Lent 2012: Betwixt and Between
Lent is a time when our souls are laid bare to breathe. In the stark and grey winter’s light, we open ourselves to God.
Julian of Norwich, an English mystic who lived in the fourteenth century, knew this. When she talked with God, she prayed for “nothing to come betwixt me and thee.”
In her Revelations, Julian considered her relationship to God by reflecting upon an insignificant item, no bigger than a hazelnut. “In this little thing I saw three properties,” she wrote. “The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it. But what did I see in it? It is that God is the Creator, the protector and the lover. For until I am substantially united to God, I can never have perfect rest of true happiness, until, that is, I am so attached to God that there can be no created thing between God and me.”
The Celts understood this attachment to God, too, and allowed it to be made manifest by recognizing the sacred in every daily tasks from the milking of the cows to the tending of the hearth fires. They banished the things that stood between themselves and God by offering blessings – and in turn were blessed.
John O’Donohue, the author of “Anam Cara,” wrote of such blessings in his poem “Beannacht.”
“May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the oceans be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.”
This Lent we wish you sustenance, and that the grey light of winter’s reflections gives birth to a spirit of resurrection. May it be so.
Events
Click here for a list of Lenten and Easter events around the conference. To submit an event to the list, contact Lesley Carter with the pertinent details.
General Resources
- Lent and Easter resources (UMC.org)
- Lenten devotions program (Society of St. Andrew)
- Lent resources (The Text This Week)
This Lent, a number of laypeople from around the conference will offer devotionals on spiritual disciplines of particular meaning to them. The first devotional will be posted on Feb. 20, with subsequent podcasts following weekly. Watch here for details to come.
Service - David Hosey, seminarian, Wesley Theological Seminary
Fasting - Steve Johnson, freelance writer, Charlottesville, Va.
Meditation and Prayer - Richard Keller, appointed pastor, Fairview UMC, Phoenix, Md.
Simplicity - Nan McCurdy, missionary
Creative Expression - Tracy Radosevic, dean, Academy of Biblical Storytellers
Advocacy - Beth Reilly, BWC legislative advocate
For last year's Lenten podcasts, click here.
