Lenten disciplines in a time of turmoil

Yesterday, I celebrated at a parish that's going through a rough patch. I was planning to preach on the Transfiguration and psychedelic drugs, but I ended up giving them this list of Lenten disciplines instead. I think they might be more generally useful, and so I'm sharing them here. Please know that this list is not in any way proscriptive. If it is helpful, then use it, and if not, not. These are just some thoughts I’ve had in the past couple of days that might be useful for groups or individuals, depending on what's going on for them. Take what you need and leave the rest.

5 things to give up 

1. Give up ascribing motives. I find that this is incredibly difficult because what we each want to know is why. Why did this happen? And that’s why it’s so tempting to try to figure out people’s motivations. It gives meaning to the story that we’re currently confused about. But for right now, all we can really determine is what did or did not happen, what was or was not done. Ascribing motives leads us to be suspect of the positive behaviors of those we disagree with (“I wonder what s/he’s really trying to get from me”), or to excuse the negative behaviors of those in our camp (“but s/he didn’t mean it”). 
2. Give up figuring out what you or anyone else should have done or could have done. It didn’t happen. For whatever reason, whatever it is you think should have happened didn’t happen. There is no use trying to go back because whatever it is that happened is in the past. Yes, we can learn from this. But now, in the midst of the crisis, is not the best time. Let it go. Forgive yourself and others. 
3. Give up the need to be right. Every single person is going to have a perspective on what is going on, based on personal experience, history, and the information s/he possesses. That perspective is neither more nor less right than your own. When we give up the need to be right, it helps us to listen, to recognize that this person’s perspective is valid without needing to answer, without needing to prove, without it being a springboard to our own response. 
4. Give up anticipating the future. We don’t know what the future will hold. We don’t know what new development may appear even as soon as tomorrow. When we anticipate the future, it closes us off to other possible futures that the Holy Spirit may want to lead us into – the possibility that God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. 
5. Give up trying to fix or save. It’s such a temptation to leap in with grand gestures and solutions to everything. But at this point, fixing or saving is more about trying to reach an anticipated future or trying to correct the past. 

5 things to take on

That’s not to say that we should sit back and do nothing. There are things we can do, things we can take on for Lent. They may seem simple, but I believe they are the actions that will bring healing, trust, and community.

1. Take on small kindnesses. One thing I learned early on in my ministry was that there was a much better chance I could be there for people when they were in the middle of a crisis if I was there for people in all of the small, day to day things. One percent of the time, they needed me to show up when something went really wrong. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they just needed me to answer their friggin’ email. What are the small kindnesses we can do to care for one another? The accretion of these small gestures, day after day, are what is going to make the difference in the long run, building the foundation of trust, support, and hope as you work together. 
2. Take on time to pause and reflect. In the midst of temptation to do something to make things better, sometimes the best thing to do is to sit quietly, look around, and see where you are. And that may mean feeling a range of feelings: sorrow, anger, relief, grief, guilt, confusion... But I believe that it is in sitting there and feeling the feelings that the healing hand of God is allowed to enter. It’s when we show God our wounds that we are able to be healed. And that happens when we take time to actually find the parts that hurt. 
3. Take on smiling at each other. This sounds very small, but I think there’s something important that happens when we simply look at one another and smile. Please note that I’m not saying, “Keep on smilin’!” What I’m trying to get at here is staying connected with one another with hope. You don’t need to agree about anything to acknowledge another person’s humanity and connection to you. 
4. Take on breathing. It’s amazing how important this is and how much it helps. About a week ago, I got a “Wellness Newsletter” from our HR department. I was stressed and anxious about a ton of things I needed to do and said to myself, “I don’t have time for this ‘Wellness’ crap!” But I looked at it, and on the list of suggestions of things to do, it said, “Breathe 3 times.” Well, I figured I had time to do that. So I breathed 3 times. And then, because it felt so good, I breathed a fourth time. And I was thrown by how much difference this small thing made in how I felt about the day. So when the anxiety comes up, breathe three times. Maybe four. 
5. Take on the mantra, “All will be well.” Julian of Norwich was a 14th Century anchoress and mystic who lived through the plague that wiped out 1/3 of the population of Europe. In the midst of this and in the midst of her own suffering, she received this word: “All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things shall all be very well.” It may be helpful to remember that in the grand scheme of things, this is all small potatoes. As you breathe, remind yourself that all will be well, and all will be well, and all things will all be well. God loves you. God will always love you. God will always be with you, no matter what. And all manner of things shall all be very well.

