stretch outward- Toward God, or

We can decide to curve inward on ourselves.

During Lent...

We decide to do one or the other,

and we choose to participate in practices that help us to find new ways

 to keep this Major Choice in the forefront of our minds.

It is through the intentional practices that we initiate during the Lenten season

that we find new ways to move the reality of this choice

 from the forefront of our minds to the depths of our heats.

For the next "Forty-Or-So" Days...

Join me on a journey to do just that...





test

This Light Dappled Day

What will we do on this light dappled day?

What shall we do my friend?

What will we do with this light dappled day,

Knowing that dappled days end?

Let’s love to the fullest, my darling friend.

Let’s love from the depths of our heart.

Let them say when this dappled day comes to its end

That we did even more than our part.

That we drank the sweet sunlight

That we danced in the breeze,

That we gave all we had- then gave more

That we sang at the top of our lungs in the night

That our home had an open door…

For dear one, I remind you that dappled days end,

And the sunshine retreats to his bed

Even so, there is hope, my sweetest dear friend

There’s no reason to give in to dread.

As the dapples grow dimmer, and the sunbeams recede

There’s a secret I want to impart

Tho’ the night skies come quickly and cold settles deep

The warmth will remain in your heart

So live life to the fullest

Give all that you have

Today is a gift with an end

Knowing that, my dear one, I must ask you again:

What will we do today, friend?

Tracy Byrd Dickerson, 2013©

Valentine's Day Missional Musings

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the television commercials, newspaper ads and mailbox flyers seem to be becoming increasingly insistent. Demanding, even.

I’ve been becoming increasingly convicted over the past several years with regard to our culture’s hyper-consumerism, and so perhaps I am more sensitive to it- but am I right? Is it out of control, or what?

I am a hopeless romantic, so it seems kind of funny that I, of all people, would be writing this piece, but here I am- thinking these ‘crazy’ thoughts, nonetheless.

So, it seems that as I am being transformed from glory to glory, so are my thoughts with regard to this revered “holiday.” I want any new response that I form to be consistent with my Christian values, but in order to do this; I want to make sure that my values are those of authentic, historic Christianity rather than the things we modern American Christians co-mingle with Christianity (prosperity, consumerism, capitalism, etc.).

And so, I go back to St. Valentine, himself. Who was he? What did he do? What did he stand for? How did he live out the gospel in his time as an example to the people of his day?

What we know of St. Valentine remains elusive, at best. It seems there may have been more that one Valentine, and for this reason, his ‘feast day’ in the Roman Catholic Church was removed from the Catholic Calendar of Saints.

The story I find most compelling and romantic is found in a book called the Legenda Aurea, written by Jacobus de Voragine around 1260 A.D. in the Middle Ages. In it is this very brief account of our beloved St. Valentine:

Valentinus was a priest and physician in third century Rome (the 200’s). According to church tradition, he was known for performing acts of compassion, mercy, and kindness amongst the poor. He took seriously Jesus’ admonition to care for and heal the sick, and as a physician, this was a focus of his Christian ministry.

During the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus, Christians were being persecuted and he was arrested for practicing Christianity by Claudius and personally handed over to the magistrate. While in custody, he healed the adopted daughter of the magistrate of blindness. As a result, the entire family of the magistrate was converted to Christianity (as were many others) while Valentinus was imprisoned.

This enraged the Emperor Claudius, who ordered his immediate execution. Prior to the sentence being carried out, legend tells us that Claudius demanded a retraction/denial of Christ from the unfortunate physician. Valentinus, true to his name (‘one of valor’), refused to deny Christ and was beheaded on February 14, 280.

The feast day of St. Valentine commemorates his life of selfless service, Christian charity (love) and ministry to those in need. Interestingly, romantic love was not incorporated into the legend until much later in around the 14th century (1300’s) by people such as Geoffrey Chaucer.

Whether the above account is 100% factual is less important than recognizing that this information is true in the sense that the story it tells is much more in line with what we understand of Christianity and Christian love than the more recent Hallmark™ Greeting Cards’ version. Christian love is not the same as romantic love, at its best- it supersedes romantic love in that Christian love is unconditional, unapologetic, and unfailing.

We all have learned that the loved practiced by the members of the early Christian church was agape, a sacrificial act of will first demonstrated by God to us (God’s love toward us is known as hesed love, or loving-kindness- and denotes a covenantal, pursuing love) and reciprocated by us to God, and then also offered to our neighbors (both friend and enemy) as a result of an outpouring of our gratitude toward God for loving us. Agape is another word for “love” but it is not indicative of emotion as much as it is a word describing an act of will or an intentional way of behaving toward others. Jesus describes the greatest form of love as being one that is sacrificial to the point of dying for another if need be (John 15:13). What’s more, He demonstrated this highest form of love to us, even though we didn’t deserve it (Romans 5:8).

Romantic love can be a wonderful thing, and certainly has its place, but since it can lead to irrational, irresponsible and idolatrous behavior we need to remain cognizant that it is but one of the many ways in which we are capable of loving. Additionally, we need to be aware that it is not one of the ways that we are commanded to love. Yet, our missional call in this regard is clear- offering sacrificial love is an expectation of our call Philippians 2:5-9 (esp v. 5)

So…What would happen if we Christians decided to expropriate Valentine’s Day- I mean, it was ours in the first place, after all anyway- wasn’t it? Did you know that according to the National Retail Federation, the  2013 Valentine’s Day Spending Survey conducted by BIGinsights, the average person planning to spend $130.97 on candy, cards, gifts and more?  That's up from $126.03 last year, which is remarkable, given that state of the economy. Total spending will reach $18.6 billion. 

What can we do within our spheres of influence/communities to promote this more accurate and uniquely Christian understanding of the day? An even better question is this- What would happen if we decided to use that day, or the season (like at Christmastide) to be agents of God’s hesed love. What would happen if we could re-direct even 10% of that money toward showing God’s love…Christian love to the 30,000 children who starve to death every day on this planet?

So I wonder…Can we find a way to enjoy this holiday of love in a way that is both fun and which also rightly honors the man for which the day is named?

Lent Day 1- DUST

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar. According to Church tradition, the day is scheduled 46 days before Easter.  The day varies every year and falls somewhere between February 4 and as late as March 10. This practice is common in much of Christendom, being observed mainly by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent- the "40-day"  liturgical period of prayer and fasting (abstinence). Actually, there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, but the six Sundays that fall in between are considered to be "feast days" and do not count as "fast days," becasue aaas "Sabbath days" they are considered days when participants "rest" from fasting.
Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a reminder and celebration of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

The use of ashes to signify mortality is derived from this passge in Eccestiastes...

Thge message and symbolism of Ash Wednesday is simple and sraighforward:

We are human,

We are mortal.

We will die,

We have no say in this, but...

We do have  a bit of a say in how our souls are formed.

We can make an intentional decision to either stretch outward- Toward God, or

We can decide to curve inward on ourselves.

During Lent...

We decide to do one or the other,

and we choose to participate in practices that help us to find new ways

 to keep this Major Choice in the forefront of our minds.

It is through the intentional practices that we initiate during the lenten season

that we find new ways to move the reality of this choice

 from the forefront of our minds to the depths of our heatts.

For the next "Forty-Or-So" Days...

Join me on a journey to do just that...