Palm/Passion Sunday, Last Sunday in Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: Focusing Our Spirits
By Pastor Cindy Watson
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sermon: 03-28-2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sermon: 03-21-2010
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: With All Of Me
By Pastor Cindy Watson
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sermon: 03-14-2010
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: Relating Anew with the Living God
By Associate Pastor Christopher Eshelman
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sermon: 03-07-2010
Third Sunday of Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: Experiencing God with the Whole Person
By Pastor Cindy Watson
Sermon: 02-28-2010
Second Sunday of Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: To Search and Seek
By Pastor Cindy Watson
Sermon: 02-21-2010
First Sunday of Lent
Sermon - Pathways to Prayer: The Invitation
By Pastor Cindy Watson
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Ready for Spring
The last two days have been a welcome relief from this long winter we have been having. Stan Finger in the Wichita Eagle, blogged last week that this is a historical winter. Since recording temperatures in Wichita it the last 1880's, there are never been a winter where we have not hit sixty degrees. As of today, we still have not gotten there yet.
Part of what has made this winter so long for me has been the unrelenting fog and grayness. I do not really mind the cold, but I need, I crave sunlight. While I enjoy the fog for its mystery, the day in and day out fogginess and remaining grayness truly began to wear on my soul.
Today, however, I had an opportunity to work with my husband on the outside of the house. There were a few spots that need some scraping and some touch up paint. While waiting for the primer to dry, I made a cup of tea and sat on the deck with my face toward the sun. I have not sat outside in the sun since last November. I walked out to the garden and noted that the chives are beginning to poke up through the brown grass. In the front, the tulips are beginning to send up some leaves. The days are getting longer. While it is still chilly, the warmth is beginning to creep back.
In the Christian tradition we are in the season of Lent. For western Christians it is a forty day period (not including Sundays) that leads up to Easter. Often words are used to describe this season as "long, dark, penitential, sober, somber" a time of penance and fasting. The final days of Lent are focused on Jesus' last hours before his crucifixion.
What is interesting about this convergence of weather change and liturgical season is the meaning of the word Lent. Lent means "spring". That's it. No huge deep philosophical or theological meaning. Spring, lent means spring.
In some ways the season of lent has been difficult for me. I have not problem focusing on the "evil" in the world. It takes very little time to find examples of our inhumanity to one another, or injustice at work. However, as the days get longer and warmer and the green erupts from the ground, it becomes harder for me to be somber. I want to be outside, enjoying the sun and the energy and the new life. Focusing on grayness, on penance and on fasting when the bounty of spring is erupting is almost beyond what I am capable of.
Perhaps, Lent is a preparation for the joy that spring brings. Maybe, if I was willing to really do the hard work of penance, of weeding and cleaning out the weeds and the clutter in the garden of my soul, it would be ready for the sunlight, the love and the life offered through the Easter experience.
So I will try and hold my heart and soul in patience as I walk these lean days of Lent. I will focus on ridding myself of whatever is not helpful or hopeful. Then, when Easter comes, my heart and my spirit will be ready to burst forth in new life and energy.
I remain Graced to Serve.
Part of what has made this winter so long for me has been the unrelenting fog and grayness. I do not really mind the cold, but I need, I crave sunlight. While I enjoy the fog for its mystery, the day in and day out fogginess and remaining grayness truly began to wear on my soul.
Today, however, I had an opportunity to work with my husband on the outside of the house. There were a few spots that need some scraping and some touch up paint. While waiting for the primer to dry, I made a cup of tea and sat on the deck with my face toward the sun. I have not sat outside in the sun since last November. I walked out to the garden and noted that the chives are beginning to poke up through the brown grass. In the front, the tulips are beginning to send up some leaves. The days are getting longer. While it is still chilly, the warmth is beginning to creep back.
In the Christian tradition we are in the season of Lent. For western Christians it is a forty day period (not including Sundays) that leads up to Easter. Often words are used to describe this season as "long, dark, penitential, sober, somber" a time of penance and fasting. The final days of Lent are focused on Jesus' last hours before his crucifixion.
What is interesting about this convergence of weather change and liturgical season is the meaning of the word Lent. Lent means "spring". That's it. No huge deep philosophical or theological meaning. Spring, lent means spring.
In some ways the season of lent has been difficult for me. I have not problem focusing on the "evil" in the world. It takes very little time to find examples of our inhumanity to one another, or injustice at work. However, as the days get longer and warmer and the green erupts from the ground, it becomes harder for me to be somber. I want to be outside, enjoying the sun and the energy and the new life. Focusing on grayness, on penance and on fasting when the bounty of spring is erupting is almost beyond what I am capable of.
Perhaps, Lent is a preparation for the joy that spring brings. Maybe, if I was willing to really do the hard work of penance, of weeding and cleaning out the weeds and the clutter in the garden of my soul, it would be ready for the sunlight, the love and the life offered through the Easter experience.
So I will try and hold my heart and soul in patience as I walk these lean days of Lent. I will focus on ridding myself of whatever is not helpful or hopeful. Then, when Easter comes, my heart and my spirit will be ready to burst forth in new life and energy.
I remain Graced to Serve.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
