Friday of the Second Week in Lent

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. -- Ezekiel 36:26

Hard Heart, Cold Heart, Heart of Stone -- Sounds like song titles from the 60's.

Think for a minute that perhaps Ezekiel is speaking directly to us today not just 2000 years ago. Have any of us considered that our heart was made of stone -- so that it needed to be replaced. Probably not. There was a movie in the early 90's starring William Hurt called The Doctor. He was a heart surgeon who was cold and unfeeling until he had to come to grips with his own fragility and mortality because of cancer. At the end he operates on a man who needs a heart transplant. The man and his wife not only want a new heart, they want to make sure it is a "good heart" -- not in the sense of healthy, but a good and kind heart.

Sometimes our feeling that we don't need a new heart is masked by our our addictions, our self-centeredness, and our refusal to undergo true self-examination. One of the things that Lent encourages us to do is to take a good hard look at ourselves. When we do, we realize that we could always be gentler in our ways, in our reactions with others. Most often though we are too harsh and hard hearted with ourselves. Lent teaches us to unburden ourselves, to lighten up and let God replace our heart of stone with one of flesh. After all it is much more human.

Webb

Thursday of the Second Week in Lent

To Be is to Stand For — Heschel

Too often in our consumer-oriented society, we fall prey to the spiritually dangerous notion that we are what we have. We spend our lives convincing ourselves of this myth until it is us who are spent. We believe it and so does everyone else.

Our goals, values, and beliefs are what truly shape our identity.During Lent we focus on our goals, values, and beliefs and usually when we do, there is no room for what we have.

Webb

Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent

Even tho’ your dreams were dashed and knocked about, you are still that dream under everything you doubt. -- A. Rothschild

These words to a song were written by a musician just weeks before he died. They were words that eased him into death.When I first read them I felt visited by angels. Perhaps it is because they carve meaning in our lives even when the world seems to work against us. Lent’s spiritual renewal continues to allow us to hear this sweet message of truth. It is the every day distractions of life that won’t let us hear the message.

What is the dream that you hold for yourself? It is never to late to pursue it. Today, take the first step toward meeting the goal. Then take it one day at a time. You are still that dream.

Webb

Monday of the Second Week in Lent

In life, you discover that people are called by three names: One is the name that a person is given by their parents. One is the name people call the person and one is the name one acquires for oneself. -- Anon

My granddaughter, Mary, lives in New Orleans. When the trolley cars finally started running up and down St. Charles her parents would say, “Yeah, the Trolleys are back!” Soon whenever Mary would see a trolley she would point with excitement and say, “Yeah.” She had not only give the Trolley a name -- “Yeah!,” in her innocence she was greeting a symbol of the rebirth of New Orleans with a 1&1/2 year old shout of “Yeah!”

In the Bible we see many cases of God giving someone a name or a new name. Abram becomes Abraham; the Angel instructs Hagar to call her son Ishmael; Jacob wrestles and becomes Israel; and even Mary was instructed by Gabriel to name her child Jesus. In those ancient times the naming of someone was significant and often the name carried a special meaning. Often when God or an angel renamed someone it represented a new beginning and a blessing.At Baptism first we renounce and promise, then the child is presented by his/her parents by the words, “ I present” and the child’s name is given to the Priiest.

Through the process of spiritual renewal we acquire a new name for ourselves. During Lent we wrestle with our current life; we seek to acquire our own identity not what others want us to be; and like Jacob we refuse to quit until we are blessed. The good news is we will blessed by God with a renewed life. We will have a rebirth and shout with joy, “Yeah.”

Webb

P.S. The concept of naming I think has tremendous significance. What are your thoughts? W.

Second Sunday in Lent

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Proverbs 3:17

Shalom. The traditional Jewish greeting is another word for serenity, peace. We all pray for it. We honor those who pursue it. And ideally, we work toward it.

The Sabbath itself is a day of Peace, a glimpse in a future world filled with it.Serenity and peace is a sense of wholeness, and of completeness. No additional ingredients are necessary. A sense of shalom provides us with the stable foundation necessary for continuing spiritual growth. We may not always be serene. In fact we won’t be. But we can always choose to pray for it.

This Sunday say a prayer for peace. Then give God a hand; begin to remove an obstacle to personal peace in your life.

Webb

Saturday of the First Week in Lent

Prayer begins where our power ends. -- Abraham Heschel

A well known expression -- “ There are no atheists in foxholes,” is grounded in truth. Maybe we have to reach the end of our rope to get to the point where God’s rope begins, but I have seen the power of prayer work miracles. I also believe that the best way to get to that needed spiritual turning point, where we actually begin our lives again, is through prayer.

Prayer opens our eyes to the higher reality that our will can only take us so far, and that there is a plan for us, often beyond our understanding, that will take us much, much further.So during Lent perhaps the most important discipline is simply prayer. We set aside time to approach God.

An ancient approach might help. In the quiet pick up the Bible and begin to read. Soon your mind will begin to focus on a passage, a word, or a thought. It is at that moment God has started the conversation. His rope begins.

Webb