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Lent

Yes even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. -Joel 2: 12-13

Forgiving God, stay with me

as I walk through Lent

for these next forty days.

Help me to learn more about myself

during this time you have given me for

prayer and discernment.

Open my eyes as I walk with Jesus at my side,

so that I can see any

new path you want me to follow.

Open my ears to what you are saying

when I read and study the Bible.

More than anything, know that I'm sorry

to have forgotten you this past year.

I seek to return to you more fully in the coming days.

This I pray in the name of

my guide,

Your Son, Jesus.

Amen.

While today (i.e., Fat or Shrove Tuesday) is about indulgence - remember, pancakes tonight! - tomorrow we will turn toward reflection and self-discipline. This prayer from Call on Me: A Prayerbook for Young People invites us to prepare for Lent in prayer and discernment. Prayer and discernment will also be at the heart of our youth program on Wednesday nights during Lent. See more under the Form section below!

"Selah."

It's this word that get repeated a lot in the Psalms. While no one entirely sure what it means, there are some who think it indicates a shift in the music that was meant to accompany many of the psalms into a minor key.

Whether or not that's true, though, life shifts into a minor key during Lent. Things are a little more somber, reflective, and inward looking during this season. Throughout Lent, we'll think about what it means to live life in a minor key, while knowing that Easter is ahead of us.

When you look at the image to the left, "What do you see?"

That's the way we began Sunday School last week, parents.

When our youth look at the image, they noted that our emotions are often rolling in upon us like waves. Sometimes, we see them coming. Sometimes, they roll over us unexpectedly, unannounced.

The question is: how do we deal with these emotions when they inevitably come? Do we hold on to them and feel them (really feel them)? Or do we try to get rid of them?

What's your approach and why?

Questions? Contact Sam

sam@stjohnsdecatur.org |662-656-653