lilly's pad

Good Friday Take Away!

 Wine, Cheese, Chocolate and Jesus!  

This has been our invitation to thinplace for the past few years. My husband Rob and I have hosted a thinplace gathering in our home in Cincinnati, Napa Valley and now here in Nashville. thinplaceNASHVILLE happens on Sunday nights. We start with dinner, sometimes a potluck, wine and cheese, and always chocolate. After dinner, we move from the table to the living room and I pass out clipboards, copies of the scripture and any art supplies that folks want to use. The second part of our gathering is a time for journaling and art based off a passage of scripture. We open by praying a psalm together and then doing a lectio divina on a passage usually from one of the Gospels. We listen to a passage in two translations, one being The Message.

 After listening to the passage and allowing the Holy Spirit to highlight something for us, we have 30-45 minutes to just be with the passage and be with God. I write several questions to consider while journaling and I have art supplies if people want to create a response to the passage. During this time, there is a peaceful instrumental playlist playing as a backdrop. Before we begin, I always remind us that there is no wrong way to do this process. Some one might be inspired by the psalm, rather that the gospel and that’s fine. The Holy Spirit might take someone in a totally different direction than either the psalm or the gospel passage and that’s ok too. After the journaling/art time is completed we open up the space for sharing but there is no requirement to do so.

 During the journaling people ponder the questions, write poems, create drawings or just sit with the text. Some people use their phones to find out more about the people or places in the passage or dig a little deeper in another translation of the Bible. When everyone who wants to share has had the opportunity, we close with an experiential element that ties the story to our real lives, often it is something that we can take away to remind us of the passage or remind us to pray.  I actually call these symbols and/or responses “Take Aways.”

 This past week we used the lectionary passage from Ezekiel 37:1-14 as our lectio/ listening passage and had the gospel passage from John 11:1-45 the story of the raising of Lazarus as something that could be read during the journaling time. Each story focuses on bringing life back from death.  The dry bones in Ezekiel need the breath of God breathed back into them. And in the story of Lazarus, Jesus commands his friend to come forth from the tomb and he does, still wrapped in his burial cloths. Both stories also remind us that we too need resurrection and to be unbound from our grave clothes.

As our closing, we passed around strips of muslin and a bowl of mixed spices: cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Each person took a strip of muslin and rolled it in the spices and then made a bracelet from the muslin strip. We are wearing these bracelets as a reminder of our need to be set free and our own need for new life and resurrection. They also remind us of the burial of Jesus and we will cut them off on Easter Sunday as a symbol of resurrection.

 The grave cloth bracelet is a great take away, experiential response that you can do on your own, with your family, with your roommates, your small group or even your entire church community on Good Friday. You might even have some people over for dinner sometime during the week and talk about where they might be feeling “dead” or in need of new life. All you need are enough muslin strips (cut 10-12 inches long so they can be easily tied) some small scissors for trimming the bracelets, a bowl with a mixture of cinnamon, all spice and ground cloves. The bowl needs to be big enough to roll the strip of muslin in easily.

The grave cloth bracelet response is originally from Station 14 in my Experiential Stations of the Cross that you can download at freerangeworship.com.

Jesus is Laid in the Tomb a Good Friday Meditation

This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

Mark 15:42-47

Take a strip of cloth
and roll it in the spices.
Now Make a bracelet with the cloth.

Allow the smell of the spices and the strip of cloth to remind you of Jesus’ death and burial.

On March 3rd, RethinkChurch’s word for picture a day during Lent was the word Sacrifice. I didn’t have a picture that represented sacrifice, but i had some thoughts on the word.

 I’m no sure I have a photo of sacrifice, I ‘m not sure I have really ever sacrificed anything in order to please God.  But this got me thinking of the times I sacrificed to please other people, or because I was a driven, work-aholic, performer person and I felt that “ I could do it better” and of course “this must be done right now! “

This meant, too often, when my kids were younger that I sacrificed time with them for work at church, playing with them was sacrificed for getting ready for the next event. I sacrificed time with them for blogging for “the world” way before blogging got you paid or famous.  

 I sacrificed friendship and hospitality because I didn’t like how my house looked or didn’t have time to clean it up. Too often I had “CHPOS” “Can’t have people over syndrome” because the house wasn’t clean enough, or decorated well enough, or together enough.  This led me to sacrifice my peace!. My inner peace was sacrificed because I tried to please so many people, and I never really pleased myself.

 If I could go back in time like in the movie “About Time” and relive parts of my life again, I actually would redo the days that I chose work over my kids. I would redo the days I missed sunsets and opportunities to see beauty…and the days I didn’t see the need to create art or take a walk just to see what God was up to in my neighborhood.

I would go back to the weeks overfilled with too many activities and turn them into weeks of REST. I

would start practicing silence and solitude in my 20’s and 30’s, not wait til I burned out in my early 40’s!

I would play more ping pong and read more Dickens…or for me it would be shooting hoops with the boys and reading more Tolkien.

