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cross and crown of thorns
by Karen Twinem

Fridays in Lent

Adding the Stations of the Cross to your Lent routine allows God to vividly display what Jesus endured for us. During Lent, I add this to my lunchtime routine on Fridays. The prayer “Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus” is another good addition.

The Stations of the Cross developed out of a desire for Christians to walk “The Via Dolorosa” in Jerusalem, the route from Pontius Pilate’s praetorium to the cross. It’s popular in Western Christian traditions, including Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist.

In churches, 14 pictures or plaques are on the walls or on an outdoor walk that allow Christ followers to go from station to station. We stop at each station to pray and reflect.

This free PDF from the Diocese of Manchester takes you through the stations so you can do them at your desk or your kitchen table. The Archdiocese of Portland offers this PDF of the stations, with some preliminary prayers.

Stations of the Cross are available on YouTube. I particularly like this one, which is less than 15 minutes long.

When you only have a few seconds to yourself on Friday at noon, you can pray this:

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Your face I humbly kneel and with burning soul, pray and beseech You to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me and calling to mind the words that David, your prophet, said of you , my Jesus, “They have pierced My hands and feet, They have numbered all my bones.”

by Karen Twinem

Celebrate Ash Wednesday at Home

If you can’t attend church today, here’s an Ash Wednesday service you can do at home.

Write down a list of your sins. Burn the paper in a bowl or ashtray. Then pray: 

Let us ask our Heavenly Father to bless these ashes, which we will use as a mark of our repentance. Lord, bless these ashes. Wearing them reminds us that we are from the dust of the earth. Pardon our sins and keep us faithful to the resolutions that we have made for Lent. Help us to prepare well for the celebration of your Son's glorious resurrection.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Mark each person’s forehead in the sign of the cross saying, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

Close with this prayer: 

Loving Father, today we start Lent. From today, we make a new start to be more loving and kind. Help us to show more concern for the less fortunate, the hungry and the poor. Help us to love you more and speak to you more often. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
by Karen Twinem

How Do You Want to Spend Lent?

Ash Wednesday is this week, so today is a good time to prepare our Lenten resolutions. I’ve used Lent to give up bad habits, but more often I take this time to create positive habits.

Think about how we can improve our prayer life, fasting and giving. Some families pick a charity and put their change into a bowl each day. Others give up eating out and give away the money they saved. My church took a recent pledge to not have cell phones at the dinner table. We can find many things to improve if we think and pray about it.

I also always have a Lenten reading program. In the past, I read a biography of a Christian I admired, a devotional and a general book about faith each Lent. Today it’s a lot more random. I just look at the bookshelves to see what I think would be helpful and inspiring.

Take some time today to figure out how you want to spend Lent. Your resolutions can be positive and prayerful. May you have a blessed Lent.

emotionally healthy woman
by Karen Twinem

Resource: Everything Belongs

Fr. Richard Rohr’s outstanding book “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer” is for people who “hunger for a deeper spiritual life but don’t know what contemplation is.”

He does an excellent job explaining it, and, even more, he helps us to understand a form of prayerful living that’s not based on speech. I’ve seen the book called “meandering” in my reviews. I think it follows the forms and shapes of real life.

Repeatedly Rohr challenges us to move beyond our comfort zone to a deeper rest in God. There, he says, we can find the freedom to become all we can be. Only when we “live and see through God can everything belong.”

What does that mean? Rohr writes, “Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead-ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. … I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness.”

Contemplative prayer can help us to see that God loves us as we are. And then we can better see who we are.

But it’s not easy. Rohr notes, “Our first response to anyone calling us to truth, greatness, goodness or morality at a higher level will be increased anxiety.”

Later on, he writes, “That’s what happens in the early stages of contemplation. We wait in silence. In silence all our usual patterns assault us. Our patterns of control, addiction, negativity, tension, anger, and fear assert themselves. That’s why most people give up rather quickly. When Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the first things that show up are wild beasts (Mark 1:13). Contemplation is not first of all consoling. It’s only real.”

Yet, once you open yourself to this journey, you discover more peace. “Know that things are okay as they are. This moment is as perfect as it can be. The saints called this the ‘sacrament of the present moment,’ ” he writes.

The book has been revised and updated with a reading guide. It received 4.25 stars out of 4,556 ratings on Goodreads and 4.2 stars out of 4,541 ratings on Amazon. It is a book to read and re-read. Enjoy the journey.

Fr. Rohr is on a journey himself as he has stepped back from public ministry after a cancer diagnosis last year. May God bless his life and work.

Cross formed by large group of Christians
by Karen Twinem

How You Can Advance Christian Unity

This time of January is the traditional time to pray for Christian unity. Jesus did this at the Last Supper. You might even call it one of his dying wishes.

Today, the Christian church is far from unified. Searching about this unity online brings up a lot of material about why unity is not a particularly good thing. As well as some divisive material on both sides of the political spectrum.

Weird, isn’t it? I myself have experienced hateful behavior from other Christians who view issues differently than I do. Surely this is not what Jesus wants for us, especially when everyone in the disagreement is sure that Jesus is on their side.

What Martin Luther King Can Teach Us

Recently, I attended a Vineyard USA workshop on principles and practices that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used as the core of the civil rights movement. This was a nonviolent movement, so much so that Dr. King told people who couldn’t promise to remain nonviolent to stay away. His “10 Commandments” of nonviolence offered me inspiration for dealing with the divisive nature of today’s Christianity:

  1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
  2. Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation – not victory.
  3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
  4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.
  5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.
  6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
  7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
  8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
  9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
  10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.