Lent Madness is coming!

Yesterday may have marked 3 weeks until the beginning of Lent, but more importantly today marks 3 weeks until the beginning of Lent Madness. Yes, indeed, the saintly contest begins again. And here's the official info from the Lent Madness Supreme Executive Committee:

Lent Madness 2014

The Saintly Smack Down!

Grit, determination, perseverance. These are the traits, along with the obvious one — holiness — that will be needed to win the 2014 Lent Madness Golden Halo. Based loosely on the NCAA basketball tournament, Lent Madness pits 32 saints against one another in a single-elimination bracket. It is also a wildly popular online devotional designed to help people learn about saints.

Lent Madness began in 2010 as the brainchild of the Rev. Tim Schenck, an Episcopal priest and rector of St. John’s Church in Hingham, Massachusetts. In seeking a fun, engaging way for people to learn about the men and women who make up the church’s calendar of saints, Schenck came up with this unique Lenten devotion. Combining his love of sports with his passion for the lives of the saints, Lent Madness was born on his blog “Clergy Family Confidential.”

Starting in 2012, Schenck partnered with Forward Movement (the same folks that publish Forward Day by Day) executive director the Rev. Scott Gunn, and Lent Madness went viral, reaching over 50,000 people and getting mentioned in everything from the Washington Post to USA Today, to Sports Illustrated (seriously).

Here’s how it works: on the weekdays of Lent information is posted at www.lentmadness.org about two different saints. Each pairing remains open for 24 hours as participants read about and then vote to determine which saint moves on to the next round. Sixteen saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo.

The first round consists of basic biographical information about each of the 32 saints. Things get a bit more interesting in the subsequent rounds as we offer quotes and quirks, explore legends, and even move into the area of saintly kitsch. It’s fun, it’s informative, it’s the saintly smack down!

This year Lent Madness features an intriguing slate of saints ancient and modern, Biblical and ecclesiastical. The 2014 heavyweights include Thomas Merton, Catherine of Siena, J.S. Bach, David of Wales, John Wesley [ed. note: one of mine], Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Joseph of Arimathaea [ed. note: also one of mine]. The full bracket is online at the Lent Madness website.

New this year is the publication of the Saintly Scorecard — The Definitive Guide to Lent Madness 2014. Available through Forward Movement, it contains biographies of all 32 saints to assist those who like to fill out their brackets in advance, in addition to a full-color pull-out bracket.

This all kicks off on “Ash Thursday,” March 6. To participate, visit www.lentmadness.org, where you can also print out a bracket for free to see how you fare or “compete” against friends and family members. Like that other March tournament, there will be drama and intrigue, upsets and thrashings, last-minute victories and Cinderellas.

Ten “celebrity bloggers” from across the country have been tapped to write for the project including the Rev. Laurie Brock of Lexington, KY; the Rev. Penny Nash of Williamsburg, VA; Dr. David Creech of Morehead, MN; the Rev. Megan Castellan of Kansas City, MO; Canon Heidi Shott of Newcastle, ME; the Rev. David Hendrickson of Denver, CO; the Rev. Amber Belldene of San Francisco, CA; the Rev. David Sibley of Brooklyn, NY; the Rev. Laura Darling of Oakland, CA [ed. note: close enough]; and the Rev. Maria Kane of Houston, TX. Information about each of the celebrity bloggers is available on the Lent Madness website.

If you’re looking for a Lenten discipline that is fun, educational, occasionally goofy, and always joyful, join the Lent Madness journey. Lent needn’t be all doom and gloom. After all, what could be more joyful than a season specifically set aside to get closer to God?

Forward Movement is a ministry of The Episcopal Church dedicated to making disciples and sharing the Good News. With offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, Forward Movement has worked since 1935 to reinvigorate the life of the church.

***
So there you go. Consider yourself warned.

Various & Sundry: What I read when I should have been writing the first round Lent Madness bios

I finally turned in the last of my Lent Madness first-round bios today. All that writing this week meant...a whole lot of web surfing. Here's some of the stuff that distracted me I think you will find interesting.

Let's start with the important stuff: Camel hit by car on Bailey Road in Concord. Yes, California. Yes, a real camel. As you see. I'm happy to report the camel is apparently fine.

"He's fine, he's hot and his adrenaline's pumping, but he's fine," Ferrante [who owns the trailer] said. "I have never done this before, so I can put (rescuing a camel) on my resume."

