Lent Approaches – Rolling Away the Stone

Lent begins on Wednesday – I have already posted about this once and talked about approaches to Lenten practices.

Today I was in a phone conversation with someone who was struggling about what to “do” for Lent. That in an of itself is a conversation about “doing,” “being” and “becoming.” That is a conversation for another day it seems.

When we were speaking I was struck with the thought that we journey towards Easter at Lent. And at Easter we are called to a tomb in which the stone has been rolled away and we learn that Jesus has Risen.

So perhaps to enter into Lent we need to consider just what it will take to get that stone rolled away when the time comes?

It is just a thought… what do you think? And please share what your Lenten practices be, if you are willing.

(Speaking of willingness, would you consider writing a reflection for our Lenten pages that will start on Wednesday? Please read here for more information!)

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Lenten Practice and The Forgiveness Project

Lent is coming and I have been thinking about what my Lenten practice will be. I don’t like to simply think of what I will “give up.” A long time ago I had a spiritual director who urged me to think outside the “give up box.” When I returned to church it was a little hard to take that part of Lent seriously… his advice has gone a long way, reframed in the context of true metanoia and transformation.

Today on Facebook, I posted that I might want to consider the unresolved business of my life for Lent. Relationships that are paralyzed – maybe they won’t be saved, but they should be resolved. There are things, pretty major ones, that I have just not faced or dealt with head on, that need something. And of course, the secrets. The secrets are bad because they lead directly to lies. God, I hate saying that.

Ruminating on this today has lead me to think about forgiveness. As a culture and a society, we tend to oversimply and complicate forgiveness simultaneously. We either see things as non-negotiable unforgiveables or we do it in a way that does not walk through the valley of reconciliation death. That death walk generally needs to happen.

And forgiveness has as much to do with our ability to forgive ourselves as it does to forgive another.

In any event, I am reminded of some times, few as they are, when real transformational forgiveness happened in my life. I will write about that soon.

In the meantime, I would like to direct your attention to The Forgiveness Project. If you are not familiar with it, I would suggest that you have a look around. It is pretty profound – it is to me at any rate. I link to the page about Bud Welch; his daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and his story has always moved me.

What do you think about forgiveness?