Lent: Mighty to Save
Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under Deeper Walk |
Well, Lent is here, for sure. Almost on cue, this past week, the hammer dropped. I’ve experienced spiritual dearth, oppressiveness, shame, fear, loneliness. In the words of my new friend Kade, “this kind of [crap] gets old fast.” Amen, brother.
If you want another perspective on the state of things in my house this past weekend, you can peek over at what my wife Miska had to say about it.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all suggesting that Lent = gloom, doom and the need for a large bottle of Prozac. I am, however, suggesting that Lent, if we are courageous enough to allow it, can be a season where we truly open up our heart and provide a wide space for God’s Spirit to do deep work in our soul. Over these weeks, we can allow God the place to do what he is always longing to do: to fill and heal and bind up and reshape - basically, to make us more of our true self, to wipe away the grime and the gray shades of sorrow that have covered our true glory. If we need hope, hope is what God will work to give us. If we need faith or joy or laughter, God’s Spirit, we can be sure, will be moving there.
Unfortunately, however, what I need is a size 13 shoe to the backside. I’ve listened to lies too long. In some places of my soul, I’ve waffled and wavered and basically pranced daintily around when I ought to be standing on two firm feet, staring evil down and telling it to go to Hell where it belongs.
I don’t want to be a wuss anymore. I want to be wide-alive. I want to be a reckless man, reckless for my wife, reckless for my boys, reckless for all the truths I believe in. However, I know this is beyond me. I need God. I want God. In the wreck I’ve made of things, in the dark places where evil and weakness and plain ol’ foolishness have cornered my heart, I need God. I need the God who is, as older generations liked to say, “mighty to save.”
We prayed this Lenten prayer on Sunday. I think I’ll pray it again:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Lenten peace / Winn
+this is the second in a weekly series during Lent. If you missed the first, you can snag it here
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This Lenten season is currently kicking my butt too. I gave up bitterness (yeah I know that’s something that should and will continue to be given up after this season), more specifically bitterness that stops me from “enjoying the diversity in which people express their relationship with God.” (ha, try unpacking that phrase) apparently giving up chocolate or facebook wasn’t enough this year.
Thank you for the encouragement and honesty that you are sharing in this series so far.
Are you SERIOUS?!?
I click over to Relevant, a site where I read about cool things like how others are staying relevant as Christians in this world we live in, and YET AGAIN I get a four-letter word written to me.
The last time this happened I had my 8-year-old sitting with me when I clicked a link on the Relevant site that let me hear this “great new artist” chick who spouted out the F-word in the first line or two of her song. Gee, thanks guys. Didnt know I had to mind little ears when checking out your site.
And now a “pastor” is quoting the S-word in an article about lent. You would think he could have at least used an S and some asterisks or something.
Forget it.
I’m done with this site.
(and I’ll gladly share what I found with anyone who mentions Relevant to me)
No polite way to say this: Get over it, Greg. The reality is that people cuss. Collier’s friend had a very valid point, and could it be possible that his point was contained in the very fact that he said a “bad word”? I don’t think he was just swearing to swear.
The valid point is that that kind of emotional/psychological suffering is real, and it can be horrendous. It also does get old. So to call it what it is (in this case, the “s-word”) isn’t sinful; it’s calling a spade a spade. I can’t see anything wrong with that.
As for your kid, unless s/he is homeschooled, s/he has probably already heard the f-bomb on the playground at least once. You can’t put a blindfold on a child’s eyes and stick him in a soundproof booth in order to “protect him”. Such thinking is like building a house in the middle of a war zone and saying, “Don’t shoot my house; my blinds are drawn”.
The remedy? Have conversations with your kid about why you think those words are bad, and why you won’t allow them to be said in your house. But also model to your child by your actions that you won’t judge those who do say bad words, but will rather listen to them, beyond the “bad words”. The kid will then come to peace with “bad words” more quickly than if you freak him or her out about them.