SO FAR TO GO

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12

I never really considered how far the east was from the west until yesterday. We woke early, before five, delays, trouble pushing off from the gate, an unexpected injury the day prior caused our communication through the day to be awkward and tense. All these details weighed in my mind, the work of it all: moving oneself from here to there and the effort to manage bags and provisions;  I wondered,  "is my Lenten journey much the same?" 

I come from afar off, the landscape shrouded in white and here I am, a world away with palm trees, greenery, blue sky and a fog named Karl that rolls in off the ocean each day. Friends, family, meals and laughter all speak of intimate connection, but traveling was the price.

So my soul begins her joureney of Lent on the Pacific, with children gathered, sights to see and bags to unpack. Interiorly I am ready and even eager to unpack the weight of sins I have carried: Pride, anger, self-reliance, idolatry just to name a few.

Have you looked  in the baggage you have and asked God what needs to go?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"The Lord is slow is compassionate and gracious, and slow to anger, abounding in love."
Psalm 103:8

FLOWERS FROM GOD

If we will follow the prophet Joel's directives for Lent we begin with love:

"Even now, declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart.with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to. the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love." Joel 2:12, 13

It is as if God were sending a bouquet of flowers to us saying, "I love you and I have incredible compassion." Lent is a call to bring our whole hearts to God, for He gives His heart to us. How do we come to this God of love, to the One who made a way for us? We come in great sorrow for the ways we have hurt Him and others by our sins,  we come weeping over failures that we cannot seem to amend. God's abounding love calls to us through Lent saying, "I am here,  My child, and I long for your love, all your love. Your weeping and repentance lead you back to Me."

Are you on your way to God's heart of love?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"The Lord your God is with  you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
               Zephaniah 3:17

WHITER THAN SNOW

 

Landscape is lost and blades of grass are blotted out as storm after storm has pounded us; we are, most of us in New England, overwhelmed and weary. One wants to look up or around and see a glimmer of hope, a faint whisper that spring is coming, and some warm sunshine to melt away all this madness. So today when we woke to another 3-4 inches of snow, all I could think of was David's cry of repentance: blot out my transgressions and wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

 

 

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.... Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:1, 2, 7

 

What is whiter than snow?  I am. When God washes us clean, when we have, "come clean," and told Him all the ways we have sinned, in thought, word and deed, in what we have done and failed to do, how we have not loved as He has asked us to, then He comes to us and washes us. Tenderly, gently, lovingly, faithfully. This is not a scolding and recriminating kind of scrubbing, as if God had a brillo pad and He would keep at us until we looked a little better, seemed less like a failure in His eyes. No, this is a Father holding us, even, and perhaps especially, in Lent, and saying:

 

 "My Child, I am so glad you have come to Me. I know you cannot love as I do on your own, you have a long way to go, but let me help you. Let Me wash away your imperfections, let Me cleanse you from your faults~ you know what they are. But I would remind you that I take away the sins of the world(John 1:29) you cannot keep both your sins and My love and forgiveness. Choose wisely, Child, clinging to your sins, defining yourself by them, when I would take them away, leaves a weight on your soul too heavy to bear. Consider this: give up the weight of carrying your sins this Lent. When you fail or fall, come running to Me, waste no time in shame or self-condemnation. Run to My arms of compassion and let Me wash you"

 

May the Lord of our Lent teach us what it means to be washed clean, whiter than all the snow of this New England winter. We have a King who gives us the gift of forgiveness, will you accept this gift this Lenten season?

 

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

 

" 'Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,' this befits a King who forgives all offenses, with authority, and Himself furnishes the gift."

 

John Chrysostom Fourth Century

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LENT'S LONG AWAKENING

Lent’s Long Awakening

Ashes mix with yesterday’s tears

making me more open somehow

to the promptings of His Spirit

“My Child, I Am.

I Am love and light

hope and healing,

joy for your heart’s

sad weeping…

I say the word that heals

and you will listen

in these Lenten days…

Peace, child,

your sorrow and My mercy

meet here at long last.

Rise from these ashes

in awe and grace…

Take My strength

for your weakness

and trust My love and faithfulness

found in passion’s ashes.”

dhallenbeck

Ash Wednesday 2015

ADVENT'S GOOD NEWS

A tiny slip of paper wakes me from sound sleep: my list. Raspberry layer cake, appple pie, cinnamon rolls, cookies yet to be rolled out, a few presents that still need sorting and wrapping. This is nothing new- there really is nothing new under the sun, or under today's cheerless gray sky, but how to handle the stress and seemingly endless errands and preparations for the holidays?

