Cathy Messecar writes about praying for each country of the world during lent

A few years ago, during Lent, I prayed for countries I've never visited: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tokelau Islands, Tonga, Tuzalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna Islands.

By the time Palm Sunday arrived, I’d prayed for all the nations of the world.

The excellent prayer guide “Seek God for the City” from http://www.waymakers.org helped me start.

In addition to the nations of the world, daily prayers in the guide suggest praying for people in my community: poor people, health care workers, broken families, soldiers, sick people, those unemployed, prisoners, disabled people, children and teens, mothers, arts and entertainment workers, those depressed and substance abusers.

After the 40 days, I felt more akin, in tune, yoked to Christ because my pleas and praise were not limited to the minority of people I know, but for this world as a whole and in part.

The guide helped me pray more comprehensive prayers than ever before. And, the very reasonable price of $3.00 sent me back for another guide this year. Even though we are already into the 40 days of Lent, I encourage readers to purchase a prayer guide. After you’ve prayed through it, place it by a December 2008 calendar page, as a reminder to purchase one for Lent 2009.

Way Makers offer other prayer materials at nominal fees of about $2.00 a booklet with discounts for quantities: What Would Jesus Pray, Light from My House and Prompts for Prayerwalkers, Blessings and Open My City.

Each prayer in the guide I used ended with “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” And, one of my favorite lines from a petition about welcoming Christ, “And may your mercy amaze us even more than miracles.” I found the booklet to be one of the most helpful of prayer tools. But overriding any tool was the knowledge that God hears and heeds the sincere—from the simplest to the most organized prayer, poorly worded or eloquently stated.

My hope is based on the mercy of his hearing.

Cathy Messecar is author of Stained Glass Pickup and the forthcoming book, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts (both books by Leafwood Publishers).

What is Lent and why do we do it?

One of my uncles wrote an email saying he was shocked that I am part of promoting a "non-biblical" idea like Lent.

Technically, my uncle is right. Lent is not a word or concept found in Scripture but the practices of Lent run throughout the Bible: renewal, repentance, return to the road to the cross and empty tomb of Christ, where we find our life.

I responded to my uncle by saying I remember good times in his home many years ago praying, singing, reading Scripture. I simply added that what we are doing with Lent is a lot like those times in my uncle's house. We are encouraging Wineskins readers to form habits of prayer year-round and Lent is a particular time that we reflect, repent, and renew as we focus on the way of the cross and discipleship in Christ.

As we did last year, we again offer a dialogue by the late Robert E. Webber that is meant for groups, particularly where children can ask the question and a reply can be given during a devotional time. Use the following that way or just to help you understand what Lent is and why many Christians practice it.

Lent: Inquiry and Instruction

By Robert E. Webber

Question: What is the meaning of the word Lent?

Answer: It has no religious meaning like Advent or Pentecost. It comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, Lencten, meaning "spring."

Question: Why do we observe Lent?

Answer: The purpose of Lent is to provide a time for us to enter into the suffering of Jesus and to go with Him to the tomb.

Question: How can we do this?

Answer: The experience of the people of God who have gone before us is that we best identify with Jesus by adopting a discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Question: How should we pray?

Answer: Our prayer may be a spiritual meditation on Jesus Christ--His teaching, His suffering, His death on our behalf.

Question: Why should we fast?

Answer: Fasting is an aid to prayer. Years ago Augustine wrote, "When a man imposes on himself the burden of fasting, he shows that he really wants what he is asking for." Christians fast in order to pray more intently.

Question: What is the purpose of almsgiving?

Answer: We give alms to the poor and needy because it is a specific expression of the brotherly love produced by prayer. The closer we are to Jesus, the more we care for our neighbor.

Source: Robert Webber, The Family Book of Prayer (Hendrickson, 1996).

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday Feb 6

Lent is a time of increased reflection and confession and refocusing on Christ's life and teaching and death and finally culminating in focus on the resurrection of Jesus with Easter.

Once again this year Wineskins will be sending out emails with Lent Reflections.

Would you like to submit one? Send an email to Greg Taylor at info@wineskins.org.

Want to be on the mailing list? Go to the home page and click the join mailing list link on the right navigation bar.

Join us for these important Lent Reflections beginning Wednesday, February 6.

Mortification

You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death. So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him . . . . But we believe that, if we died with Christ, then we shall live with him too.--Romans 6:3-4, 8

If the God who revealed life to us, and whose only desire is to bring us to life, loved us so much that he wanted to experience with us the total absurdity of death, then--yes, then there must be hope; then there must be something more than death; then there must be a promise that is not fulfilled in our short existence in this world; then leaving behind the ones you love, the flowers and the trees, the mountains and the oceans, the beauty of art and music, and all the exuberant gifts of life cannot be just the destruction and cruel end of all things; then indeed we have to wait for the third day.

