Ashes and the Phoenix: Meditations for the Season of Lent

by Len Freeman

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Ashes speak to me of what matters and what does not. Remind me of the heart of my heart and that I and the ones I love are more than what will dribble into the ground. May I be thankful that I await not just the ashes but the Phoenix.

If everything is up to us all the time, life can become exhausting. The good news of Lent is that the One who knows us—our stories, our failures, our burdens—is with us.

Failures, a part of our stories whose burden we bear, by whose grace we have grown. I give thanks to you Lord for these moments, these graces, that touched down in my life along the way to save me.

Let me this day be open to what I can let go of and what needs to be taken up.

I've fallen and I can't get up... I've fallen and I can't get up... I've fallen and I can't get up. Please, Lord... help me up.

dark night black yet calm. like the inside of a soul that has not yet seen the light but knows that it is coming. thank you, Lord for the impulse of creation.

hunger builds up Lord for more than I need, while others go needing for less than I crave. may my fast be one of the heart and the body teach me to want what is gifting indeed.

Jesus Mary and Joseph Moses Muhammad and Buddha the history books lie when they leave you out as if all those lives never found life or shaped the world, in and through you. May I never forget your name.

I find temptation to be my teacher. that I am not yet as noble as I suppose nor as strong, yet you give me another chance to get it right today.

our children's teeth are set on edge by the choices we have made that dollars and profits are all that measure, and souls not. turn us again to your ways of wisdom, recall our hearts.

To press on in our journey of faith, especially during Lent, we must open our eyes, hearts, and lives to God's presence right now, in this present moment. Each Sunday, when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we claim our space in a multidimensional world—not a flat one. In those holy and consecrated moments, we are with Jesus at the Last Supper, surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses and in the present company of our worship community.

May we find God mighty to save by viewing and understanding the everyday parts of our lives as sacramental doorways to the holy. May we truly believe that "your presence is what truly feeds us each day." Let us pray this with all our hearts: May it be so.

my family gathers around like those at the table in Jerusalem when you took the bread and said that you would be with us. we share a cup now though not always in remembrance yet your presence is what truly feeds us each day. may it be so.

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Denying truth hinders our ability to be in right relationship with the world and with our loved ones in a variety of ways. While confronting the root and digesting the fruit of our pain and grief is a bitter experience, when we refuse to deny the truth, we may find that we are, in fact, embraced and held fast by a God who offers the unchangeable truth of love.

Lord my heart rests in you at day's end quiet comes to my room and I bow my head in silent appreciation for all that filled my day love, friends, warmth, possibilities and terrors alike. may I not forget those for whom this day was more difficult and trying, lonely and hurtful we are all in your hands.

increase in me Lord the gift of humility not the false hearted t'weren't nothin' t'weren't nothin' nor the soul-harming denial of value to dare but the truth-telling knowledge of both gifts and limit that I may offer the one for the good and the doing and honor the other for salvation from despair.

for souls that have off wandered for those who've never heard for hearts that know but nothing of what the faith has learned; for peoples that have prospered in only wealth of gold but let the values soften and turned their tone to scorn; give mercy and forgiveness but more Lord help us turn to save us from a darkening a world sore lost and burned.

Let us see that we cannot see it all—around all the edges and corners of creation and the mind of God. We must allow ourselves to be reminded daily of the wonder of the universe—of God exposing Godself to us through our lives and the world and the vast expanse of the whole of creation, without believing we will ever, or should ever, have all the answers.

misunderstandings test us. can we say I'm sorry or do we have to stand and fall with our perceptions. help me Lord to stand for what I believe, yet to know that I may not possess all truth. Aquinas after pages of describing You had the blessed humility to end his words 'but not that.'

One translation of the Greek word for repent is "to go beyond the mind you have."

for lovers and partners who bring smiles to our faces just because for a world that sings of wonder and grace just walking through for pleasures and pains that speak the intricate magic of all creation so direct for my life and those of all who have been your vehicles I thank you, good Lord.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

deceits are all around us closer than we know or suspect. harder to be let down by those we thought trustworthy, faithful part of the community part of your name. where the angels are there demons will be also may we be innocent as doves and wise as serpents as you advised us when you first came.

suffering builds endurance, which builds character, which builds hope at least that is our hope that we will not just suffer alone without meaning. your son is the living voice of that hope in his suffering alone that turned out to be hope for the many, the touch of your hand taking the worst the world offers transforming it to good. may it be so.

so many die too soon too soon, yet nothing went wrong the mortality rate is still one-hundred percent Lord, have mercy.

taking a piece of the truth as the whole leads our hearts astray forgetting all the grace that comes our way as if only one part mattered help us to see your hand beyond the narrow focus of our plans

Only when we choose to pause and to see life through a different set of lenses will we find ourselves grounded in a power that is greater than our own and rediscover what is deeply real and truly important.

let me rest in you let me pause in you let me see the day through your eyes and find peace.

frustrations at others not coming through in the way we want build barriers between us making way for the limits of others raises the conundrum do I encourage or settle which way should I go. may I have the wisdom to know the one from the other and allow for your grace.

Sooner or later, every one of us will find our way into the wilderness, discovering over and over again that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. Then, by God's grace, we turn around. We repent, we open our hearts to God. We ask God to come find us, because we do not know how to find where God is.

The men and women in the Bible who come closest to Jesus are those who have no illusions about their ability to make their lives work. They are lame, blind, bleeding, bereaved; some are even already dead. They have come to the end of their ropes and fall into the hands of the living God, praying the ultimate prayer of surrender and sacrifice, "Help."

have I spoken your name enough have I opened to speak aloud what my heart believes Jesus.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

the air freshens like your breath into creation over the waters and into our clay life springing forth with joy and abandon blessed be the name of the Lord today.

We feed each other when we truly hear each other's stories, as God nourishes us with the bread of relationship, of listening and love.

our families open us to joy, sorrow, pain and laughter like Mary and Joseph Abraham and Sarah we try to make a way following your star.

Spring waters flow through the ice sluice like grace melting away at my frozen sins. first a seep, then a trickle, then a roar at the joy that flows free when we let it.

I want to pray for some who have violated friendships, faith, community but how can we forgive in your name when our hands and hearts were not among the wounded.

You give us tasks that push and pull us beyond our depths and yet to our deepest desires. thank you for the gifts that we do not call for yet appreciate when they have arrived.

storms come back around, like life crashes we thought were over but weren't. protect us Lord from despair, defeat, from going under when we are most vulnerable at the end of frayed hopes.

We must stop thinking of God as an other-worldly entity and be open to seeing God reveal the divine presence in us and all around us.

give me a heart to see your hand in faces and places smiles and cries in anguish and anger hope and help the fact of your presence amidst us all.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Be not far from me for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

how'm I doin' the mayor said am I living up to what you had in mind am I letting down the side or surprising you with my wit. how'm I doin' I ask the Lord am I living up to what you had in mind holding up my part for the side using my best wits to move the game how'm I doin' dear Lord on who I can become

quiet. night. silence moving about while our minds weave in and out, dreaming our ways into tastes of something we cannot express. you come to us in dreams. of wheat stalks, of angels and ladders to heaven, of fat and thin cows, and blankets filled with forbidden foods descending while voices tell us to take and eat, to take the child and flee, to take heart. come to the windows of our dreams again now where night opens the portals and we resist no more your movings in our soul.

in the garden a knowledge was sought that we could not deal with of good and evil not as measures but from the inside. that dark knowing breaks us still. deliver us please from temptation.

Sister Joan Chittister says, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again."