{"id":1101,"date":"2019-03-06T10:26:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T15:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2019-03-14T10:28:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T15:28:33","slug":"its-ash-wednesday-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1101","title":{"rendered":"It’s Ash Wednesday Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Health Central Ash Wednesday Service <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Cor 5:20 \u2013 6:2; Mt 6:\n1-6, 16-18<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Well, here we all are again for Ash Wednesday.  Another year has passed, and Lent begins\ntoday.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good question for you to ask today is this:  Has anything changed in your life in the last\nyear?  Or are you still living pretty\nmuch the way you lived last year?  Are\nyou bogged down in a busy routine, and don\u2019t seem to have the time to break out\nof it?  Do you sense a growing distance\nwith someone important to you; or are you having problems with someone close to\nyou but don\u2019t seem to ever be able to address them; or maybe you are losing\ncontrol of something in your life?  Do\nyou have a sense of guilt or concern about any of that?  Do you sense that your relationship with God\nis suffering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because if any of those things resonate with you, now is the time for\nrenewal.  Lent is the classical time on\nthe Church calendar for folks to make some time to reflect on where there are\ngoing and what they are doing and to then make a change for the better.  To quote St. Paul:  Now is the acceptable time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, change is absolutely inevitable.    If you wait long enough then something will\nhappen and there will be change- an illness, the loss of a loved one, a betrayal\nby someone we love.   Any of number of\nthings are percolating around us and can suddenly change our lives forever, even\nrob us of the chance of healing things because the opportunity is gone.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church recommends the three pillars of Lent as a process for renewal.  They are:  Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, fasting has been proven by the great mystics to be an effective\nway to clear our minds so we can come to grips with what\u2019s going on in our\nlives.  In fact, that\u2019s what John the\nBaptist and Jesus both did.  They went\ninto the desert, fasted, and reflected on their lives and where they were\nheaded.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus\nwas in the desert for 40 days, and that he survived temptations of the flesh,\npower, and pride.  But when he emerged, he\ncould see his three-year mission clearly. \nAnd he also saw that he would suffer, die, and be resurrected.  That 40 days is the origin of Lent.  The Church encourages each of us to do as\nJesus did.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you don\u2019t have to fast from food any more- just on Ash Wednesday and\nGood Friday.  You can, if that is what is\ngetting in the way of your need to pray and reflect.  Indeed, we probably all eat too much.    That\ncan bog us down, even make us sleepy and listless.  Chances are that most of us could free some\ntime up by fasting in other areas though. \nToo much Facebook; too much TV; too many sporting events, too many\nlunches; you get the idea.    But\nwhatever you need to fast from, use the time that you break free in a\nproductive way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, that would be a good time for the second pillar- Prayer and Reflection\non what\u2019s nagging you inside, whether it\u2019s any of the things I mentioned or\nsomething else.   You know, some of the\nexperts claim that it is God who initiates all prayer.  So, that little voice inside of you that nags\nyou about something, may just be God calling you to share it with Him.  If you can find a quiet place and some free\ntime, spend that time in prayer.  And\nthat doesn\u2019t just mean reciting a prayer, and you talking to God.  God wants a relationship with each and every\none of us- a two-way relationship.  So,\nwe have got to listen to God as well as talk to him.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God speaks to us in varied and strange ways- but often directly through\nHis word.  So, pray over the Sunday or\nweekday readings.  There\u2018s a little\n\u201cDaily Bread\u201d pamphlet covering the next three months available from the\nChaplain.  That would be a good way to\nstart.  And you may be surprised how your\nneeds may be met when you listen to those little prompts that God gives you.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last Pillar is \u201cAlmsgiving\u201d.  That\ndoesn\u2019t just mean dropping a few bucks in the collection plate; or even giving\na little extra to your favorite charity.  In recent years, the Church asks for us to\ncontribute our time, our talent, and our treasure.  Almsgiving can be from any of those three.  Almsgiving is a measure of how well our\nFasting and Prayerful meditation worked. \nWe are giving back to God.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, God has an agenda for each of us.  And a part of that agenda is giving of\nourselves.  Whatever time, talent, and\ntreasure we have, it all comes from God anyway. \nAnd when we make our time or our talent or our treasure available to\nothers in response to Him, we are showing God that we trust that he has our\nbest interests in mind.  We might even\nfind that he answers our requests in the process.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, after we receive our ashes today, rather than walking around with\nlong faces and gloomy hearts because Lent is upon us today, let us be happy\ninstead; let us surrender to our basic need to make positive changes in our\nlives.  Now is the acceptable time!   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health Central Ash Wednesday Service Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Cor 5:20 \u2013 6:2; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18 Deacon Larry Brockman Well, here we all are again for Ash Wednesday.  Another year has passed, and Lent begins today.    A good question for you to ask today is this:  Has anything changed in your life in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[566,565,276,9,298],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1102,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}