The cyclical nature of the Liturgical Calendar has contributed to the formation of Christ-followers for centuries, and now ushers us once again into the season of Lent. Following in the way of Jesus, we travel into the wilderness, where we find our faith in God’s provision tested. These forty days and forty nights invite us to embrace a prayerful posture of simplicity, sacrifice, and stillness in the belief that God is already moving among and within us amid the coming weeks of preparation. Through self-examination and repentance, fasting, and meditating on the word of God, we prepare our hearts, hands, and minds to once again enter into the divine mystery of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. The tempter cam and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written…

‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every world that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Matthew 4:1-4

We embark upon this journey, a pilgrimage with Jesus and with one another, for the next six weeks towards the cross, and eventually, the empty tomb. This is a journey of recognizing, naming, and stripping away the excesses of our idolatry and our boundless self-indulgence. But hear clearly, this is not a journey about self-denial simply for the sake of “giving something up”. A fast is not a test, it’s not an exercise in performative righteousness. It’s not a punishment. It’s an invitation to practice relying on God at a time in which most of us are far more accustomed to relying on comforts and distractions of this world.

God may be calling you to set aside a particular rhythm or tangible indulgence in your life, the things that may have developed a hold on your heart, your body, your time and attention. Or alternatively, you might practice “subtraction by addition”, as I like to call it; taking on intentional practices of reflection, learning, creativity, and/or serving in solidarity with the poor, to name but a few.

However this season will look for you; setting certain things down, picking meaningful things up, or some combination of the two, this is our search, individually and collectively, for clarity and direction. We acknowledgeme that while we worship a God of abundance, earthly abundance and consumption has become our default setting.  We FAST FROM so that we can FEAST ON the things that truly sustain us. 

LITURGY & RESOURCES

“I Confess”

by Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

The concern which I lay bare before God today is:

My concern for the life of the world in these troubled times.

I confess my own inner confusion as I look out upon the world.

There is food for all — many are hungry.
There are clothes enough for all — many are in rags.
There is room enough for all — many are crowded.
There are none who want war — preparations for conflict abound.

I confess my own share in the ills of the times.

I have shirked my own responsibilities as a citizen.

I have not been wise in casting my ballot.

I have left to others a real interest in making a public opinion worthy of democracy.

I have been concerned about my own little job, my own little security, my own shelter, my own bread.

I have not really cared about jobs for others, security for others, shelter for others, bread for others. I have not worked for peace; I want peace, but I have voted and worked for war.

I have silenced my own voice that it may not be heard on the side of any cause, however right, if it meant running risks or damaging my own little reputation.

Let Thy light burn in me that I may, from this moment on, take effective steps within my own powers, to live up to the light and courageously to pay for the kind of world I so deeply desire.