Remembering. This is a big part of Lent for me, taking time to remember those who have shaped me, helped me grow, pushed me to grow through their encouragement or their challenge. One way I am remembering this year is through a daily routine. Rather than eliminating something from my life, I have added something. […]
Lent: Discovering the cracks
Cracks in the ceiling. These are common in this part of the country. Intense heat during the summer, dry ground, slight shifting of the foundation, and “Behold,” cracks in the ceiling. Yesterday I decided to tackle two such cracks in the entryway of our house. I’ve done it often enough I had some idea of […]
Lent: Pay attention
I fasted yesterday. I went without food from dinner on Tuesday until dinner yesterday evening. It was not really a planned fast; there was no spiritual motivation or noble cause behind it. During a week of being homebound, with subfreezing temperatures, a couple of days of water outage, and most of that time with my […]
Lent: Celebrating impermanence
Yesterday, President Biden publicly commemorated the 500,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in this country alone. It’s a staggering number, and yet as the stories keep coming and the number goes up, I get numb to the reality of it. Because I am not a nurse or some other front-line worker, because I don’t […]
You can go now! Lent 2021
Yesterday, sitting in my car behind another car at an intersection stop sign, I noted a familiar pattern. The driver in front of me was making a right turn onto a street that had two lanes going each direction. The traffic was patchy with cars crossing every few seconds. At the first break in the […]
Melt some snow
I spent most of Monday and Tuesday last week melting snow. We were among the few who did not lose power during the winter storm, but we lost water for a few days. We were surrounded by snow, having just come through the biggest snowfall in Abilene history on Sunday, so I decided to melt […]
First Sunday of Lent 2021
Today is the first Sunday of Lent, that 6-week period in the church calendar that precedes Easter. I was a latecomer to Lent. Growing up in a Baptist minister’s home, I rarely heard of Lent. It was not until I was a seminary student that I was introduce to Lent as an experience that might […]