Jason's Blog

“No, you shouldn’t!!!”  That’s the dominant message that I heard for years.

However, I have found that keeping a Lenten season can be valuable.  I would not hold this opinion over anyone, but I find that celebrating Lent– in one form or another– has helped me.

Before you become overly critical, ask yourself these 2 questions:

1) How many of the Consumerist Holidays do I celebrate and why?

It’s holidays include  New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, the 4th of July, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, (and perhaps Christmas).

2) What exactly is Lent?

A Definition:  Lent is a forty day period of preparation leading up to Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus.   The number of days seems to have been drawn from biblical sources.  For example, Jesus and Elijah were in the desert 40 days (1 Kings 19:8, Luke4:2).  Moses was on Mount Sinai 40 days (Exo. 24:18).

Historical Notes:

• It’s an old practice.   We find a mention of  40 day Lent in Canon 5 of the Ecumenical Council of Nicea (318 AD).  At this point, the practice is  as an established church tradition.  Irenaeus (a second century figure) mentions a short term (2 day) Lenten-type fast before the celebration of Easter.
• Daniel Sahas notes that the word Lent itself is drawn from an Anglo-Saxon term lencten, meaning Spring (Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (Garland, 1990): 533.

How can I practice Lent?

There are many creative ways to celebrate Lent.  John Marks Hicks has given ten suggestions at his blog.  It is a period of time for self-examination and self-denial.  Should you choose to give up food or some activity– the purpose should be to create a space where you can be close to God.

So be creative and seek after the Lord as fully as you are able.

One of our daughters is preparing for state standardized testing these days, and they are teaching her how to write.  They have this scorecard where they evaluate 5 writing rubrics:

• focus (does this make sense?)
• organization (is your paper organized?)
• depth of development (how much detail do you use?)
• voice (is your writing original and with personality?)
• conventions (can you spell? use good grammar, etc.)

This scoring scale reminds me a little of the discussion of J. P. Prichard’s “Understanding Poetry” as quoted in the Dead Poets Society (1989).  Blah!!!!!!!!

But to their credit, the model encourages young writers to focus on details.  Without details, our ideas are stale and forgettable.  We need concrete adjectives and surprising turns in order to hold a reader’s attention.  Otherwise our words are cheap and hollow.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

When God wanted to communicate with us, he didn’t use an abstract idea.  Jesus came in the flesh.

• He was born of Mary.
• His stomach growled as he spoke with a woman from Samaria.
• His sweat dripped down in his eyes under the afternoon sun.
• He was so tired that he could sleep in moving boat.
• His crucifixion and death was deep physical struggle.

God is definitely into details, and the truth is that we can– in our flesh and blood– be changed into the image of Jesus.  This is what discipleship is all about.  We let the incarnation of Jesus drip into our bodies.

A friend and I were recently talking and he described how he was letting the Holy Spirit gradually drip into his body like a cancer patient does when they are hooked up to an IV.  Drip. . . Drip. . . Drip.  It may take a while but the drug makes its way down a tube and into our veins and our being.

The Word becomes flesh.  Can that Happen to you?  Will you give God permission to be IN your life?

“In an age of information overload, when a vast variety of media delivers news faster than most of us can digest- when many of us have at least two e-mail addresses, two telephone numbers, and one fax number– the last thing any of us need is more information about God.  We need the practice of the incarnation, by which God saves the lives of those whose intellectual assent has turned as dry as dust, who have run frighteningly low on the bread of life, who are dying to know more about God in their bodies (Barbara Brown Taylor, Altar in the World, HarperCollins, 2009): 45. “

How does this happen?  How can we let more of God’s truth reach into the deeper places in our lives?  It doesn’t happen by a mathematical formula.  It won’t happen by accident.  The place to start is prayer.

Father,

You are our rock and shield and deliverer.
Fill us with mercy and concern.
Give us hands to serve.
Feet that walk in peace.
May we come to know Jesus more fully today. – Amen

The Arctic Blast that came (and has finally gone) really took the center stage of our time and attention over the last week.  We’ve had to make all the basic checks of pipes, pets, and plants.   Cabinet doors were left sitting open to increase air circulation, and we listened to the drip, drip of faucets for days.  All of this was done so that we could avoid major inconveniences, damages to our property, or worse.

Yesterday in our assembly time I pointed out that the worship of God does not make the demands of weatherization.  We do not have to spend any money, listen to any experts, read any technical manuals, or go online to consult what others are doing in order to worship God.  It does not require extra time or expense.

We have everything that we need.  All that God requires for worship is a responsive heart.  Are you open and ready to acknowledge God for who He is in all His glory?  If you can say yes to that question, then you are ready.

When he taught his disciples about ‘acts of righteousness,’ Jesus encouraged his disciples to give, pray, and fast in secret.  I take this to be really good news because anyone can do these things.  There is no advanced preparation required to give in secret or to pray in private.  We do not have to travel, or be concerned about our appearance.  Nothing is needed but the right kind of heart.

So let me encourage you to worship today with a sincerity of heart.  You might reread Jesus words in Matthew 6:1-18 if you need a reminder about what is most important.

Keep everything simple.  Acknowledge Him today.  Serve someone else to His glory.

In class on Sunday, we reviewed James 3:17 and the sermon terms that are used to describe the wisdom from above.  Rather than having bitterness or selfish ambition, which are really earthly, unspiritual attitudes, James suggests that we embrace:

1. Purity (in Greek hagnos) – whatever is clean and holy before God (used again in Philippians 4:8 and 1 Peter 3:2)
2. Peaceable (eirēnkos) – at rest; without strife (Hebrews 12:11)
3. Gentle (epiekēs) – a reasonable, yielding person (Philippians 4:5; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2)
4. Open to Reason (eupeitheia) – a readiness to obey and get along with others (only used here in the NT)
5. Full of mercy (eleous) and good fruit – this is so near the heart of God and creates a great contrast with his description of the tongue as full of poison (James 3:8)
6. Not divided (adiakritos) – this is a person who is impartiality and not double minded
7. Not insincere (anupokritos) – this is a trait of honesty and genuineness (1 Peter 1:22; 2 Timothy 1:15)

You might notice the alliteration of terms #2-5.  They all start with the letter Epsilon in Greek.  The last two words are plays on the word kritos- having to do with judgment.  This is a famous theme in the book of James (1:6; 2:4,6, 12-13; 4:11-12; 5:9,12). It seems to me that the first 5 virtues open our capacity to think clearly (adiakritos) and genuinely (anupokritos) about life.  We have to ask ourselves, “How honest and genuine am I?  Am I really a double minded person?”

Another note about the book of James.  I keep noticing all the false speech that James wants us to avoid:

• Don’t say, “God is tempting me” (James 1:13).
• Don’t say to someone in fancy clothes, “Here is a good seat for you.”  And to the poor man say, “You stand there” (James 2:3).
• Don’t say, “Go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed” (James 2:16).
• Don’t say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city. . . and make money” (James 4:13).

Instead of such hollow poisonous words, we are to speak with truth, humility, and a freshness of spirit.

How will such a change come to us?  Only with Wisdom from Above.