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View this email in your browser A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon. Monday - First Week in Lent It can be so easy in life to get turned around and flipped upside down such that we lose our way.  Lent is that wonderful time when we permit ourselves to acknowledge just how lost we are.  While ashes from last Wednesday may have days ago disappeared, that haunting phrase “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” may still ring in our ears. It reminds us where we came from – and where we’re going in the end.  It’s no wonder we suffer from a form of spiritual amnesia when as we live in “the in-between.” St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches us that life is full of distractions and what he called “disordered attachments”. These keep us from experiencing the presence of God in its fulness. Lent is the time for us to put things in order – clean out the closet, as it were, discarding all the things (physical and spiritual to which we have become attached in a less than healthy way. Everything we hold is not bad. Holding onto it too tightly is what causes us the problem. Only when we begin to realize the impermanence of things and the necessity to deepen our life in the spirit can we begin once more to launch our in the right direction. Holy Scripture assures us that we have an abiding guide – a compass to point us in the right direction. That compass is Jesus. No matter how far we stray or off course, Jesus is that “breadcrumb” that guides us home into the very heart of God. Let’s be honest (and gentle) with ourselves.  Lent lands us amid the tattered mess of a pandemic that has taken so much from us as a human family. Making additional sacrifices right now might feel like more than we can bear. Like Jesus, we find ourselves having encounters in desolate places with darkness in all its forms.  “Wild beasts” torment and taunt us in the form of sickness and death, fear and doubt, abuses of power and unearned privilege, and tribalism that threatens to fracture our human family. To find our way, we need to turn – to turn toward Jesus. He will lead us safely home. Scripture Lessons appointed for the day (Click on the lesson for the text) Leviticus 19:1–2,11–18 Matthew 25:31–46 Psalm 19:7–14 Finding the way . . . When was the last time you felt "adrift"? Was there an event or a person who help to get you back on track? How might you be able to help someone else who needs guidance? Did you ever feel that God was involved in your personal life journey? My Shepherd Will Supply My Need Washington National Cathedral Cathedral Choir                                                                       Feeling adrift is an invitation to come home to yourself and to your heart. And Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Living Lent Daily - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

 

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

True giving is a rare achievement. Usually, we give with “invisible strings” attached. We may expect something in return – another gift, recognition, reward, gratitude – or we want to simply enjoy the feeling that we are generous and nice people. Sometimes we don’t get the reward we expect in return, we feel hurt or become resentful. Jesus teaches that when we give, we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. That’s a tall order - to act so simply and without self-consciousness. But it is essentially the same as coming to prayer while letting go of our demands and expectations of God. The ancient desert teachers put it this way: the one who knows that he is praying is not truly praying; the one who does not know that he is praying truly does so.

In our culture which can be so self-conscious and self-evaluating, it can be hard to know what this means and even harder to trust it as true wisdom. Having this kind of attitude about giving often seems to conflict with the virtues of our society. Too often, we can stay locked in self-fixation as self-conscious givers who give but can’t actually let go of the gift they are giving. Every true act of giving becomes a vehicle for giving of ourselves. When we have received this kind of gift from others, we have a immediate experience of how the nature of the gift is not measured by the object given. Rather, the giving of the gift transforms us by awakening the desire and the capacity to give ourselves. This giving is at the heart of the mystery of God’s lovingkindness – God’s grace – into which we prepare to enter more deeply in Lent.

It has been said that the best preparation for prayer is the habit of making small acts of kindness. Giving to others, unsolicited, and not expecting anything in return is the heart of such behavior. It can be as small as a smile and a thank you to a tired bus driver or restroom cleaner. Such giving – which prayer seeks to train us for – brings a warm light into a drab and dreary world.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day

Isaiah 58:9b–14

Luke 5:27–32

Psalm 86:1–11

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'If you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday."

​(Isaiah 58:10)

Your light rises in the darkness . . .

What attribute do you possess that makes you able to give of yourself?

What attitude would you have to get rid of that prevents you from a true spirit of giving?

What people in your sphere of friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers that might be in need of true giving?

How might you alleviate their need?

Living Lent Daily - Friday after Ash Wednesday

 A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon.

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Religion without practice is hypocrisy. In Greek this word praxis means that which is done by someone who is free (not a slave). In more contemporary understanding, it means making theory and good intentions real. Spiritually, it can mean living our faith on the level of experience. In praxis we enter a process not just shoot for a goal. Part of this process includes accepting and working with our imperfections – because, however good our praxis may be, we are not meant to aim at own perfection. Doing so excludes the power of God and does little more than enhance our ego – it inflates our sense of self.

Putting our religion into practice in this way involves purifying our motives. As we walk the talk spiritually, the power of self-centeredness is diminished. We slowly find ourselves doing good simply because we are getting better – going good for its own sake rather than for our satisfaction. Some have said it this way: “Virtue is its own reward.” As we grow in the practice of our religion, we learn to love God for God’s sake, not for what we can squeeze out of a special relationship with God. If this sounds a bit too abstract, apply it to your motivation for meditating and for prayer, over a period of time, and will soon become clearer.

