Author Archives: karbly

Connection
Wendell Martin of Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada

I will appoint Peace as your overseer
  and Righteousness as your taskmaster.
Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
  devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
  and your gates Praise. -Isaiah 60:17b-18

An evangelist friend was invited to offer words of counsel for our congregation’s evangelist blessing. He began his talk by tackling the big question that philosophers, theologians, and even ordinary people have wrestled with since the dawn of civilization: “What is life all about?” He said something that inspired me at the time and continues to inspire me as I dig deeper into the meaning of his answer: “Life is about relationships.”

A relationship is a building block of life. It is how we understand who we are. We are who we are because of what we have experienced and, more importantly, because of who or what have been the agents of our experiences. Those people or circumstances change and mold us into who we are always in process of becoming. Who we are is not a static reality but an ever renewing and evolving reality.

Bearing this in mind, we must accept that our connection to all that is created is fundamental to understanding the creativity of the Divine and our place in that evolving creativity. We continue to be part of the evolution of the divine creation when we cultivate and build our relationships with all of God’s creatures, all of God’s good creation. If we live this way, we cannot participate in anything that would violate the sanctity of any part of that good creation. This means living our lives in a manner that does no harm to anyone or anything that is part of that creation because when we harm any part of it, we harm ourselves.

Admittedly this a difficult task, but if we first attempt to move ourselves into that mindset, the realization that we are connected to everyone and everything in this world, then we will move closer to being part of a peaceful solution to those issues that divide us. We will move closer to Christ, the peaceful One.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 3:1-8)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Accept the Light of the World
Linda Booth of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” -John 3:16-17 

My father, Ernest Ledsworth, served as a seventy for nearly 70 years. His vibrant testimony and compassionate spirit brought many to Christ. The last year of his life was extremely difficult for Daddy and our family. He lived in a memory-care unit, while my mother lived in the skilled-nursing unit on the same senior-citizen campus.

As often as we could, my brother, sister, and I would roll Mom in her wheelchair to the memory-care unit so she could get her kisses from Daddy. Often when we visited, Daddy wasn’t aware of our presence. He often was agitated, repeating over and over a specific question like, “Where did I park the car?” “Where did they put my shoes?” “Is it time to go to church?”

One hot, sultry afternoon when I pushed Mom’s wheelchair beside Daddy’s wheelchair, he looked at me with clarity and said, “Linda, did you know that God so loved the world?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I replied. “That’s one of my favorite scriptures. I try to weave it into every sermon I give.”

“No, Linda! Did you know that God so loved the world?”  No matter what I said to calm him, his agitation grew as he asked the same question: “Linda, did you know that God so loved the world?”

Finally, he smiled that sweet smile that we hadn’t seen for a very long time and calmly said, “Linda. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son. Isn’t it marvelous?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I said. “It is truly marvelous.”

“It is, isn’t it,” he replied. “You better make sure that you tell everyone!”

In that lucid moment, my father reminded me again that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Several weeks later, our beloved father died. I still miss him. However, that last precious conversation continues to remind me of God’s great love for all people and our calling to share the “marvelous” news of Jesus Christ.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 2:13-22)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Cheery, Accompanied by Catastrophe
Bruce Lindgren of Independence, MO, USA

More fully embody your oneness and equality in Jesus Christ. Oneness and equality in Christ are realized through the waters of baptism, confirmed by the Holy Spirit, and sustained through the sacrament of Communion. Embrace the full meaning of these sacraments and be spiritually joined in Christ as never before…. Oneness and equality in Christ do not mean uniformity. They mean Unity in Diversity and relating in Christ-like love to the circumstances of others as if they were one’s own. They also mean full opportunity for people to experience human worth and related rights, including expressing God-given giftedness in the church and society. -Doctrine and Covenants 165:3a, e

There have always been flowers in our yard, often growing in large pots or containers. Several years ago, we discovered lantana (Lantana camara), a shrubby plant with pleasant, brightly colored clusters (umbrels) of tiny flowers, often with mixed colors within the clusters. The flowers are pleasantly fragrant, and they attract bees (a good thing for the environment). In our climate, they are killed by the winter cold.

