New Lenten Devotional- thumbs up!

Discovery: A Lenten Devotional — Click to get details.

When my friend and former classmate, Karen Weiss, sent me this information today, I knew I had to share it.

Lent is coming. This year the season of Lent begins soon, on March 9 and continues for 46 days until Easter Day. As Karen says, it offers us “an excellent time to clear away the clutter and delve into our faith. This devotional is designed to stretch and encourage you to look at life in a unique way through the eyes of saints that have walked before us. With the assistance of twelve different devotional classics, we can discover God in a new, relational way and grow stronger in our faith.”

I highly encourage you to take time this season to regularly reflect on the themes of Lent, especially in conjunction with a friend, family member, or small group. Make lenten reflection part of your spiritual journey this year. Explore this guidebook, or another devotional guide, that will take you deeper in your walk of faith. And please, keep me updated!

Karen’s devotional is only $7.50!

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “AWESOME Valentine’s Day gift!” (Or you JUST thought that, in the last 2 seconds.)

BUT-JUST WAIT! As a special treat, this “Freebie February”, the first 25 people who respond in the comment section, will get a promo code for an additional $2 off. WHAT? Only $5.50? Moly Hoses! Yes, folks, that’s how I roll. Happy February, ya’ll!

February: SNOWED out! (and FREE CHOCOLATE)

So, we’re all taking the day off. The kids don’t have school, ETS is officially closed due to weather (which means I’m not teaching until next week).

I’m getting sick of winter already. They say a certain PA groundhog can determine wether spring will arrive soon, or if winter has six more weeks to do its worst. This all happens on February 2. Tomorrow. Um… I don’t think we need Punxsutawney Phil to tell us the inevitable. Do you?

UPDATE: Feb 3, 2011. In a meteorological SHOCKER, Punxsy Phil did NOT see his shadow, so he predicts an early spring. In this 125 year tradition, the groundhog sees his shadow 9 times out of 10, and then goes back into his den. (Or he could be scared by all the flashing cameras.)

AND! Can someone tell me why February can’t borrow a day from January and a day from March to get up to a more normal 30 day month? Those few days seem, well, important.

FEBRUARY FREEBIES:
For 3 years now, I’ve used February to give away gifts. I have the first one here: 10 oz of Premium Chocolate (premium for central Pennsylvania, that is.)

To try for this goodie, leave a comment, before Feb 14, telling us about the last fantastic chocolate experience you’ve had. What did you eat, etc? One fortunate or creative reader will get the Gold. Good luck.

From Professor to Gilligan in 27 minutes: Worldviews

The exhilarating feeling of being asked to teach Worldviews at my alma mater has been replaced by more of a sinking feeling. So, I’ve gone from Professor to Gilligan before teaching even one class.

I think it will go just fine…but getting from here to there with 3 days preparation time will be reminiscent of crunch time during final exams.

Will you please pray for me? Seriously.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll share some of what my class will be learning. (Okay, I admit, I like how the words “my class” sound.)

First a definition: What is worldview?

A worldview is a working theory of reality, used for living in the world. It is a framework of ideas, beliefs, attitudes about the world, others, God (whether you believe in him or don’t) ourselves, and life. It includes a comprehensive system of beliefs — with answers for a wide range of questions.

We all have a worldview, but many of us have never really examined it, or thought about it, all by itself, and in contrast to worldviews of other generations, cultures, and religions. Our worldviews collide. Watching one segment of bickering at Fox News will tell you that. By our worldview we come to understand our values, on a quest for truth.

It is said that the worldview of modernity could be (generally) comprised of the years 1789 (Storming of Bastille) to the Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989. We now live in a time of transition which some term postmodernity or hypermodernity. The predominant hallmark of the era being the underlying assumption that “Truth is ‘…a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms…’ “. A.k.a Truth is different for you than it is for me (relative truth). Or, Truth is what you think truth is.

In our times, Science is questioned or discarded as the supplier and authority of truth with the common conviction that objective truth may or may not exist. Therefore, truth is inaccessible due to the nature of one’s personal standpoint of all knowledge claims.

CASE IN POINT:
Witness the decades long “4 out of 5 Dentists recommend Trident gum” advertising campaign? (This one below is from 1971.) What seems strange about it (Besides the weird hairdos and peculiar music)?

