Welcome to Lent Week 3 closing.
These meditations are an opportunity for us to stay connected to the Lenten season all week,
Not simply Sundays,
And to think about Lent in the context of our everyday lives.
My name is Jess and I've engaged Lent in a variety of ways,
From giving up physical things like sugar or alcohol,
To giving up character issues like sarcasm or negativity.
And some years I don't engage Lent hardly at all.
So these times are meant to take the focus off of the transaction of giving something up for religious duty,
But engaging the season as a time for spiritual growth and renewal.
To start,
Let's take five big breaths.
The science behind mindfulness practice is really quite compelling.
As we do this,
We are biologically training our minds to be more attentive to life and prayer.
When we do activities like these,
We dampen the activity in a part of our brain called the amygdala and increase the connections to another part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex.
This connection helps us be less reactive to stressors and to recover better from stress when we experience it.
It sharpens focus and over time it can help us be more compassionate and have a more positive impact on relationships and mental health.
So as we begin,
I invite you for a minute to just breathe.
And as you do,
Try to be particularly mindful of how your body feels as you just for a moment sit and breathe.
That was literally 60 seconds.
And I hope as you did that,
It felt good to be present in your body for just a minute.
If your mind went to other places just now or happens throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural.
And you're still here,
So let's move on.
Let's take a moment and identify where has God been present in life recently?
Maybe think about the last few days or the last 24 hours.
In joys or in struggle,
In people,
Where has God been?
Jesus's experience tempted in the desert is a scripture commonly associated with the spiritual path.
This scripture will frame our week three and four meditations.
It happens at the beginning of the Gospels and is seen as a preparation event for the work Jesus would go on to do.
We will look at the story as it has appeared in Matthew.
In this story,
Jesus is led into the wilderness for 40 days.
In that time,
He is tempted by the devil.
Each time Jesus is tempted,
The stakes are a little higher and his answers are very revealing.
On his final temptation,
He is taken to a high mountain and offered power and authority over all he saw in exchange for worshiping the devil.
Jesus turns down the offer,
Choosing a connection with God instead,
Saying worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
If you're able,
Extend your arms out and turn your palms up or rest your palms on your lap.
We do this in a posture of release toward the Creator.
Let's take a moment to reflect on Jesus's words of response to his final temptation.
Worship the Lord your God and serve him.
What is that to you at this stage of your life of faith?
In Jesus's Lenten journey,
He released his cares to the Creator.
He released his friends to the Holy Spirit and ultimately his life to God's will.
In this Lenten season,
We focus on the scars on Jesus's hands.
God,
We place into those hands our very life.
We opt for a singular focus on Christ above the temptations this world has to offer that may be vying for our attention.
God,
We exchange any security this life has to offer for the security of your love.
We offer to you the ways we stray that we aren't even aware of yet.
We place the hope of our lives into the Creator by worship and service.
We receive the sacrifice of Christ and all that it offers as liberation to the world and our hearts.
The great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintained that prayer's role is to change us as preparation for active lives lived in the world.
For our final time of silence,
Spend a moment deciding what it means to practically worship and serve God only in the coming days.
What's on your schedule?
How do you worship and serve God through those activities?
Spend a final time of silence before the sacrificed Christ in a posture of commitment.
Amen.
We would welcome you to join us for more guided prayers through the next four weeks of this Lenten season.
