For our first Lent together at Awakening Church we’ve been fasting in three distinct phases: fasting from media, fasting from beverages other than water, and fasting from food other than rice and beans. But the most powerful moment of our Lenten practice for me was our time of baptisms on Sunday March 10, especially because… Read more »
Unlike Christmas and Easter, hardly any of us anticipated Pentecost Sunday—which we celebrated on May 27—as an important holiday. But the events commemorated by Pentecost are just as crucial to our faith and spiritual life as those marked by Christmas and Easter. Seven weeks after Easter, we move on to the season of Pentecost—a celebration… Read more »
Holy Week, the last week of Lent, is our annual remembrance of Jesus’ last days. It includes Palm Sunday (celebrating Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem), Maundy Thursday (the Last Supper, and Jesus’ new commandment to love one another), Good Friday (the crucifixion and death of Jesus), and Holy Saturday (a day of quiet when Jesus lay… Read more »
Lent calls me into leading a life marked by sacrifice, and we can do that in so many ways. We can: Sacrifice what surrounds us by re-creating our physical environments to bring important issues to the forefront of our everyday lives. Sacrifice what feeds us by expanding our worldview through the food and information we… Read more »
Lent: “What would you do if you knew God was with you?”
The Psalm for the first Sunday of Lent: Psalm 25:1-10 (ESV) To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be… Read more »
Lent: My Ash Wednesday evangelism and other boldness
One of my favorite writers, Lauren Winner, says “The imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday is nothing if not bold.” The whole day is bold, but the ashes themselves are probably the boldest of all—a black smudge on the middle of my forehead, meant to be a sign of my mortality and penitence, and a… Read more »
The seasons of the church calendar and the liturgy that accompanies them are for me the rhythms that draw the sacred down into my everyday life. As we are getting ready to start the season of Lent—the forty days before Easter—I have been overwhelmed by the way God has been preparing my heart for it… Read more »
As I was walking to class on Tuesday afternoon I happened to smile at a young woman standing in the middle of the path in front of me. “Do you want to help save the California State Parks?” she immediately asked. Shoot. I’m not good at getting out of these situations. I can’t even hang… Read more »
One more time, one more time / He’s allowed us to come together one more time One more time, one more time / He’s allowed us to come together one more time In the middle of our time of prayer, a strong alto voice, probably Pastor Steve’s wife, Vonda, or Sister Charlene, one of the… Read more »
I don’t think Jesus hates Religion…
If you have a Facebook and have Christian friends, it is highly likely that you have already seen (or at least heard of) this youtube video, “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus.” For those who haven’t, the video is a presentation of a short spoken-word poem by Jefferson Bethke contrasting Jesus and Religion. I… Read more »
During one of our many trips to our favorite local coffee shop, my friend Whitney—with her hands and bright blue eyes moving and expressive—began speaking to me about her journey in search of a feasible faith where she could be comfortable as she is, with people who are genuine, and with nothing over-spiritualized. More than… Read more »
For the past three weeks of Advent, we’ve been looking at the abstract themes each week centers on (Hope Preparation, Joy, Love), but another way churches sometimes celebrate Advent is devoting each week to certain characters in the Christmas story (Magi/Wisemen, Shepherds, Angels, Mary and Joseph). During this last week of Advent, set aside to… Read more »