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Access all of the MFSA Lenten Devotion series below.
The woman of Samaria witnesses to us that we belong precisely because we are wonderfully different and that God in Christ, our Wonderfully Different invites us to become agents of change for the wholeness of our cosmos.
Take heart, family. Take courage. Prepare for joy. Because God is doing great things in us, through us, and even when we are lost in the wilderness.
Humbleness is a characteristic that has supported the existence of Indigenous communities for thousands of years. In all simplicity, all because it limits the violence of hubris and exploitation.
Jesus acknowledged and affirmed them as his most faithful followers during his journey to the crucifixion.
What if we enter our season with a desire to build a beloved community where our actions are leading to tear down walls that are keeping us divided?
I pray that this season of disease and dis-ease will bring us, people of faith and those on the faith journey, to new places of purpose, understanding, and allowances. That we be stretched to work for your Kin-dom like never before and may we find space at the table for all of your beloved.
As I come out of winter into Lent, I look forward to spring and the Resurrection - of being edged out of the cold doldrums of stillness into the vibrant, moving warmth of life’s new expressions and colors.
Can we preach resurrection when we haven’t figured out how resurrection looks like in our lives? I bring back the question hooks asks: “Do we believe that God can restore all of that which is broken within us?”
I’m here to tell you God will. And when God provides that strength, in whatever mysterious ways or messages, don’t ignore them. Don’t be afraid to make waves with your compassion. Because doing so will change your life. But more importantly, it will change the lives of others.
Rather than try to find a box that can encompass my identity, I have found that I need to get rid of the boxes entirely. I was not created to fit into a box or conform to societal standards. I was fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God tasked to bring Christ’s kin-dom here on earth. I am different. And my difference matters, and makes me unique.
Like Nicodemus, looking for Jesus at night, I approached the experience of fasting for five days with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in front of the offices of Nelson Peltz in Manhattan with more doubts than answers. I fasted with the intention of continuing the call to Wendy's to join the Fair Food Program, which among other things promotes the cessation of sexual abuse experienced by women in the agricultural fields.
This Lent, I will look for God to meet me in those places of despair, helplessness, grief, sorrow... I will “find my rest in God alone and remember that my hope comes from him.” I may not get the easy solutions and answers I want, but I receive God’s presence within the unresolved.
This Lenten season, I’m setting an intention to start each morning in prayerful reflection, to bring to God in faith the matters that I feel so passionate I give my time to throughout the month. More than the daily prayer that opens my day, I’m talking about being intentional with each group, or issue, or problem that calls me to do justice work.
By internal design, our hearts, minds, body, and strength are all designed to be in relationship with one another, to share a connection of love and justice, and to not do the work alone.
I hope to choose for Lent to be an invitation to challenge myself to reflect on and intentionally live into the vulnerabilities, strengths, and beauty of humanness; to immerse myself in community interconnectedness and the interdependence that liberates us; to savor love and service for the People.
As we gather and say the names of the dead, we are bound to each other, as a people who know a Savior who lived in the shadow of hope, disciples not knowing if or when the resurrection would come.
Our God is a loving God who has breathed the breath of life into each of us. Designing us to be unique creations in the world — in the same way, that the potter molds her clay. If these things are true, we must also believe that God values each of his children in all of our differences and calls us to "speak out for justice" when necessary.
Moses was tasked with keeping them encouraged and leading them to the promised land. Upon my initial reading of this Old Testament text it appears at first glance the Israelites, like many of us, are struggling to find the good in the midst of trying times. We often forget about the basics God is still providing: food, shelter, clothing, health, and loved ones who care about us while we wait.
God will continue to walk alongside all of us as we struggle to seek justice and love one another.
The Lenten Journey is a mountain top experience in which we can bear witness to transfiguration; the world as it is already and is not yet.
After the dust has cleared, we will see the truth. The scales will fall from our eyes like ash, and we will see what we have done and what has been left undone.
Let us be lights, to cast out the darkness, and take part in our Creator’s kindom for everyone.