I can make my heart ready for this day, for this task, for these duties, for family and friends and the guests God brings. I know you would say I can shorten my list, but that would grieve my heart, for it is my passion, but I can sit in God's presence and strengthen my heart to bear the gifts of giving without the weight of worry and resentment. How?

"My heart is ready, O God; I will sing, sing your praise. Awake my soul... I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples. among the nations I will praise you, for your love reaches to the heavens and your truth to the skies." Psalm 108

Faintly, in the reflection through our sun room windows, our Christmas lights appear outside on this dreary day. So too, in my life, Christ's light shines from within me to dimly display the glory of His love to a needy world. My choice is to see the day, with all its chaos and caroling as His, and know the truth that reaches these foggy New England skies: His love reaches to the heavens and has come down from the heavens to touch us and heal us, bringing hope and joy and peace. He brings me His love and lifts my weary head. "He is my glory and the lifter of my head." Psalm 3:3

My heart is ready. Is yours?

"Come thou long-expected Jesus, 

Born to set thy people free

 From our fears and sins release us, 

Let us find our rest in thee.

 Israel's strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth thou art;

Dear desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,

Born a child and yet a King.

Born to reign in us forever,

Now thy gracious kingdom bring 

By thine own eternal Spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone;

By thine all-sufficient merit

Raise us to thy glorious throne.

Medicine from Sacred Writing:

"For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make His only Son become a son of man, so that  a son of man might in turn become the son of God. Ask if this were merited; for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace...Let us then rejoice in this grace."

 Saint Augustine  Sermon 185

ADVENT'S UNLIKELY OFFERING

Journeying seems so challenging, so exhausting, so fruitless at times. I have wondered this month if I am only, "Santa's helper," or a "handmaid of the Lord." The latter seems unlikely. I have baked and struggled, wrestled with self and welcomed others, but I have yet to make it  to the manger. The mall, yes, the grocery, many times, the parties, as best as I could. But the manger eludes me- I seem to be on the road to Bethlehem, but not arriving.

My heart seems a thousand steps behind me, the pace of life and its lures seem to slow my footsteps. Of course I am tired, aren't we all, but the call still comes from Hannah's haunting prayer: "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I will give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." 1 Samuel 1:27-28

Can I offer back to God the very gifts I prayed for? With a half-frozen heart I walk Advent steps towards Bethlehem and I realize Mary struggled as I do. Her life, her love, her family, other's concerns for her all had to be sacrificed on the way to bring the Light of the world to the Inn. Mary, indeed, was the Savior's first refuge, filled with grace she offered Him shelter under her heart, near her soul.

Can I shelter Him in my heart or will I continue on wearily walking through the motions of the Christmas chaos? My heart begins to thaw as the pain of offering all He has given finally touches me. I have numbed this emotion with baking cookies and sewing  matching pajamas; now I know I must go myself to the Inn and see the Christ-Child born. I cannot continue on the road, busy myself with passing time, so I allow the sadness of this great offering to hasten my feet to kneel at His. He alone can heal the sin and sorrow of the  world. His joy comes breaking through my Advent anguish.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

 Isaiah 40:1-2

ADVENT'S UPSET

I have this illusion that Christmas is about a list, and gifts and presents and parties and family gathering, and it is, but there is a deeper meaning that fuels the outer purposes. God comes to me in the incarnation so that I might come to Him. I can rest my weary soul, and obey the tender call of the Savior: "Come to Me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest,  Matthew 11:28 

I can only give what I have received. If I have Christ's Presence within me, "Immanuel, God with us," Matthew 1:7 this peaceful Presence is mine to share. However, what I mostly have is the remnants of a lingering cold, the tiredness that comes with recovering, and the overwhelming sense that I am missing it~ missing the boat, missing the call to love and give and share. 

God's list looks nothing like mine. He interrupts my Advent with a simple question: "Are you being My light to a dark and lonely world?" That's all. Reign it in and ask Him to rain down from heaven His joy and Presence. The Gospel rings true as Jesus reminds me quietly, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 

But I am not thinking of vines and branches, I'm thing of holly and mistletoe and how disappointing circumstances can be~ words not written, hearts not understood, gatherings not taking place. In this He speaks so softly, "I am with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Forsake your dreams and your ideals and be My love and light to those I bring. They may not be the ones you are looking and longing for, but they are Mine and I would have you love in My Name."

Who do you need to love today?

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"Christ being Lord and King, and the King's Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually." 

John Chrysostom Fourth Century