Welcome to a grounded Lent — forty days of reflections as Christians move toward Easter, the spring awakening of the earth (in the northern hemisphere), and the sacred season of renewal and rebirth.
When I originally planned this series, I thought of these weeks as a time of transition with the COVID pandemic shifting to a new stage. I never imagined that Russia would invade Ukraine and threaten nuclear destruction. We’ve no idea what might be ahead. But we do know that this Lent begins with war, and we all pray that the coming days will bring peace.
Whatever happens, it is more important than ever to understand our connection to this beautiful world and our neighbors across the globe. To be grounded in nature and neighbor deepens our vision of God, and empowers us to live with love and justice on this fearsome edge of history. We need to remember these truths.
Let’s walk together. Through these weeks, holding each other in prayer, joined through wise words.
Where is God? . . . The grounded God is a God in relationship with space and time as the love that connects and creates all things, known in and with the world. . . God is not above or beyond, but integral to the whole of creation, entwined with the sacred ecology of the universe.
— Grounded: Finding God in the World, pages 10, 25
SCRIPTURE
O that I knew where I might find God, that I might come even to his dwelling!
— Job 23:3
REFLECTION
War. Refugees. Innocent people suffering and killed. Where is God? isn’t a child’s question. It is a question that arises from the heart of compassion, a question that goes to the center of faith.
Every time I have experienced new depth or new wisdom in my spiritual life, the path toward the new awareness often begins with a sense of loss of God’s presence. God seems absent, unavailable in the usual places, elusive. I am lost. I have learned to trust the question “Where is God?” as a marker along the way. No fear. Only a sign to pay attention to the ways in which the spirit is speaking.
(If you’d like a longer reflection on this question, please read this piece from 2015 that I wrote for The Huffington Post)
PRAYER
God, Beloved, who is with and within no matter the fear and pain we face: May questions of your absence and the experience of loss direct us toward a new reality of your dwelling and companionship through all things. We pray, in particular, for all those who are dislocated by war or climate disasters, that they may be comforted by your embracing love.
In addition to comments and reactions, please feel free to leave prayers, thanksgivings, intercessions, or prayer requests.
INSPIRATION
This is my prayer—
That, though I may not see,
I be aware
Of the Silent God
Who stands by me.
That, though I may not feel,
I be aware
Of the Mighty Love
Which doggedly follows me.
That, though I may not respond,
I be aware
That God—my Silent, Mighty God,
Waits each day.
Quietly, hopefully, persistently.
Waits each day and through each night
For me.
For me—alone.
— Edwina Gateley
A WORD ABOUT THIS PROJECT
On Ash Wednesday and Thursday, March 3, these reflections were sent to the entire Cottage list — both free and paid.
Beginning on Friday, March 4, A Grounded Lent will be delivered only to the paid community.
I’ll take you through forty days from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday (but no separate reflection on Sundays other than Sunday Musings) based on a devotional I originally wrote for the paperback of Grounded — with added material and updated for the Cottage.
If you want to get the DAILY Lenten reflections you can sign-up for a monthly paid subscription for March and April, at $5 per month for a total of $10 to receive all of the devotions — and you can cancel at the end of April if you choose (I won’t be offended!).
If you can’t afford either option and would like the DAILY reflections, please reply to this email (just hit reply as you would for any email) and let us know something of your situation. We’ll give you a complimentary subscription for two months. It is that easy. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds.
We pray for peace, O God of love and justice,
as once again, we face a time of war.
The meek and humble try — amid the crisis —
to love and build, to nurture and restore.
May leaders hear the truth the prophets teach us —
that gifts of peace are well worth struggling for.
— Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, “We Pray for Peace”
A spiritual director once suggested that for a period, I pray God to intervene in peoples' lives if I am firmly committed to bringing about the change that I seek. In other words, I can pray for refugees from war if I am willing to be involved in some way with those refugees. I can pray for the sick or imprisoned if I am willing to be part of their healing or lives in some way. So when I pray for Ukrainian refugees I must be committed to be part of their care.
Recently I have been drawn to ponder Isaiah 55. Part of our difficulty in finding God is that our brains keep trying to fit God into our limited perspectives of God. I have found that only in surrendering to an intelligence far beyond anything I can even begin to comprehend do I find a glimpse of the magnificent unconditional love that is through all and in all.