Space to write, space to create and space to let the spirit speak.
Write Now!
This blog started as a 'Lenten Writing Project', where we wrote each day in Lent. Now that Summer is here, let's keep up the discipline of writing with a weekly writing challenge! A prompt will be posted each week and anyone is welcome to join in and post their writing here or participate just by reading it.
Every writer has their own special light to add to this blog and all of your writing offerings are appreciated, whether poetry, prose, essay, thoughts, lists or comments and encouragement.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Lenten Writing Prompt #1
For those of you that want to get a head start on our writing project, here is the first prompt:
What does the season of Lent mean to you?What are some traditions you have around
Lent?What are your feelings about it?
Just as we go on diets, join a gym, go to the spa, get a massage, or go to the doctor etc. to try to improve our physical health, so the season of Lent can be a time for us to improve our spiritual health by making deeper our faith in God and our worship to Him.
At Christmas we anticipate the physical birth of Christ during the Advent season. During Lent we anticipate the re-birth of Christ on Easter morning. We can use this Lenten season to re-dedicate ourselves to whatever it is in our lives that draws us closer to God and to the teachings of Jesus.
Our preparations for this re-birth may not be as outwardly obvious as Christmas lights and Christmas gifts but shouldn’t their meaning be deeper and more eternal? Shouldn’t our preparations strive to equal the magnitude of what God has given to us through the birth and death of His Son?
Lent is a preparative time. May we use it wisely and productively so that we truly may “Love God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength, and love each other as ourselves.”
Feeling solitary Rolled up into my thoughts like a window shade There, I meet God who dwells within my innermost self I am here to do battle in the valley. God holds my hand as I blindly wave a sword at a torrential rain Winds wrap me up and I cannot see Velvety unpredictable brutal storm Familiar dragon bent on my destruction I do not need to feel God’s hand to know that it is there Softly reminding me I can see blessed reflection and clarity on the way up the hill Out of the valley of the shadow Pumping my legs and panting I have to work if I am to meet Hope at the top I know Hope is there because God leads me out of this valley Sometimes carrying me like a child when I am too tired And I know that Gods hand will be with me on the way back down again.
Liz Colver Lent is one of my favorite times in the church year. Yeah, I know it's a little strange. It appears to be this dark, contemplative time in the last weeks of winter, to give up chocolate. Or coffee. But, I like lent because it's a time set apart for renewal. And a time to participate in my congregational community a bit more deeply with soup suppers and simple mid-week services. Lent gives me the chance to remember my blessings and simplify my life. Lent gives me a chance to breathe just when things get crazy and reminds me that I am loved regardless of how much I accomplish.
This week has been full of reminders that things that are NOT going to be simple in the coming months. Grad school internship interviews, CPE applications for the summer, kindergarten registration & introducing solid foods, and discussions about how much is enough to offer our dream nanny for the crazy summer/fall schedule changes. My life feels so far from simple these days I could cry. And I have.
But here comes lent. Right at the time I crave it most. Right before I start taking my anxiety out on my family and friends, I am reminded that there is one with me who wants to lighten my load. One who cares and will not judge my imperfections. One who actively participates in my suffering, anxiousness, joy, and fear, and who is witnessed to me in my community. Even when I am unwilling to notice.
I began thinking today about sacrifice, What to surrender. Others have sacrificed so much. Others have given until their hearts would ache. And I should give up ice cream for two weeks?
I'm a poor man. I have only my thoughts, a few ideas A secret or two. But God is already part of these Every day, without my lifting a finger.
I suppose I do have something to give, Something to surrender during these days. I would sacrifice my feelings of emptiness, My doubts and my fears. Real creatures that have for so long Gripped tightly around my very soul.
So I will sacrifice these feelings. And, just maybe, refuse to take them back.
Throughout Christendom there are those who fast, pray, repent and give alms as a way of entering into Christ’s journey to the cross. And at the same time, the word “Lent” in English means “spring”, the beginning of new life. Isn’t it interesting that our entrance into eternal life begins with a journey toward death?
My best friend in elementary school was Joanie. One day as the Wisconsin snow was beginning to thaw and the first daffodils were beginning to poke their little noses up from the earth, Joanie asked me, “What are you giving up for Lent?” That was the first time I remember hearing that word. “Giving up? What does that mean,” I asked. “Well,” Joanie explained, “It’s Lent. You are supposed to give something up if you love God.” I loved God, but I wondered to myself, “What does that mean, to give up something?”
I continue to ask myself that question. Life has taught me that “giving up” and “letting go” are a necessary part of daily life. That isn’t easy to do – it’s a sacrifice, it’s the death of something hoped for or expected.