But mortification--literally, "making death"--is what life is all about, a slow discovery of the mortality of all that is created so that we can appreciate its beauty without clinging to it as if it were a lasting possession. Our lives can indeed be seen as a process of becoming familiar iwth death, as a school in the art of dying. I do not mean this in a morbid way. On the contrary, when we see life constantly relativized by death, we can enjoy it for what it is: a free gift. The pictures, letters, and books of the past reveal life to us as a constant saying of farewell to beautiful places, good people, and wonderful experiences. All these times have passed by like friendly visitors, leaving us with dear memories but also with the sad recognition of the shortness of life. In every arrival there is a leave-taking; in every reunion there is a separation; in each one's growing up there is a growing old; in every smile there is a tear; and in every success there is a loss. All living is dying, and all celebration is mortification too.

Our Prayer

I call to you, Yahweh, all day.
I stretch out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead,
can shadows rise up to praise you?
Do they speak in the grave of your faithful love,
of your constancy in the place of perdition?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
your saving justice in the land of oblivion?
But, for my part. I cry to you, Yahweh,
every morning my prayer comes before you.
--Psalm 88:9-13

Source: Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show me the way (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992). Used by permission.

Sacred Space

One time a week during Lent we'll send a message to our ZOE-Wineskins list, showing you good resources that help prepare our lives for receiving Christ in Easter celebration - that's what Lent is all about.

So this week we're bringing you Lent reflections from Sacred Space and using them by permission. I bought the small book and have been "enjoying" it. I heard of an old Catholic mother who said, "If you're enjoying Lent, you're doing it wrong."

A friend once said the difference between happiness and joy is that joy comes through suffering and happiness is attempted by avoiding suffering.

Sacred Space Lent page is excellent. After you read this short summary they provide of what it means to prepare for Easter, I encourage you to go to Sacred Space Lent page and use this excellent resource. If you contact them, please let them know you heard about Sacred Space from Wineskins.



Greg Taylor
managing editor
www.wineskins.org




Click here to see Sacred Space Lent page

In summary, the Lenten preparation for Easter could be summed up in these points:

* Lent is about turning back to God; God is always turned towards us and looking for contact and communication ("Turn to me and be saved," Isaiah 45:22).

The Israelites in the desert were forgetful and had to be reminded by Moses about all the good things God had done for them (Deut 26:1-11). We need to take time to remember how lucky we are, to consider what God has done for us and to appreciate the blessings that are ours.

* God's promise is one of Good News - 'Gospel' - of 'good things' for us, a better life and more fulfilment; i.e. being led out of 'slavery' (sin as 'slavery' to lesser goods) and into the fullness of life in God.

* Reconciliation, or healing our life, is possible only through realising that we are forgiven, even though we don't deserve it. We can recall the story of the Prodigal Son, the classic Lenten text, in the light of God's great love for us through Christ, his amazing love & self-gift. (The Gospel of the Prodigal Son - Luke 15:1-32 - is read on 18 March this year).

* Inevitably Lent involves commitment to change, through this free gift of God's love; a conversion of heart and priorities that will mean decisions and doing things differently.

* Easter Sunday will then take on its fuller meaning: that we have died with Christ on Good Friday to our 'old selves' and destructive ways, and have been 're-born' on Easter Sunday with Christ to a new life in him. Easter always has strong echoes of Baptism for us as we touch the water, hear the words and celebrate with our communities.

Jesus and the Devil

by Lauren Winner
an excerpt from The Voice of Matthew
(Chapter 4: Jesus and the Devil)
March - April, 2007

¹The Spirit then led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
²Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. After this fast, He was, as you can imagine, hungry. ³But He was also curiously stronger because of His fast. And so He was able to withstand the devil, the tempter, when he came to Jesus.

The Devil: If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

Jesus:(quoting Deuteronomy) ⁴It is written, “Man does not live by bread alone.
Rather, he lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” _{Deuteronomy 4:4}

The point, of course, is not that Jesus couldn’t have turned these stones to bread. As you will see a little later in our story, He can make food appear when He needs to. But Jesus doesn’t work miracles out of the blue, for no reason, for show or proof or spectacle. He works them in intimate, close places; He works them to meet people’s needs and to show them the way to the Kingdom.

⁵ Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city, Jerusalem, and he had Jesus stand at the very highest point in the holy temple.

