GROWING THROUGH LENT - HELP THOSE IN NEED

GROWING THROUGH LENT - HELP THOSE IN NEED

As we study the Gospels (as recommended last week), we see countless examples of Jesus helping those around Him:

                                    If they needed to speak, He stopped and listened.

                                                If people were sick, He healed them.

If they needed knowledge, He taught them.

As we move into the book of Acts, we see how the newly formed ‘church’ used their time, talent, and treasures to help those in their communities who were without.

So as we start to grow in our faith, we are encouraged to follow the model of Christ and His followers in helping those around us.

We posted the question, “How do you use your time, talents, or treasures ($$$ or resources) to help those around you?” on several Facebook forums. Here are some of our responses (edited for space):

H.W.   My friends and I sing at three different senior homes once a month (volunteering). When there are needs, I pray for people whom I do not know ... I teach children from low income families free piano lessons. I drive widows to grocery shopping or doctor's appointments ... I donate money to support (music) ministries.

A.S.   I work at a hospital, changing undergarments, checking vitals, making my patients happy.

H.H.   I volunteer with the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (Canada). We prepare (free) income tax returns for people with limited income. I expect to complete between 75-100 during March and April, 2012.

H.G.H.   I'm part of a team of pastoral visitors at St. Christopher's Church, and I help with our senior's luncheons.

A.K.O.   I write and create art daily for my blog that inspires others … I tithe to my church; I give to causes like the SPCA and the United Way. This evening, I spent a few hours to support and comfort friends who lost their mother.

B.S…. I teach art to adults … I welcome people to the Library and help them find what they need ... I make great signage that informs, instructs, directs to support others in finding what they are looking for! I smile a lot and spread sunshine wherever I go! :)

One person finished their response with this: I am just sharing God's blessings and all glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ.

We encourage you to take a few moments today to think about your time, treasure, and talents, and how you might use them to help those in your community or abroad.

This is the final post for our Growing Through Lent co-blog.

Thank you for joining us on our Lenten journey.

GROWING THROUGH LENT – READING THE BIBLE

GROWING THROUGH LENT – READING THE BIBLE

(This Lent, my daughter Allison Lynn and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Allison’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

            “Don’t get hung up on the actual words in the Bible; get hung up on the messages conveyed by the words of the Bible.”

            “Treat the Bible like any other book, and you will discover it’s not like any other book.”

            The church encourages us to read the Bible daily, and extra during Lent.

            The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) - the contemporary prayer book of the Anglican Church of Canada - invites us to have a holy Lent “by reading and meditating on the word of God.”

            This means more than just speed reading the text. It entails thinking about the passage, searching for its message and then applying it to our daily living. Some may recall having to memorize the Sunday prayer or collect (BAS page 391), which assured us that the Bible was “written for our learning”, and we need to “hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” Holy Scriptures.

            For Christians, the four Gospels are the foundation of faith. It describes the life of Jesus Christ - his birth, youth and adult years, culminating in his death, resurrection and ascension. It also contains the teachings of Jesus – describing what God is like and providing principles upon which people should model their lives mirroring the Master’s example.

                        The other New Testament writings, mostly letters, attempt to clarify the teachings of Jesus and answer practical questions posed by adherents of the newly found faith. The writers, recognizing the persecution being unleashed towards the Christians, encouraged them to remain faithful and stay the course. God has not abandoned them and in the final analysis, they will receive their eternal reward.

            The Old Testament rounds out the triad or trinity of scriptures.  It gives an account of our human development and illustrates how religion, culture, politics and history are often interwoven in the lives of people – sometimes too much. Yet to understand where we are now, we need to delve into the past to decipher how God acts and reacts with humans.

            We are suggesting that you read John’s Gospel during Lent - maybe reading the last chapters first in order to better understand what Jesus did, and how his life and teaching reflected why he did what he did.

            As always, we encourage your thoughts in the comment space below.

GROWING THROUGH LENT – PRAY

GROWING THROUGH LENT – PRAY

Rarely does a daily paper mention the word “prayer” or its effect in people’s lives. However, when praying gets mentioned twice on the same day, we must take notice.

The two stories were featured in the INSIGHT section of the Toronto Star on Sunday, March 4, 2012.

The first related to eco-warrior Wiebo Ludwig in Alberta, who was talking about his approaching death. He said, “I’m not a person who has had small prayers. I’ve asked for major things to change my life and the lives of those I’m with. I’m not disappointed.”

