{"id":88,"date":"2014-03-31T09:54:56","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T16:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/?p=88"},"modified":"2014-04-08T09:49:32","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T16:49:32","slug":"lent-natural-rhythms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"Lent: Natural Rhythms"},"content":{"rendered":"

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.<\/p>\n

~Ephesians 5:8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"lightthroughtrees\"<\/a>We recently celebrated the Fourth Sunday of Lent with a meditation on the Gospel of The Man Born Blind.\u00a0 This is a beautiful story rich in symbolism depicting the mystery of faith.\u00a0 A man blind from birth, who through an encounter with Christ becomes a witness to the miracles of his healing Grace.\u00a0 I am the light of the world<\/em>, Jesus says.\u00a0 And by your faith, you have access to this healing light, this amazing Grace.
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\nWe are about midway through our reading of Clearing Space<\/em>, and Parsons gives us time now to check in with our Lenten practice.\u00a0 How are we doing?\u00a0 Are we developing new patterns and habits?\u00a0 If we can imagine we are in some ways not unlike the Man Born Blind — especially during this introspective season of Lent — where in our encounters with the divine this week have we seen light coming through?\u00a0 What discoveries are we making: in what ways are our eyes opening, our arms stretching out into wider space?\u00a0 Below are some questions for reflection, and I encourage you to journal with them or if you’re comfortable, leave a comment here.<\/p>\n

What rhythms do you see emerging in your Lenten practice?\u00a0 Write about how this practice is taking shape throughout your day, paying particular attention to any new habits that might be emerging in this newly opened up space.<\/p>\n

\u2022 When and where are you most at ease in your practice, feeling engaged and energized by it?\u00a0 Listen also for those moments of peace that come from your closeness with God.<\/p>\n

\u2022 What distractions to your practice are you struggling with and how are you handling these?<\/p>\n

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If you are making your way here for the first time, we are discussing Sarah Parsons book A Clearing Season<\/em>.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have the book, you can still follow along.\u00a0 Next week we reflect on Isaiah 43:16-19 and Psalm 92 as we look for signs of new growth.\u00a0 Begin your reflection by writing down a few accomplishments that have emerged from your Lenten practice.\u00a0 You might think of these accomplishments as healing moments of clarity or release, where you have been brought out of darkness and into the light of awareness, of freedom, of peace and greater understanding.\u00a0 Think of how you might share gratitude with God for these moments, perhaps though a kind word or gesture to someone else in need of healing Grace.<\/p>\n

Related Posts: Ash Wednesday<\/a> | Lent: Exploring the Wilderness<\/a> | Lent: First Clearing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. ~Ephesians 5:8 We recently celebrated the Fourth Sunday of Lent with a meditation on the Gospel of The Man Born Blind.\u00a0 This is a beautiful story rich in symbolism depicting the mystery of faith.\u00a0 A man blind from birth, who through an … Continue reading Lent: Natural Rhythms<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5,2,17,3,4],"tags":[23,21,20,22,18],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grace","category-joy","category-lent","category-peace","category-prayer","category-spirituality","tag-clearing-space","tag-ephesians","tag-light-of-christ","tag-man-born-blind","tag-sarah-parsons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprovinceofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}