Lent: Then and Now
“Even now,’ declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your hearts and not Your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”
— Joel 2:12, 13
The season of Lent begins this week on Wednesday. It is Ash Wednesday that begins the season of the Church Year called Lent. Historically, the season of Lent is one of the most important seasons of the church year. The season of Lent moves toward Holy Week: the time when we remember the crucifixion. Lent looks toward the Cross — and then beyond it to the miracle of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus.
Ash Wednesday arrives this week: Wednesday March 5.
The history of the season of Lent is interesting for us today. Though we do not celebrate it as people did in the past, a look at the history of Lent can give meaning to this season of the Church year. (more…)
A Prayer of Blessing – Psalm 106: 4, 5
There was a time when I thought it was selfish and improper to pray for a blessing on myself. I should pray for others. I should put others first. God would bless as it was deemed appropriate.
I can thank Bruce Wilkerson’s book The Prayer of Jabez for changing my mind about that. Not that I’ve read the (little) book. I never did. I didn’t need to. It was once quite popular — a Christian fad. I used to hear about the book continually. People would quote from it, and summarize it, and refer to it. Other people denounced the book and it’s sudden popularity.
I got curious. So, I looked up the actual prayer of Jabez in the Bible. It’s in 1 Chronicles.
“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” (1 Chronicles 4:9, 10 NIV.)
All right. This may not be the most exemplary prayer in the Bible, but it’s not bad. And, it really is an example of something that was missing in my prayers: both the prayer for God’s blessing and the expectation of God’s blessing. I decided that the whole Prayer of Jabez phenomenon of the time was (on balance) a good thing — and that I needed to make the prayer for and the expectation of God’s blessing a part of my own prayer life. (more…)
Teddy Ray: Absent from Flesh — the casualties of bodiless theology (sex, the Church, the Eucharist, and Christian fiction, for starters)
Teddy Ray
Guest blog by Teddy Ray. Teddy is a pastor and preacher for the Offerings Community, and the executive pastor of First United Methodist Church in Lexington, KY. He blogs at Teddy Ray: Theology, Ministry & Life with God.
He says about his writing: “My goal is to provide a pastoral voice on issues related to the church, its ministry, and Christian living. I do this as someone with much hope for the church and for Christianity in the West, but also as someone concerned that the North American Church has lost its way on a number of points. With that, I hope some of these thoughts will point to a different way of being church, doing ministry, and living as Christians than what seems most prevalent today.”
He has been doing some very good writing at his blog. He is also doing some updating of the sermons of John Wesley: John Wesley’s Sermons for Today. (more…)