Lenten Reflections
Time to Act and Time to Wait: Lenten Meditation, 3/23/2013
Acts 17:22-31 By: Rachel Jones Saying someone has the spiritual gift of discernment is a short way of saying that they are good at helping people make hard decisions and offering support to them; that they tell the truth, as they know it, with an attitude of humility and forthrightness, being as honest as they […]
The Gift of Discernment: Lenten Meditation, 3/22/2013
Matthew 13:47-52 By: Zack Nyein As a newly-minted postulant for the priesthood in The Episcopal Church, the word “discernment” carries a lot of baggage. I think about the discernment process, my discernment committee, our diocesan discernment retreat, and even the discernment paperwork. However, when we look at this word apart from its context and connotations in […]
A Sword Shall Pierce Your Own Soul: Lenten Meditation, 3/21/2013
Luke 2:25–35 By: Jessie Vedanti Simeon, a man whose only credentials were his piety, was ready to face death knowing God had provided a savior. The Holy Spirit rested on him, and he was gifted with incredible discernment to find such comfort and relief in the fear-inducing challenges of life, and death’s approach. Simeon, although […]
Just Downstairs: Lenten Meditation, 3/20/2013
By: Callie Swanlund When I was little, I remember waking up one Saturday morning and – before I was even fully awake – knowing what I would find downstairs. I knew that I’d descend the staircase to find a beam of sun coming through the glass front door and warming a patch of the wood floor. I […]
Redeemed by Faith: Lenten Meditation, 3/19/2013
Romans 4:13-18 By: Hershey Mallette “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.” (Romans 4:13-14, emphasis […]
Passing Peace: Lenten Meditation, 3/18/2013
Psalm 122 By: Grace Flint I grew up in a non-denominational church where anything liturgical was considered insincere. Instead of exchanging the peace, we were instructed to introduce ourselves to our neighbor and share some inane personal fact, like a favorite color or sports team. It was more like being on a corporate team-building retreat […]
Pressing On: Lenten Meditation, 3/17/2013
Philippians 3:4b-14 By: Jason Sierra “I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) As a teenager I read Paul’s call to “press on” as a call for personal ambition and drive, that oneness with Christ could somehow be achieved by pressing forward, by pushing […]
Our Straying Hearts: Lenten Meditation, 3/16/2013
John 7:37-52 By: Adam Pike In our gospel reading for today, we hear Jesus make an invitation: Drink of the living waters. Never again experience thirst. Surely this is intriguing, but is this what we truly desire? We are a thirsty people – desiring to overcome, to improve, to gain, to achieve, to grow. Who […]
For They Reasoned Unsoundly: Lenten Meditation, 3/15/2013
Wisdom 2:1a, 12-24 By: Jamie Osborne Lent is a serious time in the church year, but it is also a beautiful time. This season of reflection on death and sin prepares us for the Easter season of celebrating the resurrecting power of God’s love. I have spent way too much time living like Lent is […]
What Freedom is For: Lenten Meditation, 3/14/2013
Exodus 32:7–14 By: Jonathan Melton I cannot read this passage from Exodus without thinking of Mooby the Cow, a fictional and Mickey Mouse-like pop culture icon in the hilariously appalling (as in, seriously offensive) 1999 film Dogma, starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Affleck and Damon play fallen angels meting out the judgment of God on […]