 My prayer for us all is that we won’t put the word SACRIFICE on a religious shelf, or a spiritual one, but that we would keep it close to us this Lent in the reality of the day to day. And that we would chose to sacrifice our egos, our performance, our agendas, and even our “hustle.”

That we would choose to sacrifice screen time of whatever size in order to spend time with the people we love and the people who need us in REAL time. And watch the sunset rather than watch the twitter feed or the news.

 So Today I will sacrifice:

Loud for Quiet

Frenzy for Faith

Crazy for Peace

Panic for Joy in the midst of it all

Beginning Lent with butter and syrup!

It’s hard to believe, but this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent…now for many of us,  we grew up with “lent” as LINT, you know, something you’d find in the dryer or your belly button, rather than a season of the Church Year.

So if you are new to experiencing the season of Lent, you might be excited to know that we first get to celebrate with pancakes! Yep! I said pancakes, chocolate chip, strawberry and whipped cream, or just plain old flap jacks! This Tuesday, Feb.28th, is Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday.

 Pancake Tuesday is better known in Britain. In the USA it’s also known as Shrove Tuesday. But we know it mostly as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras…Either way, the Tuesday before Lent is the day of celebration and confession before the fasting of the forty days of Lent begins.

 So what is Shrove Tuesday and why should you care? Besides the fact that you get a good excuse to eat pancakes? As the youth pastor at Christ Church Glendale, I became a fan because the youth group helped host the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner each year. But people have been participating in Shrove Tuesday since the Middle Ages.

 People would clean out their pantries of all the fat, all the butter, eggs, milk, sugar etc in preparation for the Lenten fast. Pancakes became a good way to eat these things that wouldn’t last through the Lenten season. The word “Shrove” comes from the word “to shrive” to confess and/or hear a confession and thus, be forgiven. So people would seek out forgiveness on Shrove Tuesday so they could begin Lent with a clean slate.  

  Check out a broader history here.

http://projectbritain.com/shrove.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/lent_1.shtml#section_2

  I like to celebrate Shrove Tuesday because it is a great way to get your family, and/or your community together for a fun and an opportunity for a time of confession ( We Protestants are not very good at confession so we need all the help we can get!)

 Here are some ideas to help you start a tradition of Shrove Tuesday with your family or Church community:

 ·      Invite some friends over or just gather your family.

·      Make up a batch of pancakes (throw some scrambled eggs, bacon/sausage on the menu for those who need more protein than carbs, and add a fruit salad to make it healthy.

·      Or if you don’t feel like cooking, go out with your group and have pancakes at Denny’s or IHOP. We’ve actually done this the last few years and had our devotion right in the middle of the restaurant!

  ·      Before the meal, Take time to celebrate all that God has done in your life so far this year.

Share these things with one another

·      Have some cards or post it notes for folks to write down their celebrations and thanksgivings.

·      Put post its' on a poster or on a window making a thankyou/celebration stained glass window that you can keep up and add to through the season of Lent.

 ·      After dinner, take time to reflect on what hasn't been great in your life this year, this month, this week, today...take time to confess these things.

·      Have some paper and pens available and take a few minutes to write down and confess your "junk" to Jesus.

·      If your group is a "safe" group, ( you know each other well)  you might confess your "sins one to another" and then pray for each other.

·      Some other tangible ways to do confession

After writing down your sins, the junk that separates you from Jesus, and the burdens weighing you down,

1.   burn these confessions in the fireplace or in a fireproof dish

( you can use the ashes from these in your Ash Wednesday gathering to mark foreheads with a cross of ashes)

2.   shred them in your paper shredder

 3. or lay them in front of  a cross.

 However you choose to do your confession, actually do it and let God carry the junk, not you! Then celebrate together that Jesus has got this and don’t have to carry it any more!

 Now if you're thinking, I wish I'd known about this LAST week, so I'd have some prep time, don't be frustrated.

Be creative!

I'm a practitioner, not a legalist.

So why not have a pancake dinner, lunch or even breakfast some time in the next week. Doesn’t have to be Tuesday.  Or go out like I said before.

Whenever you have  the pancakes, make it the beginning of your  Lenten season either as a family or a group or even on your own.

 And as we are looking at Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent next week, take

today as a great opportunity to consider a Lenten Practice for the next 40 days before Easter.

 If you've never "celebrated" Lent before, why not give it a go?

And if you grew up with a "sack cloth and ashes" view of Lent, let 2017

be a Lent "reimagined. “ One of my favorite authors, Ed Hayes, says to use the 40 days of Lent as a honeymoon, to fall more in love with Jesus!

My friend and former boss, Roger Foote, used to encourage us to add rather than

subtract during Lent. Rather than giving up something for Lent,

do something you've been meaning to do or neglected to do as your Lenten practice.

 Rather than just giving up something like chocolate or TV, add something like:

·      taking time for silence

·      taking time to journal

·      taking time to write, call, visit people you’ve lost contact with.....

