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"Yes and No"
Recommitting to these disciplines during Lent helps clear our minds, unclutter our lives, and turn our attention toward God. To see who we are, most of us really need this time to realize that the 'devices and desires of our own hearts' can get us nowhere fast. We may be struggling with our own weaknesses, errors or failures. We may be suffering under the weight of some past deed. During Lent, we are invited to hide no longer from ourselves. We are urged toward a deeper awareness that God We can hear God's "No" to us, when we accept the habits that keep us from being whole, healthy and well-adjusted. We can hear God's "No" to those choices in our corporate, civil lives that bury us alive with fear and pain. We can hear God's "No" to those things done in our names that hurt others. God's "No" is a signal that something is deeply wrong with something equally important. In a world that says "Yes" to just about anything we want to do, Lent is our invitation to draw aside and be with God and one another for a purpose. Lent is our time to become more clearly aware of things in our lives that are sorely in need of change or healing. Our Lenten Scriptures, hymns and prayers all point toward two things: hearing God's "No" to anything that keeps us from having a full and joyous life and hearing God's "Yes" in the promise that, with the Risen Christ, we will find the help we need to live the life for which we were created. This assurance of the abiding power and presence of God to amend our lives is just as real as any sin or sorrow we bear. God says "Yes" to healing our contrite and broken lives. This is the message of Lent. God says "Yes" to joyful new life for us. This is the message of Easter! --Rev. Ann H. Franklin Previous messages: |