Lent 28

I heard a sermon a couple of years ago in which the pastor compared the Jewish experience of Passover to her own Christian lenses of how Christ changed the ritual. She noted that she has a Jewish friend who spends several days leading up to Passover completely gutting her house, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and getting it completely spotless for the preparation for the Lord's coming. She noted how thankful she is that in Christ, we don't have to be clean and spotless for God in Christ to come to us and save us. And she was right. We are accepted just as we are. Lent, though, is sort of about that preparation, that growing toward God. We are accepted just as we are, but we also grow in holiness. I'm in need of some of that clearing the clutter, recentering, better prepared to receive grace kind of mind frame.

Come and Find the Quiet Center (words by Shirley Erena Murray) (TFWS 2128)

Come and find the quiet center,
in the crowded life we lead
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace and simply be.

Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.

In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming,
there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming
there is always room to spare!

Come and find the quiet center,
in the crowded life we lead
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace and simply be.

O God, you have let me pass the day in peace;
Let me pass the night in peace, O Lord who has no lord.
There is no strength but in you. You alone have no obligation.
Under your hand I pass the night. You are my Mother and my Father. Amen.