Ideas for Lent

Tara explores the significance of the Lenten season starting with Ash Wednesday. She encourages listeners to incorporate new spiritual practices like fasting, prayer, and giving, rather than just giving up something. Drawing from Isaiah 55, Sister Joan Chittister, and the 'Stop, Look, Go' gratitude technique, Tara discusses how Lent can be a transformative period. She also introduces a free Lenten guidebook and shares a litany for Transfiguration Sunday. Tara invites you to join her in this sacred, but never stuffy, Lenten adventure.

Transcript

S6 E10 Ideas for Lent

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans. I'm your muse, Tara Lamont Eastman, a pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans. This podcast is about keeping on the lookout for the holy and the sacred that shows up in everyday life. Thank you for joining me on this always sacred, never stuffy adventure that I call Holy Shenanigans.

Welcome my friends to the season of Lent. The Lenten season is right around the corner, beginning this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, March 5th. For many people, their familiarity with Lent comes in regards to choosing a thing that they'll give up. Common things people choose [00:01:00] are sweets and chocolate, alcohol, rich foods.

And sometimes even television and social media. But, I wonder, what if this Lent we weren't being so focused on what we're giving up? I think we should consider adding something. And maybe not a thing, but a practice. An action. Something that will fill our hearts and our souls all this Lenten season. What if this Lent we focused our intentions and efforts Engaging in practices of fasting, prayer, and giving that also feed our own souls.

Isaiah 55, 2 through 3 puts it this way, Why spend your money for what is not bread, Your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me [00:02:00] heedfully, that you may have life. I know, you may have already decided what you're giving up. But, I invite you this year to consider Lent as a time to try something new.

Sister Joan Chittester says this in her article, Lent is the grace to grieve. Lent is a call to weep for what we could have been and are not. Lent is the grace to grieve for what we should have done and did not. Lent is the opportunity to change what we ought to change but have not. Lent is not about penance.

Lent is about becoming, doing, and changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now. Lent is a summons to live anew. To know where we want to go this Lenten season, it's important that we [00:03:00] take a look at the history of Lent. Historically, Lent was the 40 days of preparation for Easter.

When something was given up for Lent, The intention was to take the time, energy, and resources previously spent on that thing and repurpose that time, energy, and resources on spiritual practices. Practices like prayer, acts of service, and giving to others.

From Ash Wednesday to Easter, you'll notice that there's actually more than 40 days in this season of Lent. This is because each Sunday of Lent is noted as a little Easter. And for each Sunday, that is the time that the fast would pause to allow for rest, community gathering, and Sabbath. The original intent of Lenten [00:04:00] practices is to was that it was a way for the church to live out their faith in everyday ways to help people love God, neighbor, and self as they prepare for Easter.

Now with that context behind us, let's consider some new ways to observe the Lenten season. Stop, look, go. Several years ago, I was looking for a guide to help prepare and lead the Lenten season in a new church setting. While there are many wonderful resources to choose from, I felt that focusing on gratitude was needed.

I then discovered a wonderful workbook on gratitude titled Stop, Look, Go! A Grateful Practice Workbook and Gratitude Journal. Based on the teaching of Brother David Stendel Rast in the first lesson of this book, Stendel Rast invites the reader to practice three things to help [00:05:00] them notice and become more aware of daily opportunities for gratitude He writes, the stop, look, go technique is summed up in the following three steps.

Stop, become present, awake, aware, and receptive. Look, notice, observe, consider, and have a direct experience. Go, acknowledge, take action, do something with the opportunities and awareness which gratefulness offers you. As I read this description of stop, look, go, I was reminded how in my own way and in my own gratitude practices, I was incorporating some of these elements already.

This came into my life through a book called Sleeping with Bread. Its focus was on the examen, or a daily prayer [00:06:00] practice that comes from the Ignatian tradition. The book invited the reader to do a daily review of each day. And to identify where they experienced joy and sorrow, or consolation and desolation.

It asked, what is it this day that I need to release to God, my sorrow and desolation? And what do I need to hold on to, my joy and consolation? This prayer practice gave me space to be honest about what life was like, as well as to hold on to the joys. With the help of this examine, I started to pay a lot more close attention to life, to the joys, to the sorrows, and everything in between.

When something struck me as a joy, or something beautiful in the world around me, I would [00:07:00] take a photo. With the help of these everyday photos, I was able to remember, to see, and to take account, to be more present. To, well, stop, look, and go. The examine and stop, look, and go are spiritual practices that have helped to enrich my life.

And I hope as I tell you about them, they can be helpful to you too. This Lent, I've coordinated a guidebook, a guidebook to help you practice things like the examine or stop, look, go. If you would like to receive a free Lenten guidebook. Drop us a note in our podcast email. You can find that in our Buzzsprout show notes.

As a thank you for sending this request, we will add you to the Holy Shenanigans podcast email list so that you can stay up to date to all of our sacred, non stuffy shenanigans. [00:08:00] So, you're invited! Invited to join us on this Lenten journey of prayer, giving, learning, and creativity. As we prepare for Easter together today, I have another gift to offer you.

It's a blessing in the form of a litany that I wrote for Transfiguration Sunday. In it, you'll find themes of sorrows and joys, struggle and soaring. May these words help you as you travel your own path on your own spiritual journey. A litany for transfiguration, year C. Climb that mountain. Our daily struggles of conflict and struggle are wearing us out.

We long for change, transformation really, sorrow to turn to joy, overwhelm to turn to ease, [00:09:00] the noise in and around us to turn to stillness. Oh God. You call us to climb this mountain. With your help, we can set all that aside, if only for a short while. We can put on our walking shoes, pack a bag with water and snacks, and head out the door.

Fresh air, cool breezes, birds and mountain trail, awaits us. Oh God, You go with us as we climb this mountain. As we ascend, we get a new view of the places and the people in the valley, as the horizon surrounds us. All is visible, the big and the small. Oh God, you go with us as we stand on this mountain. We make [00:10:00] it to the top of the hill and look up at the sky overhead.

Clouds, sun and canopy of blue sky in fold us on your mountain. We can rest. We can breathe. We can be still in the quiet. There is transformation, not one that removes us from the world below, but gives us new energy and insight to carry with us into the valley below. Oh God, transform us to climb back down.

Mountain. We hike down the trail, snacks eaten, water drank. We are filled not just in body, but to the depths of our soul. In that quiet journey, we have been changed and transformed to meet the needs that await, to share the [00:11:00] peace we have been given. Oh God, empower us to carry your kingdom of transfiguration with us wherever you call us to go.

You have given what is needed for the transfiguration of our hearts, as well as the world. Amen. I am your holy shenanigans muse, Tara Lamont Eastman. Thank you for joining us this week for holy shenanigans that surprise, encourage, redirect, and turn life upside down, all in the name of love. This is an unpredictable spiritual adventure.

That is always sacred, but never stuffy. Thank you to our Holy Shenanigans listeners for sending us some fan mail via our Buzzsprout page. Hi there, Roy and Brooklyn, as well as listeners from Jamestown and Rochester, New [00:12:00] York. . If you are in the Northwest Pennsylvania region, I invite you to join us at Warren First Presbyterian Church for Lenten worship, Lectio Bible study, and a visual art project that will be revealed on Easter morning. Until next time, as we begin our Lenten journey, may you be well, may you be at peace, and may you know that you are always beloved.