While visiting Australia, we saw lantana growing freely along the roadsides, and we learned that they are considered a noxious weed. (Winters are generally not cold enough to kill them, and they have few natural competitors in Australia.) So, the cheery little plant back home becomes a real pest in a different context.

Life is like that: a mixture of the cheery and hopeful, accompanied by a certain catastrophe. We work to encourage joy and happiness, but we sometimes create real problems for all our good intentions.

We are not divided into good teams and evil teams. All of us are capable of creating havoc in our attempts to do the “right thing,” and hope and joy sometimes spring unbidden in moments of gloom. So, if God should send a Savior, and if we should put him to death in our willfulness, it should not be a surprise. Some of our cultural forebears sowed an enemy’s land with salt so that they could no longer grow crops, but we also inherit acts of great selflessness and kindness.

In the midst of tragedy, we sometimes come upon “collateral beauty;” and our best efforts are sometimes laced with catastrophe, for others if not for ourselves. In the Lenten springtime, the dead remnants of winter exist side-by-side with the budding of new life. And so, the cross tells us that tragedy is always accompanied by hope.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 2:13–22)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

No, Probably Not
Matt Frizzell, Director of Human Resources Ministries

Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. -Matthew 12:15b-18

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Probably not.

Confession is a time of cleansing and embracing hard truths about ourselves and our world. Lent is such a time to wrestle with truth before the joy of Easter. Consider how the story goes:

• The lawyers interrogated him. (see Luke 10)
• The chief priests and elders questioned his authority. (see Mark 11)
• The Pharisees tried to entrap him. (see Matthew 22)
• The crowd yelled “Crucify him!”, choosing Barabbas-a rioter-over Jesus, the peaceful One.  (See Mark 15, John 19, Luke 23)
• One disciple betrayed him.  (See Luke 22)
• At a critical moment, other disciples avoided him and denied him. (see Matthew 26)

What makes me think I am different? Why would I think that moving toward Jesus or his peace is easy? These are questions I ask myself, searching for truth. The world I live is in not static. Its culture and structure are recreated everyday with social media and people’s actions. Do I really think that our world is designed to drift effortlessly into Christ’s peace?

To understand discipleship, I look to the Gospels. The Gospel of Mark depicts Jesus having to repeatedly explain his message and mission of the Kingdom to his disciples. Jesus’ interaction with them in Mark 4 is typical of the whole Gospel. It’s like the disciples are hard-headed. They just can’t seem to understand Jesus-what he says or what he does. Mark tells his Gospel this way for a reason. Hopefully, we see ourselves in the disciples. Grasping Jesus’ message and mission isn’t easy. The gospel may be simple. The message and mission might be straight-forward: proclaim, forgive, love, and believe. But none of this is easy. What makes me think I’ll avoid the traps that the Pharisees, lawyers, chief priests, crowd, or disciples fall into as they oppose, betray and deny him?

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Probably not.

Facing the truth of our world and ourselves takes humility. As unpopular as it has become, repentance is the answer. Repentance and sin have become words of faith that cast a shadow of shame, guilt, and resentment. No doubt, people in authority use the label of sin and Christ’s call to repentance as a weapon of spiritual abuse. But shame and guilt aren’t the destination. Facing the truth of Lent-its fasting, reflection, and confession-is about humility. It is the doorway to move through toward the peaceful One.

Consider Mark 1:15; Matthew 3:2, 4:7, 10:7; Luke 3:3, 10:9, 10:11. Then read Luke 4:16 20.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 2:13-22)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Letting Go during Lent
Michael Botts of Hannover, Germany

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce…. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. -Jeremiah 29:4-5, 7, 11

One of the traditions of the Lenten season is fasting, and there are many reasons why fasting can be good. Fasting reminds us that our easy access to food is a luxury. It helps us concentrate on spirituality and strengthens our discipline. Fasting can be done for many more reasons. One reason is the spiritual practice of “letting go.”

