It’s the Lenten season now, ushered in last week with Ash Wednesday. We had a worship service where we were given the opportunity to examine the self, rid the self of sin, and if chosen you could write something in particular on a piece of paper to be burned in the service. It is a common practice and one we have done for several years. This one, however, was a bit different; much more heated so to speak.
Apparently some broken glass was left in the pot. Apparently broken glass crackles loudly and gets very hot when set afire. The very calm, cool, collected Pastor decides he should sprinkle the glass with water rather than just dousing it, in order for the heat to cool less abruptly. Each time the fire was sprinkled, it flamed high! The children would ‘eww and ahh’. It began to feel more like a magic trick than a worship service. The fire was soon doused, however, and all was well.
If you put your mind to it you can come up with some good analogies. The very sinful man causing the fire to flame more, the baptismal waters destroying them, the flames reaching higher as in Satan not letting go. It was a serious, somewhat humorous but meaningful time.
The last few Lenten seasons I have strayed from the norm a bit by looking more for something positive to implement in my daily Christian life rather than looking for sin to rid. This year I have chosen to act upon the random acts of kindness i wrote about not long ago. My daughter told me that I already did that all the time. While I appreciate the compliment, I don’t really feel that way about myself. I want to be more intentional and I want it to become a habit, a part of me, an extension of my love for another and love for my Lord.
We also began a Lenten study written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is more of a spiritual journey than a study. I’m enjoying it and plan to share some of my thoughts about it in the days to come. I will also share a few of my random acts of kindness to hopefully spur ideas for you too!
Until next time…
God Bless
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