Week 4 of Lent

Some days, it feels like Lent is flying by and we'll be at Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter in the blink of an eye. (insert banned A word here) Other days, the long hours stretch interminably and it feels like we will remain in the dark woods forever.

Shadow 

No
Jesus' "no" becomes our "no." From Daniel Erlander's "Baptized We Live"

Find
How can we make it easier for people to "find" their way through and follow our liturgy?

Faithful 
What symbols do we use to show how we are "faithful" or tell Christ's story?
 

Ate
What is my daily bread? How much is enough? And whose bowls are empty? How do I share?
 

Happy 
No single image could capture happiness for me, but the folks at Rethink Church included this version of Psalm 32:1-2 The Message on its blog for "happy".
 
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
you get a fresh start,
your slate’s wiped clean.
Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you
and you’re holding nothing back from God. 

Silence
One image that came to mind for silence is from the woods, specifically, from being on the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry for the first time on President's Day in 2001. But even the woods are not silent. We hear the rhythm of our breath, which John Wesley described as prayer.  God breathes into us the divine word and will; we respond in prayer by breathing out our responses in both word and deed.

Water
Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism, "Baptism is not simply plain water. It is water enclosed in God's command & connected w/ God's Word."