Soul Stretching
So, how goes it with your new year resolutions? Not everyone finds the practice worthwhile, some dismiss the practice as merely an exercise in futility, and others make resolutions throughout the year. There is something about traveling through the calendar and crossing that January 1st threshold that invites us to tour the familiar cycle of nature’s seasons once more and look at coming days with fresh eyes. Other thresholds and cycles hold that same potential to see new possibilities: spring with its spring cleaning, summer break from school, the beginning of the fall semester and buying school supplies, planting and harvesting gardens. There is something repetitive, yet new, each time we walk these familiar paths.
Living with the seasons of the Christian year - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and Lent, Easter, Pentecost; following faith traditions like worship, fellowship and service; and practicing spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, pledging time and money, reading scripture, holy conversations - walking these paths intentionally, with mindfulness and a sense of curiosity, can open us to observe the work of God’s Spirit in our lives, in the church and in the world. Henri Nouwen practiced, wrote and spoke about these traditions and spiritual disciplines (I encourage you to search the internet to learn more about his life and work). There is a story about how he was the guest speaker at a Christian men’s breakfast. After his speech, one of the men approached Dr. Nouwen and pledged to devote one hour of each day to prayer. “First, try 5 minutes,” replied Nouwen. “If you can endure 5 minutes, try 10,” he concluded. Nouwen knew about the value and challenges of prayer - making time for it, staying open and managing distractions during it, incorporating lessons learned from it. Prayer, like all the spiritual disciplines, stretch the soul - making our view of the world and our relationships broad and deep and strong and tender and responsive and hopeful and authentic and playful.
Ash Wednesday, February 17th, is the first day of the Church season of Lent - a 40 day season where we are invited to examine our lives in relation to Jesus, to learn how he addressed temptations, power, politics, fear, friendship, authority, family, isolation, death, and the future, and to discover or re-discover how we are shaped by those same forces and by our faith. In Sunday worship, Wednesday Night Light worship and study sessions, the Lenten breakfasts each Saturday morning through Lent, and during Ash Wednesday and Holy Week services, you will have opportunity to learn about Jesus’ life, to explore some of the spiritual disciplines you might use, and to consider your life lived in devotion to God.
You will soon receive a letter from me outlining some of the specifics for the coming seasons of Lent and Easter. Please read it carefully and make preparations to join with your faith family for the path that Jesus invites us to walk with him.
May God bless us and stretch our souls! -- Brandon
