Lent is coming!!
Lent is coming! so I have been looking ahead at what scriptures will be read and preached in the upcoming weeks.
It looks like the writers want us to prepare for Lent and wander through Epiphany focusing on the power of Jesus to cast out evil, heal, cleanse leprosy. This seems a wise word to prepare us for Lent.
Lent is a time of prayer and fasting, where Christians focus on repentance, so it is good for us to know the power of God in our weakness before we attempt the discipline of fasting. God has saved the world through suffering, through Christ suffering on the cross. God shapes our souls through suffering as well ... as Kris preached this past Sunday it is often in times of trouble that the kingdom draws near. Lent is a time of chosen suffering. A time to recognize that we are lost without Christ and taking up the disciplines of fasting and prayer to push back the ingrown weeds and let God's kingdom come close.
Lent will lead us on a journey through Christ's wilderness trial (March 1). Where, unlike Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, Jesus, hungry in the desert defeats the serpent. Then we will jump to a foretelling of his death and resurrection in which the serpent speaks once again, but now through Peter (March 8). Jesus again denies his voice and retells of his way of suffering. Next we will witness Jesus in the temple, clearing it away in Godly anger so that it can be a place of prayer for all nations (March 15). After that we will hear that Jesus will be lifted up as a sign of salvation (March 22). That if people will look to him they will be saved. Then finally, before Holy Week begins, we will witness his agony in the words: "My soul is troubled" but he does not pray to be saved from the coming hour ... he prays to be glorified and lifted up on the cross (March 29).
And then we will watch the crowds cheer his entry at the beginning of the end (April 5). With Palm branches waving, holy week begins ... leading us to that terrible Good Friday, when Christ is lifted up for the world to see, the crucified Messiah. Followed by the quietest sabboth, when Jesus lay in the tomb and the disciples hid under lock and key. And then ... the resurrection (April 12)!
If you want to follow along as we go or look ahead I wanted to share with you a couple of websites that can help you keep track of the lectionary and the daily office readings:
Daily Office This site gives you the actual texts in full for each day from the Daily Office readings (this is a two year cycle of daily readings for devotions. This is what we print on the flyers and use for our mid-week service)
Sunday Lectionary This site lets you see the texts for the upcoming Sundays so you can look ahead or keep up with the week.
It looks like the writers want us to prepare for Lent and wander through Epiphany focusing on the power of Jesus to cast out evil, heal, cleanse leprosy. This seems a wise word to prepare us for Lent.
Lent is a time of prayer and fasting, where Christians focus on repentance, so it is good for us to know the power of God in our weakness before we attempt the discipline of fasting. God has saved the world through suffering, through Christ suffering on the cross. God shapes our souls through suffering as well ... as Kris preached this past Sunday it is often in times of trouble that the kingdom draws near. Lent is a time of chosen suffering. A time to recognize that we are lost without Christ and taking up the disciplines of fasting and prayer to push back the ingrown weeds and let God's kingdom come close.
Lent will lead us on a journey through Christ's wilderness trial (March 1). Where, unlike Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, Jesus, hungry in the desert defeats the serpent. Then we will jump to a foretelling of his death and resurrection in which the serpent speaks once again, but now through Peter (March 8). Jesus again denies his voice and retells of his way of suffering. Next we will witness Jesus in the temple, clearing it away in Godly anger so that it can be a place of prayer for all nations (March 15). After that we will hear that Jesus will be lifted up as a sign of salvation (March 22). That if people will look to him they will be saved. Then finally, before Holy Week begins, we will witness his agony in the words: "My soul is troubled" but he does not pray to be saved from the coming hour ... he prays to be glorified and lifted up on the cross (March 29).
And then we will watch the crowds cheer his entry at the beginning of the end (April 5). With Palm branches waving, holy week begins ... leading us to that terrible Good Friday, when Christ is lifted up for the world to see, the crucified Messiah. Followed by the quietest sabboth, when Jesus lay in the tomb and the disciples hid under lock and key. And then ... the resurrection (April 12)!
If you want to follow along as we go or look ahead I wanted to share with you a couple of websites that can help you keep track of the lectionary and the daily office readings:
Daily Office This site gives you the actual texts in full for each day from the Daily Office readings (this is a two year cycle of daily readings for devotions. This is what we print on the flyers and use for our mid-week service)
Sunday Lectionary This site lets you see the texts for the upcoming Sundays so you can look ahead or keep up with the week.
Comments
The danger is lessoned if we follow Jesus admonition in Matt. 6 and do it in a hidden way.
"When the ascetical life of a Christian and the privations that he imposes upon himself are beyond the measure of grace that he has been given, a void is created in his soul. Either it will lead him to sin, or it will make him perverse, proud, hard, and unmerciful to his brothers. The wise man puts greater effort into positive virtues and less into negative virtues. Examples of positive virtues are prayer, worship, meditation, study, participation in the Body and Blood of Christ, love for God. In general, their action brings us into contact with God. On the other hand, negative virtues are activities such as fasting, self-denial and self-deprivation, abstinence, asceticism in general, and the “thou-shalt-not” kinds of commandments and rules that are essentially directed to ourselves. It is not derogatory to call these negative for, together with the positive virtues, they form the balance that makes up the spiritual life."
Maybe that's more helpful--thinking in terms of balance. I find it difficult to understand prayer as suffering, because how is communion with God suffering? And what else is prayer but communion? I guess my question is whether or not calling these things "chosen suffering" harms our understanding of them and how they fit into our life--not just in Lent, but throughout the liturgical year.
What do you think?