I'm sure that will impress at the next job interview. No report on the state of the minivan that hit the camel. Hope they weren't headed somewhere important because that's a tale that would not pass muster.

Also important: celebrating 80 years of marriage, as this couple did last November. John (101) and Ann (97)  Betar defied their parents' wishes to get married in 1932. They are being honored by Worldwide Marriage Encounter. "It's quite an honor," John told the Daily News, "but I don't know what it's for."

Nancy Kho wonders about what we lose when we don't need to wonder about anything any more. She asks, "will our future problem solvers – aka the kid sitting at her homework desk right now Googling 'Ideas for experiments for science fair' - have enough experience at Not Knowing to do the job? At understanding that feeling completely unmoored and fumbling around in the dark may be exactly what’s needed to find a tricky or non-obvious answer to a hard problem?" Gosh, I don't know. Where can I find the answer?

PeaceBang had two terrific posts this week. The first, in response to those people coming to the church for financial assistance because they don't want to be dependent on Government, is a real barn-burner. And the second, as Laura Ingalls Wilder endures the current blizzard in New England, is hilarious.

Mary and I are thinking that maybe Ma forgot to refill her prescription for anxiety medication but we are obediently stripping the beds. Where will we find dry hay for fresh ticking? The roads are bad, so a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond is out of the question.

Andrew Sullivan has some thoughts about how to create actual change  and small business owner Beth Schillaci invites others to embrace your smallness.

I've started following Solemn Hulk on Twitter. He's still considering his Lenten vows.

HULK GIVING UP RAGE FOR LENT. OR MAYBE CHOCOLATE. OR MAYBE FACEBOOK. HULK HATE DECISIONS.
— SOLEMN HULK (@SOLEMNHULK) February 5, 2013

Me too, Hulk. I hear ya.

4 things I learned about elections from Lent Madness

Lent Madness was a much better spiritual discipline than I had imagined.  After a week of being aggravated at the stupidity of people who didn't vote for the saints I thought should move forward, I learned to laugh at myself because--hello!--this doesn't actually count for anything.  Except the glory of the Golden Halo, of course.

And so I started to watch with some fascination what kinds of things seemed to lead to one saint's victory over another.  It wasn't always clear, but there were a few things that seem like practical tidbits as we enter into the slavering maw of a presidential election year.

1. You can't change votes that are already cast.  Over and over, I saw people writing agonized comments wondering how on earth more people could vote for that other saint than the saint of their choosing.  Well, water under the bridge, people. You may never know why, but it also doesn't matter.  Those votes are already in! Moving on.

2. It is easier to recruit new voters than to persuade current voters (who may have already decided).  With Lent Madness this was particularly stark.  All due credit to Lent Madness for drawing a couple of thousand votes each day--but that's still only a couple of thousand votes out of a much, much larger potential pool. If you're only advocating among the faithful voters, boy are you missing a huge opportunity.

3. People are partisan, so find a way to make your team their team.  Emma of Hawaii's triumphant march to the finals was an excellent example of this.  The "of Hawaii" part was important as the Hawaiian vote turned the tide on several apparent shoo-ins. Big Pineapple or no, Emma got votes for being Hawaiian--as well as being a worthy saint.

4. People vote for weird reasons.  I know I did.  I voted for Jerome because I liked the lion puppet. I would have voted for Enmegahbowh because of his awesome wife, had I not been the writer for David Oakerhater (I voted for St. E. in the next round). I voted for some saints because I liked one write-up over another, with nothing to do with the saint at all! People voted because they liked the name, or because their saint day was their birthday, or because the icon was cool.

Are we "voting against our interests"? Maybe, but we have our reasons. I can tell you one thing that didn't help, though, is being told I was voting the wrong way.  It would just get my back up. Or shrug and say, "You don't understand."

Lent Madness made clear to me that if I want to make a difference in the November elections, I shouldn't bother arguing with people whose minds are made up. Instead, I should look for the pockets of people who have a strong interest in one thing or another, make the case why my candidate is their candidate, and make sure they are able to vote. And then let it go, knowing that people do what they do. People. That's democracy for you.

The battle for the Golden Halo!

If you haven't been following, now is the time to hie yourself over to Lent Madness to vote for who will win the Golden Halo.  If you have been following, you will know that it's been a wild bracket!  Mary Magdalene coasted on in to the finals with ease, but on the other side of the bracket, big name after big name was bounced by Emma of Hawaii!  Paul, Cranmer, and Bonhoeffer all bowed down before the Queen.  Was it the forces of Big Pineapple, as the smear ads below suggest? Or was it the spirit of aloha carrying her like a wave?