When we fast by not eating certain foods, we “let go” of our normal diet. Cutting out television time and spending less time on the computer are other ways of “letting go” of what we would normally do.

This spiritual discipline of letting go should not be confused with not doing something you have done before. Not eating candy but eating more potato chips is not fasting. Watching less TV but playing more computer games is not fasting. When we fast, when we “let go” of a habit, we concentrate on something deeper within us. This can lead us to a healthy catharsis, a cleansing or purification of ourselves.

A scene in one of the films on walking the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) shows a young woman dumping her make-up, cosmetics, hairspray, and other toiletries after the first day of walking. She quickly learned that it is easier to walk a pilgrimage with a lighter backpack. She decided to let go of something.

Similarly, fasting during the Lenten season can help us get rid of unnecessary loads or habits which are not good for us. Sometimes, the exhilaration of letting go can also help us continue a new way of life beyond the forty days of Lent.

It’s interesting that the word discipline can have a negative meaning, such as when a school child is “disciplined.” School discipline can mean punishment in one way or the other (hopefully not physically). Spiritual disciplines such as fasting help form us as disciples in positive ways. They involve learning to free ourselves from unnecessary burdens, and opening ourselves to God’s blessings. In this context discipline is positive and can help us to lighten the backpack of burdens we have been carrying around with us.

I encourage you to share with other Daily Bread readers what you are letting go of this Lent by adding a comment to this blog. Maybe we can encourage each other to “let go” this season.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 2:13-22)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Are We Moving toward Jesus, the Peaceful One?
Bruce Crockett of Redmond OR, USA

Depart from evil, and do good;
  so you shall abide forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
  he will not forsake his faithful ones. -Psalm 37:27-28a

Years ago, when I was pastoring in Fairfield, California, a woman of wisdom said in our branch council meeting that the congregation did not celebrate the children enough. The woman of wisdom, Geri Zagata, had a background in Buddhism and was not baptized in the church…not yet!

She was definitely a member of the congregation as she worked with the children in the Sunday school class and regularly attended branch council meetings with her husband Bob. Geri and Bob were teachers for the elementary hearing-impaired students in Solano County. Geri pointed out that our denomination only had one day a year in June to celebrate Children’s Day. In her tradition people would celebrate girls’ day and boys’ day in May and then celebrate the church’s Children’s Day in June.

But she was just getting started. Geri suggested that the lower elementary children could take up the offering, pass out bulletins, and help clean up. The upper elementary children could draw the cover of the weekly bulletin that correlated with the Sunday theme. Each week the winning drawing was chosen to represent the class. The junior high and high school students would be assigned a Sunday to give a short message from the pulpit during the service. The children really enjoyed their roles and appreciated the notoriety of being a part of the worship as well as the congregation. On Children’s Day in June, Bob Zagata created a collage of pictures of all the children in the congregation for the bulletin cover for the Sunday service.

The last piece to this wonderful program was related to the adults. It was further suggested that church should not be the only place where members would interact with the children. The adults of the congregation committed themselves to show up at the athletic events, the plays, the band concerts, and other special activities that featured the students. It was wonderful. Even at the band concerts that I put on for the parents (I was the music educator for David Weir Elementary School) I would turn around to greet the audience and see a row of church members sitting in the audience.

When we increased the activity of the children in the Sunday worship and when we as church members showed our faces at their school events, we were sharing the love of God and moving the congregation toward Jesus, the peaceful One.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (John 2:13-22)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Forty Days
Joseph Andrews of Independence, MO, USA

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness…He fasted forty days and forty nights. -Matthew 4:1-2

In the Christian calendar 40 days marks the period of Lent, which comes before the celebrations of Easter. This is a season of reflection and preparation, often identified by fasting from food and other things. Only a small number of people today fast for the whole of Lent, although some maintain the practice on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. By observing Lent, Christians replicate Jesus’ sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.

