Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not you're clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love… Joel 2: 12-13 NRSV
Today marks the first day of a 40-day journey through the Lenten season. Our theme this year is "Return to Me with All Your Heart". We will be posting reflections on Sunday and Wednesday of each week from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Join us for this time of reflection and prayer. The Lenten retreat is free of charge; however, if you would like to make a contribution, please send it to Donna Holstein 2917 Village Green Ln. Norristown, PA 19403
May this season draw you nearer to the One who calls you Beloved.
Lent begins with a smudge of ashes on the forehead symbolizing acknowledgement of our brokenness and desire to open ourselves to a deeper connection to the Holy One.
Thomas Kelly writes that "Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return". Jesus offers us an example of seeking that Divine Center when he went to the desert for forty days and forty nights. Getting rid of all the distractions and emptying himself, he came face-to-face with his own essence and encountered the Divine which gave him clarity and strength for his journey ahead.
Perhaps it is impossible to leave all our responsibilities and go to the desert for solitude, but we can listen with an open heart to the God who dwells at the core of our being waiting with open arms for our return. This journey invites us to recognize our failures, our stumblings, our distractions and preoccupations, where we are stuck and where we need to be made whole. When we open our hearts and are immersed in the Holy One, new life emerges.
The story is told how Michelangelo had a picture in his mind of the sculpture of David already complete in the stone before he began cutting it. He said that his job was to cut away the excess, that which was not part of the sculpture. The sculpture was just waiting to be released. The process by which we allow the sculptor to chip away all that is unneeded, all that clutters and distracts, frees the beauty that we carry within us to be revealed.
Gracious and Holy One,
creator of all things
and of emptiness,
I come to you
full of much that clutters and distracts,
stifles and burdens me,
and makes me a burden to others.
Empty me now
of gnawing dissatisfactions,
of anxious imaginings,
of fretful preoccupations,
of nagging prejudices,
of old scores to settle,
and the arrogance of being right.
Empty me
of ways I unthinkingly
think of myself as powerless,
as a victim,
as determined by sex, age, race,
as being less that I am,
or as other than yours.
Empty me
of the disguises and lies
in which I hide myself
from other people
and from my responsibility
for my neighbor
and for the world.
Hollow out in me a space
in which I will find myself,
find peace and a whole heart,
a forgiving spirit and holiness,
the springs of laughter,
and the will to reach boldly
for abundant life for myself
and the whole human family.
~ Ted Loder
Song: Root of the Root, Sara Thomsen
Return, returning
Return, returning
To the root of the root
Home of your home
Return, return
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Home of your home
Shining Light, guide me
Golden Light, inside me
~Sara Thomsen 2018
Reflection:
What might you allow to be stripped away and become ash so that new life can emerge?
Imagine God waiting for you with outstretched arms to return. What is it like for you to be enfolded in God's embrace?
Breath prayer:
Breath out: Empty me,
Breath in: Love
Resources:
Kelly, T. (1941). A Testament of Devotion. NY: Harper & Row Publishers
Loder, T. (1984) Guerillas of Grace. San Diego, CA: LuraMedia.
Richardson, J. (2015) Circle of Grace. Orlando, FL: Wanton Gospeller Press.
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