In any event, either of these worthy and faithful women have earned the Golden Halo, but only one will win 2012 Lent Madness. VOTE (once!) for your choice! Polls close at 5 am PST tomorrow.

Great job, Supreme Executive Committee on a very fun Lenten project!  (Won't you be glad when the intertubes aren't cluttered with all these partisan attack ads?)

Evelyn Underhill's hour of need

To my astonishment, but also great pleasure, Evelyn Underhill made it to the third round of Lent Madness--the Elate Eight--where she faces off against the Mary Magdalene juggernaut.  Given the early returns, I think her chances are slim at best, but is that any reason to turn against her? No, I say, No!

However, over on Twitter, @ChurchSnobTEC apparently recalled that I asked him a couple of rounds ago what odds he would give me on Mary Magdalene--on round 2, Church Snob! On round 2!  Which may be why he tweeted this libelous statement:

ChurchSnobSportsBook taking bets on @HeyToepfer voting for Mary Magdalene despite writing entry for E. Underhill #lentmadness
— ChurchSnobTEC (@ChurchSnobTEC) March 27, 2012

So untrue!  And so I pass on to you what I also passed on to Twitter:

Would I desert Underhill in her hour of need, as @ChurchSnobTEC implies? Never. Would you? lentmadness.org/2012/03/mary-m… Vote!#lentmadness
— Laura Toepfer (@HeyToepfer) March 27, 2012

All of which is mostly an excuse to learn how to embed Tweets on a website.  And to encourage you to vote as well.  Go, Evelyn!

Evelyn Underhill 2012!

I am completely partisan in today's Lent Madness match-up between Monnica and Evelyn Underhill. Let's go Evelyn! I've gone so far as to bribe encourage voters by letting them know you can get a FREE Kindle download of Underhill's book, Practical Mysticism (with the great subtitle "A Little Book for Normal People").

One of the things I love about Evelyn is her insistence that mysticism is not about getting away from it all; instead, "Mysticism is the art of union with Reality."

"Because mystery is horrible to us, we have agreed for the most part to live in a world of labels."  In her view, mysticism is about getting beyond the superficial labels.

It's also about more than "the life of my own inside."  There's a great, but longish, quote from Underhill I wish I could have included in the write-up for today, but it was just too long.  (The last quote in the write-up is drawn from this passage.)  Here's an excerpt:

My spiritual life is not something specialised and intense; a fenced-off devotional patch rather difficult to cultivate, and needing to be sheltered from the cold winds of the outer world. Nor is it an alternative to my outward, practical life. On the contrary, it is the very source of that quality and purpose which makes my practical life worth while. The practical life of a vast number of people is not, as a matter of fact, worth while at all. It is like an impressive fur coat with no one inside it. One sees many of these coats occupying positions of great responsibility. Hans Andersen's story of the king with no clothes told one bitter and common truth about human nature; but the story of the clothes with no king describes a situation just as common and even more pitiable.

So vote Evelyn!  We need saints who encourage us to deal with Reality and not just labels. Practical Mysticism all the way!

Updated late afternoon: Someone in the comments on Lent Madness said "Generally, I have a difficult time with English mystics (yes, even blessed Julian!), but Underhill makes sense to me." This made me realize that most mystics write about "this is what I saw;" Evelyn writes, "Here is how you can look--and why it's worthwhile to do so."

Monday Morning Preacher: Recycled sermons

I saw the readings for this week and thought, "hmmm...I believe I've preached on this before...and at a completely different church..."  A brief search later and voila! A sermon! One from 6 years ago, in full manuscript form, and not related to a current event.  SCORE!

I've never actually recycled a sermon before, so it was an interesting experience.  What I learned is that I couldn't use it as-is.  I had to rework it a bit to incorporate both for where I am now and to take into account that this is not new material.

First of all, the original version began, "I’ve been thinking about snakes this week." Well, that was a week six years ago, so I changed the beginning to strive for truth and accuracy.

Secondly, I completely rewrote the ending.  If you read the sermon below, everything from "let’s take a look at what this might mean for us" is totally new.  In the original, I thought I had done a good job with the exposition but blown it on the application part. So I had to revisit that.  I'm still worried it's a bit too Lenten and penitential, but I hope that for all the emphasis on "look at the bad, not just the good," there's a strongly positive underlying message.

