Spirit to Spirit Writing Project
The word Lent comes from an old English word meaning lengthening of days. In Christianity, it refers to the time before Easter, traditionally observed through repentance and learning. It's a season to be intentional about changing and growing. Some people give up items to create space and time for new life and habits to grow. Instead of giving something up, I invite you to try to commit to answering these writing prompts each of the 40 days of Lent. The discipline it takes to set aside time each day to reflect and write about God and your relationship with spirituality is a journey that you will emerge from with a renewed spirit. Every writer has their own special voice to add to this project, whether poetry, prose, essay, thoughts, lists, or through comments, prayer, and encouragement.
How do I participate?
Each day, a writing prompt will be posted. A prompt is a question or statement that is meant to inspire your thoughts in whatever genre you feel moved to write. Post your reflections as a comment under each day's prompt (for further instructions, see 'How To Post' on the right side of the page). It is up to you if you write, read, or pray along with us each of the 40 days of Lent or just drop in from time to time when the spirit moves you to participate. Writing regularly is a discipline that many writers struggle with and this is a way to involve that discipline as a Lenten practice. Through writing and leaving encouraging words for others in this project, we become a supportive spiritual writing community
I was in high school the first time. My father stood up in the middle of the sermon and argued with the pastor. I was surprised that they gave us communion. That moment was but a small scene in the schism that eventually rent the whole church body, but not my congregation. There weren't a lot of choices in Kentucky, if you wanted to be Lutheran.
ReplyDeleteI was newly married the second time. It was a wealthy, aging, and conservative congregation sitting in a bustling liberal metropolis. Noah's Ark, for sure. Giraffes with aspirations, mice with secrets, elephants who took up too much room. Folks who slept through it all, like sloths. Pandas preaching, parrots repeating stories they'd heard. And nobody wanting to jump ship until land was reached, and a new captain chosen.
I was on vacation the third time when the call came in as we prepared to cross the Ohio-Kentucky border. "I've been fired." A week earlier the worship and music committee had celebrated what had appeared to be the rainbow after another flood. (I thought there was supposed to be only one!) This time I entered a different desert, the one that first came to mind.
The valley of the dry bones.
Curious now to think that it was in that last congregation that I prepared the story of Ezekiel for the Easter vigil and took it so to heart. Where I learned the word "ruah" from a Jewish convert with whom I studied the Lenten texts from Matthew. A lot of breath was required to return to life in that next desert. But the first were the whisperings of friends calling me into the Ignatian exercises. There I would begin again to meet Jesus, the Christ, and learn to rest into a God bigger than my imagination, bigger than any wilderness in the cosmos.
Love the visual imagery!
Deletesuch rich, honest reflections, 'tis a wonderful time to make this trek with you.
DeleteI could see the Ark collection.. And in the meeting Jesus again, discovering the beauty of the desert.
DeleteWilderness Time
ReplyDeleteAs a child I remember in Sunday School learning about the Israelites being excited about getting their freedom from Egypt. After wandering for awhile without food, God gave them mana to eat; but then the fish, garlic and leeks of Egypt seemed better.
When I was younger, on canoe trips in the wilderness of northern MN after all the physical exertion from the day, food became very important. Food often became a hot topic after almost a week of dehydrated food.
One time we were soooo tired and soooo hungry and it was getting dark. We poured who knows what into a boiling pot of water which had taken forever to boil because we had to gather wood, start the fire and go get the water. We were so hungry that as we looked in the pot we knew that under regular conditions we would never eat what was in that pot. As a member of our canoe party took the pot off the fire he dropped it. We all looked at each other, scooped it up from the ground with our cups and spoons and we ate it with a bit of extra fiber. We lived.
The Israelites lived too. Wandering in the wilderness gives a new perspective. We can do things that we never dreamed we could do and we are grateful for the ordinary things.
Deb Bengtson-Ahrendt
I too have eaten the wonders of trek food. Feasts in the real world are indeed simple events. thanks for bringing us into the north lands.
DeleteThe Wilderness
ReplyDeleteBetween the visions
Between the dreams
Between the passions
There is a wilderness
There is a seemingly purposeless wandering
There is an uncomfortable emptiness
I’ve been there before
I’ve experienced the unknown
I’ve experience the wondering
the wilderness
For me
In the emptiness
In the dimness
In the fog
something inside of me is getting ready
and something outside of me, is preparing
for what is next
for the next dream
for the next vision
for the next passion.
for the next journey.
I’m there again
in the wilderness
and I know this place.
In time
I will see again
and will be renewed
Till them, I’m breathing
and waiting…..
and getting ready
for ....something.
Nice rhythm and images. I like, "Something inside me is getting ready". Doug
Delete"I'm there again..." This stanza has power, and I appreciated its reminder, " I know this place."
Deletebrother Larry, 'tis a good thing to make this trek together, sit a bit, feel the grace and love. share with your best beloved.
DeleteIn the fog so thick, you cannot see, you still know you will. see again,, that there are edges, limits to its scope.
