Category: Theological Rant
Queasy lent
This year during the lenten season I’ll be posting weekly with the notes I would use if I were preaching every Sunday. The post below is part of what I posted for my Region’s lent blogging with our Regional Youth Council. These words would be the background of the preaching I would do this first Sunday of lent.
Lent (def) verb: simple past tense and past participle of lend.
Lend (def) verb
1. to grant the use of (something) on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
2. to give (money) on condition that it is returned and that interest is paid for its temporary use.
3. to give or contribute obligingly or helpfully;
4. to adapt (oneself or itself) to something;
5. to furnish or impart;
[lent. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/lent (accessed: February 8, 2018).]
I am beginning the season of lent at sea. My companion and I are on holiday touring the southern Caribbean on a cruise ship. We like cruising and we’ve been to the ports of call many times. What we can see from our limited perspective are islands recovering using tourist’s dollars and the other aid they can get. May the odds be ever in your favour. If you live in an area that is prone to nature’s cleanse, it will be your turn to lend a hand cleaning up or seeking a hand to rebuild what is lost.
The first full day and night and the second day at sea we sailed for Puerto Rico. The wind was blowing 25-35 knots from the south southeast. The ship navigates along a similar course sometimes head on and sometimes broadside the wind and wind driven sea. Normal seas are 4-6 feet. The first full day and night the seas were 8-12 feet and transitioned to 12-15 feet. I can be prone to motion sickness on the sea. My sea legs are not deep within me. That disorienting queasy feeling settled into my brain and stomach. Pressure point bracelets that once helped were adorned too late to make a significant difference. Non-drowsy motion sickness medication eased the disorientation and queasiness, but it did not completely go away. Now, calmer seas and moored at the dock of our second port of call I still have a sensation that the ship is pitching and rolling through the water as I write and reflect on the experience, though without the sick feeling.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by the Satan; and Jesus was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” [Mark 1:9-15]
Maybe that is what I need to experience: a queasy lent, O God. Something disorienting that is not soothed by reading the sacred stories, singing the hymns, or participating in the ancient rituals. The ancient ways and stories are meant to disorient, but have become a medication for the sensations caused by believing in Christ instead of following Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus can make, will make, you queasy more often than not. My “Jesus legs” may not as deep as I thought.
And from the rolling sea rises a response. Michael. Why is following Jesus disorienting? Is he not what being fully human looks like? Don’t you want to be fully human and touch the Imago Dei, the divine spark, in you? Is it not tempting? The kindom is near. Believe the good news.
Heart Imposition
Knowing that commitment unleashes energy, what can I commit myself to today?
(Daily Question, Gratefulness.org, Jan 31, 2018)
It’s that time of year that followers of Jesus begin thinking about a discipline or practice for the season of Lent. This year, Ash Wednesday is February 14. Yes, if you’ve not thought about it yet: Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day. If I was in Godspell, I would expect to receive a heart imposed on my forehead rather than a cross. Maybe that’s what we need in our context. To have our hearts and heads better connected, realigned, or reset. Realigned head and heart religion instead of “you are dust and to dust you shall return.” There is an abundance of dusty death throughout the centuries and in our midst. All kinds of Christians still struggle with “love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”
When you think about Jesus of Nazareth, without a christological faith claim, a heart on the forehead represents how Jesus met people at wells, along the road, and at banquets. Jesus had a heart for people seeking better health, inclusive community, and for the comfortable complacent ones assured they would be first rather than last. Would it be an edgy faith statement to sport a heart rather than a cross this Ash Wednesday? It would invite conversation, which we need more of, and less debate.
On Ash Wednesday, members of our Regional Youth Council, (youth and adults that serve on a leadership team for the Christian Church in Oklahoma) will post a weekly devotional on my blog page, Old Camp Hat, hosted on the Region’s website. Yes, you may not know that Pam, Leslie, and I each have a little blog page on the Region’s website. I confess that we are not very active writers, but we want to be. Each Wednesday, one or more RYC members will offer some thoughts about Lent and their experience of being a follower of Jesus. So, please stop by each week, as RYC unleash the energy of a discipline during Lent.
I’ve been asked what my discipline will be this year. I’ve ‘practiced’ a variety of disciplines, from thirty minutes of silence to learning to roller blade. Quick aside, I’ve got a nice set of roller blades, size 8, and accessories, if anyone is interested. Rather than give something up, I add something to my living during Lent, which requires me to shuffle my priorities and let something go. This year, I’ll be adding sermon prep as my discipline and posting thoughts on the Lectionary texts each week on Old Camp Hat and my personal blog, davisonsdoodle.com. Why is this a discipline? I’m not an every week preacher. I’ve been a witness to ministers’ schedules and preaching preparation, so this will help me deepen my understanding of what local ministers experience. If I was a weekly preacher, I most likely would blog about the process — kind of a ‘back of the house’ look at the formation of the sermon and my thinking. It would not really be a full blown text, but thoughts working on me as part of the process. I’ll post on Tuesday afternoon during Lent.
Commitment unleashes energy. What will you commit to this Lenten season?