Where Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross, Lent recalls the events leading up to and including Jesus’ crucifixion by the Romans.

But we ask, why 40 days? It turns out 40 is a significant number in Jewish-Christian scripture:

• In Genesis the flood which destroyed the Earth came about by 40 days and nights of rain.
• The Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the land promised to them by God.
• Moses fasted 40 days before receiving the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
• Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry.

Both Eastern and Western churches observe Lent, but the 40 days are counted differently. The Western church excludes Sundays, which are celebrated as the day of Christ’s resurrection. The Eastern church includes Sundays. These churches also start Lent on different days. Western churches start Lent on the seventh Wednesday before Easter (called Ash Wednesday). Eastern churches start Lent on Monday of the seventh week before Easter and end it nine days before Easter. Eastern churches call this period the “Great Lent.”

Certain feelings and concepts come to mind as we move into Passion Week. I am caught up in the crowd’s joy, the sorrow, the pain, the hurtful events, unimaginable cruelty. I am touched each time I read these passages.

The events of Passion Week represent the ultimate gift of love.

The Lenten season provides an invitation for us to remember well this story that makes a huge difference in our lives. As we move through the mystery of this week and consider deeply all that transpired to our Lord and Savior for our sake, our lives will change. Mine will never be the same again.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (Mark 1:9-11)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Hear God’s Guidance
Dave Brown of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

Then God spoke all these words:
…you shall have no other gods before me…
You shall not make for yourself an idol…
You shall not bow down to them or worship them…
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God…
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy…
Honor your father and your mother…
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor\’s house… -Exodus 20:1, 4-5, 7-8, 12-17

As the church prepared to change its name to Community of Christ in 2001, I was reminded of an affirmation of that change I had not fully understood previously. My memory was of the way a church school teacher had introduced me to the Ten Commandments as a youth. We had spent time reading the Exodus scripture and learning about how the Israelites had come to the wilderness of Sinai. As we focused on Exodus 20, she led a discussion about what we thought these words of guidance from God meant to each of us.

I remember hearing comments from classmates about what we thought were some of the easier statements to understand. We talked about how we should act toward others. The discussion included comments like I shouldn’t steal anything, I shouldn’t make up bad stories about my friends, and I should treat my mother and father with respect.

But then, our teacher shifted our discussion. She said we had been giving examples of what each of us should do individually. Those were good things to think about, and we should remember our ideas. But then she wanted us to think about what these words mean to us as a community. She encouraged us to think about how our congregation members should act together.

It took a little while for us to understand she meant how as a group we should treat others who are not part of our group. More than that, how should we help others who are not part of our congregation? We learned an important lesson with the discussion. We learned that a community is not defined by who is not part of the group. We learned a community is created by choosing to reach out to everyone for whom we can provide help.

I still use that experience to remind me to read scripture in at least two contexts. What is it saying to me personally? What is it saying to us as Community of Christ?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (Mark 1:9-11)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Are We Moving toward Jesus, the Peaceful One?
Gene Allen Groner of Independence, MO, USA

Lovingly invite others to experience the good news of new life in community with Christ. Opportunities abound in your daily lives if you choose to see them. Undertake compassionate and just actions to abolish poverty and end needless suffering. Pursue peace on and for the Earth. -Doctrine and Covenants 165:1c-d

This question causes me to reflect on my daughter’s words, “We are either moving forward or moving backward. Direction is what’s important.”

Am I moving forward or backward? Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? When I think of moving toward Jesus, I think of following him and keeping his commandments. Christ calls us every day to love one another as he loves us. That is the way I want to live, but I must admit that I don’t always measure up to his standards.

When I encounter a homeless person, I feel a sense of love and compassion, but I don’t always stop and see what their needs are. I wish I did. When a friend or loved one comes to mind, as they often do, I feel friendship and love for them as I think of them fondly. But I must confess that I don’t always call them to see how they are doing and what they are feeling. I should do that more often.

