The sobering thing about Lent is that I am asked to look at and think about my sin more than I usually do. Looking closely at my sin—even looking at my sin at all---is uncomfortable. It can be upsetting to focus on my own wrongdoing. The impulse with doing wrong is to downplay and deny that I did it. I want to pretend it never happened. Or I want to spin it so that it doesn't seem all that bad and to play up my reasons, my very understandable rational, for why I did what I did. What I don't want to do is look … [Read more...] about Confession
Lent
Temptation: The Little Lie
The third in our Lenten devotional series. Temptation. It sneaks up on you. It whispers, is this really such a bad idea? I'll just tell them I was late because I got an important phone call’I'll just tell them I read the whole thing’I'll just tell them I've had some experience with that’ And if, when we consider telling a half-truth, little white lies, something other than the whole truth, we hear a voice saying to us something like: is a small lie really such a big deal? If we heed that voice rather than … [Read more...] about Temptation: The Little Lie
“Bright Sadness”
The second in a series of weekly Lenten reflections. Some have called the season of Lent the time of “bright sadness.” This is such an interesting phrase. What is bright about sadness? We tend to think of sadness as gloomy or dark or gray. Brightness doesn't tend to come into it. And when something is bright, it usually has light around it, it energizes and excites. In sadness we might think of looking down. With brightness we might think of looking up. How can these two things be connected? And … [Read more...] about “Bright Sadness”
“Remember You Are Dust”
The words “remember you are dust” came across my screen the other day when someone commented on it being close to the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. I am reminded that on Ash Wednesday, as the mark of the ashes is put on our foreheads, someone will say “remember you are dust.” I have to say, I don't love thinking of myself this way. Dust? Seriously? I can hear all the therapists and counselors I have known protesting that this is no way to address ourselves! I can feel the resistance in myself at the idea … [Read more...] about “Remember You Are Dust”
Lenten Reflection: Eastertide and the Renewal of All Things
This is the eighth and concluding reflection in our series of Lenten reflections, as we transition from Lent to the season of Eastertide. ESN would like to thank Bobby Gross for these thought-provoking and spiritually enriching posts. The first appeared on Ash Wednesday. You may browse the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts by following the respective links. The seventh post focuses on Good Friday. For six weeks during Lent we fasted, but over the seven weeks of Eastertide we feast. Sobriety … [Read more...] about Lenten Reflection: Eastertide and the Renewal of All Things