The Path Before Us

• Lenten Services with INC begin this Friday. We’re hosting this Friday at 6:30pm with Soup, Bread, and Devotions.
• Lenten Practices begin today with Owen and myself (check back here).
• Regular Easter Services are at 9am on Easter Sunday (March 31)
• Easter Sunrise Services are at 6:30am on Easter Sunday (on the steps of the church, dress for the weather).
• Community Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday at 9:15am (dress for the weather).

As we embark on the season of Lent, it is like a path opens before each of us.  One with options and crossroads that requires choices.and dedication to staying on the path.  A path with obstacles that sometimes require a new way of thinking.   Sometimes there are hills and valleys to test our strength and endurance.  There are shadowing trees and too-bright deserts to challenge our resolve.  

Lent is clear that we are all walking different life roads, but at the same time we’re also on the same path, one bringing us to a place of clarity and Grace.  

Please don’t worry if you are not a follower of the Lenten Journey.  We have options and opportunities to enjoy, but none of us are required to “do Lent”.  It is a time of prayer and giving.  It is a time to remember, if it’s been a while, to come back to prayer or stillness (however that unfolds for you).  It is a time to remember what we have to share and to give as we are able.  

If we do nothing else, we pray and we give.  

It’s been a fun week of anticipation.  It’s been like a reverse Christmas.  At Christmas, we anticipated gifts and lights.  We looked forward to the chocolate.  For lent, we give up the chocolate and go into the shadows.  

It’s been a fun week of planning and plotting.  I’ve been listening to friends and colleagues talk about what they are giving up for Lent.  Some are very serious Christians and some are just up for a good challenges to help them grow.  There were articles galore this week.  Top thirty things to give up for Lent.  Chocolate is always the “biggie”.  Top ten things for 2024.  Tech Fasting is big this year.  The seven hardest things to give up for Lent.  It’s TV or “streaming”.  

There were those who were contemplating “adding in” for Lent.  More study.  More prayer.  Daily meditation.  Daily walks.  Daily journaling.  Contemplative Practices.  Many people shying away from the “giving up” because it feeds their “never good enough”, “always fail”, and “guilt/shame” tendencies.  

There was a lot of talk about “shoulds”.  Are we doing this because we “should” or “we’re supposed to” or because it’s appropriate for us to be doing?  There was a lot of talk about supports and tools to help along the Lenten Journey.  

Then, Wednesday arrived and things got…Quiet.  There was a Pause as the Holy Disciplines were chosen and the first days began.  

We’re Quiet.  We’re on our own embarking into our own wilds, our own deserts.  Surrounded by our own demons and our own angels.  

We can talk and chat and plan and support and encourage one another, but when it comes down to it…we’re on our own.  Only we really know what’s being asked of us.  Only we really know what the real challenge for us…without being an impossible challenge.  Only we know when to push ourselves and when to be gentle with ourselves.  

This is when we dig into the Spirit of the discipline.  I know I can easily give up video games or the news, but that wouldn’t be in the spirit. I could “win”, but it’s not about winning.  I’d be successful, but it’s not about being successful.  It’s about the challenge that strengthens us.  Individually.  Only we know when we’re cheating ourselves of clearing the way for Grace.  

And that’s what it’s all about, clearing away the path to the Cross. Clearing the chaos and the clutter so that we can see more clearly what is true when things get difficult.  PAUSE.  We are so good at surrounding ourselves with comforts and distractions. Lent asks us to face the world as it is…without the layers of avoidance and ignoring.

This is the shadow path where we shed everything but what’s necessary to go into the desert and the wild.  It’s terrifying.  We’re alone.  We’re on our own journey of our own challenges. This is the time when we know that no matter how alone we are…we are never alone.  

What do we bring with ourselves to sit in our own darkness, our own jungle, our own desert, our own park bench at midnight?  What do we need?  What do we bring because it makes us feel “safe”?  What do we carry…”just in case”?  The question is: do we really need it or is it just our security blanket or our distraction from the discomfort of what is?  

Only we can know what we really need.  Only we can know what God asks of us.  Lent asks us to lighten the load so that we may see more clearly.  To shed the too much, too many, the clouded, the clutter, the distractions the chaos.  To empty our packs to the bare essentials and repack with what is truly necessary, so we’re not so loaded down that we can’t handle the shadows or catch the curve balls.  That we’re so cluttered we’re blind to what matters.  

It’s like the kitchen junk drawer.  Sometimes, you just have to empty the whole thing to really see what’s there.  Sometimes you have to dump the whole thing out, and get rid of almost everything, to tidy it to the essentials. 

Lent is clearing the junk that gets in the way of our lives. It might be the “chocolate” (whatever your “chocolate” is this year). Our “we can do more” sides, might think that’s “too light, too simple, too superficial”. But the chocolate or the coffee or the evening glass of wine for Lent reminds us to look at what’s in our day to day.  To notice the sometimes small things we take for granted.  The small thing we know we can live without, but when it comes down to it, is very hard to live without.  A very simple daily thing highlights our litany of excuses and reasonings.  A very simple thing can show us our tendencies to hold on to the luxuries and the habits that may get in the way of what matters most.  

Lenten discipline helps us to see what we’re holding on to because it’s cozy, or it makes us feel secure, or we really like this one little luxurious thing.  Lent helps us to see the illusion around much of what we’re holding on to.  

We need nothing to see the face of God.  We need nothing to lend a hand to someone in need.  We need nothing to sit and listen to one another.  We need nothing to do what really matters.  When we clear the way…what’s left?  When we face our temptations…what do we learn?  When we clear the chaos and the clutter…what happens?  

We see more clearly the path laid before us.  We see more clearly who, and what, we are meant to be and do.  A clear path leads us more fully toward a place of purest Love and Renewal.  We’re led to compassion within pain.  Love within hate.  Hope within despair.  Forgiveness in trespass.  Life within death.  Grace within Everything.  

Walking our own path for a while makes us stronger. It also reminds us that we need one another.  We aren’t meant to walk alone forever.  We’re not meant to “do it alone” forever.  One of the most beautiful things I ever learned is that even during the season of Lent…Sundays are feast days.  Sundays are the exception to the “fasting”.  Fasting is replaced with prayer, contemplation, community, and giving.  It’s a time to reconnect and be nourished with one another for another week of being in the world.  To be clear, we’re allowed to eat the chocolate on Sundays.  Eat the Cookie!

Whatever practices you choose or don’t choose for Lent, remember to pray and give.  Remember that every challenge makes us stronger and more faithful.  When we use this time to clear our hearts and minds for Grace, we see what’s needed of us and we know we have the courage to do whatever is truly asked of us.