Lent for Non-Lent People

Lent for Non-Lent People PDF Author: Jon C. Swanson
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781495412066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 110

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Lent For Non-Lent People" is a daily guide to prayer, fasting, rest, and following Jesus for people who want training wheels for Lent. In ordinary language, this book explores prayer, fasting, and Sabbath. There are eight chapters. You can read them as chapters. But if you look closer, you will find seven sections in each chapter, a reading for every day of Lent and a bonus chapter for the week after Easter. So this can be a daily reader. In each reading, we explore what Lent is, what giving up and committing to can mean. Lent is an old word that means spring. But if you had to pick a phrase that best captures what people think of Lent, it's this: giving up. Not as in quitting a competition, but as in giving up something. People observing Lent give up something that matters to them. Often it's food, like meat on Friday or sugar for the forty weekdays. Sundays often are free days, exempt from the giving up. As best as I can tell, it started with the idea of helping people appreciate the festivities of Easter. If we spend the time before Easter preparing our hearts and our bodies, the celebration has more significance. The forty days are designed to resonate with the forty-day seasons that show up in the Bible. Jesus fasted for forty days. Moses was on the mountain for forty days. Noah and his family watched it rain for forty days and forty nights.Older than the name Lent is the term “fasting”. It is also about giving up. Fasting most simply is giving up that for this. That is something good in itself. This is something great. That is nourishing to a point. This is life itself. That's why Lent isn't about giving up sin. Think about it. “I'll give up my affair for forty days. But every Sunday, just for the day, I go back to my mistress.” Ludicrous. It's easy to get legalistic about forty days of fasting. When humans are presented with a boundary, we focus on the boundary. What counts as fasting? How much can you eat without breaking the fast? How long? What health matters? Focus may be a better word than Lent, fasting, or giving up. Often, the best way to give something up is to choose what to focus on instead. In the case of Lent, the intended focus is God. We'll talk about God a lot. This isn't a book of how to survive a fast. It's not about the health implications, good and bad, of fasting or praying or resting. We're going to give up some time, give some attention, and spend a few minutes, or a few weeks understanding ourselves and God.

Lent for Non-Lent People

Lent for Non-Lent People PDF Author: Jon C. Swanson
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781495412066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 110

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Lent For Non-Lent People" is a daily guide to prayer, fasting, rest, and following Jesus for people who want training wheels for Lent. In ordinary language, this book explores prayer, fasting, and Sabbath. There are eight chapters. You can read them as chapters. But if you look closer, you will find seven sections in each chapter, a reading for every day of Lent and a bonus chapter for the week after Easter. So this can be a daily reader. In each reading, we explore what Lent is, what giving up and committing to can mean. Lent is an old word that means spring. But if you had to pick a phrase that best captures what people think of Lent, it's this: giving up. Not as in quitting a competition, but as in giving up something. People observing Lent give up something that matters to them. Often it's food, like meat on Friday or sugar for the forty weekdays. Sundays often are free days, exempt from the giving up. As best as I can tell, it started with the idea of helping people appreciate the festivities of Easter. If we spend the time before Easter preparing our hearts and our bodies, the celebration has more significance. The forty days are designed to resonate with the forty-day seasons that show up in the Bible. Jesus fasted for forty days. Moses was on the mountain for forty days. Noah and his family watched it rain for forty days and forty nights.Older than the name Lent is the term “fasting”. It is also about giving up. Fasting most simply is giving up that for this. That is something good in itself. This is something great. That is nourishing to a point. This is life itself. That's why Lent isn't about giving up sin. Think about it. “I'll give up my affair for forty days. But every Sunday, just for the day, I go back to my mistress.” Ludicrous. It's easy to get legalistic about forty days of fasting. When humans are presented with a boundary, we focus on the boundary. What counts as fasting? How much can you eat without breaking the fast? How long? What health matters? Focus may be a better word than Lent, fasting, or giving up. Often, the best way to give something up is to choose what to focus on instead. In the case of Lent, the intended focus is God. We'll talk about God a lot. This isn't a book of how to survive a fast. It's not about the health implications, good and bad, of fasting or praying or resting. We're going to give up some time, give some attention, and spend a few minutes, or a few weeks understanding ourselves and God.

