During Lent, there will be 8 Lenten meditations:  Ash Wednesday; the six Sundays of Lent; and Good Friday.  Each one will be added the week prior to the date.  Just scroll down the page until you come to the meditation for that week.

ASH WEDNESDAY - March 9, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"The Fullness of Lent"

Ash Wednesday!  For centuries, on this day ashes have been placed on the forehead of believers as a symbol of humble repentance.  The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves left from the previous Palm Sunday.  this year, it might help us set a special tone for Lent by adding a new dimension to the act.  Ashes could symbolize all those things in our past and in the past of our world that jesus came to redeem.  Recall the words of the prophet, Isaiah, who said, "The Lord has anointed me to bring good tiding to the afflicted - to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to comfort those who mourn, to give them a garland instead of ashes."  (Isaiah 61:1-3).  Out of the ashes can come new life.

Try to glimpse not a particular act or word of Jesus, but his whole life and mission.  Such a total vision often prompts a deep feeling of repentance, because the fullness of Jesus' life may provide a sharp contrast to the emptiness that is often found in our own.  However, it quickly turns sorrow into hope.  In response to Jesus' life, we can find both the desire and the strength to find better life purposes and goals for ourselves.

Jesus did not come to leave us in the ashes of death and sorrow.  When Jesus, the good shepherd, spoke of his sheep, his followers, he said, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly."  (John 10:10).  This does not mean that we are intended to live in luxury, but that our lives should be full of meaning.  We have the warmth of God's forgiving love and the purposefullness of a calling, a task to do as Christ's followers.

We are called to a sharing in life, Christ's life and our own life:  who we are and what we are.  Responding to this call moves us from emptiness to fullness.  Repentance gives way to new motiviation.  Motivation moves us out to find the abundant life God wants for us.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT - March 13, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"The Sharing Of Who God Is"

In the dramatic production of a growing faith, Jesus is the star actor butr God is the author and produceer.  all of us are the supporting cast.  the audience is the world around us, listening to hear what God has to say and watching how we respond to it.  Lent is a sharing experience.  We share who we are and God shares who God is.  Faith grows, as we come to know God.  None of us, of course, can comprehend the totality of God's providence, but in Jesus Christ God reveals what is needed for our faith and life.

God wants to be known and it is possible for us to experience God's presence.  As people made in God's image, we all have an inner longing and an awareness of the truths of god's creative plan for us.  it has been put into words at times in our human history.  Hebrew scripture does this in the Ten Commandments and in the words of the prophets.  Jesus gave us the words of the parables and the Sermon on the Mount.  God shared himself most fully in the person of Jesus:  who he was and how he responded to those around him.  In all of these we have God, sharing with us and becoming known to us.

What do we discover about God and life in this self-revelation?  First of all, our God-given life does have meaning.  Our existence is not merely as passing bits of matter.  Life has a purpose and we are part of that creative purpose.  Just a Jesus brought hope to an oppressed and disheartened people, so we can provide a new vision that enriches our world's inner being.

God is love and we are called to love.  God is unqualified truth and each of us is called to be perfectly honest and transparent in our words and actions.  The God, who set our lives in order, values every part of that order and life.  Like God, we should accept and value everyone. God was present to us in Jesus and we should be truly present to one another in love and caring.  God's fullness is revealed in us and can be seen by others through us.

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT - March 20, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"Knowing  Who We Are"

Are we human beings "good" or "bad?"  The answer is "both."  We have the potential for great righteousness and great evil, but most of us live somewhere in between.  If, then, we are going to make the season of Lent a time of "sharing who we are," what is it we share?

Lent is a penitential season and the Lenten color, purple, signifies repentance.  It becomes distorted, though, if we see it only as repentance.  Many people give up something for Lent, a favorite food or luxury, but what good is "giving Up," if we do not also "give to?"  We need to add some

Let's look at both of these.  We do need to give up, get rid of those things that make our lives less than their best.  we need to turn ourselves around at times, for we are fallible and often make misjudgements, pursuing wrong or inadequate goals.  Be sorry and repent at time?  Yes!  But what parent would want a child to be constantly lamenting his or her failings and endliessly saying, "I'm sorry?"  Parents and God seek a rewarding life, a productive life for those we love.

