Tag Archives: wednesday

Preparing for the Season of Lent

Prayer During Lent

Prayer, by its very nature, causes us to slow down and reveals our priorities. As a church, prayer is our declaration of dependence on God instead of ourselves. It is our response to grace, a corporate collective cry for God to move in the midst of our sin. Prayer is something that challenges our mind, which, by its very nature, is prone to wonder and daydream as we try to bring our hearts to the Lord. We lose focus in our 24/7-connected world and struggle to find consistency in prayer, but so did the disciples when Jesus took them into the garden to pray before His trial (Matthew 26:40).[1]

As with most things in life that challenge us, the results are also beyond our own imagination. As the disciples discovered, more could be accomplished through prayer than they had ever dreamed, and Jesus said we, through prayer, would do even greater things than He Himself had done (John 14:12-14).

Fasting During Lent

Fasting is another spiritual discipline discussed during lent, often in the context of giving up candy, television, or some other “extra” thing in our life. My experience with fasting generally didn’t even go that far, until one night I began to pray about fasting. Only through prayer was I led to a traditional fast, a weekly one that lasted an entire year. In that year God prepared and changed my heart for things I could never foresee happening in my life, and he can do the same for our church body. Some cannot participate in a traditional fast from food, and I know God understands that situation. But for those of us who can, I would challenge you to begin by praying about fasting.

Prayer and fasting together make a powerful bond, one stronger than prayer alone or fasting alone. When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not do what they expected could be done, Jesus’ response was this could only be done through prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21). As you are challenged in this area I would encourage you to ask practical questions if you have any. Please feel free to contact me, I would be more than happy to discuss the specific practicalities of fasting with you.

Here are Some Practical Suggestions and Next Steps

First, over each of the next 40 days of Lent we will be posting a new prayer for Cornerstone’s future, which you can read here. We will be prayerfully asking how we can impact our community, our schools, lives in Uganda, and many other areas where Cornerstone can lead people to know and serve Jesus. We invite you to participate with Cornerstone in prayer each day, putting on the whole armor of God around Ephesians 6:18 twice a day, at 6:18am and 6:18pm.

Second, begin to prayerfully seek God’s guidance as it pertains to fasting in your life. If you have questions, please ask. If you are led to fast during Lent some practical things to ask yourself are why, when, and how. In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the most practical advice on fasting in Matthew 6:16-18. You can start by reading this passage, and the whole sermon if possible from Matthew 5:2 to 7:27, then answer the why.

The why is often seen as an emptying of self and the filling of God, generally by means of abstaining from food and/or water. The when could be giving up lunch on Tuesdays during Lent, or food for 24 hours on Wednesdays. The how is different for each person, but is an important practical step to think about. How do you not eat and not call attention to yourself? Look at your schedule; it’s different for everyone.

As we prepare ourselves for this time of reflection through prayer and fasting let us remember our brokenness, and our need for a redeemer, which is Christ crucified for us.

[1] Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson and Eric Geiger, Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2012), 219-222. Concepts were developed on prayer using this section called “The Primacy of Prayer” from Creature of the Word. The authors’ dedication to their text is greatly appreciated and achknowledged here as originating from this section of their text. A good review of the book can be found in the interview The Church as Creature of the Word: A Conversation with Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and Eric Geiger.

Ash Wednesday Breaking Routines with a Lenten Reader

Almost Time to Say Goodbye to Uganda at Least for Now

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This has been a trip that really is hard to describe in words, really. It took 66 books of scripture to go over God’s plan for His people, so trying to describe how God moved in and around our team over the last week feels almost impossible. I’m glad I had the ability to take photos on this trip since to me words are often not enough, but a photo sometimes says so much more.

We leave to go home tomorrow and I leave you with one of my favorite shots of the trip (from the ones I have been able to look at so far). I took approximately 12,000 images over the last week and if I had to look back at one image that means a lot to me it’s the one above.

