Welcome to Lent,
Opening of week four.
These meditations are an opportunity for us to stay connected to the Lenten season all week,
Not just Sundays,
And think about Lent in the context of our everyday lives.
We have an opening and closing meditation for each week of Lent.
My name is Jess and I have engaged Lent in everything from giving up physical things like sugar or alcohol,
To giving up character issues like sarcasm and negativity,
To some years not engaging Lent much at all.
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 renewal and growth.
To start,
Let's take five big breaths together.
The science behind mindfulness practice is fascinating.
We are training our minds to be more attentive to life and prayer.
As we do this,
We dampen the activity in a part of our brain called the amygdala and increase the connections with another part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex.
This connection helps us to be less reactive to stressors and to recover better from stress when we experience it.
It sharpens our focus and over time makes us more compassionate and has positive impact on relationships and mental health.
So for just one minute,
Feel yourself breathe.
Try to stay connected with your breath and particularly be mindful of how your body feels just breathing.
I hope that was calming to your body.
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.
Take a moment and identify where has God been today?
Think about the last 24 hours.
In joy,
In struggle,
In people,
In being alone,
Where has God been lately?
Jesus's experience,
Tempted in the desert,
Is the scripture commonly associated with the spiritual path of Lent.
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 he would go on to do.
We will meditate on the story as it appears in Matthew.
In the story,
Jesus is tempted by the devil with material success and power.
Two things he would deny throughout his life and instruct his followers to see the folly in.
In our over-consumptive,
Dog-eat- dog,
Materialistic culture,
Jesus's example is powerful for our daily lives.
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 prayerfully reflect on the role of materialism,
Consumption,
And power in our lives.
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 lives.
God,
We want to take seriously any denials that bring us closer to you.
We reject societal pressures of bigger,
Better,
Faster,
And more.
Build in us the patterns of our lives that we need to be our truest selves,
Living our true purpose in harmony with the Creator of our souls and our neighbors.
It is so healthy to release attachments to materialism,
Consumption,
And power.
But in doing it,
We cannot just be left with the release.
What do we need to take on in place of these temptations?
What is the path forward that rejects these things and connects us closer to Christ,
Closer to community,
And closer to our neighbor?
Take a moment and ponder that.
We exchange reliance on material gain for an active faith and a Creator who cares for all of our souls.
We exchange the urge to follow a capitalistic consumer economy for the reality of enough.
You are enough.
We are enough.
Our relationships are enough.
We give to you the power we have.
Help us use it for the good of our neighbor and for justice.
God,
We receive the sacrifice of Christ and all that it offers as liberation to our world and to our hearts.
The great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintained that prayer's role is to change us on the inside as preparation for active lives lived in the world.
Our final time of silence is to spend a moment deciding on steps for living into Lent this week.
Maybe it's giving something up for Lent and making it spiritually meaningful.
Maybe it's committing to deeper prayer or some kind of action of faith and justice.
Spend the final time of silence before the sacrifice to Christ in a posture of commitment about this one day that you have in front of you.
Amen.
We welcome you back to these Lenten guided prayers throughout this season.
