Lakewood United Church of Christ

Lenten Devotion Two 3.3.22

Lenten Devotion 2
3.3.22

Yesterday, a group from the LUCC congregation joined people from many
different faith communities in the St. Petersburg area at the Epiphany of
Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church in St. Petersburg to express solidarity
with Ukraine and to pray for peace.

During this vigil, a “Collective Statement of Unity for Peace” that was
signed by the 15 clergy who were present was read aloud. One of the
commitments in the statement was that, “Unlike the rising and setting of the sun, peace will not happen on its own. We must work for peace and live in
peace as an intentional expression of the Divine within us.” There is much
to the notion that “peace will not happen on its own.”

In many ways, it is easy to think that our spiritual life will take care of itself.
Be a decent person. Work hard. Be nice to others. Pay your bills. Don’t
do anything really bad – like cheat on your spouse, embezzle from your
company, drink and drive, etc. and your spirit will be fine. If you do
something like pray before meals or at bed time, or go to church once in a
while, then you are spiritually buff!

But the statement from the peace vigil and this Lenten season remind us of
our need to attend to the spirit. And when we take this Lenten season to
engage, to pray, to reflect, to give something up, we will find that our spirits
become stronger and healthier. And that means that other things in our
lives will have more meaning, be more fulfilling, and bring more joy. When
we tend the spirit it makes the rest of our lives better.

It’s like peace. Peace doesn’t just mean that we are not in the middle of a
fight, a war, or hostilities of some kind. Peace means that we are doing
well, that life is good, that we are thriving. And it takes intentional work.

So this Lenten season as we explore the wildness of mercy, we are tending
to our souls, we are seeking to thrive and flourish. This will not just happen
on its own. We must be intentional about cultivating the life of the spirit.

For those who were able to attend the demonstration in solidarity with
Ukraine, that was tending the spirit. It was uplifting to all who were there.
How beautiful to watch the faces of those of Ukrainian heritage as the community prayed for peace. May we be intentional about caring for the
spirit this season of Lent and always.

Prayer: As this Lenten season begins, think about how you have been
tending to your spirit. Is your spirit thriving? Do you have some sense of
what your spirit needs? As a plant needs water, sun, and soil, may we be
attentive to our spirits this season and provide the care and nurture that is
needed. Amen.

Lenten Devotion 3/2/2022

Lent 2022 The Wildness of Mercy
Ash Wednesday 3.3.22

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.” You may have sung this many times in church. It strikes a chord with the quaint rhymes and lilting tune. And, with a typo, the lead phrase can become “There’s a wildness in God’s mercy” and somehow that seems even more appropriate to our times as covid continues to plague the world and the economy, and the predictions about global warming become more dire, and Russia preps its nuclear arsenal. Let’s hope there is a wildness in God’s mercy to help us through all of this!

Lent is a 40 day season of preparation for Easter. It is a time of repentance. Of re-turning to God. For those of you who remember old TV sets, it’s like working the tuning to get the picture clearer. It’s a process of disengaging from all of the messaging we have absorbed that does not validate the reality of God and the wildness of mercy.

We can engage in this process of re-turning our lives to God trusting in the wildness of mercy. This is a time to let go and find you are caught, carried, and cushioned by the wildness of mercy. It is a time to shed all that is shielding you from Divine mercy. It is a time to root yourself once again in the God of wild mercy.

However you may envision God, whatever concepts of God resonate for you, scripture tells us of a God of love that never abandons us and is always present in us, in others, and in the world.

May this Lenten season bring us to Easter cleansed, renewed, and refreshed by the wildness of Divine mercy.

Prayer: In these quiet moments, reflect on how you have experienced the wildness of mercy. Trust those memories as you seek the mercy needed now. Amen.

Note: Lakewood United Church of Christ is having an Ash Wednesday service Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Bob and Emily Bell. This will be a service around the fire on the waterfront. It includes communion and the imposition of ashes. All are welcome. For details or transportation, please contact the Church Office. Call 727-867-7961 or email lakewooducc@gmail.com