lent

Lent Day 1: I give up Small Dreams

February 18, 2021 — 1 Comment

‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing with quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he way say: Here am I.
‘If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. ‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’ For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58: 6-14

Shout out to my sister for bookmarking this verse for the next 40 days!

This is the kind of fasting we are about to do! A fasting and a hoping and a dreaming that breaks chains and ushers in freedom. A fasting that tears down systems of oppression and builds up Gardens of Edens. Let us dream so big these next 40 days. Let us fast away all the parts of us that make us think small, dream small, hope small. What’s the next best thing that could happen? What happens next?!?! THEN, WHAT HAPPENS?!?

CBG: Garden

April 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry. And the tempter came.

Matthew 3:16 – 4:3

What if right now is the lent we needed but didn’t have the power to give to ourselves? In lent, we often choose a thing to give up in hopes that it would turn us back to God. Often, as soon as the 40 days are over, we are right where we were before our “sacrifice.” The hope of Jesus on Easter eclipses our non-change. Easter has passed and we are still here. Hope is for sure and the current uncertainty is as well. This season is a stripping that is out of our control. It’s a wilderness. We can feel alone. We can feel tricked because just earlier, God was seemingly on your side. To friends it can feel like we disappeared. Some friends may be the ones we’ve needed to strip off. In our hunger for a sense of normalcy, where do you feel tempted?

Prayer: God, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil.

Creative: Write an encouraging note to yourself.

Brave: Do less.

Generous: Write an encouraging note to someone else.