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Will
Punxsutawney
Phil see his shadow?
According to tradition, if he does,
we will have six more weeks of winter.
Of course, states other than
Pennsylvania have their own favorite
meteorologist-rodents who may well have
their own predictions.
Regardless, all we have to do is look
at a calendar to realize that winter will
end in late March whatever the weather may
be.
For us Christians, Spring comes a bit
earlier.
All you have to do is look at the
calendar to discover that Ash Wednesday will
be upon us soon—February 17th, to
be exact—and we will enter into the
liturgical season we call Lent.
What does this have to do with
Spring, you may ask?
Well, the word “lent” is derived from
Old English and means “spring.”
Here in the northern hemisphere, our
liturgical calendar dovetails nicely with
the natural world.
The gradual peeking through of bulbs
and greening of the grass can reinforce the
image of Lent as a time of intentional
growth—that is, spiritual growth.
Lent was long a time of catechesis,
of preparing new Christians for baptism and
full entry into the community.
The “disciplines” of Lent—prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving—are ancient ways of
intentionally entering more fully into the
mystery of the faith:
Christ
has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Lent calls us all to renewed
commitment to allowing the faith to form a
pattern for our living.
Lutherans can become uncomfortable with the
topic of spiritual growth.
So precious is the Good News that we
are saved solely and completely through the
grace of God, and NOT by any action of our
own, we fear obscuring that surpassing gift.
We fear that, by emphasizing
disciplines or practices, we risk nurturing
the misguided thought that our behavior is
what saves us.
In this fear, Lutherans can forget
that biblically-mandated and time-tested
Christian practices are a precious gift from
God—not as means to “earn” God’s love, but
as healthy and priority-forming ways of
ordering our lives.
Adopting and growing in Christian
practices free us and focus us and help us
to reach out to others in Jesus’ name.
This year at Nativity, Lent will be a time
for us to reflect on and learn about those
spiritual practices that form us as
individual Christians and as a community.
Various authors though the ages have come up
with different numbers of
practices and different descriptions, but
they are all basically the same.
For this article, I will use the
language of the “six marks of discipleship”
described in various publications by Pastor
Michael Foss.
They are: daily prayer, weekly
worship, daily Bible reading, serving in the
congregation and beyond, nurturing
relationships, and generous giving/giving a
tithe and beyond.
These spiritual practices are not
benchmarks by which to judge ourselves or
others, but gifts from God meant to enrich
and order our lives as followers of Jesus.
These are patterns and practices we
strive toward, always remembering that the
Christian life is a journey, “a becoming,”
and that God continues to work in and
through us in both mundane and surprising
ways.
As Martin Luther once wrote:
This life is not godliness, but growth in
godliness; not health, but healing; not
being, but becoming; not rest; but exercise.
We are not now what we shall be, but we are
on the way; the process is not yet finished,
but it has begun; this is not the goal, but
it is road; at present all does not gleam
and glitter, but everything is purified.
Together at Nativity in
the weeks ahead, we will explore and enrich
our understanding of the core spiritual
practices of Christian people and
communities.
We will both challenge and encourage
one another as we seek to live what Pastor
Foss calls
Real
Faith for Real Life.
We will, as always, journey together
with Jesus.
Happy Spring!
Pastor Jill
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