NOW-Here’s how the same company sells gum to people with a postmodern worldview (2008).

Which commercial makes you want to buy their gum?

For those of you who’d like to follow a bit more closely, read Part I of Nancy Pearcey’s book Total Truth.

What is a Prayer Labyrinth?

labyrinths200904cux1200 — Flower Labyrinth at Cornell University

Self Examination. (Also called Examen: a formal examination of the soul or conscience by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.) This is, to me, one of the most powerful and compelling reasons to use a labyrinth along with the practice of prayer. It propels us to a sacred place (in the heart) take pause, reflect, and hear from the Lord.

It’s been used and enjoyed in Christianity for many hundreds of years.

Do you even remember what your New Years resolution was? By now, if you made a New Year’s resolution, the chances are that you, and more than half of the people who made them, have failed to keep it. The New Year provides us with a natural time of self-reflection, and plenty of us decide to do things differently. It’s time for a “do-over”.

This can be a good time of the year to re-reflect, now that the thrill of getting the New Year on the right foot has sort of washed up on the shores of your life…like….um..like a corpse, right?

I found this article helpful: How to use a labyrinth. (by Katherine Harms)

You can make a labyrinth for yourself, or your group, out of snow, masking tape, sand, bricks, stones, and string, among other things.

To visit a permanent labyrinth, near you, take a look at this site which is a world wide directory to find one.

Don’t forget this most important point: At the center of the Prayer Labyrinth, we are confronted, inescapably with the work of Christ. We must attend to the spiritual magnitude of the cross, and its tangible impact on the whole of our lives.

The outdoor Labyrinth of Advent Lutheran Church

I hope you would like to spend an hour or a day in prayer with God, or gather with your family, or a few friends and travel to a labyrinth for a time of worship, prayer, Scripture reading, and self-examination with our faithful guide, the Holy Spirit.

I challenge you to include a prayer labyrinth soon in your spiritual practice, and literally walk with God.

Want to make your own? How to draw your own prayer labyrinth, here.

Have you have used a prayer labyrinth? If so, what was your experience. If not, would you like to? (Why or why not)

Like Jael, I got you so pegged

Don’t be tempted to …ahem… peg Jael as the Biblical forerunner of the fierce “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling”. She was a nobody who cared for sheep and endured the harsh elements.

As a tent dweller of the Kenite clan, she was riffraff to the nth degree. (The spiffy clothing you may see her depicted in is just wishful thinking. A bath would be hard to come by, let alone silk fineries, and dainty hairstyling.)

The Biblical story of Jael is hardcore violence! (10 sec read here)

So-NEVER doubt this, Jael is one shrewd and formidable female; and she clobbers an expert of war, with her own violence, as a part of God’s plan.

She’s sharp, very sharp.

3318589975420214389 — Here lies the mighty Warrior, Sisera…almost pinned down.

Could this be one instance (of many) where a Bible story may effect an impressionable mind?

Perhaps envision the scene following a Bible study at a female penitentiary … “Yo, ladies, are you ready to get your Jael on!? Wooo…” Okay, maybe not. But, I can totally see a Bible inspired video game for Christian families….rated T for Teen (of course)… that includes this scene. The object would be to get in the most spike poundings before the warrior wakes up. That’s completely obvious, right?

Incidentally, this story also proves how brilliantly somniferous warm milk can be. Note to self.

Most importantly, this story begs us to root for Jael, and everyone like her. She’s an impoverished foreigner. A diminutive herding woman. And she triumphs in a crucial battle to save a whole nation. Underdog doesn’t begin to describe her.

This isn’t just an astonishing battle tale, or reversal of fortune story, it’s a message of hope for all of us up against the odds. God gives us the strength to peg and conquer our obstacles. God’s character is shown in this and the many underdog stories in the Bible.

Literarily unheard of, this story is like no other. No other ancient literature in the world included women very much, let alone wrote them up as full- blown heroines. But, God captures his heart for us within this story of an unlikely woman who saves an entire people group from destruction.

Remember this:
Undoubtably, you have God’s camaraderie when the odds are against you, or when your foes or circumstance seems too great to overcome.

God has mercy for your “type,” and it is his joy to help you prevail. Keep your hope in the Lord, the Almighty King.

Do you ever feel like an underdog?
What would you like to pin and conquer?

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