The Gift of Wonder

The Gift of Wonder PDF Author: Christine Aroney-Sine
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830871586
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs when you laugh, loves to play, and invites us to join the fun? In this book Christine Sine invites us to pay attention to childlike characteristics that have the power to reshape us, with fresh spiritual practices that engage all our senses and help us embrace the wonder and joy that God intends for us.

The Good of Giving Up

The Good of Giving Up PDF Author: Aaron Damiani
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802495249
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Like many evangelicals who love the gospel, I had my doubts about Lent.” It’s true, Lent can often seem like an empty ritual. But what Aaron Damiani came to find, and what he describes inside, is something else entirely. Something exceedingly good. In The Good of Giving Up, Anglican pastor Aaron Damiani (who comes from a low-church background) explains the season of Lent, defends it theologically, and guides you in its practice. You’ll learn: The history and purpose of Lent How to practice it with proper motivation Ways it can reform your habits and convictions How to lead others through it, whether in the home or church Lent has been described as a “springtime for the soul,” a season of clearing to make room for growth. The Good of Giving Up will show you why, encouraging you to participate in what many know as a rich spiritual journey. “When I was finally ready to take the plunge, I learned that observing Lent is not a forced march of works-righteousness. But it was good medicine for [my soul], for the painful split between what I knew about God and what I experienced of Him.”

40 Days of Decrease

40 Days of Decrease PDF Author: Alicia Britt Chole
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0718077075
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
What if you fasted regret? What if your friends fasted comparison? What if your generation fasted escapism? What if your community fasted spectatorship? Trigger a spiritual revolution with this daily devotional for Lent. Decrease life's unnecessary details and increase your relationship with the Lord so you can live in awe of Christ's resurrection! 40 Days of Decrease is a guide for those hungering for a fresh Lenten/Easter experience. Dr. Alicia Britt Chole guides you through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond. Containing readings, refection questions, daily fasts, ancient quotes, and more, each day offers a meaningful consideration of Jesus’ journey and then invites you into a daily fast of heart-clutter—the stuff that sticks to your soul and weighs you down. You can begin your forty-day journey any time of the year, but you may find it especially meaningful as a Lenten preparation to live in awe of Jesus’ resurrection. Each daily, 1000-word entry includes a: Devotion based on Jesus’ life Reflection question to guide journaling or group discussion Heart fast to inspire a tangible response Thought-provoking Lenten quote Optional sidebar into the historical development of Lent Suggested reading that takes you from John 12 to John 21 Journaling space for reflection In the same way self cannot satisfy self no matter how long it feasts, self cannot starve self no matter how long it fasts. Decrease—like increase—is only holy when its destination is love. Dare to live awed by Christ’s resurrection!

Lent in Plain Sight

Lent in Plain Sight PDF Author: Jill J. Duffield
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611649803
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Get Book Here

Book Description
God is often at work through the ordinary: ordinary people, ordinary objects, ordinary grace. Through the ordinary, God communicates epiphanies, salvation, revelation, and reconciliation. It is through the mundane that we hear Gods quiet voice. In this devotion for the season of Lent, Jill J. Duffield draws readers attention to ten ordinary objects that Jesus would have encountered on his way to Jerusalem: dust, bread, the cross, coins, shoes, oil, coats, towels, thorns, and stones. In each object, readers will find meaning in the biblical account of Jesus final days. Each week, readers encounter a new object to consider through Scripture, prayer, and reflection. From Ash Wednesday to Easter, Lent in Plain Sight reminds Christians to open ourselves to the kingdom of God.

