Opening My Eyes During Lent

For Lent, part of my practice is participating in a "Photo-a-Day" challenge created by Rethink Church, sponsored by the United Methodist Church.  Rethink Church posts a blog every day with a longer narrative and Scripture to fully explain the theme, and, with lots of other folks, I take a photo that, for me, reflects the theme for the day. Using the lens of the day's word, I am asking every day, "Where do I see God in my life today? 

Here are the ones I posted during the first week:

Who Am I
A child of God, a wife, mother, student.

Return
Does returning to God mean returning to God through the red doors? What are alternatives?

See         Injustice
No image for these two days because the days' work got in the way, but  the reflection of where I "see injustice" is found in the bus stops on the south end of town, where the jobs are, but the buses don't run on Sundays. Can we open our eyes to see the ways people with less privilege than we have experience life?

Settle
To where have I followed God (Va., Pa., W.Va., NC, MN) and to where is God calling me next?

World
We cannot experience the world through packages; we have to meet living, breathing people.

Wonder
I expressed wonder that "What you see depends largely on where you sit." The axiom is true in life, as well as in art. This photo of a window in Duke Chapel was posted on their Facebook page.

Want to try it? Visit Rethink Church. You can get daily reminders via email, share on Twitter with #rethinkchurch and #40days, post photos on their Facebook wall or on their Pinterest. There are lots of ways to connect, and more importantly, to be in conversation with others who are listening for God in their lives every day, too.

Fingerpainting

Someone once said that when I was small I liked to finger-paint with brushes so I wouldn't get messy. Lent - a season of fasting, repentance and prayer - begins on Wednesday, and I'll be content using my fingers to paint crosses onto the foreheads of people who come to my internship congregation for the Imposition of the Ashes.

As we prepare to follow Christ to the cross, people are marking the season and reflecting on its meaning in varied and awe-inspiring ways. Here are some of my favorites. What are you doing?

(1) On her blog, Worshiping with Children, Carolyn Brown offers 3 Reasons to Include Children in Ash Wednesday but what really captured my imagination was this photo from Blue Ridge Presbyterian Church where the table covering was signed with crosses by worshipers of all ages. It's a palpable way for the people of God to participate as the priesthood of all believers, and to demystify the imposition of ashes.

(2) Jan Richardson, who illustrates the lectionary texts in her Painted Prayerbook offered this reflection. For other reflections, blessings, and art for Ash Wednesday, also see Jan's posts The Memory of Ashes, Upon the Ashes (which features the indomitable Sojourner Truth), The Artful Ashes, and Ash Wednesday, Almost.

(3) House for All Sinners and Saints (HFASS) in Denver, founded by Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, offers their own take on 40 ways to make this a holy season.

(4) Rethink Church, sponsored by the United Methodist Church, has produced a gameplan for a photo-a-day challenge that asks us to be more attentive to the world around us and to notice where God is in these forty days.

(5) As part of their Vibrant Congregations Project, Luther Seminary professor David J. Lose collaborated with folks and edited Renew 52, a collection of short essays about revitalizing church. Download your free e-book for Kindle, iPad or Nook, or downlaod the .PDF file now.Spending time during Lent reading and thinking about the ideas they share opens my imagination for what is possible for our congregations.

Whatever you do, be intentional about this season. Maybe you aren't interested in finding a church on Wednesday, or because of your schedule, you can't get to a church. Don't be surprised if God shows up anyway.  Watch for ministers coming to the streets, bringing "Ashes To Go" to commuter rail stations, city street corners, placing an ashen cross on your forehead, and praying, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Alleluia, Voices Raise

Quickly, before we begin a season of fasting, repentance and prayer on Ash Wednesday this week, and bury the Alleluias until Easter morning, let me say, "Alleluia!" for rich and varied voices from the pulpit.

While I wasn't on the regular preaching schedule in January at my internship site, I preached at a chapel service and a funeral before traveling to St. Paul Minnesota for my final 2-week learning intensive on campus at Luther Seminary, and then resumed preaching with another chapel service before the month was finished. The sermon below was my first in St. Mark's since Christmas Eve when I told the story of The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell.

February 3, 2013
4th Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)
Jeremiah 1:4-10Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30

Listen Now

Having been welcomed so graciously into the pulpit at my home congregation, at the retirement community and again during internship, I am grateful for the opportunities I've been given to proclaim the Gospel in different settings and to different audiences. I'm also delighted when someone else is preaching because I get to hear their voices and interpretations of the text, and hear how they heard God's word for us. Throughout Lent and this 90th anniversary year for St. Mark's we are inviting former pastors and sons and daughters of the congregation to return to St. Mark's to preach - what a joy it will be to hear the Gospel from so many different voices. Recordings from St. Mark's are on the church's website.