Last night I was struck again - like I seemed to hear a tune for the first time. I was finishing up in the barn casually listening to the iPod when the lyrics stopped me in my tracks - and I went from casual observer to completely arrested by the music. The song truly brought me to my senses. The fifth week of Lent settled into my mind and I thought of this story (a story of Lent - a preparation story; a repentance story and a story of life after death… don’t miss who is present at this event!)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. [John 12.1-11]

A story worthy of our consideration this week - so many intriguing story lines - but mostly a story of complete surrender as Mary of Bethany goes from sitting at the feet of Jesus to laying down everything she had in complete abandon. A picture of authentic brokenness - not brought on by pain or by circumstance - but seemingly by devotion. My hope as I approach Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem next week is that I will learn from Mary of Bethany; what keeps me from this kind of devotion?

Back to the song in question: The song comes from Matt Maher and is found on his latest recording, The Empty and The Beautiful:

Lay It Down

Everything I am
Everything I long to be
I lay it down at Your feet

Oh pearl of greatest price
No act of sacrifice
Can match the gift of life I find within Your gaze
Oh, what a sweet exchange
I die to rise again
Lifted up from the grave into Your hands of grace’

(BTW - don’t just skim over the words above - check out the images and words in the bridge section of that tune… so many things there - let that just fill your head again).

I have probably bored my readers to death with tales and mentions of cutting down trees and stacking firewood - so either ignore the following or endure my foolishness.

The following are lessons I have learned as I have stacked firewood; and when I say stacking firewood - I mean from dropping the tree to covering the finished product (this past weekend included two “marathon” sessions after a week of two or three half-marathon sessions of cleaning up a 120 or so year old white oak that I downed early this year). By the way the lessons are not going to be explicitly applied - glean whatever you glean - this is all about “reader response.”

1. a splitter will reveal any weak points in a log… pressure has a way of pointing out flaws

2. when falling a tree foresight and forward thinking are not optional

3. stacking firewood is not a solo sport

4. good firewood that makes for efficient fuel is often not easy to split

5. if at all possible… read the grain and go with it

6. every piece of wood has a story to tell… a tale of age and location; a tale of hardship and visitors - it is worth taking the time every once in a while to stop and listen

7. from tree standing to firewood stacked - it takes a lot of individual handling!! (more than I care to actually count - sometimes mystery or ignorance really is best)

8. from my wife - don’t short circuit all the handling by carrying multiple pieces - the carrying of each individual log multiple times from place to place helps remove the foreign matter

9. finding a logs niche in the pile is both serendipity and art

any other wood stackers out there? any other lessons learned?

Just stumbled across an acceptable video of the greatest band too few have heard…

the 77’s!

Enjoy (and it is definitely a song appropriate for this season of lent - as we face our mortality and death).

I feel an affinity to Celtic Christianity for a variety of reasons:

-it was indigenous - first Christian mission that was not first Romanized (Civilized) before being Christianized
-it was about community / very tribal (belonging to the community often preceded having faith in the Christian message)
-it saw hospitality as a means of being Christ to another and placed a high value on the practice
-monasticism was at the center of their practice of Christianity and integral to its expansion
-it celebrated natural revelation
-it sacramental-ized every day acts - the folding of clothes, the making of beds, the awakening of fire/coals, etc (making them acts of praise/prayer)
-it provided a place for beauty and aesthetics
-it was unequivocally trinitarian
-the openness to God’s activity in revealing Himself right NOW

These are things that readily come to mind as I consider what the Celtic Church offers [and much of what they offer is needed in our world today]. For this reason I celebrate today with many in the Church who thank God for St. Patrick and his faithfulness in carrying on God’s story of redeeming and restoring this world.

The prayer that follows is very famous, The Breastplate of St. Patrick (note it’s themes of protection) - it is a prayer of lyrical beauty and carries many of the themes discussed above. I encourage you to pray it today as we remember St. Patrick.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick
(also referred to as St. Patrick’s Lorica)

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

I stumbled across a great illustration of why ritual and symbols are such helpful religious practices that I want to share today. The picture comes from Gertrude Mueller Nelson in her book, “To Dance With God.”

She writes, “Watch how children, frightened by the vast and powerful surf at the ocean, tame it; they scoop a small hole in the sand near where the waves break and let the water fill the hole. In essence, children respond to the vast sea by creating a mini-sea, which they can control and manage. They had created a hole, to catch something of the transcendent. In the same way we cannot head straight into the awe of the Almighty. Like the child before the ocean, we turn our backs on what is too much and slowly create the form that will contain something of the uncontainable…. The power of the Almighty needs, sometimes, to be guarded against but it also needs to be beckoned, called forth and wooed.” (p. 25)

So how do we relate to the God who is so vast, so great, so holy, so perfect - that when John (the Apostle whom Jesus loved) saw The Mystery he fell down like a dead man? How do we capture something of the greatness of God in a way that is “safe?” For years people have done so with rituals (think alters, ceremony’s, special dress, special rooms, special furniture, special postures, etc.) and symbols (crosses, icons, statues, medals, etc) - do you have any ways (rituals, practices, symbols) that help you confront the ocean of God as you sit upon the beach?