Finally, another recent influence and change in tone came from reading up on Evelyn Underhill for Lent Madness (she's in Round 2 Wednesday!  Vote!--and today, too, of course), so the notion of the God as Reality was top of mind for me and became an important element in the sermon.

So even though a lot of the work was already done for me, this was still a sermon that grew out of where I am right now.  A heck of a lot easier to write, though.  And people really seemed to like it, so that's good too.

What's your experience of recycling sermons?

Sermon: Looking at the snake that bit you (abridged)

Preached Lent IV, March 18, 2012
St. Giles, Moraga
Readings

Let’s talk about snakes. In particular, let’s talk about these snakes in the desert, biting the wandering Israelites. Even more in particular, here’s the question: Why did the Lord send snakes to bite and potentially kill the Israelites when the Lord had taken such trouble bringing them out of Egypt? Is God a despot like King Lear who depends upon the flattery and kind words of those close to him? And then goes insane when that flattery isn’t there?

There certainly seems to be a taste of petulance and perhaps even insanity about this story: if you’re going to be thankless, then I’m going to send serpents. And then if you’re sorry, I’ll heal you. That will show you, God seems to say. If that is the case, then that’s a God I can’t worship. A God that says, “You don’t like me, so I’m going to punish you,” is not one that I want to adore. A God that works by fear and intimidation isn’t a God that I feel I could rightfully call compassionate or loving.

I think it’s just a cheap trick to say, “That’s the Old Testament God and God isn’t like that any more.” Instead, I want to take a deeper look at this nasty little story and see if maybe there isn’t something else to be found there. Perhaps there is more here than first meets the eye.

First of all, where in the Old Testament story are we? When you hear the Red Sea, you might think that we are towards the beginning of the Israelite’s wandering in the wilderness, but in fact, we have come a long, long way. And the people have complained almost every step of the way from the beginning of the departure from Egypt until now. When we finally get to this story that we heard this morning, by my count the people have complained that they were going to die in the wilderness six times. This is the seventh time we have heard the Israelites complain against Moses and the Lord, saying they wish they had never been brought out of Egypt.

With all that in mind, and with the knowledge that this is the end of a long series of complaints and rescues, here is my thought about these snakes: I think that the Lord made flesh the very snakes that were already there, the snakes of fear and faithlessness that had been biting and poisoning and plaguing the Israelites throughout their entire journey. Let me say a little more about that.

You may have heard this definition of a sacrament: a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. I think these serpents are anti-sacraments: outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual illness. To me, that explains why the response of the Israelites to the appearance of these serpents was to say to Moses, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you.” It’s because they recognized these serpents for what they were: a physical manifestation of their attitude and behaviors.

It also explains to me the next thing that happens. The Israelites say, “Pray to the Lord to take the serpents away from us,” but that’s not what happens. Instead the Lord says, “Make a poisonous serpent and put it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” Instead of getting rid of the serpents, God tells the people to look at the snake that bit them. No longer do they get to ignore the snakes; and the snakes don’t go away. The means of dealing with the poison of the snakes is that the people have to look at the snake that bit them.

Now, let’s take a look at what this might mean for us.

One of the problems I personally have with being forgiven is the part where I have to look at what I’m being forgiven for. I’m very happy to be forgiven. I’m even fine with repentance and amendment of life. It’s the part where I actually have to recognize what I’ve done that’s hurt someone else, that’s poisoned my relationships and hindered my community, that I have a hard time with. I don’t want to admit to the snakey parts of me. I’d rather be all pretty birds and fluffy bunnies and would prefer that those snakes just went away. But when I just ignore them, that doesn’t take care of the poison in the system.

The thing this story says to me is that as awful and ugly and scary and creepy as it is, I need to look at the snake that bit me. Being scared of it is not going to help. Running away from it is not going to help. Because there’s something about looking at that nasty snake, as awful as it is, that prepares the way for God to fully heal me.

I think Jesus is saying something similar as he speaks to Nicodemus. "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life,” he says, followed by that most famous line:

"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.”

And I am going to sacrilegiously change two words of that verse. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who looks at him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Looking at Jesus, not to see what we want to see, but to see what is really there. To see the one who challenges us about our behavior and says we must do more than follow the law. To see the one reverses our assumptions about who is an acceptable companion and who is important. To see the one who calls those he loves to suffer. To see the one who failed utterly, who was betrayed, whose disciples abandoned him at his lowest point. To see the resurrected Christ who appeared to dubious or unreliable witnesses and depended on them to tell the world he is alive. When it comes right down to it, when I really look at Jesus, that’s what I see.

