2012 Lenten Reflection Series
During his After Shock tour in South Central PA, Kent Annan played I Want on a number of campuses. The video is based upon the beginning of Chapter 3: Giving Up and Finding (Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle. InterVarsity Press, 2009). In this section, Kent struggles with desire as he seeks to follow Jesus through the eye of the needle in the transition to serving God/following Jesus in Haiti. As you watch the piece, reflect upon your journey in higher education, repent of your wants, ask how God desires to transform you more and more into a little Christ, a new creation blessing/care for others through your vocation — reaching fulfillment in the new heavens/new earth. Hmm. . . . I’m getting ahead of myself and the liturgical calendar, but it’s hard not to!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21llqxzu3WI
What is in the way of my loving more? And what am I going to do now to starve this desire — so I can hunger for something better?
— Kent Annan. Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle. InterVarsity Press, 2009, 59.
Lent is about looking beyond the cross to the life of God’s kingdom. Asking myself what still needs to be repented of and transformed in my life so that I can be an effective citizen of God’s resurrection created world is probably the most important question of Lent.
— Christine Sine. Ash Wednesday – Mourning the Death Sin Has Caused in Our Lives. 2/22/2012. Click here to download a free PDF copy of A Journey Into Wholeness: A Lenten Journey by Christine Sine.
The real question of the Lenten season is: ‘How will I repent and return to God with all my heart?’
— Ruth Haley Barton. Practicing Lent: Invitation to Return to God, 2/21/2012. Click here for the Transforming Center team’s recommended Lenten resources. Click here for a link to the lectionary calendar provided by the Transforming Center.
‎Even now, God says, no matter how far away you have gotten’Even now I am inviting you to look for the path of returning and to walk it with all your heart.
— Ruth Haley Barton. Practicing Lent: Invitation to Return to God, 2/21/2012.
“Yet even now, says the Lord, repent and return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:13).
2012 Lenten Reflection Series
- Entering Lent: “I Want” in Higher Education (2/23/2012)
- Lent brings me back to reflections on loss, grief, suffering (3/1/2012)
- Why does God suffer? (3/8/2012)
- Was Jesus Forsaken? (3/15/2012)
Note: For some of Kent’s reflections on his time in South Central PA read What gives Kent Annan focus as he shares on campus? (Thomas B. Grosh IV. ESN Blog. 2/16/2012). Click here to review last year’s Lenten posts based upon material from After Shock.
Tom enjoys daily conversations regarding living out the Biblical Story with his wife Theresa and their four girls, around the block, at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church (where he teaches adult electives and co-leads a small group), among healthcare professionals as the Northeast Regional Director for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and in higher ed as a volunteer with the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). For a number of years, the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine was the hub of his ministry with CMDA. Note: Tom served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA for 20+ years, including 6+ years as the Associate Director of ESN. He has written for the ESN blog from its launch in August 2008. He has studied Biology (B.S.), Higher Education (M.A.), Spiritual Direction (Certificate), Spiritual Formation (M.A.R.), Ministry to Emerging Generations (D.Min.). To God be the glory!