Sunday, January 20, 2013

A Lenten Journey

Come journey with me this Lent in a "study blog", which begins on Ash Wednesday. This was originally done in conjunction with a study at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Houston during Lent, 2009 but the study is relevant during every Lenten season and for that reason, I will "re-publish" it this Lenten season.

Our primary resource will be Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, published by The Plough Publishing House, 2003. (ISBN 0-87486-926-9)

Dorothy Sayers writes that to make the Easter story into something that neither startles, shocks, terrifies, nor excites is to “crucify the Son of God afresh.” To observe Lent is to strike at the root of such complacency. Lent is traditionally associated with penitence, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. But, literally, it means “springtime”, a time when out of the darkness of winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges. I will be leading a study using the writings in this book that are from a wide variety of writers, including C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Philip Yancey, Frederick Buechner, Madeleine L'Engle, Henri Nouwen, Dorothy Day and many others.

For this season, I will try (yes I will try!) to post at least a short devotional every day on my blog at http://dancingtogod.blogspot.com/.  Many of you are part of the email group that gets it every time I post.  (For those who have signed up through this blog, you will get it but for some reason known only to Google, you will get it 12-18 hours later.  Go figure!)  So if there are others that would like to be part of the email group that gets it right away, just email me through the St. Paul's website at stpaulshouston.org.  (Go to "About St. Paul's", then "staff").
AND another opportunity...I have been posting my Lectionary notes that many of you get emailed each Thursday on http://journeytopenuel.blogspot.com/  It's a once-a-week post but if you're interested, take a look.

Thanks for being a part of my Lenten journey!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli