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Today is Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. There are a lot of lonely people out there, many with broken hearts, that will not be celebrating love, true love, but are despairing of ever enjoying a deep, intimate relationship, with anyone. For them I offer this lamentation and a prayer that through Lent, they will find the joy, peace and contentment that only our crucified and risen Lord can bring.
Lamentation for the Brokenhearted and Lonely
Oh, how the broken-hearted weep, In the shadows where loneliness creeps, Their souls heavy with sorrow’s weight, In the darkness where love meets fate.
Alone they wander, hearts laid bare, In search of solace, in search of care, Their tears like rivers, flowing deep, Midnight whispers secrets that they keep.
The ache within, a silent cry, As memories haunt beneath the sky, Each shattered dream, each shattered vow, Echoes of pain that linger now.
In solitude, they find their song, In the quiet, where they belong, But oh, the ache, the silent plea, For healing balm to set them free.
Prayer for Ash Wednesday and Lent:
Almighty Father, on this solemn day, We come before You, hearts in disarray, In the ashes of our brokenness, we kneel, Seeking Your grace, Your love to feel.
As Lenten journey begins anew, Grant us strength, courage true, To walk the path of sacrifice and grace, In Your embrace, find our rightful place.
Meditating, may we find sustenance for the soul, In prayer, may Your presence make us whole, In helping others, may we learn to share, The burdens of those in deep despair.
Bless us with Your mercy, Lord, we pray, Guide us through this Lenten day, Renew our spirits, heal our pain, In Your love, may we find gain.
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God will never leave us or forsake us and nothing can separate us from his love. Romans 8:38,39
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.”
What exactly did Jesus mean when he said that his disciples must deny themselves? For lent I have been reading Walter Brueggemann’s book A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. In one of his devotions he writes:
“The call to discipleship is not a program to make us feel bad or impoverished or uncomfortable. Or pressed more deeply, to deny self is taken too often to mean you should have some self-hate, feel bad about yourself, ponder your failure and your guilt, and reject your worth. But that is surely not what Jesus is talking about.
“The alternative to self-focus is to move one’s attention away from self to know that our life is safely and well held by God, who loves us more than we love ourselves, to relish the generosity of God and so to be free of the anxieties and needs and hungers of those who are driven by a mistaken, inadequate sense of self. The self who is denied is the self who is received from God and given back to God in obedience and praise.”
Good words to consider during this time of lent.
Today is Ash Wednesday. The one day of the year when many Christians all over the world will have ashes put on their foreheads in the shape of the cross. This marks the beginning of Lent, a time of waiting in expectation of Easter- Resurrection Sunday. A time of contemplation and inner examination. A time of anticipation and adoration. A time of waiting.
When we wait, we choose. Sometimes we choose to grumble and complain. Sometimes we choose to get frustrated or worried. At times we choose to rejoice and give thanks. Many times our choice depends on what we are waiting for. More often than not, it depends on the kind of person we are. Ultimately we wait patiently or impatiently. It all depends on what’s inside us.
I have read an article and a book recently that have greatly impacted my perspective on patience and what it means to be a patient person. The article is called Silence, Patience and Presence. It is from Fuller Studio. The book is called Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Warren. Below are some quotes from both that I hope will impact you as much as they did me.
From Silence, Patience, and Presence – Fuller Studio
Being patient means waiting for a God whose patience outdistances and outlasts our own – we only have a brief span of life to wait; God has eternity. Peter Blum
Christians believe that through cross and resurrection we have been given the time to be patient in a world of impatience I am often in a hurry and busy, but this is not the same thing as impatience. Patience does not mean “doing nothing.” Rather patience is sticking to what you’re doing because you believe that is is worthy and worthwhile. Stanley Haurwas citing John Howard Yoder
Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human. Henri Nouwen
Ones willingness to be wronged, to absorb evil patiently without retaliating, helps to break the cycle of vengeance and opens up the possibility for healing and peace. Hence though forgiveness is a constitutive practice of peace, forgiveness is unimaginable apart from patience. Philip Kenneson.
Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life. Simone Weil
From Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Warren
When we practice the Sabbath, we not only look back to God’s rest after his work of creation but we look forward to the rest ahead, to the Sabbath to come when God will finish his work of re-creation. We recall together that we are waiting for the end of the story, for all things to be made new.
In the liturgical year there is never celebration without preparation. First we wait, we mourn, we ache, we repent. We aren’t ready to celebrate until we acknowledge, over time through ritual and worship, that we and this world are not yet right and whole. Before Easter, we have Lent. Before Christmas, we have Advent. We fast. Then we feast. We prepare. We practice waiting.
We want happiness now. Fulfillment and gratification now. I get angry when I have to wait because it reminds me that time is not at my bidding.
Our problem with time is a spiritual problem, one that runs right to the core of who we are as human beings…. Indeed, these distortions drive us into the arms of a false theology: we come to believe that we, not God, are the masters of time. (Dorothy Bass)
Time is a gift from God, a means of worship. Time revolves around God – what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do.
We live in a waiting world, a world where time itself, along with all of creation, groans in childbirth, waiting for something to be born. We are waiting and hoping. Our present reality is fundamentally oriented toward what is to come.
Waiting is an act of faith that is oriented toward the future. Yet our assurance of hope is rooted in the past, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and in his promises and resurrection. In this way, waiting, like time itself, centers on Christ-the fulcrum of time.
Scripture tells us that when we “Hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom 8:25). We live each ordinary day in the light of a future reality. Our best life is still yet to come.
I have a friend who has struggled with cancer for a long time. She said to me one day,”I always felt like I was waiting for the gift. But I have come to see that the waiting is the gift.” There is more happening while we wait than just waiting. God is at work in us and through us as we wait. Our waiting is active and purposeful.
The church father Tertullian wrote –
The singular mark of patience is not endurance or fortitude, but hope. To be impatient is to live without hope. Patience is grounded in the Resurrection. It is life oriented toward a future that is God’s doing , and its sign is longing, not so much to be released from the ills of the present, but in anticipation of the good to come.
Even now as we wait, God is bringing the kingdom that will one day be fully known. We can be patient because we know there are gifts promised by a Giver who can be trusted.
May your Lent be filled with peace, the presence of God, and patience.
To Enjoy God 