The Devil: ⁶If You are the Son of God, jump! And then we will see if You fulfill the Scripture that says, “He will command His angels concerning You, and the angels will buoy You in their hands, so that You will not crash, or fall, or even graze Your foot on a stone.” _{Psalm 91:11-12}

Jesus: ⁷That is not the only thing Scripture says. It also says, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test.” _{Deuteronomy 6:16}

⁸And still the devil subjected Jesus to a third test. He took Jesus to the top of a very high mountain, and he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor and glory, their power and pomp.

The Devil: ⁹If You bow down and worship me, I will give You all these kingdoms.

Jesus: ¹⁰Get away from Me, Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow Scripture, which tells us to "worship the LORD your God, and serve only Him." _{Deuteronomy 6:13}

¹¹Then, the devil left Jesus. And angels came and ministered to Him.

¹²It was not long until powerful people put John in prison. When Jesus learned this, He went back to Galilee. ¹³He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, a town by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali—¹⁴He did this to fulfill one of the prophecies of Isaiah:

¹⁵ “In the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the road to the sea along the Jordan in Galilee, the land of the Gentiles—¹⁶in these places, the people who had been living in darkness saw a great light. The light of life will overtake those who dwelt in the shadowy darkness of death." _{Isaiah 9:1-2}

¹⁷From that time on, preaching was part of Jesus’ work. His message was not dissimilar from John’s.

Jesus: Turn away from sin; turn toward God. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

By now Jesus desired a community around Him, friends and followers who would help Him carry this urgent, precious message to people. And so He called a community around Him. We call these first beloved followers disciples, which means “apprentices.” The first disciples were two brothers, Simon and Andrew. They were fishermen.

¹⁸One day Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee when He saw Simon (also called Peter) and Andrew throwing their nets into the water. They were, of course, fishermen.

Jesus: ¹⁹Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

²⁰Immediately, Peter and Andrew left their fishnets and followed Jesus.

²¹Going on from there, Jesus saw two more brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They, too, were fishermen. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee getting their nets ready to fish. Jesus summoned them, just as He had called to Peter and Andrew, ²²and immediately they left their boat and their father to follow Jesus.

²³And so Jesus went throughout Galilee. He taught in the synagogues. He preached the good news of the Kingdom, and He healed people, ridding their bodies of sickness and disease. ²⁴People talked about this Jesus, this Preacher and Healer, and word of His charisma and wisdom and power and love spread all over Syria, as more and more sick people came to Him. People who were too sick to walk persuaded their friends and relatives to carry them to Jesus. The innumerable ill who came before Him had all sorts of diseases—they were in crippling pain; they were possessed by demons; they had seizures; they were paralyzed. But Jesus healed them all. ²⁵Large crowds from Galilee, from Jerusalem, from the ten cities called the Decapolis, from Judea, and from the region across the Jordan—these cripples and demonized and ill and paralytics came to Jesus, and He healed them, and they followed Him.



Download and read all of Matthew 4 from The Voice of Matthew

Wrestling with God

Today Kelsi Williamson writes about wrestling with God. She is 18 and heading to Wheaton College next year. This is her Freshman application essay, and we thought it is a fitting response to Lent and wanted to share it with you. Our thanks to Kelsi for submitting this.

Wrestling with God
By Kelsi Williamson

"Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome" (Genesis 32:28).

The story of Jacob, his relationship with God, reminds me that my faith isn't any old stroll down Main Street.

Instead, this faith in God resembles much more closely a wrestling match in which I often try not to let God win. I lost many matches with God even before I knew Him as my Lord and Savior, and know that I will continue to lose. But that's part of our deal.

As I wrestle with Him, I also grapple with my mistakes and flaws. In the end, however, I alone do not and cannot defeat sin; I must submit to Jesus in the first match and let Him finish off the fight in the second.

When I was young, I wrestled with worry. My younger years were filled with fears and anxieties about numerous situations that were completely unrealistic figments of my imagination. I worried about being sucked down the drain in the bathtub, and shut up in the bleachers at the basketball games my dad would coach. One time, I desperately insisted on going to bed before midnight in order to prevent the inevitability of turning into a pumpkin-too many hours of watching Cinderella!

As I got older, my fears increased in peril and horror. I worried about the approaching new millennium and thought for sure that the world would end as soon as we left the year 1999. I also had trouble sleeping soundly because of my fear of the dark. I refused to use any kind of sweetener or antiperspirant and warily stood five hundred feet away from the microwave at all times . . . in order to prevent cancer, of course.

I was twelve when I gained more peace about my life and faith in the power of God's love. But, of course, the wrestling match was not over.