·      practice real Sabbath rest

·      practice giving and serving the poor

·      add in exercise

·      add in more silence, less noise

·      add more time with friends and family, less time on social media

·      practice or add  ___________________

 you fill in the blank.

 Just remember that if you choose to give up something as a part of lent,

you can participate in this on Sundays during Lent because Sundays are feast days not fast days...

but if you give up something like cussing, or whining, etc  you might neglect this gift of freedom. : )

 So go find your spatula and buy some syrup…and celebrate a 1000 years of tradition and have a great Pancake Tuesday! And why not choose to fall more in love with Jesus during the weeks before Easter while you’re at it?

 Check out http://www.chiff.com/a/shrove-tuesday.htm

NEW YEAR PRAYER CENTERPIECE

A New Year Prayer Practice. I was thinking we need a tangible way to pray as we enter 2017. Something simple yet having impact.

So here's my New Year Prayer Centerpiece. I am re-purposing my advent wreath but if you are starting from scratch, you will need 5 candles of the same size. a plate, or dish to hold the candles, a lighter to light candles with each day, and the prayer. This practice can be done by you as an individual, as a family at breakfast or dinner time, or at youth group or as a part of your small group gathering. use larger candles for a larger group. if you are doing this as a family, let each person light a different candle and pray the prayer or you can print out the prayer and pray it together. The four candles of Advent represent: 1. HOPE 2. PEACE 3. JOY 4. LOVE and the And in the Advent wreath, the center candle is the CHRIST Candle.

I feel each of these candles represent very needed gifts as we enter the new year. we need to receive them and we need to take them out into the world and give, hope, peace, joy and love and God's light to our friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors and schoolmates.

Each day, or each time you are able, do the following: As you light the first candle, Pray: God help me to receive the power of HOPE today As you light the second candle PRAY: God, Help me to receive the spirit of PEACE today As you light the third candle, PRAY: God help me receive the infilling of JOY today As you light the 4th candle, PRAY: Help me to receive the healing power of love today. As you light the center candle: Help me (help us) to bring HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE to the people in my world today. Help me(help us) to be the Light for the world to see.

Then have your meal, or your meeting together. Before you finish the meal or the gathering, and before you blow out the candles, PRAY: God,  Give me eyes to see the needs around me. (us) Show me (us )tangible ways to meet those needs and serve others. Open my heart to receive your HOPE, your PEACE, your JOY and your LOVE today. and surround me with your LIGHT and LOVE . Thank you for all these gifts and thank you for being able to receive them. In your Name. AMEN

I'd love to hear how you use this prayer practice with your family or on your own. I have a left over candy cane on my centerpiece to remind me of all the sweet things God has done and is doing in my life. You can add other symbols as reminders of what God is up to in yours.

I believe in tangible ways to pray. Jesus used things he saw around him to teach his followers and used these every day things to help them see God.  So why not Halloween candy as a prayer too. Since Halloween is upon us and whether or not you choose to embrace Halloween as a holiday or an event, you can still use all that great Halloween candy to help you pray… as a part of your youth group, your family devotion, small group or even in your personal prayer time.  And post Halloween is a great time to buy up candy to use for future prayer experiences and ideas. I use sour skittles and m&ms for end of year prayers (future post…thanking God for the sweet and sour for the past year) and tootsie roll pops for advent prayers.( are we willing to wait on God to get to the good stuff of Jesus at Christmas)

  HALLOWEEN CANDY PRAYERS

 Have a bowl of mixed halloween candy, at least one piece for each participant.

This meditation can be done with a group as a corporate prayer or as an individual prayer station.

Remember that younger students are much more concrete in their thinking and probably works better with high school and beyond, but don’t be afraid to try it with younger students just give them more examples and guidance of what you are going for since they don’t all think in metaphor/comparisons yet. If you are doing this prayer activity with a group, be aware of any nut allergies and have an alternative choice or avoid the nuts completely.

 Example candy:

Small Hershey bars, kit kat bars, m&ms, mounds, regular skittles, sour skittles, tootsie rolls, tootsie roll pops, mini snickers, mars,  etc.  

  PRAYER 1: Praying with a Piece of Candy

One idea is to have each person in the group choose a piece of candy out of a mixed bowl of candy.  And have enough extra candy so participants can take home a piece to share with someone else.

 Another way to go is to have everyone have the same type of candy and do a prayer with that particular candy.

 Example 1: Pass out a kit kat bar to each person. Hold the kit kat in your hand and consider how you are sharing your life right now. Ask God to show you. Ask “who you can share with or who you need to share more of yourself with by serving or giving.” How do you share your gifts with others? With Whom do you need to break off a piece of the kit kat bar and share?

How is God inviting you to share your life with other people?

Give participants time to reflect between each question, or have the questions written out and have participants write their responses and then after a given time invite people to share their thoughts with the group.

  Example 2:

Pick out a piece of Halloween candy.

Consider how your life is going right now, how is your like that piece of candy?

Consider the flavors, the textures of that piece of candy.