Christian spirituality identifies three forms of praxis which are of importance for those who want to make something of Lent: fasting, almsgiving and prayer. Some people fast or abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent. Fasting generally means having only one substantial meal and not snacking throughout the day. But fasting can apply to more than food. We can cut down on other things that we consume or refrain from habits that too easily become compulsive - like watching TV, texting, surfing the web, flicking through magazines, or shopping for more than we really need.

By raising our minds to God throughout the day each time we get an urge to partake of that from which we fast, we get to the root-cause of the many imbalances in our lives by becoming other-centered. That is why it makes us feel better -- it allows us to experience what goodness really means.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day

(Click on the lesson for the text)

Isaiah 58:1–9a

Matthew 9:10–17

Psalm 5

New wine - new wineskins . . .

1. What is “new wine” in our circumstances?
2. What would “new wineskins” be for you? for us as a community?
3. Are you someone who says, “the old is good enough”?
4. How do our attitudes keep us from beginning again?

______________________

Physical food never fully satisfies; in a few hours, you’ll need to eat again. But when you are fed from doing the work of the Lord, you will find a new satisfaction like you’ve never experienced. 

Giving up can be receiving.

Living Lent Daily - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

 

A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Realizing you have really lost something sends a shock through your whole system. Often you feel a pang of grief and then anger and possibly confusion. Perhaps it was something so small as your car keys, or maybe your cell phone. It might be as significant as someone whom you love. The intensity and duration of the shock will differ but the immediate resistance you feel to losing what you (think) you possess is built into the human psyche.  But then, finding what we lost fills us with a degree of joy and gratitude comparable to the degree of loss. That which we thought we had lost returns - this time as a gift.  Interestingly, whenever we experience giving (from or to ourselves) we become more alive, more generous and more our real selves. Life teaches us this truth about finding and losing anyway. But we can also apply the truth and to some degree pre-empt the pain and shock of losing. The more It’s called letting go. The more attached and possessive, the worse the pain of loss. Letting go is a kind of voluntary losing – a paradox that transform loss into finding.

Lent - and whatever simple discipline of self-control we undertake during the next 40 days - can teach us how to let go at every moment, with every breath, every meeting, in every relationship. It can empower us to live with freedom and spontaneity and ultimately lead us into a fearlessness that permits our full humanity to flower. We just have to trust and leap. “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it.” We do this by degrees – the gentle shift of direction that our daily disciplines can make actually make this happen.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day

(Click on the lesson for the text)

Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Luke 9:18–25

Psalm 1

Lose your life. . .

Do you carry your cross?

Have you given up your possessions in your heart?

What about your respect and honor?

Click this link for a YouTube 

Take, Lord, Receive

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Use this sentence to help you go through each area of your life to fully commit yourself to the Lord: “Even if I lose …., I will follow You Jesus. You have the words of life.

Losing can be finding.

Living Lent Daily - Ash Wednesday

 

A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon.

I would rather wear the smudge on my forehead than to admit its residence upon my soul. I prefer a crude cross above my eyes to any questions about runny mascara or razor burn. In a place where self-confidence is rewarded and any sign of weakness or emotional predisposition is held suspect, it is difficult to consider actually following the advice of the prophet to return to the Lord with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. It is, however, acceptable — maybe even fashionable to appear in public with a dirty forehead as a sign that I have religion. It is amazing how symbols of piety, like sackcloth ashes, have been transformed into mask that hides me from myself and circumvents the intent of Ash Wednesday.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day
(Click on a lesson for the text)
Joel 2:1-2,12-17
II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
Psalm 103 

Sermon for the Last Sunday after Epiphany

Have Hope! Happy New Year!

Hope is a probably the most powerful and probably the most important factor when it comes to overcoming our biggest challenges. Without it, all is lost.

They say that in certain tragic situations you must be crazy to keep hope alive. But it’s that little spark deep within the human heart that eventually pulls us from the  brink of despair. Hope has the power to do impossible things. It is always hard to be optimistic during difficult times. Yet, hope is our only weapon. We can use it to fight and eventually find a way forward. We can sit around waiting for the worst to happen. But there is the reality that there is always at least one more thing that one can do. We just may not have yet realized what that is.

But even people who are more optimistic and hopeful by nature (I count myself one of those) need a little reassurance, every now and then, that things will get better. This is the role of the prophets is Scripture: to remind us that in the end God prevails. This alone may be enough to bring back one’s inner optimist.

What other passage do we need on this New Year’s Eve than this.... 

Isaiah 9

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,

upon them hath the light shined.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy:

they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,

and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden,

and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,

and garments rolled in blood;

but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,

upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,

to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice

from henceforth even for ever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. That is the key! It is the Lord of hosts - of many forces and unreserved strength - that gives us hope. Once we understand this, we might again find the inner strength that turns the tide of battle - that gives us hope - that gives us the strength to do what needs to be done to overcome what confronts us. We need not walk in darkness anymore. On us a great light has shone!

So Have hope! Happy New Year!