DE PONDERINGS
By Kevin Kessler, District Executive
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. –Psalm 16:11 (NRSV)
Beverly Kinego writing in the Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide compares Lent to driving. She asks if you’ve ever been driving down the road and suddenly you remember that you’re headed in a direction you had not intended to go. For instance, you had intended to go to the grocery store but find yourself driving to your place of employment, which is in the opposite direction. Kinego concludes that habit has taken over; we’re doing something automatically.
Kinego contends that we frequently do things automatically in other areas of life. We are busy, life is buzzing, and we function almost on auto pilot, not thinking about what we are doing or what we are saying or how we are acting. Lent is that time when we realize that we may be headed in the wrong direction with our automatic ways or responses. Lent is the time to stop, to check in, to take stock of our lives and ask if the direction we’re headed is really where we want to be going.
Another way to think about the question could be, is this the way God wants me to go? Am I treating others as God would want me to treat them? Am I caring for creation as God would want it to be cared for? Am I caring for my relationship with God in ways that strengthen it?
In addition to taking stock of our individual selves, Lent may be a good time to reflect on how we are doing corporately. How well are we living in community with each other? How well are we as the church reaching out to the world to make it a better place to live? How well are we building up the body of Christ through encouraging each other, praying for one another, and helping others when needs arise? How are we as congregations working together to advance the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven? How are we as the District of Illinois and Wisconsin supporting our sister congregations and the denomination as a whole? How are we as the Church of the Brethren denomination influencing the world with our values of simplicity, service, peace, and community?
These and other questions can help us make a course correction. Course corrections mean extra time. Course corrections mean going out of our way. Course corrections mean dealing with frustration. Course corrections mean more attentiveness. Course corrections, though, take us to where we really intend to go. Course corrections help us to reach the destination that God intends for us, which means that down the road we’ll realize vistas of Easter resurrection.
I wonder: In what direction are we automatically headed, individually and corporately? Is it the direction we really want to go? Lent is a good time to think about these questions.
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. –Psalm 16:11 (NRSV)Beverly Kinego writing in the Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide compares Lent to driving. She asks if you’ve ever been driving down the road and suddenly you remember that you’re headed in a direction you had not intended to go. For instance, you had intended to go to the grocery store but find yourself driving to your place of employment, which is in the opposite direction. Kinego concludes that habit has taken over; we’re doing something automatically.
Kinego contends that we frequently do things automatically in other areas of life. We are busy, life is buzzing, and we function almost on auto pilot, not thinking about what we are doing or what we are saying or how we are acting. Lent is that time when we realize that we may be headed in the wrong direction with our automatic ways or responses. Lent is the time to stop, to check in, to take stock of our lives and ask if the direction we’re headed is really where we want to be going.
Another way to think about the question could be, is this the way God wants me to go? Am I treating others as God would want me to treat them? Am I caring for creation as God would want it to be cared for? Am I caring for my relationship with God in ways that strengthen it?
In addition to taking stock of our individual selves, Lent may be a good time to reflect on how we are doing corporately. How well are we living in community with each other? How well are we as the church reaching out to the world to make it a better place to live? How well are we building up the body of Christ through encouraging each other, praying for one another, and helping others when needs arise? How are we as congregations working together to advance the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven? How are we as the District of Illinois and Wisconsin supporting our sister congregations and the denomination as a whole? How are we as the Church of the Brethren denomination influencing the world with our values of simplicity, service, peace, and community?
These and other questions can help us make a course correction. Course corrections mean extra time. Course corrections mean going out of our way. Course corrections mean dealing with frustration. Course corrections mean more attentiveness. Course corrections, though, take us to where we really intend to go. Course corrections help us to reach the destination that God intends for us, which means that down the road we’ll realize vistas of Easter resurrection.
I wonder: In what direction are we automatically headed, individually and corporately? Is it the direction we really want to go? Lent is a good time to think about these questions.
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