Ask God to show you.

  Hershey bar

Is life feeling plain not very exciting like a plain Hershey bar?

Or maybe it’s feeling nutty? Like a hershey with almonds or and an almond joy?

Talk to God about this.

 Are you sharing your life, like your real self, who you are with anyone?

Like sharing a kit kat bar?

With whom would you like to share your life? Your time? How would you like to serve or give to others? Talk to God about this.

 Is your life an adventure like different flavors of skittles?

How would you like to add more flavor or more color to your world, to your life?

Talk to God about this. Ask God to begin to show you the adventure ahead of you.

What color or flavor represtents your life right now?

 Is life hard? perhaps life is rather hard to endure like a chewy tootsie roll…or does it have the potential for adventure and unknown like a tootsie roll pop?

What things are you chewing on right now? What questions or problems are you facing? Talk to God about this. Ask God for help.

Maybe life is colorful like a handful of m&m’s with lots of great things going on. Talk to God about this. What are some of the great things that you’ve experienced lately? What are you thankful for? Take some time and thank God for these things.

 Some candy combines lots of flavor and textures together. Like Reeses or Snickers.

What things have you experienced this week? How have you seen God in these things? There are good things, and bad things, plain boring things and sweet and sour things that occur all week long. God is present in all of them. Take some time and consider your week. Where did you see God? Talk to God about your life

Take some time…consider, think about your life.

Where have you seen God at work even in the plain and boring parts.

Even in the sour parts of your life? Thank Gof for being there in all aspects of your life.

 Eat your candy and thank Jesus for all that he is up to in your life and all the wonderful flavors in our world.

 Take another piece of candy to share with someone who needs to be reminded that God loves them.

  PRAYER 2 : CANDY Prayer Station

Set up a prayer station with various candy types/mini candy bars displayed as examples, empty candy wrappers, pieces of chocolate to taste, like chocolate chips or kisses or small chocolate bars according to size of your group.

Sign Instructions for station:

Consider you life with God, your relationship, your journey with Jesus.

Which candy reflects your life with Jesus?

 Look at and Think about the candy on the table.

Your life with God…Is it good and rich and like your favorite candy bar?

 Or maybe your life with GOD is like an empty candy wrapper with nothing inside…

 Is it plain and boring like a plain Hershey bar?

Or maybe rich like dark chocolate?

Maybe it’s rocky ..you know filled with nuts …or hard to chew because of the nougat and caramel.

Is your life with Jesus tasting sour like sour skittles or sweet like m&ms?

 TALK TO GOD about this. Tell God where you are and then tell God where you’d like to be on your journey and in your relationship with Jesus…

 Take a piece of chocolate

EAT IT . TASTE and SEE that the Lord is GOOD.

Jesus longs to be in relationship with you.

EAT the chocolate as a symbol of your willingness to start a relationship or get back on track in your relationship with Jesus.

 PRAYER 3: Forrest Gump

 BOX of chocolates and an empty box. you could show the clip from the movie “Forest Gump”

 In the movie Forest Gump, Tom Hanks character says “life is like a box of chocolates, you never known what you are going to get. “

 Maybe the pieces of candy that you have tried out of the box have been gross…maybe you were expecting a piece of filling of rich chocolate and you got a piece of slimy fruit filling instead.

 TALK TO GOD ABOUT THE BAD pieces of chocolate, the bad pieces, the negative pieces of your life, both in the past and going on now.

 God’s not afraid of your feelings. God wants to hear you. God is listening.

Thank God for both the good things and the yucky things happening in your life right now.

Ask Jesus to show you where he is and what he is up to in your life…

TAKE the TIME TO LISTEN to God.

 Maybe you’ve felt like an empty box of chocolates rather than a full box…

Talk to JESUS about this.

Ask Jesus to fill your life with new things and show you what he is up to in weeks ahead.

 When you see a candy box, and candy bars in the store, Let them remind you that God is filling your box with GOOD THINGS. Let the Candy box remind you that God is at work in your life. know that God is working and filling your life with his love…YOU are not empty, you are not a rotten, gross piece of chocolate.

God created you to be God’s favorite.

it’s not too late to start Holy Week ****long ago i got inspired to pray with cups by Joyce Rupp!

Depending upon your church flavor (denomination) and/or uponwhat part of the country you live in, the week before Easter can feel busier than the month of December. Or it can feel like everyone has left the building and are on a beach somewhere on Spring Break. For some of you, you are organizing egg hunts and foot washings and working on extra volunteers for multiple service and for others you are already on to planning for Senior Sunday, mission trips and fundraisers or maybe even on a Spring Break trip yourself. Too often the week before Easter, the last week of Lent, known as Holy Week is just another week of work. The significance gets lost in the shuffle of meetings, extra services, soccer practices, laundry and finding a clean shirt or a new outfit for Easter Sunday.( if not for you, for one of your kids at home).  

