Lent Practices – Week 4 – 3.6.2018

THEME:Subtracting Consumption, Gaining Love

BREATH PRAYER: Jesus, replace my desire for consumption with Your consuming love.

CENTERING:

While He was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.” But to the one who had told Him this, Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” And pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46-50

SETTLING IN:

• In a journal, note the day, time, and place you’re sitting.
• Open with silence. Set a timer for 1, 3, or 5 minutes so you can be free to rest and breathe deeply.
• Complete the following sentence in your journal: Today, I feel ________________.
• Read the centering verse above slowly (aloud or silently).
• Pause for a few moments of silence, then pray this week’s breath prayer.

PRACTICE:
COMMUNITY

I suspect that were kinship our goal, we would no longer be promoting justice–we would be celebrating it … Kinship–not serving the other, but being one with the other. Jesus was not “a man for others;” He was one with them. There is a world of difference in that.
– Gregory Doyle, Tattoos of the Heart

Who do you think of when you think of your neighbor and your family? Write out names and people you see as family and neighbors.

What do these people look like? Write out descriptions of the community that surrounds you. Hair color, socioeconomic status, marital status, religion and race.

Use a few adjectives to describe what you think the crowds might have looked like in Matthew 12:46-50.

Consider how you might describe yourself (sister, brother, mom, daughter, father, friend). How does it make you feel when Jesus tells His mother and brothers that the people He is currently with are His family? Write out those feelings in simple terms: happy, sad, mad, accepted, etc.

Does anything surprise you as you describe your community, your feelings, or Jesus’ surroundings?

As we think of the words kinship, community, kindness, and unity, what do those words look like in our community today and around our family and our neighbors? Consider how Scripture describes how Jesus loved His neighbor and the people who surrounded Him.

Finally, how do we seek kinship with our neighbors? Those who surround us who may not look like us or act like us–how can we move forward and act like we are one with one another?

Summary: Write in your journal a brief summary (five sentences or less) of your practice.

Closing: Jesus, replace my desire for consumption with Your consuming love.