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As I reflect on the story of the woman at the well (John 4),

I think he says it best in a few stanzas…

“I Thirst for You” by Joseph Langford

I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished.

But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? “Come to Me all you who thirst…”(Jn. 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on a cross for you.

I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you:

I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me.

I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation. and give you peace, even in all your trials.

I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you; My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you.

I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you.

I THIRST FOR YOU. No matter how far you have strayed without a destination, no matter how often you have forgotten Me, no matter how many crosses you bear in this life.

I THIRST FOR YOU – just you, as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your confidence in that love that will make you change.

Do you find this difficult to believe? If so, look at the Cross, look at My Heart that was pierced for you. Then listen again to the words I spoke there, for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you:

“….I THIRST” (John 19: 28)

The following will provide you scriptures to read on the topic of fasting. Some ideas for prayer. And finally, guidelines and suggestions for fasting, and alternatives to fasting from food.

Remember-

We are not obligated to fast. We are invited to fast by Jesus (Matthew 6:16) because fasting is an opportunity to experience blessing and growth.

Scriptures about Fasting: 

Ezra 8:21-23 

Nehemiah 1:1-10

Daniel 9:1-3 ff 

Joel 1:13-15, 2:12-17,

Jonah 3:1-10 

Matthew 6:16-18, 

Matthew 9:14-17 

Luke 18:9-14

Prayer

If you have never prayed much, give yourself to dedicated, quiet prayer the next 40 days. Set a time, set a place, get a journal, and start talking to God. You can’t beat the prayer he taught his disciples…

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Bible Reading

We have the #imagesoflent23 scripture readings and “word of the day” for meditation, journaling and artistic reflection.

We have “Today” devotionals available.

You can also find many wonderful bible reading plans and devotionals on the YouVersion Bible App.

Fasting

Your fasting may be tied into your prayer and bible reading.  You’ll have to give up some time, a piece of your day, to get into the word and pray. It might mean giving up some sleep to wake up a half hour earlier. It might mean giving up a 15 minute coffee break in the middle of the day. It might mean giving the last part of your day to God instead of Netflix or Wordle. If you do this you are positioning yourself for profound spiritual growth and transformation.

Types of Fasting

Complete Fast- This fast calls for drinking only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.  Typical only done for a 24-48 hours, unless experienced.

Selective Fast- This type of fast involves removing certain elements from a diet: meat, sweets, bread or alcohol are all common selective fasts.

Intermittent Fast- Abstaining from eating any type of food for a specific time of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.

Here are a few suggestions for alternatives to fasting from food:

1.  Give up something from your home everyday to bless someone else. The jacket you don’t wear anymore. The book collecting dust on your shelf. The kids clothes your kids outgrew a decade ago. Give something up, and bless someone else. As you de-clutter your life you will find space has been created for the Spirit to fill.

2. Give up driving and walk. Force yourself to slow down the next 40 days and bike to work or school. Just get out of your car, get on your feet, or your bike, get out in the creation. Some days will be sunny, and life will be great. Some days will be cold and rainy, and you will suffer, good. You’ll slow down.  You’ll think more.  You’ll clear your head.  You’ll see things you don’t normally see.  You’ll notice neighbors and things in the community that could lead to connections, relationships, opportunities.  

3. Unplug.  Give up electronics, or social media, or movies.  Just unplug and stop looking at screens and starting looking at reality.  And remember, every Sunday is a day to break your fast, so you can binge after church each Sunday!

4. OR, if you can’t give up your online life, leverage it.  Post your bible reading everyday in Lent.  Post picture of your prayer corner.  Post an invitation to worship.  Bring Jesus into your online life and create some social accountability, but also some witness to the world, for Jesus.

5. Of course you can go with the now standard: give up a luxury.  Give up sleeping on your bed and sleep on the ground, for the son of God had no where to rest his head.  Give up shoes, and walk barefoot.  If the sacrifice costs you, then great!  I know a woman who gives up mirrors for Lent.  She so wants her life to be about Jesus for Lent that she has decided to not even look at herself.  Fasting is a way to practice suffering. Suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces a stronger faith in Jesus!

And finally, Serve

Of course you can serve in the church.  Help with a service.  Volunteer with the kids.  Help with the facilities.  But you can get creative.  If you are giving away something each day, your service will naturally flow as you have to drop if off to a person in need or a thrift store.  You might take a meal to a person in need.  You might invite someone over for dinner and games (yes, serving people can actually be fun!).

One final thought:

Give $1 each day of Lent.

The things we pay for, we care for.

You can pay each day for your time with God.

Take a bill, slip it into an envelope, and get to it.

Or you could pay up front.

