Preparing for Lent 2019

This year I am on a journey of examining my relationship with food and my lack of a relationship with exercise. I'm on a journey to getting healthier as I move from my 57th to my 58th year next month. I have also taken on a new challenge/opportunity in my job/ministry, which means I am once again facing the challenges of balance and time and energy management.

All of this feels significant for me as we come into the season of Lent. The season of Lent is also a journey. It takes us on a 40 day journey of examination, reflection, repentance, and preparation for Easter. It is a journey of connecting with Jesus' journey to the cross.

Traditionally people will choose something to fast from during this 40 day period. In remembering the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross for us, we sacrifice by fasting. While our fasting is minuscule compared to His great sacrifice, it does help us remember. It also serves to help us look to God in dependence. On Wednesday, which is Ash Wednesday, those who participate in a church service will receive ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross to remind us that there, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin to redeem us.

"For you are dust and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19

A large part of Lent is about remembrance. Remembrance ushers us into examination and reflection as we remember who we are and what we are called to, as we remember our weaknesses and failings, as we remember God's grace to us through His Son, and His love for us in redeeming us from the bondage of sin. Over the past few years, in the seasons of Advent and Lent, I have engaged in a practice of reflecting on daily words and Scripture passages and then responding to them creatively in an art journal. It aides in my practice of remembrance and reflection, taking the Scripture passages deeper into my mind and heart as I add a creative, tactile experience.

I intend to continue this practice again this year with Lent Words 2019, and I'd like to invite you to join me. Each day during Lent there is a word and a Scripture passage to read and reflect on. You can then respond creatively in whatever manner you choose: art journaling, poetry, photography, calligraphy, collage, etc. You choose! The word prompts are designed to 1.) get us into the Bible each day with words that are significant to this season of repentance and reflection, and 2.) help promote creativity as another way (or spiritual discipline) to draw close to God and participate in the season. 

Click on photo to download a PDF copy

This year Lent begins on March 6 and ends on Easter Sunday, April 21. There are pause days on Sundays in following the traditional Lent calendar that excluded Sundays from fasting. One thing that will change for Lent Words 2019 is that I will not be doing a daily devotional Bible study post. As I mentioned earlier the new challenge I've taken on at my job is keeping me pretty busy and I am still working through adjusting my schedule. I also have two trips planned during the Lent season. So I will do a devotional Bible study post as I have time. If you are looking for a devotional, may I recommend Shelly Miller's "A Sabbath Journey for Lent". Visit Shelly's blog, www.shellymillerwrite.com, go to the bottom and sign up to subscribe to her blog by email and you will receive her Lent devotion free. I intend to connect deeper with the theme and practice of Sabbath during the Lent journey, which Shelly's devotion is focused on.

How to participate:

• Download the words calendar above. The April calendar will be added in a few weeks.
• Join the Words Challenge Facebook group to share your art, your experiences and join the conversation.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wordschallengegroup/?ref=bookmarks
• Participate on Instagram with the hashtag #lentwords2019. You'll also find a words list there.

I hope you'll join me for Lent Words 2019, a reflective and creative journey through Lent.

Midpoint

July is the midpoint of the year and I find myself looking back - in fact, I've been doing a lot of that lately..but I'll save that for another post. Right now though I find myself at a place of contentment within this year. It's had some pretty rough spots, but it has also held some places of growth and healing, and of trying new things.

I have been on a journey over the past 6-7 years to find ways to use my voice. It has felt like a deep calling from God. Art, photography, and this blog have all been ways that have enabled me to, both find and use my voice. Last week I tried using my voice in a completely new way: I preached!

I have used my voice in different small ways before in our Sunday service - leading the service, doing an announcement, even partnering with my pastor a few times when we have talked about being missional or about outreach. But this was the first time that I took a passage of Scripture and preached a full message from it. You can hear it on our church website by clicking on the picture below:

Again, in a future post, I'll write more about the journey behind the message I preached. For now I just want to touch on the experience of it. I found myself amazingly calm and at home in the midst of speaking, which totally shocks me looking back at it. I was quite nervous in the time leading up to it. I love digging into Bible study and contribute from my studying on a team at our church which  collaborates to help form our Sunday messages and service. But taking what I have studied and turning it into a 30 minute message - that made me nervous! Being vulnerable and sharing parts of myself live and in-person in front of a bunch of people - that made me nervous! Yet I also experienced growth in the midst of it. And I think, in some way I haven't totally figured out yet, it was another step in my journey to becoming whole - my word for this year.

I shared a quote in my message from this summer's Grace Table Book Club book, Rhythm's of Rest by Shelly Miller. I find I keep coming back to this quote. It is ruminating in my soul. Especially when I combine it with a quote from a message my pastor preached from Galatians 5:16-21 earlier this summer. He said:

"There are these pockets of resistance within us that we continually struggle against." ~Doug Rumschlag

Shelly Miller writes mostly about practicing Sabbath. I find that God has so much for my whole being in the topic of Sabbath and rest. You can learn more about Shelly, her book, and Sabbath on her blog www.shellymillerwriter.com. 

While I'm sending you to read blogs I'd also like to send you to Kris Camealy's recent blog post, "When It's a Slow Transfiguration". I really resonated a great deal with what Kris' wrote in it.

On the art front, today I completed my final Rolodex scrap collage card for the 100 Day Project. While the project officially ended on the 12th, I'm okay with getting done late because IT'S DONE! It was a good challenge. It challenged me to work small, to use up scraps of paper and ephemera, and to get creative almost every day. I ended it with a favorite quote from Dr. Seuss. I like to end my travel journals with this quote, and believe me, this 100 day project has been a journey!

For the last seven weeks of the 100 Day Project I combined it with the ICAD (Index-Card-A-Day) challenge, using many of their prompts. The ICAD challenge doesn't end for another nine days. I'm feeling the itch to move on to other projects, but I may keep going and finish this one since I'm so close to the end. I have posted my 100 Day Project and ICAD cards on Instagram. (Link in the right hand sidebar.)

I feel somewhat caught up now. :)

I'll be back sometime this week with more on my journey and some thoughts on Commonplace books. I recently read a blog post about them and it reminded me how much I have loved this practice in the past.

So, how are you doing midpoint in the year?