On the first Sunday of Lent, Lorna and Rachael shared some thoughts about life-giving ways to see and approach the Lenten practice of giving something up. Then we were all invited to individual reflection on what might be cluttering our inner lives and what we’d like to welcome into a clearer space, followed by conversation around the breakfast tables.
At Second Breakfast this Sunday, we invited Rick, Wilma, and Rosie to reflect on Lent practices they’ve done and are doing. Then we enjoyed sharing our own experiences with each other, as we considered together the value of rituals such as this, and the kind of space it can make in our lives.
On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Jess is drawn to return to the baptism of Jesus and the revelation of our own belovedness. Reflecting on excerpts from Henri Nouwen’s book, Life of the Beloved, she invites us to consider the people who have revealed our belovedness to us, and encourages us to deepen our experience of living into (or ‘enfleshing’) our belovedness in our everyday lives. Jess demonstrates how letting ourselves be known can be a threshold we step through that allows The Beloved to find us, too.
On the second Sunday of Lent, Renate Gritter shares some reflections on death and mortality grounded in her recent experience of finding a lump on her neck. She tells the story of what it was like to contemplate going through cancer and even death and invites all of us to consider “giving up” going through struggles with mortality with only our own powers to aid us and tell our friends about the “lumps” in our lives, whatever they may be.
On the first Sunday of Lent, Mark Groleau walks us through the temptations of Jesus and asks us to consider the things Jesus “gave up” and why. He points out that each response Jesus gives “the satan” links to Old Testament Jewish teachings and to what was happening in the cultural landscape of that time. Mark recognizes that we continue to face the same challenges the early church faced. He encourages that following The Way of Jesus still means giving up on power and doing “small things with great love” to care for our neighbours and the world
In today’s talk, ‘Vampires, Atheism, & Re-Creation’, Jacob Rose shares how he has been affected by his experience of “Atheism for Lent”, a faith decentering practice using the profane as a mode of purifying spiritual dogmatism.
On this First Sunday of Lent, Rachael explores the season of Lent as an invitation to participation in Jesus’ desert experience, and suggests that his secret in the midst of it can become our secret as well.