I had finally decided to fully give my life to Jesus Christ and demonstrate this change through baptism. I stopped dwelling so much on hypothetical disasters and felt comfort in God as a stable pillar in my life. I found solace in Matthew 6:25-34, which became a constant reminder that I could not "add a single hour" to my life through worry.

God - 1 Kelsi - 0

When I was in middle school, I wrestled with hypocrisy. I was going to a small Christian school, but was frustrated because nothing seemed at all Christian. The kids cussed, did drugs, and refused to sing in Chapel. Most teachers taught with little passion and remained unconnected to their students. And I became increasingly bitter and angry with them all. I blamed God and was turning more and more away from Him, never stopping to ask myself how my own faith might be in danger.

But God remained close by my side and provided me with the opportunity to start high school at Albuquerque Academy. Academy was a bigger, independent school with moral values far different from what I was used to. God knew that by removing me from an environment where I could easily criticize others relationships with Him, I could focus on my own flaws and imperfections. Through this fight, God gently taught me to, "first take the plank out of [my] eye" in order to then "remove the speck from [my] brother's eye" (Luke 6:42).

God - 2 Kelsi - 0

Throughout high school, I wrestled with doubt. Even though my new school was where I needed to be, I was suddenly bombarded with many ideas contrary to my beliefs. I had to constantly rethink values I had once just taken for granted. Oftentimes, this caused periods where I was uncertain about what was true. I began to doubt the importance of God's presence in my life because of His absence in so many of my peer's lives.

But through the doubt, God again did not give up the fight. He used my susceptibility to false beliefs to reveal my helplessness and my absolute dependency on Him. Through confronting the uncomfortable views of the world, God filled me with a passionate purpose to follow Him.

God - 3 Kelsi - 0

And now, as I prepare to start a new chapter of my life, I continue to wrestle with God on important decisions such as college choices. I have faith, though, that I will eventually lose out to God no matter how hard I try to win.

And with each defeat, I am constantly reminded that my relationship with Jesus Christ does not consist of a single event that will provide me with all of the answers. It is a huge tournament of wrestling matches in which I have, and will continue to struggle with God and with men, and will someday, eventually, overcome.

Ask

Scripture

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive.

Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish?

As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

Matthew 7:7-11, CEV

Reflection
"Ask . . . search . . . knock." Three aspects of prayer.

Each one gives us confidence of gaining a hearing. Jesus' teaching is demanding, but our Father is willing to give us the capacity if we but ask.

With the confidence of the child, we can demand, "Give us this day our daily bread." Each day, we are invited to ask, to demand.

Prayer
Would you teach me to appropriately demand daily bread, not just for me, not just for my family, not just for my church, but for the world? Give this world, Father, daily bread and teach those in need to demand it like hungry, humble children.

Source: Sacred Space

Recognizing Your Face

When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, "My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me."

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, "When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?"

The king will answer, "Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me."

Prayer
This message is so simple, Lord. You will judge me on my love and service of others. you are there in the poor, the sick, the prisoners, the strangers. May I recognize your face.

Sources: Scripture text from Contemporary English Version, prayer comes from Sacred Space.

Born of God

Today Gary Holloway brings us a second reflection from his forthcoming book, Daily Disciple.

by Gary Holloway

Psalm
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
Psalm 145:18

Meditation
The subject of this great change, before the new birth, existed in one state; after it, one exists in another. One stands in a new relation to God, angels, and humans. One is now born of God, and has the privilege of being a child of God, and is consequently pardoned, justified, sanctified, adopted, saved.
Alexander Campbell, The Christian System

Scripture
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Prayer
Father, thank you for making me your child. How glad I am to call you my Father! May I see Christ as he is, and not from a merely human point of view. Keep me from judging others the way the world judges them.

Money

Today Gary Holloway brings us a second reflection from his forthcoming book, Daily Disciple.

by Gary Holloway

Psalm
He raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 107:41-43

Meditation
We pray not for stores to be laid up for many years. This is the spirit of avarice and independence, and hateful to our God—our gracious, kind, and wise benefactor. His benevolence provides for all, from the tallest angel in glory to the lowest reptile on earth.
Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1844)

Scripture
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
1 Timothy 6:9-10

Prayer
Lord, deliver me from the desire to be rich. May I trust your steadfast love instead of trusting in my wealth. May I never seek to be independent from your daily care, but glory in your gifts to the needy.

Fasting Friday

Isaiah 58:5-9

Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I Am.

Prayer

Lord, are you suggesting we take in the homeless? Could our church or small group do something together? I'm afraid to do this myself. I don't know what to do about homelessness, about the injustices in my town. Will you simply open my eyes today to the homeless, to the poor. Let me see them. Let me hear you say, "Here I Am."

