Godspace Gentle e-newsletter – Godspacelight

154

It’s time to prepare for Lent and as I stated in my Meditation Monday: Prepared for Lent? yesterday. “I nearly missed it. Preparing that’s. Ash Wednesday is Wednesday February 14th. Yep! Valentine’s Day. An unlucky juxtaposition some might imagine, however for others like me it’s excellent.

God so cherished the world that he gave his solely Son so that everybody who believes in him received’t perish however may have everlasting life” (John 3:16)

“It’s essential to love the Lord your God with all of your coronary heart, with all of your being, and with all of your thoughts. That is the primary and biggest commandment. And the second is prefer it: It’s essential to love your neighbor as you’re keen on your self. All of the Legislation and the Prophets rely on these two instructions.” (Matthew 22:37, 38 CEB)

These two verses maintain the essence of God’s love and of the aim of Lent from my perspective. Lent is supposed to be about studying to like God extra absolutely and expressing that love out into the world that God loves.

As I say in my Meditation Monday Lent is a season we must always take very severely, so it wants some severe planning and artistic thought. Now that my eyes are centered on it I’m having a lot of enjoyable, and severe thought planning. I’ve pulled out my rock assortment and paint pens and am portray a spotlight rock for the season utilizing my theme “For Love of the World God Did Silly Issues”. Why silly it’s possible you’ll ask. Nicely April 1st, April Fools Day, is the day after Easter Sunday. I’ve additionally pulled out my finger labyrinth making supplies and am trying ahead to creating finger labyrinths first with our small neighborhood subsequent Monday after which with our church a few weeks later.

I’m additionally beginning to put together for the upcoming Lenten Quiet Day retreat Magnificence from Ashes. As lots of you realize burning the palms I collected on Palm Sunday final yr is a part of my Ash Wednesday custom, and I like to make use of these ashes to color an image throughout Lent. This yr the ashes will turn out to be a part of my finger labyrinth and can present an excellent focus for my reflections as I select scriptures, photos and reflections for the retreat day. It is a nice alternative to pause throughout Lent and refocus your self for the rest of the season. If you want, there’s nonetheless time to enroll in all the sequence of Winter/Spring retreats which can conclude with Spirituality of Gardening on Might eleventh.  Despite the fact that the primary of those retreat is over, we are able to nonetheless ship you the recording for those who enroll.

On Saturday we posted this compelling prayer by Diettrich Bonhoeffer,  prayer to learn and reread as we focus our consideration on the upcoming season. For extra Lenten prayers by individuals like Mom Theresa, Henri Nouwen and Desmond Tutu, take a look at this put up from a couple of years in the past.

In her Freerange Friday: Welcome to a New Month, Lilly Lewin talks about Candlemas and the presentation of Jesus on the temple. For these of us who didn’t develop up in liturgical church buildings, it is a a lot wanted training. Posts like this assist us keep rooted within the gospel story whereas exploring new and artistic methods to specific our religion.

On Thursday, for St Brigid’s I posted my favorite hospitality liturgy as Brigid was well-known for her hospitality and generosity to everybody who got here to the monastery at Kildare. In Discernment: Feeling the Tug Elaine Breckenridge feedback “I can really feel the tug when God is inviting me to make magnificence, pleasure, love and peace the rule of my life. Surrendering to being dominated by these 4 virtues signifies that am completed with writing intentions, mission statements, setting targets, training the abilities of extremely
efficient individuals. Tuning into the sensation of God gently tugging on my hearts strings is
how I’ll follow discernment this yr. “ It’s so liberating to not work to mission statements and targets however to pay attention sensitively for the spirit’s steering every day.

Liturgical Rebels header

I additionally hope that subsequent week will see the launch of my podcast The Liturgical Rebels which I do know that lots of you’re awaiting with nice anticipation. Prayers appreciated as we work on the ultimate particulars.

For love of the world,
This lovely but ache stuffed earth
On which we reside,
God does silly issues.
How unusual and unwise,
To ship a a lot beloved son
To dwell amongst us,
Understanding he would die
A tragic and painful dying.
Solely love can be so reckless,
And so weak.
Solely God would care a lot
For individuals who
despised and rejected Holy love.
For love of the world,
God does silly issues,
That flip the world the wrong way up.
And convey life the place we anticipated dying.

Many blessings
Christine Sine

Photograph by Lisa Fotios on pixels

Celtic Prayer Playing cards

These playing cards can be utilized by people for every day meditation or by teams. They can be used for non secular course, counseling and grief remedy. Celtic Prayer Playing cards with prayers by Christine Sine and crafted by Hilary Horn with Celtic design and contemplative Celtic imagery.

Associated