The Purpose of Lent The season of Lent isn’t a “dog and pony show”. Many verses in Scripture speak of the hubris that often accompanied religious leaders when they showed up for their ceremonial practices. Interestingly, the three traditional pillars (emphases) of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, were places where piety often went out the…
Author: Linda Miller
The Faith It Takes to Saddle up a Donkey
I have really been helped by reading large portions of the Old Testament in the Message Translation. The late Eugene Peterson spent a good portion of his life translating the Bible into The Message so that un-scholarly people like me, who did not want to learn Hebrew or Greek, could understand it. In the book…
Forty Poignant Rhymes for Lent
“What rhymes with Lent?” This question popped into my head several weeks ago as I was pondering what to write about during this season. As silly as it might seem, forty rhyming words came to me pretty quickly and have a related connection to this season of self-reflection, penitence, and prayer. So as not to…
Reorienting a Pathway for Lent
In January I listened to a series of short video devotionals from JohnOrtberg on the whole notion of habit formation. It seemed like a good way to anchor the year. I’m guessing that you, just like me, tend to think about building new habits at the beginning of a new year, ones that we hope…
Ash Heap Wednesday
“The Lord is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” Psalm 113:4-7…