A Time to Reflect

I was wondering if I were to see my shadow on Groundhog day, would that mean that I personally will have 6 more weeks of winter? Sometimes it seems like that, doesn’t it? It seems we have our own seasons….seasons of laughter, seasons of sorrow, seasons of tribulation or seasons of joy. And through them all, I am reminded that God is with us in all our seasons.

A friend recently mentioned to me something I had nearly forgotten: that we should praise God IN all things, even though we may not feel like praising God FOR all things. There are so many times and situations in which it is easy to praise God. But there are those other times…times when we feel lost or alone, sick or afraid. It is at those times that we should perhaps praise God a little louder. In so doing we recognize our own shortcomings and helplessness while acknowledging the power and majesty of God. And more importantly, by offering our praise at difficult times, we recognize that God is with us – always.

It is with this attitude that I approach Lent this year. Lent is the season in the church calendar in which we prepare ourselves for Holy Week. It is a time of preparation -- through prayer, repentance, self-denial, good works and reflection -- for the events of Holy Week, including the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the key emphases for me is on reflection. This is my chance to take stock of where I am in my faith journey. It’s a season for me to spend more time with God through prayer, Scripture reading and meditation, and a combination of all three of those practices.

This year I plan to offer a prayer retreat in March, just before Holy Week. This retreat will focus on a method of prayer called “Lectio Divina” which means divine reading. It starts with centering ourselves and then reading Scripture, meditating on a biblical passage, and finally praying about what the Scripture reveals.
I am hopeful that this event will help you and me prepare for Holy Week and will enable all of us to engage in a new and more fulfilling prayer life. Watch the bulletin for more details.

Lent can be a time of renewal for us as individuals and for the body of Christ as a whole. We will have an Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday evening, February 22, 2012. That service will mark the beginning of our Lenten journey, a journey that can be rich and rewarding if we take the journey seriously and approach it with expectation.

I invite you to join me in a time of reflection, in preparation, in mediation, prayer and Bible reading as we walk the Lenten path toward the cross and the empty tomb. May this be a season of renewal for all of us. ~ Linda