Invest your $40 right at the start.

Then you’ll be like, “I already paid to spend some time with God today, I’m just throwing my money away if I don’t do it!”

Lent 2023

February 22 – April 6, 2023

Easter Sunday

April 9, 2023

What is the word of the day project?

This year, as a tool for reflection, repentance, and remembrance we are using the scripture readings from the Revised Common Lectionary to provide you with three scripture readings each week of Lent. The challenge is to read the scripture, reflect on the word, and take a photo that represents the word and the scripture. Read the scripture in the morning and throughout the day reflect on how you see the word/verse in your day-to-day like. 

One scripture

One word

One image

The word prompts are designed to get you into the Bible each day with words that are significant to this season of repentance, remembrance, and reflection, and to help promote creativity as a spiritual discipline to draw close to God and participate in the season. 

If you choose, you can share your images on Instagram with the hashtag: 

#IMAGESOFLENT23

Download the entire guide here:

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Colossians 3:12-14

I wanted to start with the positive.

The “high fashion” that God is dressing his people.

But there are really two steps-

Before we can put on the new wardrobe of Christ, we must first take off the old garments. Otherwise it would be a foolish as waking up each day and just adding another layer of clothes. Always covering up yesterday’s dirty outfit.

It just doesn’t work.

We can put on love, and hargor hate for our neighbor.

We can’t put on compassion, and declare some people are not worthy.

We can’t put on purity, and keep secretive immoral sin.

So the bible makes it clear:

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

Colossians 3:3-11

This week make it your morning beauty routine-

Go through this passage and declare, outloud even, all that you are taking off- the anger, filthy language, lies, lusts and the like.

And then put on the garments of Christ-

Compassion. Kindness. Humility. Quiet strength. Disciple. Forgiveness. And of course, love.

This week we build on our “Prayer of Examen.”

– We add our Lord’s Prayer.

– Two confessional affirmations.

– And a prayer to be part of the body of Christ.

I encourage you to stop and recite these, preferably out loud, twice a day.

Begin with the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Heidelberg Catechism:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?                                                               

A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Westminster Catechism:

Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Close with a prayer reminding affirming that you are a part of the body of Christ:

You are a part of the body of Christ-

Christ loves you.

Christ died for you.

Christ rose for you.

Christ is coming again for you.

Without you Christ’s body is broken.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:8-9

Step one to get “uncluttered” is confession.

The word “confession” in the Bible comes from the Greek “Homologeo.”  This translates as “Same word.”  What it means is that we’re saying the same word as God.  We’re willing to say the same thing that God says. We’re getting into agreement with God.

God says that angry outburst was a sin.

We say the same.

God says that greedy decision was motivated by sin.

We agree.

God says that lustful look was sin.

We confess the same.

Now we have the opportunity to clear out the clutter and experience the forgiveness of sins and the purity of God.  When we agree that sin is real, and sin separates us from God, confession is how we remove the clutter and grow close God.

A profound practice of confession is the “Prayer of Examen.”

Saint Ignatius commended this practice to all followers of Jesus.

Twice a day, noon and night, we stop and examine our lives,

Confess our sins,

Receive forgiveness,

And move forward in faith.

For the sake of alliteration and simplicity I’ve re-worked Saint Ignatius’ Examen into three steps:

Review

Repent

Request

Review. You have to get in the right posture of review. So stop. Set down the phone.  Walk away from the desk. Break deeply.  Quiet your soul.  Clear your mind.  Then review your day so far: Have you been aware of the presence of God?  Have you lived out of the filling of the Spirit and displayed His fruits?  For what can you give God thanks?  Don’t rush the review and don’t skimp on the rejoicing (that’s your bonus RE word).

Repent.  Here’s the confession part.  A good way to approach repentance is by examining sins of commission and omission.  Have you committed any sins- You spoke harshly of another person.  You lied. You broke the speed limit (yep, sin.).  Confess it.  Then repent of sins of omission- You did not exend love to a neighbor.  You missed an opportunity to show mercy.  You have not been generous with your resources.  Confess these as well.

Request.  With an honest review and the confession of sins the first thing we can request, and receive, is forgiveness.  Let God’s forgiveness wash over you and renew your faith.  Then feel free to bring all your requests before God.  Pray for yourself, your loved ones, your church…

It doesn’t have to be long.  Five to ten minutes is all it takes.  Of course it can be more.

A journal helps.  Writing our our confessions and our requests is a great way to grow and to track God’s work in your life.

And setting an alert on your phone is a great hack.  It will surprise you. It will come at very inconvenient times.  You will want to postpone of delay your examen.  But by all means possible, do it at that moment.