Believing is easy. Looking is hard. Whether it’s the snake of our own actions or the savior who doesn’t follow our rules, it is hard to look, to really look, to not take shortcuts to healing or belief. But to get to healing, to belief, to the promised land, to eternal life, first we must look.

And in looking, I don’t see a God who wants flattery. Just the opposite: I see a God who wants people to see the truth, to face reality, to acknowledge the bad as well as the good, the sorrow as well as the joy, the hard things as well as the easy ones.

So here are the two things these readings ask of us today: to look at ourselves: not just the pretty birds and bunnies, but the snakes as well; and to look at Jesus: not a sweet and affirming Jesus, but the Jesus who challenges us and loves us and calls us to new and eternal life. Because it is only after truly looking that we can truly believe.

Invisible rewards

Cross-posted at the Confirm not Conform website.

One of the things that I think all of us hope for when we prepare people for confirmation is that they have a rewarding experience. I was thinking of this today, hearing the familiar Ash Wednesday reading from the Sermon on the Mount: "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." And then Jesus goes on to list all the ways that going through the motions--of almsgiving, of prayer, of fasting--are not the reward we are after. The reward that really counts is what "your Father who sees in secret" sees.

To me that suggests the mysterious process of what goes on inside is of far more value than the things we see people do--a process that may not even be perceived by the people going through them, much less those of us watching.

I found this a little depressing. I know I get so much out of it when I see someone get it, when I see the excitement or joy or insight. But I realized today that to try to force those things is to satisfy my needs and desires, that I may be looking for the reaction in order to receive my reward. When we watch youth or adults with an eye to making sure they exhibit the transformation we hope they experience, are we leading them into the temptation to give alms ostentatiously, or pray long and loud, or fast dismally? Do we need to let it go, understanding we may never see the reward?

The truth is, I may never know if someone finds a class or a sermon or a retreat rewarding in the long run. I may never know if Confirmation meant anything to them. Though I want people to be inspired, I may only see someone blase, bored, and disengaged. And when I think I've offered something awesome, that gets frustrating. But people don't owe me their life-changing experiences; no one needs to make me feel better about myself by saying how Confirm not Conform (for example) was the Best Thing Ever. I need to remember that I too depend upon God for my reward, and that the reward that lasts doesn't consist in the number of people who Like What I Do.

God, help me to seek my reward only from you, and not from the behavior or approval of others. May my reward be to love and serve you and those you love, now and always. Amen.

And a blessed Lent to one and all.

Lent Madness update: Lentsanity!

One of the things about being away: I didn't keep up with the pandemonium, the maelstrom, the--oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Let's just go with "hype", shall we? swirling around Lent Madness, for which I am one of the celebrity bloggers.  Or, as Scott Gunn and Tim Schenck explain in this video, a "celebrity" blogger.  And don't think I won't remember the scare quotes when awards season comes around again.  I will cut you.  Though I have to say I'm mighty grateful that you pronounced my last name correctly in your last Monday Madness video! Impressive! (If you're wondering how to say it yourself, it is mentioned at about 9:30 on the video. Although as a true celebrity, I am first referred to simply as Laura, no last name required.)

 
Monday Madness -- February 13, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.

I am also looking forward to drinking a great deal of tea from a fabulous Lent Madness mug.

So don't forget: Lent Madness begins this Thursday!  Check out the bracket and place your picks for the Final Four.  Who do you think will win the it-would-be-coveted-if-coveting-were-not-a-sin Golden Halo? There's a strong group of 19th century American frontier types in the bracket; I'll be interested to see how they do.  Frankly, knowing Kenyon College folks, I think Philander Chase has a good chance to go far.

You can keep up with the madness by signing up to receive notifications of new posts by email. You can also like Lent Madness on Facebook. Check it out!

Psst...need a Lenten program?

While I'm on this self-promotion kick, I wanted to make sure you know about the Lenten program I wrote for Every Voice Network.  Called Eat, Pray, Grow (which was not my choice, I admit) it's a five week program (natch) on food: how it's viewed in the Bible, how we use it in the church, its history, and its current place in our culture.  And I think it's pretty good.  If you're still casting about for what to do at your church for Lent, this program will give you everything you need. You can find out more about it here.

