What are your expectations? Do you have expectations of God – or is that called faith? What happens when something is unexpected? Surprise? Concern? Fear? Joy? Praise? Love? The unexpected can be either positive or negative – or even just unexpected with no judgment or major emotion applied.

On the first Sunday of Lent, we handed out planting pots with a bulb and some dirt. Having spent much of my ministry career teaching children’s and youth Sunday School, I learned that bulbs and seeds are wonderful symbols of resurrection for young folk. (Adults too ☺) Something that appears to be dead and with no possibility of life, after being buried, will burst open with new life and offer something beautiful.

Did your bulb sprout up? Mine did not. I think I forgot to water it. Doh!

Did my resurrection illustration fail? If I look at it as something that happens after we die, then it sort of did. But what if resurrection is something we experience now?

Lent – Patience and Forgiveness

As we approach this next week of Lent – Maundy Thursday (Washing of Feet and Last Supper) – Good Friday (The Crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ) – and Easter Sunday (Jesus’ Resurrection) – Can you imagine what was going through the heads and in the hearts of the disciples?  I wrestle with this every Lent.  The music of Lent (“Were you There When . . .”) causes me to imagine.  This is the practice of Imaginative Prayer.  Can you place yourself as one of the disciples? What was Peter thinking . . . Matthew thinking . . . Thomas thinking . . . Judas thinking?  What are you thinking? (Comments below?)

Early Christian experience was preceded in Old Testament times by a long period where the need for patience was paramount. The Messiah was foretold and people waited, and waited. They were still waiting when Jesus began his ministry.

Lent is a hard season to love, isn’t it? I much prefer an expectant and joyful Advent. Six weeks of no alleluias and either giving something up or taking something on and I’m just not very good at that. Plus the whole “spring forward” daylight savings time thing is always thrown in the mix and that really messes me up!

But what Lent reminds me of is the circle of life, and I’m not just saying that because I saw The Lion King last month. (Which was wonderful, by the way. Thanks, mom!) No, what I mean is that we are never just one thing in life. Everything has its ebbs and flows. We move into and out of light and dark, joy and sorrow, ups and downs, peaks and valleys. To expect that life is always light or good or easy is just fooling ourselves. Lent is the shadowy and hushed time that falls into every life.

The Jesus Prayer…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

We’ve now passed both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. Pastor Leanne, in her February 9th blog post wrote of the similarities and differences in the two days. One thing not highlighted is the role of music as a significant factor in love, praise and prayer.

Music has always played an influential role in my life, and clearly, music has done and continues to do that in the life of the church. Many classic hymns are built on biblical references and biblical stories. But music goes beyond hymns to praise songs, to even pop songs, in all of which we see praise and love expressed. So, since this is a blog about prayer, the question is, can music be a prayer? Biblically, we know many of the Psalms were used as songs as well as prayers.

That’s a weird thing to say, isn’t it? The last time we had this holy day/holiday mash-up was in 2018. Before that, it was 1923, 1934 and 1945! It will occur again in 2029 and then not again in this century.

So it’s a rare occasion that we get to consider love in a fuller sense on this Ash Valentine’s Wednesday. It would seem that the two days have very little in common with each other. Valentine’s Day is pink candy, red hearts, and cupids. Ash Wednesday is ashes, dust, and purple. The whole overall tone of the days is quite different. Valentine’s Day is warm and sweet. Ash Wednesday is pensive and serious. The two days have nothing in common.

Or do they?

What does Epiphany mean to you? An epiphany is often defined as a sudden realization of the meaning of something. Pastor Leanne, in her January 8th post to this blog, introduced a new prayer practice called Imaginative Prayer as a way to enhance prayer practices and your epiphanies. Have you tried it? Do you think this practice could help generate epiphanies?

Our Epiphany sermon series is called New Beginnings and we’ll be walking with Jesus as we study the stories collected in Mark’s gospel. The light of our theme graphic is prompting us to attune ourselves to what the Spirit is illuminating in our lives in what we learn and take away from these stories.

I’m inviting you to a practice of imaginative prayer as you encounter these stories with Jesus.

We are only two days away from Christmas Eve, and three days from our celebration of the birth of Jesus. This has been a time of waiting and preparation. During Advent we have worshipped using a theme of being present through Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Light. Are you present? Are you prepared?

Advent is a season of waiting. We all know that. Sometimes we slowly move the figures in our nativity scenes closer to the manger in the inn as the days move forward to Christmas. (And the Magi don’t arrive until 12 days after Christmas!) It’s a lovely thing to imagine waiting for the birth of Jesus. After all, folks for generations before his birth were waiting for the Child of Humanity, the Messiah. “For unto us a child is born,” said Isaiah.

Gratitude expression affects us both cognitively and how we feel about what we’ve been blessed with. Let’s end this month on a “note” of gratitude, which brings to mind a song/hymn verse: 

Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore; 

Rejoice, give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore . . . . 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

What I like about Thanksgiving is that it’s all about giving thanks and that’s important. Gratitude is a virtue but it’s also much more than that.

some thoughts/questions – about not being afraid (It is the time of Halloween), who you pray for and “community.”

This month we celebrate World Communion with brothers and sisters around the world.