The other story - 10 Lessons From a Near-Death Experience – tells what happened to reporter Kathleen Kenna. She was covering the war in Afghanistan for the Toronto Star when a bomb was thrown at her car. She received extensive injuries, and has gone through “dozens of surgeries on three continents.” She said, being “near-death taught me a few things,” such as love heals all, faith transcends the darkness, hope is essential and life should be celebrated.

She told God that she was not ready to die and maintains that her “strong faith in God has kept me optimistic.” Forcing herself to concentrate on “ONE. SMALL.THING.” that made life worth living was the simple daily prayer she offered as she was going through months of pain and disability.

Both stories speak of the power of prayer in living life on this Earth.

Since the Church calls us to improve our praying during Lent, here is a “Prayer Exercise” that may help you achieve that goal.

GROWING YOUR PRAYERS:

Firstly, don’t look for the ideal place or time to pray, do it anywhere safe.

Secondly, imagine you are alone with God – spend a short time enjoying the relationship.

Thirdly, pray the five aspects of prayer, naming situations and people from your own life:

1. PRAISE – say wonderful things to God;
2. THANKSGIVING – thank God for who you are and what you have;
3. FORGIVENESS – recall when you have fallen short of God’s expectation for you, allow yourself to feel sorry for your actions, and ask for God’s forgiveness;
4. PRAYING FOR OTHERS – name people and situations for whom you want God’s help;
5. PRAYING FOR YOURSELF – ask God to help you as you travel through life.

Fourthly, pray at least once per day.

Fifthly, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

GROWING THROUGH LENT - EXAMINE YOUR LIFE

GROWING THROUGH LENT - EXAMINE YOUR LIFE

(This Lent, my daughter Allison Lynn and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Allison’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

Part of what defines our humanity is our desire to examine and understand our life. It separates us from other forms of creation.

In the 3rd century BC, the Philosopher Socrates stated “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

In the Bible, the writer of Lamentations proposed “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40 NIV)

After Jesus lived, died, and rose again, St. Paul advocated “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5a NIV)

What better time than Lent - a season of fasting and spiritual exploration - to look at our lives and examine how we’re moving through this experience called Life.

One of the most important tools for examining your life is to find silence. In the Gospels, there are several stories of Jesus seeking silence when things got too busy. He would often rise early and find a quiet place to pray and think.

Spending time in silence can be intimidating for many of us. For others, it’s just hard to find any quiet in our loud, highly stimulating culture.

Here are a few ideas for finding silence in a busy world:

•  Rise earlier than usual and spend a few minutes alone in a quiet space in your house. If the weather cooperates, go for a walk or sit outside. Think on the challenges you may face today, and how you may best respond to them.

•  Most churches are open during the weekdays. Visit a sanctuary and soak in the silence.

•  Spending time by the water is always calming and inspiring to the mind and soul. There’s nothing like sitting beside the ocean to feel the unique tension between power and frailty. If your environment allows, find some quiet time to sit by a lake, pond, river, or other body of water. If not, sit and visualize a scene of yourself sitting by the water.

•  At the end of your day, turn off the TV thirty minutes earlier that usual. Sitting on the comfort of your couch, reflect on your day. Where did you experience God today?

•  Art galleries, museums, and even some libraries provide a glorious combination of silence and beauty. Allow yourself to breathe in this rich atmosphere and see what thoughts are inspired.

•  Labyrinths are an ancient practice of walking and meditation. Use an internet search to find one in your area, and explore this unique spiritual experience.

As you begin to find and create pockets of silence in your day, your thoughts will drift over your family, your occupation, your choices, your friends, your faith, your blessings, your passions, your losses, and every other part of your life. Be sure to carry a journal, notepad, cell phone, or tablet to capture your thoughts and prayers during this exploration. Review your notes every few weeks to reveal connections, changes, growths, and gratitude.

 Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

GROWING THROUGH LENT – FASTING

GROWING THROUGH LENT – FASTING

(This Lent, my daughter Allison Lynn and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Allison’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

“What are you GIVING UP for Lent?”

and

“What are you TAKING UP for Lent?”

When it comes to FASTING, these two questions “go together like a horse and carriage.”

Fasting can last for a short or long time, and should be directed to improve your relationship with yourself, other people or God. Most people think of fasting from food, but your fast could be from anything that might be a distraction for you, such as alcohol, television, negative thoughts, unwanted behaviours, smoking, arguing, swearing, or even gossip.