I just finished completely redoing the last session to talk about how we waste food.  This session was first inspired by The Big Waste, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and was a total eye-opener.  From there, I found the book American Wasteland and the blog wastedfood.com, both from Jonathan Bloom who has made reducing food waste his #1 priority.  After reading his book and blog, I can see why.  He estimates that in the United States, we throw away (are you ready?) about 40 percent of the food that is produced here.  FORTY PERCENT!

Between food left unharvested in the fields, food that is damaged in transport that grocery stores won't even put on the shelves, food thrown out by stores when they reach their sell-by date, and food left to languish in refrigerators, enough food is thrown away in this country to "provide three meals per day for 43 million people." Wow!

I highly recommend this book.  It will change the way you look at food wherever you may be.

Guess who's going to be a celebrity blogger?

Oh, go on, guess! No, not Queen Elizabeth...  No, not Miss Piggy.  Oh, all right, it's me! I've been asked to be one of the bloggers for Lent Madness, now entering its third year of high impact, head-to-head, saintly smackdowns as the blessed throughout the ages battle for the coveted Golden Halo.

Who knew that all those years of church calendar geekery would lead to such a prestigious position?  I'd like to thank Scott Gunn and Tim Schenck for including me in the tremendous line-up of celebrity bloggers.  It is an honor and a privilege.  And now I need to write some kick-ass profiles of saints.

So head on over to Lent Madness, check out this year's bracket, sign up for email updates, and generally get ready for some holy mayhem starting one month from now.  I'll be there!

Various and Sundry, March 11

So strange to be writing this ahead of time. I'm probably missing all sorts of good obits and things major natural disasters that make everything else pale in comparison. At any rate, here are a couple of items I noted before I left town.

As I look for a position in marketing using social media, I've started following a ton of social media blogs. I kind of lost it the day I saw the blog entry, "22 new social media platforms you must know about if you dare call yourself anything other than a brain-dead Luddite." OK, I'm kidding about the second half of the title, but I'm not kidding about the number 22.

Thank heavens for The Anti-Social Media, a blog that is keeping me sane with its no b.s. perspective. I particularly liked this entry, How To Use _________ For Marketing, subtitled "The easy way to use to use any social network to sell crap." Nailed it. Thank you, Anti-Social Media! Oh, wait, he's flown off to tackle another platform.

I loved this infographic comparing apples to oranges. Because apparently you can, and the results will shock you.

Fans of the movie Up and nerds in general will appreciate that "The National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16' X 16' house 18' tall with 300 8' colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted. The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high, reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and flew for approximately one hour." h/t Design Fetish, where there are lots of great photos.

Finally, if you're still looking for something to do this Lent, I really liked this idea of Praying Facebook, a group started by a woman who has used this as a spiritual practice. "What I have done in the past is spend about a half hour each morning and a half hour each evening going through my news feed and praying for each person by name. If there is something specific they mention in a post I pray that too...I invite you to join me on the journey, post if you want to, share with others and see how we can get our Lent on this year."

I guess it's time to get our Lent on.

Vulnerable Wednesday

Just for the record, I'm traveling today and will be in LA this weekend for a wedding. (Hard core Episcopalians are GASPING at this point. A wedding in Lent? Well, there you go.)

In the meantime, I've scheduled some blog posts while I'm gone. The letter to Lillian should arrive on Thursday as usual. Also there are a few fun things for the Friday V&S, and a little silliness for Sunday. If all goes well, they will post when I want them to.

In the meantime, it's Ash Wednesday and I will be flying down south instead of getting marked up as I normally would. So strange.

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine sent me the link to the Ted talk embedded below. It made me think that Ash Wednesday is not so much about being miserable as being vulnerable, allowing the world to see that I'm not perfect, that I'm flawed and messed up and yet would like to be loved anyway.

I am hoping to be more vulnerable this Lent. That is my discipline and my goal and it's going to be very hard for me. Part of it will be through the blog, allowing myself to say more often what I really think, even though it may be wrong.

I need your help, too. I'm not sure how to be vulnerable. How do I go about this in my daily life? If you have some insights, I would be glad to hear them.

I wish you a blessed Ash Wednesday and a holy Lent.

Sunday Funnies, March 6

Various and Sundry, March 4

Are you a quadragesimarian? Well, before that happens, you might want to check out Jim's Pancakes, which are amazing. Remember the dinosaur skeleton one? Very cool.

