The season of Lent is based on Jesus’ 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. Take 40 days, add Sundays, and you’ve got Lent – a season of preparation that leads us to Holy Week. I’ve come to think of Lent as a time of pilgrimage or journey. It’s an annual trek we undertake designed to reshape and form our thinking and living. It’s an opportunity to once again make Jesus the model or prototype that we follow, and to devote our attention to his life and teachings – as opposed to allowing so much of the noise from our over exposure to media (social and news) to shape our outlook.
I invite you to imagine, or better yet, set forth on a journey with Jesus during these Lenten days. A great way to do this is to commit to read through one of the Gospels. Follow the chronicle of Jesus’ life from its beginning to end (manger to cross and resurrection). Allow that story to read your life and what may be going on with you. Sit with it. Don’t be in a hurry. Continue reading
As I have studied Isaiah 35 once again this year in preparation for Advent worship, it has come to me that water is at the very center of this vision Isaiah of the Exile offers from God to God’s people. Sure, there are a lot of other pieces to this vision: a desert in bloom, the mighty forests of Lebanon and Carmel, pastures of Sharon; not to mention people being healed or restored to wholeness and a mighty and holy highway being built. But right there in the middle of it all (v.7) is the very wet and wonderful reference to water: The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs . . . even grasslands turn into wetlands. Water, water, water – water everywhere! It’s water that makes it possible for the desert to bloom, the forests to grow and pastures to flourish. Our bodies, when they are whole and functioning at their prime are over 60% water. Highways could not be built without water. Water seems to be the very central image to all of Isaiah 35. That was new to me this time around.
There is a phrase I often think of this time of the year. It’s associated with my dad in my thinking. “What do you want for Christmas, daddy?” was our childhood question. To which he almost always replied, “Peace in the valley.”
danielcash 