Lent in a Bag. Visual Prompts for Reflection in by Nurya Love Parish

Transcription

1 Lent in a Bag Visual Prompts for Reflection in 2012 by Nurya Love Parish You are welcome to use these materials in any way that enhances your Lenten journey. You may wish to consider these ideas... Ash Wednesday - Saturday of the first week of Lent (February 22 through 25) Place a dish containing ashes at the center of your altar or dining room table. On Ash Wednesday, we hear, You are dust and to dust you shall return. Lent makes us mindful that our bodies are fragile, but our souls can be made strong. Lent gives us a new chance to nourish our souls and discipline our bodies. This Lent, are you giving something up in order to discipline your body? Are you taking something on in order to nourish your soul? This Lent, how do you receive the gift of eternal life? We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:9-11) Discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:11-12) You only are immortal, the creator and maker of mankind; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth shall we return. For so did you ordain when you created me, saying, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 499)

2 First Week of Lent (Sunday, February 26 through Saturday, March 3) Place the candle at the center of your altar or dining room table. Lent is a time to shed light on our lives, our habits, our sense of God s presence. It is a spring cleaning of the soul; we open up dark corners and are renewed. What part of your life needs light this Lent? This week, how might you invite light to push back any darkness in your life?...god is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7) [Jesus said,] I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness... (John 12:46) Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid... (Book of Common Prayer p. 355)

3 Second Week of Lent - Sunday, March 4 through Saturday, March 10 Place the shell at the center of your altar or dining room table. The sea shell, especially a scallop shell, is an ancient symbol of baptism. Lent began as a time to teach new converts about the meaning of the Christian faith before they were baptized at Easter. Now that Christianity is an established religion, Lent has become a focused time to practice our faith as baptized people. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, God spoke to him and said, You are my Beloved son. In baptism we also are received as God s beloved sons and daughters, cleansed of sin and risen with Christ to newness of life. Do you remember your baptism? What have others told you about baptism? What does being baptized mean to you? What difference does your baptism make in your life day to day? Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything... (Philippians 4:4-5) Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer p. 306) When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)

4 Third Week of Lent - Sunday, March 11 through Saturday, March 17 Place a dish with sand at the center of your altar or dining room table. Let the sand remind you of the desert in which Jesus was tempted, after he was baptized and before he began his public ministry. If you like, read Luke, chapter 4. After he was baptized by John in the Jordan River and heard the voice of God call him Beloved, Jesus went into the desert wilderness. Here he was tempted by the Unholy One; he confronted the powers of evil. Only after he refused the temptations of the devil did he begin his public ministry. The temptations have traditionally been understood to be the temptation to power, to pride, and to possessions (Wendy Wright). Lent has traditionally been understood as a desert time, in which we seek the grace to confront sin and overcome temptation in ourselves and the world around us. When are you tempted toward pride, power and possession? When is it easiest for you to give in to temptation? This week, be mindful of the ways you experience and resist temptation... Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. (Luke 4:1-2a) Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:14-15) Blessed is anyone who endures temptation... No one, when tempted, should say, I am being tempted by God ; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved. (James 1:12-16)

5 Fourth Week of Lent - Sunday, March 18 through Saturday, March 24 Place the hand/heart at the center of your altar or dining room table. After Jesus was baptized, after he was tempted in the desert, he began his public ministry. As his disciples, we are ministers of the gospel. Lent is meant to slow us down so that we can focus on this core purpose of our lives. When we are baptized, we promise to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ, and to seek and serve Christ in all persons. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 305). This week, consider: how do you proclaim Christ?...by coming to worship God at Eucharist...by giving your time and gifts with the church...by serving your family and those in need...by befriending someone who needs a friend...by sharing your faith story with someone who doesn t share your faith What is your growing edge in proclaiming and serving Christ? Q. Who are the ministers of the Church? A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons. Q. What is the ministry of the laity? A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church. Book of Common Prayer, p. 855 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27) There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

6 Fifth Week of Lent - Sunday, March 25 through Saturday, March 31 Place a dish with wheat at the center of your altar or dining room table. On Sunday, March 25th, our gospel lesson includes these words from Jesus: Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24) These grains of wheat were harvested from fully grown wheat... and in turn they can be planted to bear wheat again. Like the wheat, we are given life from our ancestors... that we may pass on a fruitful life to those who come after us. How have you received life from the communion of saints who have gone before you? How is the gift of your life bearing fruit for the future? The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom... (Matthew 13:37-38) To me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. (Philippians 1:21-22) I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 304)

7 Holy Week & Easter - Sunday, April 1 through Sunday, April 8 Place the cross at the center of your altar or dining room table, plain side up. On Easter Sunday, reverse it so the golden side is visible. Lent is a long journey to the cross. The cross, a sign of crucifixion... the cross, a sign of resurrection. Lent culminates in the stories of Holy Week: Maundy Thursday, when we remember Jesus eating at table with his friends; Good Friday, when we remember the crucifixion; Holy Saturday, when we remember Christ descending to the dead... And finally, it is Easter! We joyously proclaim, Christ is risen! It is said that one long worship service begins Thursday evening and ends Sunday morning... one worship service with breaks for resting, working, and eating. It makes sense that we would remember, mourn, and rejoice for three whole days, for Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian faith. It is a time when mourning turns into dancing and sorrow into joy. What did you discover about yourself and your journey with God this Lent? What is the hardest part for you about Holy Week? Why? What is your favorite part of Holy Week and Easter? Why? What hope or dream has died inside you that you pray God will raise to new life this Easter season? I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sins, keep us in eternal life by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, 294) Leave your golden cross out for the Easter season... a reminder that God is with you always. (In 2012, Easter ends on Pentecost, May 27th.) Nurya Love Parish, February Please nuryaloveparish at gmail.com for permissions.