2009 Lenten Devo 2

I took a walk around town today, taking pictures of churches (in one corner of town) and other things in which I could see God's impact, even in spite of humans constructing over it.

The first church I went to once during sophomore year. I was helping out with a project that one of my friends was doing, and it involved little kids singing a musical based on the story of Jesus. My role was playing the accompaniment, completely decked-out on an electronic keyboard.

This one I've never seen before, and I don't know what denomination it is, but I like that rock statue in front. Nice imagery.

This church (at least I think it's a church) is on a corner of an intersection I drive through rather frequently, and I've still never really noticed this until now. You can see the cross on the window, but there's nothing else that really screams "church" besides that.

Another church I've been to exactly once, freshman year when the director of the lab choir I was in had us sing a Sunday morning service as a tune-up before the concert for the Advanced Choral Conducting class later that week. My first-year religion prof was also the pastor at this church. If you notice the sign (which you probably can't because the picture is too small) it says that this church, a Moravian church, is a Christian denomination. Really? I thought it was a Muslim denomination. Or a Buddhist denomination. 

[02-17-2019 commentary: I realize now that that was a sarcastic comment, which, at the time I wrote it it seemed clear that others would pick up that it's a sarcastic comment. I feel the need to comment extra on it now because, almost 10 years later, this was not my first gut reaction. My reaction was: why did I feel the need to write it like that? The spirit of why I was pointing out the sign was due to the fact that, prior to my first exposure to the Moravian church, I had not known that it ever existed. And perhaps, it is for this particular reason that the Moravians feel the need to point out that, yes, it is a Christian church.]

Ah, All Saints [“http://n8daoggblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/my-choice-of-faith.html”]. This is the "E-church" [“http://n8daoggblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-church.html”] I went to on a semi-regular basis my junior year in college. I could say more, but I'm not sure what to include, or how "blog-worthy" it might be. So I'll leave it at that.

This is Trinity Lutheran. It's like 2 blocks from my house, but I've never gone. Something about the morning service starting at 9:00. It's a bit early for me. Also, I hear they only do communion once a month.

____________________________________

This morning I listened to a sermon about the importance of focusing on God (and His love thereof) as opposed to the symbols of God (like the Bible, and other things). Usually when I go to St. John's [“http://www.stjohns-elca.org/“] I hear a lot about God's love and its importance, and somehow my mind flashed back this post [“http://josiah.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2003/2/22/72335.html”] from a friend's blog, and today how it connected to my Lenten devotion.

Another friend of mine with whom I've been in conversation over our respective spiritual journeys asked me what I was doing for Lent, and quite frankly I've been delaying a response because I don't know what to say. Growing up, Lent was a time in which I needed to go cold-turkey on something in order to show that I was being a good Christian. These days it has become much more fluid, largely because I've broken free of the institutional religion in which I was brought up. There's a difference between giving up sugar "because I don't need it" (i.e. just for show), and using Lent as a time to reflect and grow. There isn't a single thing that I have successfully given up or added per tradition; rather I've kind of experimented with different ways of bringing myself to God. I've done some Scriptural readings, I've had a couple really quiet evenings where I clear my mind so to let God enter. Today I decided to take pictures of what I saw, and it's a project I hope to continue.

Per the link of my blogging friend's post, he was given an assignment to take pictures of God's love as he saw it. That's the frame of mind (no pun intended) I'm trying to take right now. I don't know if taking pictures of churches is exactly it (I did take pictures of other things, too; I'm just not including it for this post). But I do know it's a start.

2009 Lenten Devo 1

(I'm planning on doing more than one of these between now and Easter, hence the name)

I came across the following text (literally, opened the Scripture book to no page in particular) last night right before going to bed:

And the Lord said to Job: "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? ... Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on all who are proud, and abase them. Look on all who are proud, and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can give you victory. (Job 40:1-2, 7-14)

It goes on like this, of course, but what I took away was the necessity to have humility sometimes. As frustrated human beings, we sometimes have the tendency to blame things (and if we believe in God, we often blame him for things). I know; I've been guilty of that quite a few times in my life. But looking back at several things that have happened--my car crash, my personal exile from the church I grew up in, the few times I've witnessed the Cubs die at the end of the season, several other things--good things have come out of it, and in this discovery I realized it was silly for me to blame God for these things. I wrote a post [“http://n8daoggblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/wake-up-call.html”] on my reflections after hearing this passage in church one Sunday a few years back, and even though I acknowledged that it would be wrong to challenge God on His plans for my life, I barely had the faculties to understand why. In spite of my limited human understanding, I have a better idea now, and it's one with which I can be at peace. It all goes back to the need for self-humility. It's what makes my relationship with God strong (or, at least, not abominably weak).

Yeah... I kinda need to get my Lenten thing back on track. I did quite a bit of reading that first half-week of Lent, then dropped off the last week. Hopefully this will lead into a more positive spiritual turnaround.