But the miracle happens. From that little daily death of letting go, new life springs forth as I receive God’s grace upon grace.
What is Lent? For me, it’s a time of growing awareness of God’s amazing grace.
MY LENTEN JOURNEY I begin my Lenten journey, Remembering all You’ve done. Your love, Your grace, Your mercy, The gift of Your dear Son. Continuing in this season, I reflect upon Your Word. I ask Your guidance for me, To seek and know You, Lord. My broken heart I’ll open. And repent of all my sin, In faith, and understanding Knowing You will help me win. And, then, with hope and gladness I will turn to You in joy. Accepting all You offer, As Your mercy, I enjoy. I’ll use this Holy Season To prepare for that great day When we celebrate in wonder, Christ’s Resurrection Day! Wanda Black
As a child, I thought of the "giving some thing" up for Lent as being a "Catholic thing". We put dimes in folders, and a dime would buy a BIG candy bar at that time--so I was giving a portion of my excess. Today, I render thanks for sight of good--fires of commitment that light up the dark and warm the cold with flames of love in action. I give my dampening doubts about the fate of our world up to the Spirit's bristling, crackling, scorching hot breath trusting in the purifying refinement and recognize these ashes.
Pondering the questions: “What does the season of Lent mean to you?” “What are some traditions you have around Lent?” “What are your feelings about it?”
Not a lot. Easter’s coming. They had Mardi Gras in Louisiana, didn’t they.
Traditions? Bah. No real church traditions in my first family. (Work conflicts for my dad, but that doesn’t matter. Most families have excuses. Too many excuses.) Conflicted church traditions in my second family. (They did what they did, out of obligation. Most families have obligations. And, also, excuses.) Attempted traditions, church traditions with my third family. Not many really set in. Some, but not many. Oh, well.
Lenten traditions, to me, seem reserved for obligation. reserved for commitment. reserved for someone else.
“Ain’t my dilemma!” Read that in a novel as I was pondering the questions. Seemed to fit perfectly…
For all of my deliberate adult life, I get to do what I want to do. I get to choose what I want to choose. I get to celebrate the way I want to celebrate.
And, I get to go to church the way I want to go to church.
That is how I have changed, and grown, throughout my Spring.
My traditions of Lent: Growing up we didn't do the ashes thing. That was too Roman Catholic, we were Lutherans, Protestants. It was too ritualistic, too stiff, too showing. Now it is a powerful experience for me, reminding me that this life is all too transient. The mystic in me has grown much more over the years and symbols and rituals on all sorts of levels have become much deeper and much more meaningful. And Poetry has become more full than narrative. (Thanks Ruth for getting all of this going!) Pastor Larry
Ash Wednsday February 22, 2012 I am a Cradle-Lutheran-Christian My Lenten Traditions are ever-evolving, as is my faith. I will start this Lenten Faith-writing journey with Ash Wednesday traditions and see where it leads me.
In my memory's beginning, as a choir director's child, of course I went to every middle-of-the-night Ash Wed Service. As a young woman, I was very involved in the church and continued to attend all regular services. Later, as the wife of a pastor,I continued the pattern. After we had small children, I didn't always get to evening services, including Ash Wednesday, since that was usually the fussing time. As the children grew, we went back to Ash Wednesday night Services, kids in tow, and even in the choir. Then, after the divorce, sometimes I just didn't want to be with any "communion of saints". Now, time has past, and I have grown again and choose freely to be back among the "saints". I respect the traditions of the Church and want to go back to the Service not only for myself, but to be of service in the the choir and in gratefulness to God.
Part 2: As a young girl, Ash Wednesday seemed to me to begin a season of darkness and retrospectiveness, solemn music.....ashes on foreheads....the words "ashes to ashes, dust to dust", which I know are also spoken at funerals since my grandfather is a funeral director....there is a faint, sweet smell that lingers on me after the Service and through the next day....I can't quite place it....Then I find that it comes from the mixture of ashes and oil and incense from Ash Wednesday. Cool!
Now, as my daughter just reminded me, that dust that we come from and go back to, is genuine stardust! Even the scientists will attest to that. So it isn't as somber as some people make it out to be.
One last thing, I liked it when Luther talked about every day being a new beginning in Christ. I surely could use one, with all the mistakes I make in life. Ash Wednesday is a good time for me to take time to take a deep breath and THINK before I make that new start...like intentional living I think it's called...better yet Intentional Living in Christ. Sara Heck
I was raised capital C Catholic, a different beast altogether from the word’s small c meaning, so when I think of capital L Lent I still tend to think of giving up something.