How are you feeling about Holy Week this year? As you look towards Easter have you drawn closer to Jesus in the last few days and weeks or are you feeling like you have been running and running and your cup is now totally empty.  Is your spiritual cup over flowing with energy and gratitude or are you looking into an empty cup that is dry and needs filling?

What do you need in your cup as you look towards Easter Sunday this year?

 Jesus talks a lot about cups in his ministry…

Giving a cup of cold water to the least of these Matthew 10: 40-42

Sharing in his cup of suffering when the disciples want a special place of honor Matthew 21:21-23

Drinking and sharing in the cup of the New Covenant and the cup of salvation at the Last Supper

And asking God to remove the cup of suffering from him in the Garden of Gethsemane

This week in the midst of it all use a cup as your prayer tool.  A coffee cup. A red solo cup, a tea cup or even a paper cup. Allow God to speak to you about your life with him as you drink from your cup. You might choose a special cup just for Holy Week or you might just see which kind of cup you end up with as you do your prayer focus each day.  Allow Jesus to use that cup of coffee, tea or water to be a symbol of where you are on your journey. Allow Jesus to refresh you as you drink. Allow Jesus to interrupt you in the midst of your day, in the midst of a meeting to remind you of the cup of salvation or his cup of suffering or your need for his living water.   Even a Starbucks cup can remind you to pray …for the barista, for the other customers in line, for the farmers who grew the coffee, for those who might be suffering for lack of coffee or for lack of care due to exploitation of the industrial complex.   Hum…the possibilites.  

Check out the daily prayers below. Use your cup of coffee, tea etc to draw you closer this last week of Lent. Take the time to pause and reflect and walk with Jesus on his Way of Suffering.  And know that his desire in all of this is to refresh you and provide you with a cup that is overflowing with his love and grace joy and mercy even in the midst of it all.

You can do these short meditations/reflections on your own, with your family or even as a youth group activity individually or all at one time.

1.     Palm Sunday: Cup of Praise. Cheers or Jeers? As you hold your cup consider where your heart is. Are you cheering with the crowd today or are you feeling more like a jeering Pharisee? Are you pouring out praises or curses on those around you? As you drink from your cup today, take time to praise and thank Jesus for the things He is doing in your life. As you drink from cups today pray “hosanna, blessed is the king who comes in the Name of the Lord”

2.     Cup of Forgiveness confession

3.     Cup of Change. The money changers were cheating people and  many of us have cups of coins at home…where we collect change. Gather the change and give it  the change and  

4.     Cup of Betrayal. Judas plans to betray Jesus and give him up to leaders who were jealous and afraid of Jesus and his teaching. As you drink from your cup today, have you felt betrayed or have you been betrayed by anyone? Pray for this person or situation and ask jesus to help you forgive and heal. What about you? Have you betrayed anyone? Talk to God about this and ask for forgiveness. Are there ways you have betrayed Jesus in your life? Talk to Him about this and allow Jesus to forgive you.  

5.     Cup of Remembrance ….when you drink this cup remember me

The cup of the new covenant …as you drink from your cup today. Think about the last supper. Think about Jesus serving his disciples through washing their feet. Picture them around the table celebrating the Passover.

6.     Cup of suffering. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that God would remove the cup of suffering from him. But Jesus was willing to take the cup for each of us. Any thing in your life you wish God would remove? Talk to God about this. Any areas of suffering where you need healing? Ask Jesus to heal you. Take time to pray for

those around the world. Pray for those who drink from cups of suffering on a daily basis. Places like Syria, West Africa, Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Haiti, etc.

7.     The empty cup. Loss. The disciples hadn’t understood that Jesus had to die. They hadn’t planned on losing their friend. And they were afraid that they might die too. Look at your empty cup. Have you suffered a loss this week, this month, this year? Allow Jesus to be with you in that loss. Sit with the empty cup and give the loss to Jesus. What fears are in your cup today? As you hold your cup picture Jesus holding your fears. Give your loss and your fear to Jesus

8.     Cup of Resurrection New Life as you drink from your cup today thank Jesus for the New Life that is in you ask Him to show you glimpses of resurrection and hope today and throughout the week.

Lent 2015… START WHERE YOU ARE

Practice

 The season of Lent creeps up on me every year. Sometimes we get a very long break between Christmas and Easter and other years we just take down the tree and it’s time for baskets and bunnies. I love following the church year calendar because it has us pause for Epiphany in January and consider the Light of Jesus shining for all the world and then we pause again to prepare for Easter with the Season of Lent. The season of Lent started yesterday with Ash Wednesday. We begin with the distinct reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Maybe you haven’t ever had, or been to an Ash Wednesday service where someone draws a cross on your forehead with a combo of ashes and oil. It’s the tattoo of Lent to remind us that we are mortal and that God is in control and we are not. And for me it’s a tangible sign of the new start we get in Lent to draw closer to Jesus.