If we follow these rules (which King insisted that even nonChristians in the movement do), we will find it much easier to approach each other as Christians.

Pray for Christian Unity

Then we can truly pray for Christian unity. I’ve adapted this prayer from “Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.” 

Oh Lord, help me to speak and behave in Christian love with all who claim you as Savior.
Give me the grace to have courtesy and refrain from violence of tongue, heart, fist and online behavior. 
We pray to you for your holy Christian church in my own neighborhood and around the world.
Help us to accomplish reconciliation. 
Fill the church with your presences and your truth.
Keep it in your peace.
Where it is corrupt, reform it.
Where it is in error, correct it.
Where it is right, defend it.
Where it is in want, provide for it.
Where it is divided, reunite it.
For the sake of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. 


			





			
				


	
			suffering child in bombed out area
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
The Suffering of the Innocent
	


	


	


	

		

The feast of the Holy Innocents falls just three days after Christmas.  And that’s no accident.





Jesus came into the fallen world as an infant to start the process of ending suffering.  But the world was filled with evil then, and it’s filled with evil now. This day we can meditate on the suffering of the innocent in our own time.  Think of Ukraine. Afghanistan. The unborn and the born who are hungry and cold in wealthy nations.





Today we think about how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to suffering children.  





This prayer, from the Catholic Household Blessing and Prayers, is a good one to contemplate: 





Heavenly Father,
your holiness revealed in Jesus
challenges us to renounce violence,
to forsake revenge,
and to love without discrimination, without measure.

Teach us the surpassing truth of the Gospel,
which puts worldly wisdom to shame,
that we may recognize as one with us
even our enemies and persecutors
and see all people as your children.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

			





			
				


	
			
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Take the Christmas Pledge
	


	


	


	

		

As the first week of Advent begins, decide to enjoy the season with Christian mindfulness. I always take a Christmas Pledge.





I wrote this down decades ago, and I can’t find the source online.  It has served me well.





The Christmas Pledge





    

  1. To remember those people who truly need my gifts.
    2. 




  2. To express my love for family and friends in more direct ways that presents.
    3. 




  3. To rededicate myself to the spiritual growth of my family.
    4. 




  4. To examine my holiday activities in light of the true spirit of Christmas.
    5. 




  5. To initiate one act of peacemaking within my circle of family and friends.
    6. 






Amen to that.

			





			
				


	
			
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Prepare for Advent
	


	


	


	

		

The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It’s a great time to make sure you have your supplies, books and ideas ready for the season. 





Having a mindful Christian Advent is a time of joy and wonder.  It’s a quiet time spent intentionally concentrating on the miracle of Jesus’ birth rather than the commercial version of Christmas.  This kind of Advent is build peace instead of panic. 





two books for Advent





Some ideas for Advent prep include: 





    

  • Get or make Advent candles.  (We are doing beeswax candles from a kit this year.  You can find the kit here.)
    • 




  • Purchase an Advent calendar or stock up one if you have a reusable model.
    • 




  • Get the Advent wreath out of storage … or buy one.
    • 




  • Order a new Advent devotional or order new ones.  This year I’m using two favorites:  “Preparing for Christmas” by Richard Rohr and “Living in Joyful Hope” by Suzanne M. Lewis. 
    • 




  • Get out your Christmas music.
    • 




  • Organize children’s Christmas books. 
    • 




  • Pick the name of a saint or devout Christian.  You can study their life during the season. I’m doing Henri Nouwen this year. 
    • 


			





			
				


	
			worms eye view of spiral stained glass decors through the roof
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Add to the Light
	


	


	


	

		



If you are already in the fellowship, you should work unceasingly to keep it true to the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. You should see that your personal life and conduct cause no dimming of the light. With unflinching courage, you should seek to eliminate all barriers to genuine fellowship until men know that you are Christ’s disciples because you love one another. And above all, you should urge and encourage all people everywhere to forsake their evil, selfish ways and to come into the kingdom that they, too, might be part of the light of the world.

Clarence Jordan

			





			
				


	
			
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Get Ready for a Calm Christmas
	


	


	


	

		

As we hide away from heat advisories in sweltering August, preparing for Christmas is a fun item on the to-do list.  I picked up “Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year: A Little Book of Festive Joy” by Beth Kempton for this purpose. 





I already consider myself a mindful Christmas practitioner.  Yet Kempton took an approach that I found fascinating. She proposes that Christmas has five storylines: 





  1. Faith: The celebration of the birth of Jesus and the Christmas story involving church-based traditions and rituals like Advent candles, the creche and traditional Christmas carols.
  2. Magic: The story of Santa Claus, his reindeer and the elves, plus magical Christmas movies and songs.
  3. Connection: Things that connect us to Christmases past, such as “The Christmas Carol,” Christmas trees and treasured ornaments, Christmas dinners, holiday events and Christmas movie traditions.
  4. Abundance: The joy of getting and giving presents. 
  5. Heritage: The Christmas practices of your family of origin and your background. 





As a Christian, my Christmas celebrations focus on faith. But I was surprised to realize that my family also finds Connection as very important.  For one family member, doing the same things that we have done, as in Heritage, is deeply important.





Talk to your family to see what about your Christmas celebration is most important to them. You can create an intentional approach to the season that meets everyone’s needs and desires. 





“Calm Christmas” also offers a variety of ideas for a mindful approach to the whole season. I especially liked the author’s idea of spending the time between Christmas Day and New Years Day’s as a “hush” season. This is, she writes: “A time of long walks, hot coffees, languid lounging with leftover chocolates, adding birthday dates to the new diary, telephone catch-ups … and everything on pause.” 





Wow!  Can I have that in August, too?