On Saturday I was able to meet our sponsor child, Joanita, and she was very shy. She didn’t seem to want to play too much with the kids and didn’t have a whole lot to say to me either, but I really wanted to spend some time with her. So, that particular day the kids held elections for their school offices and every single child had to vote (it took quite a while and if you look at the photo closely you will see the little boy resting on my shoes has a purple thumb, colors from the voting process).

I asked her to sit down with me and pulled out one of my notebooks and the three colored pencils and three colored pens and just handed them to her. She said there for about an hour and colored while I read my bible. We said nothing the whole time, she wasn’t interested in my camera like the other kids were but she sat there as content as one could be with something as simple as a piece of paper and a pencil.

Of course it never takes long to have a large crowd of kids nearby so I was soon gathered by 40 or 50 of her closest friends and we all sat there and watched her draw. I loved the shot I got while they just sat there, resting on my shoes, as calm as could be, perfectly happy to be caught up in the moment. It was a great memory from this week I will cherish.

Can’t wait to get on the plane tomorrow and see Deborah and everyone else on Wednesday but I also will miss those we are leaving behind.

Imposition of Ashes Mixed with the Pouring Rain

The Valley of Vision

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
You have brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see you in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold your glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter your stars shine;

Let me find your light in my darkness,
your life in my death,
your joy in my sorrow,
your grace in my sin,
your riches in my poverty,
your glory in my valley.

Amen

Sometimes it’s just hard to explain to how God works during corporate prayer and worship, but God was there, waiting for us to bring our worries and cares to Him. As explained by Josh tonight, today started a journey that walks down into and across a long valley and eventually ends up at the peak, the resurrection. I feel right now like I literally have no idea what is going to take place in our house over the next 7 weeks leading up to Easter, but I hope to look back at Easter and see that this night was one of those nights you just want to remember, even if the day wasn’t what you hoped for.

Ash Wednesday the Poem by T.S. Eliot

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Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is tomorrow and I came across this poem by T.S. Eliot called “Ash-Wednesday”, which is the first long poem written by T. S. Eliot after his conversion to Anglicanism (or the Church of England) in 1927. The entire poem was a big long for one blog post so I have made it available here in a pdf: Ash-Wednesday by T.S. Eliot if you want to read the entire poem. The full text can also be found at this website. I love how it ends:

Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.

This is an interesting poem by T.S. Eliot. It straddles the line between secular and Christian poetry but opens the door for his later “Christian” poems. He shows the need for God, his lack of hope for everything in the world, and how “unworthy” we are when we come to God in our natural sinful state. A background reading of the book of Ezekiel would be a good idea prior to reading “Ash-Wednesday” as some who have analysed the poem far more than I have said it helps in a more full understanding of the poem.

I would love to hear how you or your church is observing Ash Wednesday and Lent this year. I’m looking forward to this time of reflection myself.

What is Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent?

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Ash Wednesday 2011 is this coming Wednesday, March 9th, and as often is the case with specific days that we observe as Christians, people often ask why we observe these days over others. Ash Wednesday comes the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), and is the first day of the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday in particular is observed by the Church body on the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday.

A Day of Reflection in Preparation for Holy Week

This begins a time of reflection for God’s people to prepare for Holy Week and occurs 46 days (40 days not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter. Ash Wednesday is a more somber reflection, which starts a season of soul-searching and repentance and both Ash Wednesday and Lent have a long history going back to the earliest church fathers. It is presented formally in the The Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III here where it says:

the fast of Lent is to be observed by you as containing a memorial of our Lord’s mode of life and legislation. But let this solemnity be observed before the fast of the passover, beginning from the second day of the week, and ending at the day of the preparation. After which solemnities, breaking off your fast, begin the holy week of the passover

As explained here it’s name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ foreheads as a sign of humility before God, and is symbolic of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. Ash Wednesday is a day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives as we grow to be more Christ-like in mind, heart, and soul.