You can check out the Ash Wednesday service in the Book of Common Prayer here: http://www.bcponline.org/SpecialDays/ashwed.html  

 I am not legalistic when it comes to Lent. If you haven’t even thought about the season yet or never experienced Ash Wednesday, or you got snowed in and couldn’t make an Ash Wednesday service, you can start now where you are.  As a group, or on your own consider the things that are blocking your way in your life with God right now. Are there things that you need forgiveness for? Things that you’d like to change as you head towards Easter? Pass out post it notes (we used heart shaped ones) and pens to your group and have everyone take some time to write these things down. (you can do this as a family too). Read Psalm 51:1-13 as a prayer together. Have everyone bring their post its to the front and place them in a glass bowl where these post its can be burned. After placing their post it in the bowl. Have another bowl filled with water and a towel where each person can wash their hands as an act of repentance. (you might need more than one washing station if you have a large group) When everyone has had a chance to wash their hands and are seated again, light the post it notes on fire. As they burn you can be in silence or sing or listen to a song like “amazing love “ or” amazing grace” Mix a splash of olive oil into the ashes created from the post its. Have each person come forward and draw a cross on their foreheads using the ashes or go around to each person depending upon the size of your gathering.  You can close with praying this prayer from the Ash Wednesday Service (BCP)*** or write one of your own to pray together.

As a follow up, you can choose a symbol to represent your Lenten journey. Last year I kept a bowl of ashes and a lint brush on my coffee table to remind me of the need I have each day for God to remove the lint, the sin, in my life that clogs my relationship with Jesus. What symbol or image can you use this Lent to remind you to draw closer to Jesus? A symbol of new life? A symbol of confession? Take some time today to consider and pray about this and make this the year you practice Lent and intentionally fall more in love with Jesus between now and Easter. 

The word "Maundy" comes from the Latin for 'command' (mandatum). It refers to the command given by Jesus at the Last Supper, that his disciples should love one another.

meditation for palm sunday:

Rolling Out the Red Carpet:

Think about how excited you get when your favorite team wins.

Think about your favorite star…actor, musician, sports hero etc.

What if you’d heard that he/she was coming to your town and you could be there to greet him/her?

How would you feel?

How would you act?

Would you get to the front of the line?”

Would you push, shove, scream or yell?

Would you try to touch them..

Try to get an autograph or take a photo?

Imagine the scene in your mind…

The red carpet

The photographers

The fans screaming

Here comes the entourage

Here comes the limo

  This is how it felt when Jesus rode toward Jerusalem

He was a celebrity

He had healed people

He had raised Lazarus from the dead

They wanted a deliverer

They wanted to see him

To touch him

They hoped he would free them from the Romans

They cheered

They sang

They laid their coats down to pave the road

They cut down palm branches to wave in honor

  Now the Pharisees …the rulers of the temple didn’t like

Competition!

They were jealous

They were afraid

They felt they were losing control and losing power.

Where are you in the crowd…

What are you feeling?

What do you want to say to Jesus?

Today are you feeling like cheering or jeering ? 

What would it take to move you from jeering and complaining to cheering and praising this week?

Talk to God about where you are... and consider where you'd like to be between now and Easter...

Holy Week…with your small group, family, kids, youth group etc.

  In preparation for Holy Week, here is a centerpiece and meditation you can create for yourself, your family, or even your church community (making it larger as necessary…using large candles and enough supplies for your entire group) Each day there is an activity/response you can do on your own or with your family/group to retell the story of the last week of Jesus’s life.

  The centerpiece works a bit like a reverse advent wreath. Start with all the candles lit on Palm Sunday and Monday, and then you extinguish a candle each day and thus the centerpiece is dark on Saturday. And all candles are relit on Easter! Begin with a plate or dish and 5 candles. I use a red candle for Good Friday and place it in the center, but you could also do the candles in a row if you were creating this on an altar space. This can also created for your coffee table rather than your dining table.

  Remember you don’t have to do all of this, just start. Do a couple of days. Do what works for you and your family/group. Feel free to modify the questions for the ages in your group.

We started with just the candles and purple cloth activity the first year. Get your family/group to join in the creation of the centerpiece and getting the props together. We remember much more of what we do than what we hear.  And I would love to hear how you use this with your families and groups!

  Rejoicing in the already but not yet!

lilly lewin

  SUPPLIES:

4 White Candles

1 Red Candle

Dish or plate that will hold candles and be large enough for extra things to be added to it.

Pieces of fern or palm branches, size depends upon size of your table/centerpiece. I have a small table so we have a small centerpiece.

Optional: Cut out clothes/jackets either from magazines or run off outlines like paper doll clothes on 8.5x11 sheets of paper.

Coins …pennies or the plastic gold coins

Olive oil or bottle of perfume

Hershey kisses enough for everyone

Pieces of paper with a plate drawn on it to use as placemat, or paper place mats, enough for all members of your group.

Purple Fabric  cut into 3x6 inch strips, make a half inch cut in the short end of each strip

Piece of muslin or black cloth that will cover entire centerpiece.

