Lent 2009: To Live in Heaven, right here on Earth
- Lent 2007: Making Peace with the Earth
- Lent 2009: To Live in Heaven, right here on Earth
- We are God grown – Lent reflections
Today we enter into the Lenten season. While I admittedly don’t dive deep into parts of the traditional Christian calendar, I find Lent to be a perfect time to “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” If ever there was a time to consider my own mortality through God’s eyes, its now.
We live in a world where we can simply ask for close to a trillion dollars from the Chinese and they will give it to us, (though they say they “hate us for it, but are forced to comply.”) We live in a place where at the stroke of a pen, tens of thousands of lives are put to death, others sent to war, still others put to work without pay. Mega-Corporations are the bullies of the whole earth, on panels with national leaders, deciding our fate on issues they seem interested in so far as it affects their bottom line. This is the world where we live – where we dominate nature and forget the poor. Where we play god until we die. Where greed and security are penultimate values.
This is not the season of Lent. Lent brings sanity, it brings reflection, finiteness, humility. This is why I love and need Lent – because in me is the same vices plaguing the entire earth.
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SO! This year I’m focusing in on how my life affects the whole world. A “footprint” in the dust I suppose. Each Wednesday, I look forward to fasting and living into different aspects of my life -
- my marriage
- politics
- finances
- environment
- “the others”: enemies/immigrants/nations at war
- my witness
Each of these reflections will be done under the lens of what I’m recently calling “my purpose in life”:
“To live in Heaven, right here on Earth.”
How might experiencing the Kingdom affect my finances? What might it have to do with the environment? I look forward to reflecting on these issues on this blog. I welcome any feedback – and I’d love to know what others are doing for Lent!
BTW – Our house church is using a simple worship guide this Lent – you can find it here.
BTW2.0 – Here’s posts on previous Lents:
Lent 2007 – Oil Fast; Reflections
josh 1:45 pm on February 25, 2009 Permalink
i’ve never really seen Lent as something for me. growing up in the Christian church, especially in the midwest, it was never a discipline. i didn’t even think Catholic churches existed, i thought they were the religion of tv. i guess that’s what you get growing up in the bible-belt.
i’m going to try and discipline myself to go through a Journey into Wholeness. and maybe drag some others with me. thanks for the spark.
Mark 2:58 pm on February 25, 2009 Permalink
Josh,
Thanks for the note! If you feel comfortable – head out to an ash wednesday service. Its an important “kick-off” for the Lenten season. I’m with you on growing up without an awareness of the Christian calendar. I realize the abuses that caused it to be wiped clean, but I’m also very interested in how God uses special events in our lives to shape us. Keep on kickin!