Lent calls us to find our genuine, whole selves.  In the process we turn away from those things that are coutner-productive or unworthy, but we seek primarily to turn toward what has true value.  Who -- really -- are you?  And what could you become, with God's guidance?  There is a lot of good in everyone, often more than we give them credit for.  We all have within us the seeds that can produce beautiful growth.

Getting to know who we are -- self-discovery -- is a good think to add to our Lenten observance.  The objective, though, is not to draw up a balance sheet of the good and the bad within us.  It is rather an effort to "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative."  We are called to be all waht we are able to be as God's children.

. FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT - April 3, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"Needs And Strengths"

What a confusing mixture we all have within us!  We are stong and we are weak, wise and foolish, insightful and blind, honest and self-deceiving.  In Lenten openness and sharing, all of these things are on the table.  There is a risk.  We may not want to know all of someone else's faults.  We may hope that our own shortcomings are not discovered.  But, if we are overly self-protective, we can miss out on some of the warmth and guidance that others can give.  We can also miss out on their caring and love.

What are some of the needs that we share?  Some people seem to need nothing.  They appear to be self-confident and self-sufficient.  If their appearance is true to their real selves, they are fortunate.  If it is a false bravado, they are to be pitied.  If we are truly self-aware, most of us admit our needs.  We need to learn from others and we also need their acceptance - need to be appreciated for who we really are.  God knows that we need these things and acts to provide divine acceptance.  Those, who see God only as judge and not as one who cares and loves, need to go back and reread the Scriptures.  But we also need human acceptance.  As a child is reported to have said, "I know that God loves me, but I want to be loved by someone with skin on."  When we share, we receive love.

What are the strengths we share?  People thronged to see Jesus, because he brought healing.  Every one of us has the power to heal and relieve the pain of others.  Even if weakened ourselves by some physical problem, our spirits can strengthen others.  Jesus shared his sense of God's nearness.  If we share what God means to us, it may help others to have faith and trust.  Jesus had a mssion of love and compassion.  We can share our own sense of purpose and meaning in life and strengthen those around us.  Sharing the strength we have within us makes it grow.  Sharing both our needs and our strengths with others enriches everyone's life and moves us closer to what God seeks for us.

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT - March 27, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"What Sharing Means"

D. T. Niles, the great minister, ecumenical leader and hymn writer of Sri Lanka and India, once wrote that "Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread."  Sharing who we are during th Lenten season - and in life as a whole - reflects this spirit.  It is not that we are better than those around us or have more insight.  It is the sharing of something we have learned or experienced, something that keeps us going.  We tell others what feeds us, nourishes us, and gives us strength.  We share what we are and have, and also share with others in seeking more.

Giving and receiving - this is what human life is all about.  The more we give the more more we receive.  The more we receive the more we have to give.  As a number of people have said, "You cannot be human alone."

Often we see sharing only as giving.  We tell children to share their toys and they may be relunctant, even though they are surrounded by more than they can possible play with at one time.  Sharing is seeing life as a two-way street.  As we grow older, we learn that our own giving may be matched by someone else, so that both have gained something new.  We may even discover ways of sharing the same gift and seeing new possibilities.

Being truly open to others, even at the risk of being vunerable, enables us to get to know them on a deeper level.  Shared needs often find solutions we cannot find alone.  Shared joys become greater.  This two-way street of sharing reflects Jesus' readiness to share his experience of what God's love is all about.  It recalls the disciples' willingness to give up their regular jobs and routines and become part of something greater.

Sharing is being fully alive, giving of ourselves and receiving from others.  Whether we are wealthy or poor beggars, we have something to give and something to gain.

 FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT - April 10, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"Talking The Talk And Walking The Walk"

What better example coud we have of true sharing than the daily life of Jesus and the band of disciples he gathered around him?  Jesus was not a lone ranger.  Despite all his wisdom and power, even despite his closeness to the God who sent him, Jesus needed others to share in his mission.  Imagine the conversations they must have had together?

The disciples probably followed Jesus with mixed hopes and expectations.  Peter, Andrew, James and John had been fishermen.  While at their fishing, they had time for thinking about how much better life could be.  Matthew was a tax collector, probably cooperating reluctantly with the Roman oppressors simple to make a living.  What dreams might he have had about freedom and dignity?  Simon was a Zealot, a political activist.  They must have had great conversations amont themselves.