Activity

Fast from meat today. This is a tradition most Catholics hold to during Lent. Some might also eat only one meal today. If you had not planned this for today, begin preparing today for fasting next Friday. There are many kinds of fasting, and certainly not all forms include fasting from food. Perhaps you might fast from a regular Friday night movie and give the money to a charity instead.

Trust and Gratitude

By Henri J.M. Nouwen

Choose life, then, so that you are your descendants may live, in the love of Yahweh your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him; for in this your life consists. --Deuteronomy 30:19-20

A life of faith is a life of gratitude--it means a life in which I am willing to experience my complete dependence upon God and to praise and thank him unceasingly for the gift of being. A truly eucharistic life means always saying thanks to God, always praising God, and always being more surprised by the abundance of God's goodness and love. How can such a life not also be a joyful life? It is the truly converted life in which God has become the center of all. There gratitude is joy and joy is gratitude and everything becomes a surprising sign of God's presence.

Whenever Jesus says to the people he has healed: "Your faith has saved you," he is saying that they have found new life because they have surrendered in complete trust to the love of God revealed in him. Trusting in the unconditional love of God: that is the way to which Jesus calls us. The more firmly we grasp this, the more readily we will be able to perceive why there is so much suspicion, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, hatred, violence, and discord in the world. Jesus himself interprets this by comparing God's love to the light. He says:

. . . though the light has come into the world
people have preferred darkness to light
because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong
hates the light and avoids it,
to prevent his actions from being shown up;
but whoever does the truth
comes out into the light,
so that what he is doing
may plainly appear as done in God.

Jesus sees the evil in this world as a lack of trust in God's love. He makes us see that we persistently fall back on ourselves, rely more on ourselves than on God, and are inclined more to the love of self than to love of God. So we remain in the darkness. If we walk in the light, then we are enabled to acknowledge in joy and gratitude that everything good, beautiful, and true comes from God and is offered to us in love.

Our Prayer

O God, you are not far from any of us, since it is in you that we live, and move, and exist.

You, who have overlooked the times of ignorance, let everyone everywhere be told that they must now repent (Acts 17:27-28, 30).

Source: Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show me the way (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992). Used by permission.

Alone With God

Ash Wednesday is today. That is the beginning of Lent, a 40-day time of reflection and restoration of our vision of Christ as the model for how we are shaped. Our goal is Christlikeness. So during these days leading up to Easter, we reflect on Christ's person and mission as we also reflect on our own journey.

In the next 40 days Wineskins will be posting meditations from Sacred Space, material from Sojourners, writings from Henri Nouwen, a Dutch mystic and great devotional writer and social activist, J.H. Garrison, a great worship and devotional writer from Stone-Campbell history, and many others.

This first reflection has been edited by Gary Holloway from J.H. Garrison's Alone With God (Leafwood, 2003).

Psalm
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.
Psalm 105:1-4

Meditation
Christ has brought us a fuller revelation of God than David knew, and gives new and stronger reasons why the soul should long for him. He is our Father. He so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to save it. O the infinite depths and tenderness of his love!
J.H. Garrison, Alone with God, 27

Scripture
I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, "Here I am, here I am,"
to a nation that did not call on my name.
Isaiah 65:1

Prayer
Father, as you have sought me in your love, may I seek your presence continually this day. Keep me close in your grace so I may glory in your name.

Action
Find a way to remind yourself to reflect each day of Lent. It might be a computer alarm or a special wristband or a sticky note on your mirror. Whatever the reminder, decide and set up a reminder for yourself to take this time of reflection together with Christians around the world.

Lent: Inquiry and Instruction

By Robert E. Webber

Question: What is the meaning of the word Lent?

Answer: It has no religious meaning like Advent or Pentecost. It comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, Lencten, meaning "spring."

Question: Why do we observe Lent?

Answer: The purpose of Lent is to provide a time for us to enter into the suffering of Jesus and to go with Him to the tomb.

Question: How can we do this?

Answer: The experience of the people of God who have gone before us is that we best identify with Jesus by adopting a discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Question: How should we pray?

Answer: Our prayer may be a spiritual meditation on Jesus Christ--His teaching, His suffering, His death on our behalf.

Question: Why should we fast?

Answer: Fasting is an aid to prayer. Years ago Augustine wrote, "When a man imposes on himself the burden of fasting, he shows that he really wants what he is asking for." Christians fast in order to pray more intently.

Question: What is the purpose of almsgiving?

Answer: We give alms to the poor and needy because it is a specific expression of the brotherly love produced by prayer. The closer we are to Jesus, the more we care for our neighbor.

Source: Robert Webber, The Family Book of Prayer (Hendrickson, 1996).