DeleteAt once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13 NIV)
ReplyDeleteI hear little of this Jesus who was tempted. This is the son of man. I really like this Jesus. I get this Jesus. And I like to think He gets me.
This story comes around just once a year. The rest of the time, it seems, it's all Son of God stories.
Miraculous birth.
"I was in my Father's house."
Water into wine.
Walking on water.
"Turn the other cheek."
"Blessed are the meek."
Feeding 5000.
Raising he dead.
Healing the leper.
Making the blind to see and the lame to walk.
Casting away demons.
Lamb of God.
Spotless.
Blameless.
Defeating death.
Redeeming.
I love this Jesus too.
But, most of the time, I hold on to the wilderness story. And it's especially true now when I am in my own wilderness time. When it feels like I am constantly being tested, feeling alone, and struggling with a gnawing hunger for something more, this Jesus who was tempted is the one I call out to.
Word Made Flesh awaits our summons, Come Lord Jesus.
DeleteI love Jonah because the story is not about the whale. Jonah finally gets to Nineveh, meets the king, and delivers his message and the king and court instantly repent. Jonah goes outside the gates to pout because God wasn’t fair. While he is sulking, God teaches him a very kind lesson.
ReplyDeleteJonah spent all that time suffering because he was too stubborn to trust the process he was in and too afraid to trust the people around him. He created his own wilderness and made himself stay in it.
I like that God was nice to him. I don’t know if Jonah ever changed and became more trusting, but maybe it doesn’t matter. The story comes to us with just the first part, which may be enough I think.
For me, if I am nice to myself in times of stress, I am less likely to wander off into some self-created wilderness. Doug Millar
Self imposed exile is especially poignant. Mystery of Ages abides thankfully.
DeleteI appreciate your suggestion that I be nice to myself. A graceful word for me tonight. Thank you
DeleteVery interesting to think about. Deb Bengtson-Ahrendt
ReplyDeleteLent 1, Thursday
ReplyDeleteA Season of Wilderness
Scripture retells the seasons of life, famines, feasts.
Eve with Adam left the garden fair just after naming the beasts.
Cain with a fresh tatt went off to the land of Nod,
Brother Abel’s blood dried on his violent hands, staining his rod.
Into the sky rose the tower of Babel, folks thought they could be God.
A desolation of languages spread the nations out, carrying verbal hod.
Noah got the message of a coming wet wasteland, built a fine ark,
As the rains began, the cries of perishing neighbors quieted their gossipy snark.
Abram, Sarai took up the wilderness trek purely on faith.
Adversary sought to side-track them, angels overcame evil’s wraith.
Renamed Sarah, Abraham their journey inspires us to this day.
The heavenly stars, sandy beach remind of Holy One’s call to come play.
Thousands of years pass in the blink of Keeper of All’s eye,
Wilderness, a time of total dependence when Holy One does more than try;
Immanence living takes the struggle out of wilderness seasons.
In these four minutes all is supplied, put not faith put in egoic reasons.
Lent provides a bit of exercise for the rhythms of our life’s path.
Take up a simple shawl, a cup of soup, a kindly word, obliterate evil’s wrath.
Tone down the outside noise, attend to inside needs,
Hear the truth, honest struggles of beloveds, these plant love’s seeds.
Faith communities break out of the usual routines,
We’ve prepared for the birth, celebrated nativity scenes,
Proclaimed the light that fills our worship times;
Now we quietly move toward Holy Week with honest, stark rhymes.
‘Tis not a time of giving up, or whipping with a lash,
Rather ‘tis a time of recognizing how deep goes sin’s slash.
Shall we empty our hearts of sin’s motives held close?
Shall we walk in simple obedience, faith challenging the morose?
Come sisters, brothers, the desert sun has risen up,
Take your sturdy stick; bring your water jug, cup;
Our wilderness trek goes before us, next step needed.
Together we can learn, grow, Word Made Flesh has proceeded.
The Rev. Ronald Allen Melver, M.Div.
27.2.15
Tone down the outside, attend the inside, understanding and preparing to proceed and not give up on changing the rhythm.
DeleteWildernesses
ReplyDeleteWilderness areas, not in barren, desolate terrain;
rather, lush green woods, floral studded meadows,
ongoing sounds, of mixed decibels and tones.
Residence of God, I always thought, as a child
at a family cabin in Montana near the edge
of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
For an hour or two in the afternoon,
I’d go off across the creek with a book and my Bible,
spread out a blanket in grove of quaking asp,
read, pray, think, listen to the rustling leaves,
watch the waving pines, within shouting
distance though of the cabin though
should a wild animal appear and consider me
as their fair game.
Last spring in Arizona, I looked into the Sonoran
Desert, acknowledging its unique beauty,
but not inclined to venture in and be tested,
challenged by unfamiliar ecosystems
I thought then and since about the many
driven into this wilderness, seeking
safety, basic needs, opportunities
without assurance of assistance
as I had during my afternoon retreat.