What is a covenant? A covenant is a promise between more than one person, or a person and God, or more than one person and God.
At the core of covenant for me is my family. I wish I could have gotten a photo with my now grown son, too.
We're a bit of a mess, but we're true to one another; we do our best to love each other without condition and we're hopeless wanderers.
So when I see the day's word of covenant, I think of Abram and Sarai who are told, "Go to the land I will show you...I will will bless you...and you will be a blessing."
I try to keep it simple when it comes to knowing my purpose, so I just try to be a blessing.
#RethinkChurch #UMC #Lent #Covenant
Maybe I'm a cheater, but as soon as I saw "Celebrate" as the word for Day 5 I knew it was going to be a picture of the bread and wine.
At my home church in Eureka, we ended every gathering with Communion. After we had been to the table we formed a circle around the sanctuary, holding hands and sang together. Most of the time children would dance while we held hands singing. It was a wonderful celebration.
#rethinkchurch
#umc
#Lent
#Celebrate
On my morning run I came across this bold declaration of truth, painted on the sea wall.
Not everyone would agree with this statement, but I hold that it is a choice to believe this or a choice to believe the alternative.
I choose to believe in beauty.
#Joy #RethinkChurch #UMC #Lent
For my Lenten reading, I have been re-visiting the book Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus.
In this entry he is talking about Belonging, having a place that takes us in, makes us part of something else. He describes how it happens in healthy ways and not so healthy ways.
"You were never meant to be..." ends one page; the next page has a single word.
"alone"
The Invitation to Lent, in the Book of Worship, tells us that Lent was a period of preparation for converts; it was also a season of penitence for those who had fallen away from the community of faith; it was a reminder of how much everyone needs to renew their faith and how desperate we are for grace.
We aren't meant to do life alone.
#RethinkChurch
#UMC
#Lent
Road Mirrors are an exceptionally helpful part of driving in Japan, as many intersections happen to be blind intersections.
So as I thought about the theme of the day, "Look," I thought of road mirrors and the added perspective they give while we try to safely navigate our journey.
Somehow this makes sense to me from a spiritual perspective. Our spiritual disciplines are intended to give us a wider view, some added perspective as we navigate this journey.
#RethinkChurch #Lent #UMC #Look
It's a terrible photo, but to be fair I was on my morning run and it was about 5:20 a.m.
The theme for Ash Wednesday from Rethink Church's 40 Days of Photos for Lent is "Announce."
I want to be as open to seeing the words revealed around me rather than planning out what pictures I want to take based on the word/theme of the day.
So I was running and it's dark and I come upon this area of construction that I frequently encounter on my running outings and I recognize that the red flashing lights are directing people to the safe place for walking. There's even thick rubber mats to reduce the risk of tripping over rocks. But the band of red lights sort of shout into the darkness, "Here! This is the safe path! This is where you need to be." And I knew that this was today's picture.
Even if the quality is horrible.
#rethinkchurch
#Lent
#Announce