Band aids. One for each person

Candles, one for each person in your group ( you can use small birthday candles)

  DAY 1: Palm Sunday,  (pick a passage Matthew 21: 1-10, Luke 19: 28-40, Mark 11: 1-11,John 12:12-19)  LIGHT ALL 5 candles

Read the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, and talk about what it would be like to be in the crowd when Jesus rode into town. What do you see, hear, smell? Are you excited, scared, angry like the Pharisees? Talk about this.

  Add pieces of palm fronds or cuts of a fern to symbolize the entry into Jerusalem. If you have younger kids in your group or you are feeling artistic, run off some paper doll size coats, jackets and palm branches and color these and cut them out and place around the plate .

  DAY 2:  Monday:  Cleansing the Temple.  Leave Palm Branches around the plate for a couple of days and bring a bowl of pennies/coins to the table.

Read the story  Luke 19:45-48, Matt. 21:12-17, Romans 8:35-39

LIGHT ALL THE CANDLES and have someone blow out one of them.

Pass around the coins and HOLD A penny/coin in your hand and think about the scene. What does it look like, smell like, what do you see?

  The Money Changers were blocking people’s access to prayer & worship, especially the Gentiles.

What things block you from prayer?

What things keep you from worshipping Jesus?

What things (like the tables of the money changers) keep you from being with God?

TV, Texting, Computer time, facebook, Sports, Video games, busyness, fear, worry, lack of trust, what else? 

AS you hold your coin, TALK to God about these things.

then take time to talk about this as a group. 

    DAY 3: Tuesday: Anointing at Bethany  

LIGHT ALL CANDLES and have someone extinguish two of the white candles.

Read the passage. John 12: 1-11, Mark 14:1-9 Matthew 26: 6-13

The woman in the story gave Jesus her most valued possession. She honored him with this gift of expensive perfume.

What is your most valuable possession?

It might be a material thing

It might be a talent that you have…

It might be your life!

Are you willing to give this to Jesus to honor him?

Are you willing to give up your most valuable,

most precious possession in order to honor Jesus?

Pass around the olive oil or perfume and a dab on your forehead as a symbol of your willingness to honor Jesus.

    Day 4: Wednesday Judas betrays Jesus

Light all the Candles and have someone extinguish 3 of the white candles.

READ one of  these: Matthew 26:14-16 ( 17-21) Mark 14:10-11,Luke 22:1-6

  This week, Jesus was betrayed by two of his friends, Judas and Peter.  Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  Peter denied that he even knew Jesus.

Anyone betray you this week/month/year?

Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Take time to pray for the people who have betrayed you or people or groups that are your enemies. 

What about you? Have you betrayed Jesus lately? With your actions or inactions?  Bad attitude, lack of faith, etc. Talk to God about these things.

Eat a Hershey kiss as a symbol of your willingness to forgive those who have betrayed you and as a symbol of your need for forgiveness.

  Day 5: Thursday: THE LAST SUPPER

Light all the Candles and have someone extinguish 4 candles.

Pick one of these to read: Mark 14:12-26, John 13: 1-17 , Luke 22: 7-30, Matthew 26: 26-30, Luke 22: 14-21

  Add a piece of purple cloth under the candles to form a cross. Have extra pieces of purple cloth, enough for each person in your family/group. (cloth pieces should be about 3x6 inches w cut in the the narrow side ) You will use these on Good Friday.

  Placemat Have a paper placemat for each person or have people create one before you begin. 

READ the Passage: Imagine the scene. Picture the colors, the smells, the atmosphere of the room.

Consider that it was Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, his closest friends. If it was your last meal what would you be eating and who would be at your table?

Take time to write out or draw your menu for your last supper and name the people at your table on your placemat. Take time to Pray for the friends you have listed. 

  Day 6: Friday  GOOD FRIDAY  Tonight, Light only the red candle.  Pass around pieces of purple cloth.

Read the story: Matthew 27: 32-54, Luke 23: 26-49, Mark15:21-33, 33-40….extinguish the candle. IT IS FINISHED.

After listening to the passage everyone will rip their pieces of purple cloth in half symbolic of the temple curtain being torn separating the holy of holies when Jesus died on the cross.

   When the candle has had time to cool, have someone cover the centerpiece with a cloth symbolic of Jesus’ burial.

  Day 7: Saturday: All the candles are out. The strips of cloth are on the plate. Entire centerpiece is dark and covered with “burial cloth”

Jesus disciples, his friends have abandoned him and are hiding and afraid. His body is buried in a borrowed tomb.

How are you feeling today about the death of Jesus? What if you didn’t know that Sunday was going to mean resurrection? 

Talk about this

PASS OUT BAND AIDS

Take time to pray for anyone you know who is suffering or sick or feeling afraid.

Pray also for friends who have suffered a loss or lost a loved one in recent months.

Place a band aid on your wrist as a reminder to pray for these people in the next few days.

  Day 8 : EASTER!!!!! If you covered your centerpiece, uncover and re-light them all!

Have all the candles lit before people sit down for the meal.