There are so many things we can do to move toward Jesus, the peaceful One. Here are a few things that come to mind as I ponder this question:

• Pray every day for people who are homeless and hungry, and for those affected by COVID-19.
• Devote time every morning to reading the Bible and meditating on the word of God.
• Call someone different every day and ask how they are doing, especially those who may be lonely and afraid. Jesus always told his friends, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.”
• At least once a day do something kind for someone else, and don’t tell anyone what you have done.
• Each day ask God what you can do to help build the kingdom of Christ here on Earth. It is surprising the things that God plants in your mind at just the right time. Jesus said, “I always do the will of my Father in heaven.”
• Offer a homeless person a bottle of water, a blanket, gloves, a new pair of socks, or a bag of food you just purchased from a drive-thru restaurant.
• Serve as a volunteer for a not-for-profit organization like Habitat for Humanity or Harvesters.
• Donate food to a homeless shelter or food pantry on a regular basis or whenever you are able.

These kinds of things help move us closer to Christ, and they are surely pleasing to God. It is an honor and privilege to be able to reflect on the things that keep us “moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One.” As we consider this critical question about our discipleship, may the Spirit of Christ be with us and in our efforts to better serve him. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (Mark 1:9-11)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

One with the Mystery of God
Mary Jacks of Redmond, OR, USA

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God  as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross. -Philippians 2:5-8

Mary! Mary! I heard my name lovingly called. I was giving blood at the Red Cross for the fourth time and had just finished. All of a sudden, while they were putting a bandage and red wrap around my arm, I passed out for 30 seconds or so. They sat me up, offered me fruit juice, and I was able to leave after a few minutes of observation.

Two days later I woke up in the early morning from a dream in which I was dying, and folks were coming in and out of my bedroom attending to me, saying my name so endearingly. I felt such love. I remember saying to myself, “I can do this! I can say ‘yes’ to this! I am going to be all right!” There are many meanings to dreams and, yes, I am going to look at literally dying in a different way now. There is also a symbolic way to look at dying. I can take this dying of Mary metaphorically.

As I look at moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One, this Lenten season, I see myself dying. Jesus certainly calls me to a dying to self, that ego or individual self: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…” (John 12:24).

After this dream, I became aware of new ways of being and doing in many of the simplest things of life. I didn’t get upset at someone whom I was dealing with at the bank due to his mistake. I looked at his heart and knew God called him beloved just as I was beloved. I didn’t get frustrated when I had to drive back to the bank and connect with him again when phoning wouldn’t work, wasting valuable time on a blustery, snowy day. I became aware of an area where I was still racist and had a deep desire to learn from it. I was surprised at myself! These were just two of the many little everyday experiences I encountered. I became aware of being and doing differently. I am letting go! I am dying! I can do this!

I am reminded of today’s scripture from Philippians 2:5-8. Jesus emptied himself; he let go! I am letting go more of my ego self, my individual self, and hopefully seeing a more abundant and generous true self where the “other,” including the earth, is so connected to me as we are one in this year of 2021 (twenty twenty-one), and as I follow Jesus, the peaceful One. I am grounded; I am safe with God! And nothing can take this away no matter what will happen to me! I can risk and step out with courage. The pull of God seems like an ocean wave coming in, capturing me, and receding on the seashore, constantly pulling me toward God, urging me, luring me to be “home” or one with the mystery I call God! Yes, I stumble sometimes just as I do on the beach when a wave comes in and then pulls me to the sea, yet I am changing!

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Gospel Contemplation (Mark 1:9-11)

Each week during Lent, you are invited to pray with a different gospel story from the life of Christ. Use your senses and imagination to enter the text. Allow it to come to life in you, observing details, noticing interactions, even engaging in dialogue. Notice where you find yourself in the story and how you feel about what is happening. Notice what it evokes in you or invites of you. Take time to journal or enter silent prayer to reflect on your experience and to sense where the Spirit may be leading you through this scriptural encounter.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.