Lent is not a Ritual

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Andy Wade

I have just been rereading Joan Chittister’s wonderful book The Liturgical Year: The Spiralling Adventure of the Spiritual Life. I would highly recommend it as a preparation for Lent which begins with Ash Wednesday next week.  She says:

Lent is not a ritual.  It is time given to think seriously about who Jesus is for us, to renew our faith from the inside out.  It is the moment when, as the baptismal waters flow on ever Easter Vigil altar, we return to the baptismal font of the heart to say yes once more to the call of Jesus to the disciples, “Come and see” (John 1:39)  It is the act of beginning our spiritual life all over again refreshed and reoriented.  (111)

So how are you planning to enter into Lent this year.  There are several ways in which you could join the MSA team over Lent

  1. Accept the What Could You Give Up For Haiti Challenge
  2. Contribute to the blog series: Walking with Jesus to the Cross: How Do We Follow. In order to participate all you need to do is to write one blog post for me about How Do We Follow Jesus. Please make sure that you send a short bio and any links that you would like me to include, with your post.  Alternatively (as I know some of you already plan to do) you can write a post on your website and send me the link.  For those of you who have blogs I would also ask that at the end of each week when I post a list of the contributions and links to the articles that you also do a post or mention of this on your blog with a link.
  3. Use the MSA Lenten Guide: A Journey Into Wholeness
  4. Attend the Rhythms of Grace workshop February 20th which I will be hosting – I think that this will be a great preparation for Easter for those of us who want to reflect on what a Godly pattern of life should look like.  For those not in the Seattle area we are videoing the sessions so hopefully this will also be available for download or on DVD in the not too distant future.
  5. Attend the Justice at the Table workshop March 13th – hosted by Ricci Kilmer.  This was one of the most life transforming events that I attended last year.  Reimagining the dining room table as the communion table transformed my way of looking at food and how it is produced.

Filed under: Christianity, Events, Lent, MSA links, resources, Rhythms of life, spirituality | Tagged: , , , , , |

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5 Responses

  1. Week in Review: Awe-Inspiring Blizzard Edition at The Emerging Scholars Blog, on February 12, 2010 at 3:25 pm said:

    […] Preparing for the Lenten Journey: Take a moment to reflect upon Lent is not a Ritual (Christine Sine, 2/9/2010).  If you have a post to share with regard to the Lenten journey join […]

    Reply
  2. Acceptance, Acclimatisation, Activity « Godspace, on February 19, 2010 at 5:12 pm said:

    […] Acceptance, Acclimatisation, Activity Posted on February 19, 2010 by Christine Sine The first Friday of Lent and now that Ash Wednesday is over many of us are struggling with how seriously to follow Jesus during this season.  Here are two excellent blogs I have been made aware as people have sent me reflections for the blog series Walking With Jesus to the Cross: How Do We Follow? […]

    Reply
  3. End of the First Week of Lent – Summary of Reflections « Godspace, on February 26, 2010 at 6:29 pm said:

    […] Posted on February 26, 2010 by Christine Sine During Lent this year I am focusing on Walking with Jesus Toward the Cross – How Do We Follow? At this point I have not received many personal reflections from others for me to post so if you […]

    Reply

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