My favorite obituary this week was this crazy story from the Telegraph about Jay Landesman who, and I quote, "was a parent whose capacity to embarrass knew no bounds." I think the deceased would have been very pleased by the obituary.

I really liked this blog entry for its ambiguity. In a world with so much certainty about the Right Thing To Do About Africa, this uncertainty and tentativeness was refreshing.

The radio program/podcast This American Life is always compelling, but last week's episode was edge-of-your-seat amazing! I heartily recommend it to you. Seriously. It's a mystery and a fight for justice and an amazing story of persistence and of forgiveness. You will not regret it.

Lent redux

I sent this ecard yesterday to a friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous). She sent back a message saying, "too late, I already found new spiritual insights!" And I guess it's too late for me too.

I accidentally backed into my Lenten observance. I gave up working on the weekends. Working at home, the days seem to blend into one another and it's hard to tell the difference between a workday and any other day.

I did pretty well. There was one weekend where I did some emailing and such, but by the end, there, it was a glorious feeling to reach the end of Friday afternoon and say to myself I'm shutting it down until Monday.

Spiritual insight? Here's one: News Flash! The world did not fall apart if I didn't work every day. Also: other things besides work need tending. Also: I work better during the week if there are specific times when I am not working. (See: Sabbath.)

One of the great things I was able to do on my days off was work in the garden. Three weeks ago, I planted some beans and peas. And look what we have here!



I love how the beans, in particular, burst out of the ground and out of their seed which sticks to them for a while. Where did I hear something like this recently? Oh, yes. "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." I hope you all have a fruitful Easter.  And if you wish, I'd love to hear about your spiritual insights.

Ash Wednesday

I was talking to a friend last night about spiritual disciplines. She said she hated the use of the word "discipline" because it suggested punishment. She proposed spiritual exercise. I said I hated the use of the word exercise because it suggested...ummm...exercise. We settled on spiritual practice because that suggests it's all right not to get it right. It may not make perfect, but it will probably make better.

What spiritual practice do you want to try this Lent? Me, I still don't know. If you have something good, I'll probably copy you. In the meantime...

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

5 suggestions for Holy Week

It’s kind of fun to be a non-parochial priest during Holy Week. No bulletins to proofread. No sermons to write. I don’t even have to go to the services if I don’t want to. Last week during announcements, the rector talked about how Holy Week is like a book and you don’t want to miss any of the chapters. I leaned to the woman next to me and said, “I’ve read this book before; I know what happens.”

But I’ve also been trying to think about how to make Holy Week meaningful after 20 years of going to Episcopal services. Here are five suggestions I have for making Holy Week meaningful. As with most sermons, this is a sermon to myself. I hope you find it useful for you as well, and welcome your suggestions!

1. Laugh at the goof-ups These Holy Week services are intended to be solemn and reverent, I know, but things happen. Like the “loud noise” of Tenebrae involving the gong crashing to the floor. At the wrong time. Really, what else can you do but laugh? Well, you can get all upset about it, I suppose, but it’s easier if you can just laugh about it.

2. Find the echoes of Holy Week in other places Yesterday, Keeper managed to tramp through some mud so I had to wash his feet before he came in the house. I couldn’t help but think of Maundy Thursday and it made me think of my relationship with Jesus in new ways. I’m looking out for echoes of the story of Holy Week to see what they have to tell me.

3. Pace yourself This is easier to do if you’re not actually running any services, or in the choir (where we called this “Extreme Worship”). But if you are doing the full-on week of worship services, recognize that this is a lot and permit yourself to cut back on other things. Give up, say, blogging for a couple of days. You are taking on extra work. Make adjustments accordingly.

4. Allow yourself not to like a service if you don’t like it I think there’s a lot of pressure we put on ourselves that “This is Holy Week! It must be deeply meaningful!” But the truth is a) some services will hit us more deeply than others and b) some services/sermons/music are just plain better than others. It’s not a sign that you’re not spiritual or that you’re not fully entering the mystery that is Holy Week if you don’t like a service. Better to admit it than to force yourself into a spiritual falsehood.

5. Remember you’re not being graded God is not going to love you any more if you “do” Holy Week “right.” Your salvation is not at stake if you “do” Holy Week “badly.” Don’t beat up on yourself if Holy Week isn’t the religious experience you thought it ought to be. Be present and be aware of what’s going on for you. Love God, love others, love yourself. Christ is with us. God is good.

A blessed Holy Week to you all.