READ the Resurrection Story together! Choose one Matt.28:1-10, Mark 16:1-18, Luke 24

Light your candles from the centerpiece as a symbol of Jesus resurrection and the Light returning to the World. Now we can share that Light  and his love with everyone we meet.

Say together: CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED.

EXTRA: Pray for places around the globe that need the Light of Jesus. Pick a country to pray for in the coming days.

In the Gospels, people encountered Jesus in lots of different ways.

Some waited on him to arrive

One prepared the way

Some looked for him, sought him out and got their friends to come follow Jesus too.

Others Jesus looked for and asked them to follow him.

One guy climbed a tree in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus

And for his efforts got called by name and invited to dinner with Him.

Some people needed Jesus to touch them so they could get well.

Other folks, Jesus recognized their need and healed them of more than just their sickness.

  Mary and Joseph were expecting Jesus but had to wait 9 months for him to arrive.

John the Baptist was watching for Jesus and prepared the way and people’s hearts for Jesus.

For some, Jesus just showed up when they weren’t expecting him, like Matthew the tax collector.

For some they encountered Jesus just doing what they always did like drawing water at the well and discovered Jesus waiting for them.

For one guy, he got taken to see Jesus by some friends and put through a hole in living room roof, dropped in through the dust at Jesus’ feet.

  Often Jesus went looking for people and asked them to follow him. Like Peter James and John

Other times people looked for Jesus and he invited them to do something, like come and see, and follow him and have dinner with him.

Other folks encountered Jesus because they needed something, usually something important, like healing or more information about how to be a part of his Kingdom. Think Andrew and Nicodemas

One Woman in need of deep healing reached out to touch Jesus in the midst of the crowd.

She was afraid and really wasn’t supposed to be in the crowd or touching people in the first place, but she reached out and touched Jesus and was immediately healed. In her mind she didn’t need Jesus to see her she just wanted to touch him, yet Jesus knew she needed to be seen too!

 And some little kids wanted to just be with Jesus but his disciples didn’t think they were worthy of Jesus’ time. But they were wrong and Jesus said LET the little children come to me because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them

  So how about you?

How do you need to encounter Jesus today?

Are you waiting to encounter Jesus like Mary and Joseph?

Do you need to be held by Jesus like his mother held Him?

Do you need someone to prepare a way for you to see Him

  Do you need to be touched and be healed like the blind man or the lepers?

Do you need to reach out and touch Jesus despite the crowd?

Do you need Jesus to look for you and call your name?

Do you need a large glass of living water?

Do you need to bring your friends and dig a hole in the roof so they can see Jesus?

Do you need to sit at his feet rather than working so hard and being so busy?

Do you need to just stop wandering and start following Jesus?

Do you need to just drop your nets and accept his invitation to follow Him?

Do you need to come near to Jesus and be welcomed and loved and have the freedom to play?

  Spend some time today thinking of how you need to encounter Jesus…

  PICK A WORD and carry it with you this week. Consider how you need to Encounter Jesus and how Jesus wants to encounter you.

  Expect

Called

Follow

Touched

Healed

Invited

Loved

Ask

Be Seen

Rest

Sit at His Feet

Give

Bring

It’s all Practice

I haven’t been feeling great the last few weeks and I’ve been binge viewing “Friday Night Lights” I never watched the show when it was on as a series but I’ve grown addicted to the football crazed, small town storyline and it’s characters, especially Coach Taylor and his family.  One of the things Coach Taylor says a lot to his players is  “let’s go out there and have some fun” …and he usually says this about the BIG GAME as well as about practice. That’s interesting spin on life. Am I having any fun when it’s the BIG GAME or have I stressed out so much about it’s significance that I cannot enjoy anything about it?  

What if it’s all practice ? What if it can all be fun even when it’s hard and even when it’s scary?  

My husband Rob says this too me all the time.

“Remember, Lil “it’s all practice.”

This is a great reminder to not make everything such a big deal. And it’s a great thing to remind me  of when I’m planning an event or getting ready for a conference and I’m leaning into stress rather than resting in the joy of doing my gifts.

Even when you are really good at what you do and even when you have had lots of reps at something, it is a wonderful reminder that really “it’s all practice. “ in all eternity, whatever the thing is, it’s just good practice for the next thing.

If we see the event or project or task as practice rather than always seeing it as “The Big Game”  you and I can stress less, relax and enjoy doing the thing. Seeing the gig, the activity, the project, the task at hand, even something as mundane as doing laundry, as “just practice,” takes the pressure off of us and we can actually have fun.

Seeing the tasks and events we do as practice doesn’t mean we don’t put in our best efforts. it means that we don’t  have to see everything as such a big deal. Most of life is not as serious as pediatric brain surgery but somehow we treat our jobs, our tasks, our projects as life or death and give ourselves fits trying to prove that we are worth something as we do them.  And unless what you do IS pediatric brain surgery we can practice living life more as “practice” rather than the final heat at the Olympics or the last game of the Final Four. .