I was thinking this year maybe that "something" should be the news, because lately whenever I see the news on TV or hear it on the radio or read it online or in the old-fashioned version of the Times that shows up in the driveway every morning, it feels as if I’ve fallen through some unfortunate worm hole or door or hatch into the old days, and not the good ones.
In this modern day version of the old days men are trying to dictate who should vote and who should get married and what women should do with their bodies and what kind of people are welcome in this country and what language we should speak. They carry guns on their hips and crow about the second amendment and don’t worry much if one child shoots another. Instead of looking for real solutions they talk about Satan and point fingers at poor people for being poor and attack public education and overspending and line their pockets with special interest money.
They buy elections. They mock knowledge. They revere ignorance.
I see stories about the widening wealth gap and monsters killing their babies and trusted adults molesting children and ministers using the Bible as a weapon and a dad solving a problem by shooting his daughter’s laptop. It all makes me wonder that age-old wonderment: Why did God put certain creatures—rats, leeches, mosquitoes, and the like— on this earth? It all makes me consider the usefulness of weapons, but I drop the thought.
Instead I tell myself that the bad stories, the bad days, like the forty days of Lent, will pass, and better days will come, eventually, and I discover different kinds of news stories: An elderly woman leaves her home to the homeless, dozens of people donate their kidneys to strangers, a man dives through the broken ice of a pond to save a teenager, forty-year-old swimmer Janet Evans comes out of retirement to give the Olympics another try.
I see a story about John Glenn and the 50th anniversary of his famous orbit of the earth, and I think about what giant leaps mankind is capable of, and I remember not long after that historic event, on the morning of July 24, 1969, standing on the flight deck of the USS Hornet and hearing a sonic boom rent the air and watching another space traveler, the Apollo 11 capsule, scream and then parachute through the bright tropical blue, carrying its precious cargo: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, 48 pounds of moon rocks, and a world’s pride. And wonderment.
So I go outside, to a night of broken clouds and ancient starlight, and think about the good things on God’s earth and beyond, and gaze up, and ahead—not back—with hope.
Lent A time of reflection A time of quiet A time to listen A time to "give up" or a time to "let go" This year I will let go of "fear" and will fill that space with "love" JackieD
Lent by Pat Mason
ReplyDeleteJust as we go on diets, join a gym, go to the spa, get a massage, or go to the doctor etc. to try to improve our physical health, so the season of Lent can be a time for us to improve our spiritual health by making deeper our faith in God and our worship to Him.
At Christmas we anticipate the physical birth of Christ during the Advent season.
During Lent we anticipate the re-birth of Christ on Easter morning.
We can use this Lenten season to re-dedicate ourselves to whatever it is in our lives that draws us closer to God and to the teachings of Jesus.
Our preparations for this re-birth may not be as outwardly obvious as Christmas lights and Christmas gifts but shouldn’t their meaning be deeper and more eternal?
Shouldn’t our preparations strive to equal the magnitude of what God has given to us through the birth and death of His Son?
Lent is a preparative time. May we use it wisely and productively so that we truly may “Love God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength, and love each other as ourselves.”
Lent to Easter
ReplyDeleteby Ruth Hanley
Feeling solitary
Rolled up into my thoughts like a window shade
There, I meet God who dwells within my innermost self
I am here to do battle in the valley.
God holds my hand as I blindly wave a sword at a torrential rain
Winds wrap me up and I cannot see
Velvety
unpredictable
brutal storm
Familiar dragon bent on my destruction
I do not need to feel God’s hand to know that it is there
Softly reminding me
I can see blessed reflection and clarity on the way up the hill
Out of the valley of the shadow
Pumping my legs and panting
I have to work if I am to meet Hope at the top
I know Hope is there because God leads me out of this valley
Sometimes carrying me like a child when I am too tired
And I know that Gods hand will be with me on the way back down again.
Liz Colver
ReplyDeleteLent is one of my favorite times in the church year. Yeah, I know it's a little strange. It appears to be this dark, contemplative time in the last weeks of winter, to give up chocolate. Or coffee. But, I like lent because it's a time set apart for renewal. And a time to participate in my congregational community a bit more deeply with soup suppers and simple mid-week services. Lent gives me the chance to remember my blessings and simplify my life. Lent gives me a chance to breathe just when things get crazy and reminds me that I am loved regardless of how much I accomplish.
This week has been full of reminders that things that are NOT going to be simple in the coming months. Grad school internship interviews, CPE applications for the summer, kindergarten registration & introducing solid foods, and discussions about how much is enough to offer our dream nanny for the crazy summer/fall schedule changes. My life feels so far from simple these days I could cry. And I have.