In the early church, ashes were not offered to everyone but were only used to mark the forehead of worshippers who had made a public confession of sin and sought to be restored to the fellowship of the community at the Easter celebration. However, over the years others began to show their humility and identification with the penitents by asking that they, too, be marked as sinners. Finally, the imposition of ashes was extended to the whole congregation in services similar to those that are now observed in many Christian churches on Ash Wednesday. Ashes became symbolic of that attitude of penitence reflected in the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11:4:

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.

Personal Reflection on the Season of Lent

Different churches and believers observe Lent in different ways, but not all churches observe Lent today, especially if you come from a Southern Baptist Church (although see Some Baptist churches will celebrate Lent this year and also More Baptist churches looking to Lent for community, confession, cadence). Sometimes anything the Catholics do the Baptists don’t, and this generally revolves around rituals not specifically found in scripture (like Ash Wednesday or lighting candles, but that’s a whole different post).

Without getting too much into the denominational battle, I spent years in the SBC where my particular church never observed Lent, and I never really understood or gained an appreciation for a specific time of reflection to prepare for Holy Week until recently.

In an upcoming post I will go through what our particular church is doing to observe Lent this year, starting with Ash Wednesday, but this is not a “church” thing. If you are not part of a local church, you can observe a time of repentance and reflection right where you are, or here with me on my blog, as I walk through the next 40 days of Lent right here.

For a look at what we are doing at Cornerstone please read The “I AM” Lenten Reader During This Season of Lent.

Giving Up Social Networking for Lent on Ash Wednesday

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Today is Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar and popular belief around the Internet seems to mark this as a Catholic observation, but it really has nothing to do with Catholicism other than the fact that many Catholics observe Ash Wednesday and Lent. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, which is 46 days before Easter (40 days if you do not include Sunday’s), and typically the ritual is to give up something for Lent. The common trend online as of late seems to be for high profile online personalities to give up their blogs, twitter, facebook, and whatever online area that takes up their time.

Depending on your situation and circumstances this may be a good thing if and when it is done for the right reasons, but I suddenly got a pressing feeling that because they did this, others should follow. As I read the details of each individual’s reasons I do understand why each person who chose this for their online life, but what if the online world has now become a way of life, and not something that distracts from life? To take it a step farther. A sin in one person’s life is not necessarily a sin in another person’s life. So where someone may be consumed by their online lifestyle, and that lifestyle leads them away from the Lord, others may thrive in that area and be brought even closer through those relationships and interactions.

So if we, you, me find it necessary to give up something for Lent, why not just do it instead of making an issue out of giving up whatever it is. If it is something you can give up so you can focus that time on the Lord, great, but if you are giving up something for Lent because it is Lent for Lent’s sake, have a Snickers while watching Amercian Idol and forget about it.

Mother’s Hospital Room in Dallas :: Where Are We Wednesday

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Today I planned to launch a new weekly post category that would give my readers a sense of where we are and what we are up to. We travel (or try to) quite a bit (or use to) and I wanted to be able to share photos and fun stuff about our trips.

Where Are We Wednesday – February 02, 2008

Interesting how life takes over and changes even the best laid plans. It turns out that I am posting this from my mother’s hospital room. Yesterday, my mother had surgery to remove potentially cancerous cells from the wall of her brain (basically results form her last surgery when she had a brain tumor removed). The surgery went very well and she is now in the room, just as talkative as ever. She will be going home tomorrow and we will be heading back to Alabama on Friday. As I mentioned above, this is her second such surgery (and hopefully the last) over the last two years. The first came about when she and her husband were in Colorado and she flew back to Dallas. This time she will have to go through chemotherapy and radiation once she heals from her surgery.

There are no photos to share this time, just relief and thanks to all those who have sent their wishes and have been praying for her. Next Wednesday, we will be somewhere else, hopefully more relaxing and enjoyable. How about anyone else who has traveled or is traveling on Wednesday. Doesn’t have to be something on this exact Wednesday, just let me know something exciting you did on “this” Wednesday, whenever and where ever you are on that day.

Scott Fillmer

Life in Faith & Photos