The State of Our Union Is...

The President shall report to the Congress on the state of the union, from time to time... , so says the constitution of the United States. And while there's no requirement that people of faith render the same sort of public accounting on the state of their souls, the season of Lent does offer us - alone and together - an opportunity to consider how life and faith are coming together for us.

What difference does it make, for ourselves and for the world that we claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ?

Have there been changes - maturity or "back-sliding" - in our follower-ship?

Maybe you remember those self-assessment tests published in magazines like Reader's Digest which ask us to score our emotional health. These usually involve charting major events in one's life; have we: moved; changed jobs; lost a spouse, or loved one; experienced a major illness; retired; won an award, etc. The "tests" suggest that each of these is the source of either a major stress or a significant delight - and so, affect our sense of well-being either positively or negatively.

While I'm not a big fan of so-called pop psychology, there is value in reflecting on who we are now; how we got here; what this space feels like, physically, emotionally and spiritually; and, whether or not this is really the space God calls us to inhabit. Heaven forbid our personal assessment of, "that's the way it is," were to echo the President's words – let’s ramp up our efforts to do more of the same even, though that hasn’t worked so far!

I'm not much of a fan of pop-religion either. That's why I recommend we take on some disciplines that have served people of faith since very early in the church's post-Easter, post-Pentecost experiences. These are: prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.

Despite the claims made by various civic and cultural leaders that all manner of beliefs, values, practices, and even laws, are rooted in the teachings, of Jesus, really living day-to-day, through Christ in the Holy Spirit, has never been popular or easy.

Jesus seems to have used his 40 desert days to sort through who God was calling him to be (Messiah); how he'd exercise that call (Sharin' Plenty Good News!); and, the means he'd use to make that proclamation come alive in his hearers' hearts (Suffering Servant / breaking open and pouring out).

What made the desert experience "work" for Jesus was something very much still available to us - time spent in dialogue (speaking and listening) to a loving God. Lent invites us to enter into that same union, from time to time.

These suggestions for practicing the traditional Lenten disciplines: prayer; fasting and almsgiving, are offered to help us, alone and together, make room in the middle of all our stuff to let Lent go through us. By such practices, Christians throughout the centuries have arrived at the three sacred days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday better prepared to be seized by the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. May God lead and find you there.

Prayer - We pray. Meaning we get into real communication with God the Spirit, who gathers us here; God the Father, who speaks a word that frees us from all anxiety here; and, God the Son, who has gone on ahead of us, leaving us such a clear example of what it means to live here and now as though the day Lord has indeed come near.

Don’t hold back:
• talk to this God
• write letters to this God
• make notes to this God in a journal
• draw pictures, or doodles to this God
• sing to this God, play music if you can
• cry your eyes out with this God
• scream at this God.

Be quiet with this God. Hear this God's word spoken just to you. Listen to this God's voice as it breaks out for you in special:
• memories
• feelings
• insights, and/or
• images.
More often than not, these aren't distractions; they're God's reward to you.

Fasting - We fast. Meaning we let go of all those dependencies that keep us from living a full life. That means not only giving up something, but moving toward something. God doesn't need a universe in which you don't eat cookies. But God might rejoice in a world where your voting habits change because you have a keener sense of what it means to really be hungry. That would lead to a fast of your heart, not of your belly. Your cutting an attachment from one thing in order to attach to something else, says a lot about where your treasure is. Don't hold back.

The purpose of fasting is to have empathy with (feel the feelings of) a suffering other, not to have sympathy (feel sorry) for another. Compassion wombs another; it creates a related exchange between another and ourselves. That's why we say our God is a compassionate God. Fasting helps us to walk in the other's shoes.

Almsgiving - We give alms. Meaning we adjust the way we spend all our resources: time; energy; attention; and, money, so that we're reminded that in Christ our life is dedicated to living in common with believers and unbelievers alike. Don't hold back.

• Call someone long distance and don't time how long you talk. Just tell them God reminded you how much you love them.

• Send someone a greeting card each day for a week. Just tell them God reminded you what an important part of your everyday life they are.

• Eat lunch with someone you've taken for granted. Just tell them God reminded you that every meal with them is a foretaste of the feast to come.

• Give an extra big offering to a church or to a charity whose mission and ministries you respect. Just tell them God reminded you that mission and ministry happen more smoothly when money isn't a constant worry.

• Attend Sunday school. Just remind yourself that God wants you both to learn more about each other.