But here comes lent. Right at the time I crave it most. Right before I start taking my anxiety out on my family and friends, I am reminded that there is one with me who wants to lighten my load. One who cares and will not judge my imperfections. One who actively participates in my suffering, anxiousness, joy, and fear, and who is witnessed to me in my community. Even when I am unwilling to notice.
My Sacrifice
ReplyDeleteby Gary Boeger
I began thinking today about sacrifice,
What to surrender.
Others have sacrificed so much.
Others have given until their hearts would ache.
And I should give up ice cream for two weeks?
I'm a poor man.
I have only my thoughts, a few ideas
A secret or two.
But God is already part of these
Every day, without my lifting a finger.
I suppose I do have something to give,
Something to surrender during these days.
I would sacrifice my feelings of emptiness,
My doubts and my fears.
Real creatures that have for so long
Gripped tightly around my very soul.
So I will sacrifice these feelings.
And, just maybe, refuse to take them back.
What is Lent?
ReplyDeleteThroughout Christendom there are those who fast, pray, repent and give alms as a way of entering into Christ’s journey to the cross. And at the same time, the word “Lent” in English means “spring”, the beginning of new life. Isn’t it interesting that our entrance into eternal life begins with a journey toward death?
My best friend in elementary school was Joanie. One day as the Wisconsin snow was beginning to thaw and the first daffodils were beginning to poke their little noses up from the earth, Joanie asked me, “What are you giving up for Lent?” That was the first time I remember hearing that word. “Giving up? What does that mean,” I asked. “Well,” Joanie explained, “It’s Lent. You are supposed to give something up if you love God.”
I loved God, but I wondered to myself, “What does that mean, to give up something?”
I continue to ask myself that question. Life has taught me that “giving up” and “letting go” are a necessary part of daily life. That isn’t easy to do – it’s a sacrifice, it’s the death of something hoped for or expected.
But the miracle happens. From that little daily death of letting go, new life springs forth as I receive God’s grace upon grace.
What is Lent? For me, it’s a time of growing awareness of God’s amazing grace.
MY LENTEN JOURNEY
ReplyDeleteI begin my Lenten journey,
Remembering all You’ve done.
Your love, Your grace, Your mercy,
The gift of Your dear Son.
Continuing in this season,
I reflect upon Your Word.
I ask Your guidance for me,
To seek and know You, Lord.
My broken heart I’ll open.
And repent of all my sin,
In faith, and understanding
Knowing You will help me win.
And, then, with hope and gladness
I will turn to You in joy.
Accepting all You offer,
As Your mercy, I enjoy.
I’ll use this Holy Season
To prepare for that great day
When we celebrate in wonder,
Christ’s Resurrection Day!
Wanda Black
Ashes by Marlene Obie
ReplyDeleteAs a child, I thought of the "giving some thing" up for Lent as being a "Catholic thing". We put dimes in folders, and a dime would buy a BIG candy bar at that time--so I was giving a portion of my excess.
Today, I render thanks for sight of good--fires of commitment that light up the dark and warm the cold with flames of love in action. I give my dampening doubts about the fate of our world up to the Spirit's bristling, crackling, scorching hot breath trusting in the purifying refinement and recognize these ashes.
“Ain’t My Dilemma!”
ReplyDeletePondering the questions:
“What does the season of Lent mean to you?”
“What are some traditions you have around Lent?”
“What are your feelings about it?”
Not a lot. Easter’s coming.
They had Mardi Gras in Louisiana, didn’t they.
Traditions? Bah.
No real church traditions in my first family.
(Work conflicts for my dad, but that doesn’t matter.
Most families have excuses. Too many excuses.)
Conflicted church traditions in my second family.
(They did what they did, out of obligation.
Most families have obligations. And, also, excuses.)
Attempted traditions, church traditions with my third family.
Not many really set in. Some, but not many. Oh, well.
Lenten traditions, to me, seem reserved for obligation.
reserved for commitment.
reserved for someone else.
“Ain’t my dilemma!”
Read that in a novel as I was pondering the questions.
Seemed to fit perfectly…
For all of my deliberate adult life,
I get to do what I want to do.
I get to choose what I want to choose.
I get to celebrate the way I want to celebrate.
And,
I get to go to church the way I want to go to church.
That is how I have changed, and grown,
throughout my Spring.
My traditions of Lent: Growing up we didn't do the ashes thing. That was too Roman Catholic, we were Lutherans, Protestants. It was too ritualistic, too stiff, too showing. Now it is a powerful experience for me, reminding me that this life is all too transient. The mystic in me has grown much more over the years and symbols and rituals on all sorts of levels have become much deeper and much more meaningful. And Poetry has become more full than narrative.