Jesus also offered this advice when fasting – “Put on a happy face” – OK, that is not his exact words, but he did say, “When you fast, don’t make yourselves look sad like the hypocrites. They put a look of suffering on their faces so that people will see they are fasting. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. So when you fast, wash your face and make yourself look nice. Then no one will know you are fasting, except God, who is with you even in private. God can see what is done in private, and will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-19)

But to “give up” without “taking up” could put you in a worse state than when you started.

Jesus warned his followers about the dangers of giving up something without replacing it with something positive. He relates this little known incident called “The Danger of Emptiness” -- “When an evil spirit comes out of someone, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But it finds no place to rest. So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ When it comes back, it finds that home all neat and clean. Then the evil spirit goes out and brings back seven other spirits more evil than itself. They all go and live there, and that person has even more trouble than before.” (Luke 11:24-26)

So, this means when one gives up something like junk food, the time, energy and money freed up should be replaced doing something else, such as volunteering at a shelter or a community meal, or contributing money to a needy cause. Or if one decides to give up thinking evil thoughts, then these should be replaced by better, more positive thoughts and so on. Get the idea?

This Lenten season, we encourage you to both give up and take up something. Feel free to leave your experience in the comments section.

(This Lent, my daughter Allison Lynn and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Allison’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

GROWING THROUGH LENT

(This Lent, my daughter Allison Lynn and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Allison’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

We find ourselves in the Christian season of Lent – 40 days of preparation and anticipation, beginning on Ash Wednesday and culminating with Easter Sunday.

This week, Lent began on February 22, approximately one month before the beginning of spring. If spring heralds thoughts of growth and new horizons, then so too does Lent. 

Lent is an opportunity to do some “spring cleaning” of our souls, minds, emotions and bodies. 

Listed below are suggestions of “what the Church asks” of us and “what we can do” to respond to these five recommendations. 

On each Monday in Lent, we will post a more detailed exploration of the five suggestions on Hollis’ blog and Allison’s blog.

Meanwhile, you can begin by mapping your plan for each of the five areas listed below.

May God guide each of us as we journey through the wilderness of Lent to the mountain top of Easter.

                 GROWING THROUGH LENT:

             What the Church asks - What you can do

FASTING - Give up a favourite food or change behaviour.

EXAMINE YOUR LIFE & PRACTICE - Spend 3-5 minutes alone daily reflecting on your quality of life.

PRAY - Pray for people you see in the news, read about in print, network with online and encounter in daily living.

READ THE BIBLE - Let’s all read the Gospel of John. Share your thoughts. 

HELP THOSE IN NEED - Support with your time, talent and finances an international or local church or charity.

                                    Please bookmark this blog, 

leave your thoughts in the comments section,

 and feel free to share this Lenten journey with your friends!

Good Friday Christmas Creche

Peter relates well with young people.

He wrote, “a few weeks before Christmas 2011, I brought some wood and art supplies and about six of us (five young people and Peter) went to work to make our own Crèche, which was on display at  St. John’s Church, Rockwood.

It has a few unique features …

--- lights and glitter because the children like that;

--- FIVE Jesus’ because all of the children wanted to make a Jesus;

--- one of the littlest children felt that if this is a story about God, then it should have lots of rainbows. I guess he remembered that from Noah’s Ark. I didn’t stop them; they were really involved in the Nativity story and expressed it the best way they knew how.

n      the oldest youth in the group wanted to have Jesus on the cross so that we wouldn’t forget that part of Jesus’ life. That is important too.”

Peter concluded that the children are my best teachers.

Jesus also taught and learned from children. He told us that we all must become as little children to enter God’s presence.

I call this Nativity Set – the CHRISTMAS-GOOD FRIDAY CRECHE, because it reminds us of the reasons why God entered our human lives - God came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

It also shows a connection between the gifts of the Christmas Magi and the Good Friday cross. The Magi’s gift of myrrh was given to someone who must die; the young Magi in Rockwood came to the same conclusion and wanted the cross included in the Bethlehem manger.

In 1993, I took our 1992 Christmas tree … cut off the limbs and made a cross from its trunk. That was my ‘Good Friday Christmas connection . I still have it.

Christmas leads to Lent … Lent to Good Friday … and Good Friday to Easter … Easter to eternity, all because – God so loved the world that God sent Jesus to save us all from sin and give us eternal life. No greater love!

So be it.