“Wouldn’t it be great if we could say we were living in some precedented times for a few weeks?’ quote from Twitter
“These are unprecedented times . . .”
How many times have we heard that over the past two years?
There really aren’t words right now for the time and space that we find ourselves in.
As news of bombs striking Ukraine surfaced, images of the young men and women from West Church in active duty crossed my mind.
Sometimes it is easy to believe that prayer seems futile.
Yet, in some mystical way we will never understand, we believe (and can know) that prayer evokes power and energy. Through the mystical power of the Holy Spirit working in and among us, it somehow finds a way to usher in slivers of peace. So, we pray.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Ironically timely in the place, we find ourselves in right now as a world. Lots of folks “give up something” for Lent. Others take something on. The purpose of both acts is not to win God’s favor or present it as some type of offering to God. God’s grace covers all that! The purpose, instead, is to be very intentional about deepening our spiritual journey and growing ever closer to God.
I believe this year’s West Lenten journey will be transformational.
We are going to “Free Jesus.” We will be deconstructing the human confines and westernized understandings that have held the movement of The Way captive for centuries. We will learn about the man from Nazareth that walked among humanity and we will explore how we got from “there” to “here” regarding Christianity and religion. I truly believe if we will free Jesus, we will be able to fall in love with that radical revolutionary in new ways and we will want to BE different so that we can live in the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.
As we journey through Lent, let us also be mindful of prayer.
Prayer for the people of Ukraine, the people of Russia, the leaders across the world trying to discern how best to deal with this impossible situation. Prayers for wisdom, safety, protection, and peace.