ReplyDelete(Thanks Ruth for getting all of this going!)
Pastor Larry
Ash Wednsday February 22, 2012
ReplyDeleteI am a Cradle-Lutheran-Christian
My Lenten Traditions are ever-evolving, as is my faith.
I will start this Lenten Faith-writing journey with Ash Wednesday traditions and see where it leads me.
In my memory's beginning, as a choir director's child, of course I went to every middle-of-the-night Ash Wed Service. As a young woman, I was very involved in the church and continued to attend all regular services. Later, as the wife of a pastor,I continued the pattern. After we had small children, I didn't always get to evening services, including Ash Wednesday, since that was usually the fussing time. As the children grew, we went back to Ash Wednesday night Services, kids in tow, and even in the choir. Then, after the divorce, sometimes I just didn't want to be with any "communion of saints".
Now, time has past, and I have grown again and choose freely to be back among the "saints". I respect the traditions of the Church and want to go back to the Service not only for myself, but to be of service in the the choir and in gratefulness to God.
Part 2: As a young girl, Ash Wednesday seemed to me to begin a season of darkness and retrospectiveness, solemn music.....ashes on foreheads....the words "ashes to ashes, dust to dust", which I know are also spoken at funerals since my grandfather is a funeral director....there is a faint, sweet smell that lingers on me after the Service and through the next day....I can't quite place it....Then I find that it comes from the mixture of ashes and oil and incense from Ash Wednesday. Cool!
Now, as my daughter just reminded me, that dust that we come from and go back to, is genuine stardust! Even the scientists will attest to that. So it isn't as somber as some people make it out to be.
One last thing, I liked it when Luther talked about every day being a new beginning in Christ. I surely could use one, with all the mistakes I make in life. Ash Wednesday is a good time for me to take time to take a deep breath and THINK before I make that new start...like intentional living I think it's called...better yet Intentional Living in Christ. Sara Heck
Starlight
ReplyDeleteI was raised capital C Catholic,
a different beast altogether from the word’s small c meaning,
so when I think of capital L Lent I still tend to think of giving up something.
I was thinking this year maybe that "something" should be the news,
because lately whenever I see the news on TV or hear it on the radio
or read it online or in the old-fashioned version of the Times
that shows up in the driveway every morning,
it feels as if I’ve fallen through some unfortunate worm hole or door or hatch
into the old days, and not the good ones.
In this modern day version of the old days men are trying to dictate who should vote and who should get married and what women should do with their bodies
and what kind of people are welcome in this country
and what language we should speak.
They carry guns on their hips and crow about the second amendment
and don’t worry much if one child shoots another.
Instead of looking for real solutions they talk about Satan
and point fingers at poor people for being poor and attack public education
and overspending and line their pockets with special interest money.
They buy elections.
They mock knowledge.
They revere ignorance.
I see stories about the widening wealth gap and monsters killing their babies
and trusted adults molesting children and ministers using the Bible as a weapon
and a dad solving a problem by shooting his daughter’s laptop.
It all makes me wonder that age-old wonderment:
Why did God put certain creatures—rats, leeches, mosquitoes, and the like—
on this earth?
It all makes me consider the usefulness of weapons,
but I drop the thought.
Instead I tell myself that the bad stories, the bad days,
like the forty days of Lent,
will pass, and better days will come, eventually,
and I discover different kinds of news stories:
An elderly woman leaves her home to the homeless,
dozens of people donate their kidneys to strangers,
a man dives through the broken ice of a pond to save a teenager,
forty-year-old swimmer Janet Evans comes out of retirement
to give the Olympics another try.
I see a story about John Glenn and the 50th anniversary of his famous orbit
of the earth, and I think about what giant leaps mankind is capable of,
and I remember not long after that historic event, on the morning of July 24, 1969,
standing on the flight deck of the USS Hornet and hearing a sonic boom rent the air and watching another space traveler, the Apollo 11 capsule,
scream and then parachute through the bright tropical blue,
carrying its precious cargo:
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, 48 pounds of moon rocks,
and a world’s pride. And wonderment.
So I go outside, to a night of broken clouds and ancient starlight,
and think about the good things on God’s earth and beyond,
and gaze up, and ahead—not back—with hope.
—Dave Patneaude
Lent
ReplyDeleteA time of reflection
A time of quiet
A time to listen
A time to "give up" or a time to "let go"
This year I will let go of "fear" and will fill that space with "love"
JackieD