Often, though we learn of Jesus' sharing with them, providing some of the answers they sought.  He led them to a higher vision of what their divine mission had as its goal.  It was not deliverance from the Romans.  It was the realization that inner life has potential even when outer life is restricted.  It was a message that God wanted not the empty show of religion, but the devotion of the woman, who gave two small coins, all that she had, as an offering in the temple.  The whole Sermon on the Mount is filled with this kind of message.  These ideas where shared as they talked the talk of faith and a creative relationship with God.

But they also walked the walk, both in long journeys along the road, and in helping those they met along the way.  Jesus and his disciples talked with other who came near.  They healed and cast out demons.  Their message led people to flock out to see and to learn.  Jesus and the disciples shared a great calling.  They put faith into action.  In our Lenten sharing, we are called to share with them in talking the talk and walking the walk.

PALM / PASSION SUNDAY - April 17, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"Amidst The Crowd Of Celebrators And Skeptics"

For Jesus and his followers, Palm Sunday was a joyous time of great celebration.  Their mission was moving toward its objective.  Their message was gaining a hearing.  It was time to move into Jerusalem, to share their good news with others who sought the message of hope and new life.

Many travelers celebrated with them.  They cut leaves from nearby palm trees and waved them before Jesus.  They even doffed some of their garments, so that he might ride over them.  They may have previously heard Jesus as he taught.  They may have known neighbors who had been healed.  What a sense of expectancy they must have had!  The more religious people among them even saw this as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy:  "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Blessed is the kingdom of our father, David.  Hosanna!"  (Mark 11:10).

But there were others who were skeptics and even upset over what was happening.  The Romans probably had a council of war, alarmed at the following that these people were getting.  "What are we going to do with this young upstart?"  Pharisees may have been troubled about what the Roman authorities might do, when they warned Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"  Unfazed, Jesus answered, "I tell you that if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."  (Luke 19:39-

As we seek to share who we are during the Lenten Season, where do we stand amidst the crowd?  If we are unmoved an neutral, we find ourselves almost with the skeptics or even the objectors.  If we over-react, we may find ourselves mocked and considred foolish.  Jesus seems to call us to share the joy, not rashly, but with the same appreciation that could even make stones speak of God's great power and providence.  Here we are amidst the crowd and Jesus is coming.  What response will we give today and throughout our lives?  How will we share both with Jesus and with others in the fulfillment of God's purpose for our world

GOOD FRIDAY - APRIL 22, 2011

SHARING WHO WE ARE

"Jesus' Full Giving Of Himself"

What does it mean, when Jesus utters his final words and says, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit?"  (Luke 23:46).  Is he seeking to move beyond the pain, the humiliation and the sense of loss, as death seemed near?  It certainly was appropriate, if this was the case.  Figuratively speaking, Jesus had already given his all, investing his life -- all that he was -- in his God- given calling of making God's will be done.  Now he was about to give up his physical life, a victim of the God-opposing forces of evil.

But these are not necessarily words of defeat or resignation.  There is something about the word "spirit," that is all inclusive.  Might Jesus have been referring to his mission, as well as his life?  The Gospel of John gives Jesus' last words as being "it is finished." (John 19:30).  Perhaps, this means the same thing.  Jesus came to earth as the "Word," God's message to a need people.  That word had now been spoken.  Jesus' physical life ebbed away, but his spirit lived.  His message had been delivered.  The messenger might die, but the spirit of the one, who spoke God's word, returned to the one who sent him.

Perhaps, the best way to hear the bad news of the Good Friday is to remember that Jesus' message was one of Good News.  He had spoken of a God who loves us and accepts us.  As Jesus forgave those who crucified him, so God is willing to give us forgiveness.  There is nothing part-way about this day.  Jesus invested his spirit, his whole being, in an effort to bring healing and new life to those who came near.

It is easy to shrink away from such dedication and committment.  Most of the disciples ran off and vanished into the crowd.  Yet Jesus's image stands before us, a witness to the devotion that God's love should call forth from all of us.  What more can each of us give, as God's people?  We have been given so much.  Let's not go part-way in our giving and loving and sharing!