I want to continue considering the legacy of Youth Ministry - I am wondering in our current regime, “what are we passing on?” In the first post we looked at what we are leaving students in the area of content. I suggested maybe we need to revisit the tradition of the Catechism. (Read the post here)

In this post I would like to raise (or rant about) the question of: what are we passing on through our approach to youth ministry as it relates to ecclesiology?

How are students leaving our youth ministries thinking about, The Church? Are our youth ministries grounded in a healthy image and theology of The Church? I believe this question is vital in measuring or evaluating the health and value of our ministry to youth. The likelihood of a young person being a part of the Church in the future will be tied I think in large part to this question.

My observation is that in youth ministry we have not done a great job in helping teens be aware of the importance of participation with all the people who are part of the Body of Christ. Equally I don’t think we have helped students see their necessary and unique role in the local expression of The Church. I think we do great at getting kids to come to a church building and be active in the church building (via attraction-al activities; great programs; etc.) - but too often these are age specific experiences sequestered from the rest of what is taking place in that community. In my mind this doesn’t do the church (the priority of and purpose for) justice. This is a very truncated and impotent view of the church (the church as a building or a place to hang out with people like me).

Isn’t the church about being Christ’s body on earth? Isn’t the church mandated to continue the work of Christ in announcing and demonstrating His Kingdom on Earth? Isn’t the Church the gathered people of God - all His people a diverse group (of all races, shapes, ages, and gifts) of sinners in process of becoming saints? Isn’t the Church about gathering to communally demonstrate and celebrate the goodness, greatness and glory of God and then scattering to be the hands and feet of God in the midst of our community?

So what are we passing on to students about the church through our youth ministry? Are they getting it? My prayer is that we will pass on a vibrant picture and experience of the Church so they don’t decide to pass on it when they graduate.

Peace.

This prayer of St. Teresa of Avila kept going through my mind as I was writing so I add it here for all our benefit:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,

Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.

I love this prayer from Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours for the second week of Lent:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

I find the power in that prayer behind the fact that Jesus who was tested by temptation to go another way - instead chose willingly and obediently the walk to the Cross. I find hope that the one who chose the cross is mighty enough to empower and assist me in facing my temptations. I find great love underneath the phrase - as you know us.

A wonderful prayer to accompany us this second week of lent.

Lent is an anglo-saxon word which best defined means Spring. The Spring was greeted by another season of the Christian Year the time of Lent (just as Winter sees the beginning of Advent; Pentecost leads us into Summer and Autumn - Ordinary time). Lent is definitely the most solemn of the Christian seasons. A time for serious reflection, repentance and thus renewal. As I have reflected during this first week of Lent and journeyed with the Lenten Guide (Journey Into Wholeness by Christine Sine) it has pushed me to look at my self. It is never pretty.

I don’t often plan well. This lenten season though I had decided to observe an old lenten practice of praying The Litany at least once a week (The late Robert Webber suggested Saturday’s were the tradition in his book, The Prymer, so I said, “why not?”), and that was just what I needed this week.

The Litany is a L-o-n-g prayer. It is really a kind of prayer service. I used a protestant version (without the invoking of the Saints) from An English Prayer Book (published by Oxford as a potential Alternate Alternative Service Book!?). In this version of the Litany it is a seven-fold prayer moving from Inviting God to hear to repentance (personal) to petitions to intercessions to the Lord’s Prayer to corporate repentance and to benediction.

A wonderful prayer. A needed time this past Saturday. It helped me repent. To change my way of thinking. To see with new eyes. To feel like I found my position and place again. This Lenten practice, setting aside and taking time to reflect and repent is something I realize I don’t naturally move toward. I am more apt to “keep going” and put things behind… Lent calls us to put some of life aside and reflect on who I am becoming and how am I living. This is good. The Litany helped me in facing some of that. I look forward to this and it is good.

At the same time I feel strangely alone.

Lent is meant to happen in community and the Litany is written to be said in community (I guess I will be exploring this theme throughout my Lenten experience) but my current Christian community doesn’t observe Lent, so I am observing it solo.

Long ago and far away I had a pc - and I used Logos (which btw I liked), but that was as I said, “long ago….” For at least the last seven years I have been a “mac only” kinda guy. In that time I have grown to miss a program that features biblical study tools, multiple translations, and a powerful search engine.

So I know about Accordance - although have not checked any reviews (any users out there willing to give me their thoughts)…

Any recommendations of other Bible Programs for Mac out there?

Give me some feedback.

Peace.