Bring Lent to Life

Bring Lent to Life PDF Author: Kathleen M. Basi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780764820045
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Don't just give something up for Lent Gather your family, and with Kate Basi's fresh ideas, you will "Bring Lent to Life " Fasting is not just giving up candy, almsgiving is more than giving away your unused allowance, and prayer becomes active. Embark on the adventure of practicing the three tenets of Lent in new ways: The Easter Tree grows with symbols (nails, an empty egg, three dimes and more) rooted in Scripture, and blooms with flowers through your Lenten observance. Sunday Love Letters (and drawings) share the love of Christ with family members. Crafts, family outings, recipes, and other activities help reveal the meaning of Lent. View sample pages. Paperback

Lent:

Lent: PDF Author: Carolyn J Sweers
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1524523992
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 85

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book began in Lent as a way to continue my own engagement with the season. I am by temperament and training a philosopher whose life and work have been shaped by moments of mystic communion with that which cant be adequately described or named and is, I presume, what is pointed to by the word god. I have, wherever possible, used a word other than god to refer to the framing mystery of our livesthe horizon that draws us toward reverence, humility, and compassion. The challenge I posed for myself was to try to describe the Lenten practices in the way I have experienced thema way I hope will be useful for any spiritual seeker as well as not opposed to Christianity for those who actively participate in that tradition. To that end, I have attempted to explore ways in which Lent, a season in the Christian year, has universal applications for human life and development. This book attempts to enunciate ways in which the season itselfwith its impetus, its dynamics, and its practiceshas a significance and a usefulness that is more universal than that of any single religious tradition. I am indebted to Hinduism for its understanding of renunciation as giving up the lesser for the sake of the greater. I am indebted to Buddhism for its insights about how the mind works and how it can be trained to be more present and compassionate. And I am indebted to the Catholic Eucharist, where the transforming vision is not only celebrated but also eaten as food. A word about style: the primary purpose of the book is to evoke, not to explain. That is why there are wide margins and a limited number of words per page. To get the most value from this book, there must be engagement, dialogue with, and reflection on ones own experiences as well as on the spiritual truths found in the worlds religions. The most important words in the book may be the ones the reader writes in the margins or in a journalan evoked response to the printed words. In that way, Lent can become a lived experience not just for Christians.

Rediscover Lent

Rediscover Lent PDF Author: Matthew Kelly
Publisher: Blue Sparrow
ISBN: 9781929266050
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the author of the best-selling book "Rediscover Catholicism" comes an inspiring new way to rediscover Lent. In this new book, you will find: a brief citation from a daily lectionary reading; a reflection on the beauty and importance of the Catholic faith and practice; a thought-provoking questions for meditation; and a brief prayer. These timely and inspirational words will help renew your enthusiasm for being Catholic, while encouraging you to delve more deeply into the spirituality of the lenten season.

At Home in Lent

At Home in Lent PDF Author: GORDON. GILES
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780857465894
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Here is an original way of approaching Lent, one that will encourage you to consider your own faith journey in the light of the Easter story. Inspired by Ian McGregor's Radio 4 programme, 'The History of the World in 100 Objects', Gordon Giles spends each week in a different room gleaning spiritual lessons from everyday household objects. As a result, you might discover that finding God in the normal pattern of life - even in the mundane - transforms how you approach each day. Running as a thread through it all are the seven Rs of Lent: regret, repentance, resolution, recognition, reconciliation, renewal and resurrection.

A Grown-Up Lent

A Grown-Up Lent PDF Author: Joanna Leiserson
Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
ISBN: 9780880283922
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
What are you giving up for Lent? Or taking on? Joanna Leiserson, a priest and author of the Christian formation curriculum, Weaving God's Promises, encourages us to dig deeper this Lenten season. We can begin, she says, by asking the right questions: "Who will you be in Lent?" and even "Whose will you be in Lent?" With engaging devotions and a knack for storytelling, Leiserson explores in meaningful ways what it means to connect with God in a secular, post-modern culture