THE GOAL OF LENT is not to make a plan for change and follow it to the letter. Rather, the goal is to make a change that sinks deeply into life, drawing us closer to self, others, and God. Lent is about intentionally opening ourselves, preparing to receive God’s goodness.
- Sarah Parsons
A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent
It’s raining cats and dogs right now. Nice and cooling though. Just the right temperature for the 3pm prayer everyday.
Today, I will simply enjoy the silence and the round of the rain drops. Our denomination came out with this simple Lenten Guide. It’s simple enough. My prayer is that especially for beginners they will find it easier to enter in this Lenten season and encounter Jesus. For oldies, they will renew their love for Christ beyond any cause no matter how legitimate it may be.
THE SEASON OF LENT invites us to focus on the condition of our hearts. We have many options when our physical hearts deteriorate – repair, bypass surgery, transplants, medication. However, God is interested in our whole person, our whole being, expressed in Hebrew Scriptures as our heart.
It does not take long on our Lenten journey to discover that we cannot repair some parts of our “heart” – we need a new heart altogether. In God’s mercy, God promises us a new heart. The prophet Jeremiah first made the promise to a people in trouble, a people separated from their first love and loyalty to God by their behaviors of indifference, callousness, and loving other seducers (Jeremiah 31:31, 33). Yet God still loves those people called by God’s name and wants to make it possible for humans – individually and as a community – to reciprocate that love. God promises a new covenant so that those who have lost their way of loving will have a new heart.
- Elizabeth Nordquist
The Upper Room Disciplines 1997
The Scripture for today is Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD."
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
The focus is on Repentance.
And where else can we start but ourselves. This is a time to examine oneself, and begin confessing any hidden sins.
I wonder how many prayed with me at 3pm?
A voice cutting through the rhythm of the rain.
“You, Follow me”
