PARTICIPATING IN LENT

Quantized Values of Angular Momentum, Linnea Spransy

“Using strict rules, I construct images on the belief that limits have an eerie capacity to generate surprise…even freedom.” 
Linea Spransy
 
Before I was exposed to Linea Spransy’s artwork and methodology, I thought “freedom” and “limitation” were a contradiction in terms. But even a cursory glance through some of Spransy’s artwork disproves this apparent conundrum. 
 
It is at the moment an artist chooses her or his canvas that they are free to dream, explore, imagine, and create. Limitations, boundaries, patterns, and rhythms provide rich soil where surprise can grow and flourish. 
 
THE FREEDOM OF LIMITATION is at the heart of a parish church as we take spiritual and social responsibility for a specific geography; on a smaller scale, this is also at the heart of the season of LENT. It is in this season that we impose purposeful and thoughtful limitations in order to experience the freedom and surprise that awaits us. As Henri Nouwen says: “If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen.” If we create the canvas on which he can paint, we will often be surprised by the outcome. 
 
Throughout LENT our family of churches participates through giving up and taking up: giving up that which distracts us from God and taking up practices that draw us closer to him. We are encouraging our churches to participate in giving up and taking up through both gathered and scattered practices. 

SCATTERED PRACTICES

  • PRAYER BOOK: We encourage you to purchase and utilize PRAYER: Forty Days of Practice by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson. Available for $7 on Ash Wednesday and Sundays throughout LENT.
  • PRAYER CARD: On the back of our LENT series card you will find a Lenten Prayer. We encourage you to use that by yourself or with a small group throughout the season. 
  • FASTING: Choose one or two things that you are prone to use to numb, medicate, or check-out and remove that from your life for 40 days. 

GATHERED PRACTICES

  • ASH WEDNESDAY: Join us for a 30-minute Ash Wednesday service at 7AM, Noon, or 7PM at Acoma on MAR 6. The Noon service will be geared toward families with young children. 
  • WEEKLY READING: Ever Sunday in LENT we will read through the Sermon on the Plain from LUKE 6. This is Jesus’ most concise and clear teaching and the repetition of the reading week-over-week will teach us to meditate on Scripture. The reading will be followed by reflection on the text.
  • NO COMMUNION: Throughout LENT our church will abstain from participating in Communion. One of several experiences that LENT is meant to evoke is a sense of longing or anticipation and abstaining from Communion will help to create that. We will participate in a prayer of Lament, Confession, and Celebration during our service in lieu of Communion. 
  • GOOD FRIDAY: Join us for a Tennebrae service on Friday, APR 19 at 6 or 7:15PM at Acoma. Tennebrae is a service for light and shadows. After each reading recounting an event leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion a candle will be extinguished and the room will get darker. The service will end in total darkness and silence.
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