Category Archives: Faith

Lenten Practices

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Lent-BannerThe Dwelling Church will be using these community practices during the season of Lent and we invite you to journey toward Resurrection Sunday alongside us. We are encouraging our people to practice various things daily, weekly, and in community. These practices are not meant to be a burden or a way to earn God’s favor. They are intended to remind us of God’s work in the world, align our hearts with God’s, and move us out into God’s mission to redeem all things. Practicing alongside others (a church, a small group, or family) allows us to process what we are experiencing and learn from others.

Daily Practices

+ Practice 5 (or more) minutes of silence

+ Pray for your church and community

+ Pray the Prayer of Examen (see below)

+ Write a note of encouragement or make a phone call to one person

Weekly Practices

+ Gather for corporate worship

+ Fast one meal a week (we invite you to join us in fasting Wednesday lunches)

+ Bake a dessert or make a meal or give a small gift to one person/family

+ Memorize the weekly Scripture (listed below)

+ Chose 1 or 2 of the Additional Practices listed below

Additional Practices (choose 1-2 a week)

+ Set aside a percentage of your income and donate it to a good cause

+ Leave your phone at home for a day

+ Host someone for a meal or coffee

+ Make a prayer chain and pull one piece off each week/day

+ Don’t buy anything that you don’t need

+ Go for a walk and pray for your neighborhood

+ Disconnect from cable news or social media or both

+ Listen only to worship music this week

+ Don’t eat out

+ Volunteer somewhere

+ Donate snacks for Adams Elementary students

+ Leave the TV off for a day or two or seven

+ Read a Psalm a day

+ Fast from gossip and insensitive comments about others.

+ Read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting

+ Pray the Lord’s Prayer before dinner or bed

+ Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)

+ Declutter: Find 7 items each day this week to donate or throw away

Scripture Memorization for Lent

Practice learning Scripture. Recite it, write it, discuss it with others. Let Scripture shape our lives.

Week 1 – Lamentations 3:22-23 (CEB)

Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Week 2 – 1 John 1:9 (CEB)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong.

Week 3 – 2 Peter 1:3 (CEB)

By his divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own honor and glory.

Week 4 – 2 Corinthians 5:21 (CEB)

God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.

Week 5 – Isaiah 41:10 (CEB)

Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand.

Week 6 – Romans 5:8 (CEB)

God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

The Examen Prayer

The Examen is a old prayer used around the world to help people examine where God has been present throughout their day. 

  • Become aware of God’s presence. Where did I see God today?
  • Review the day with gratitude. What am I thankful for today?
  • Pay attention to your emotions. What did I feel today?
  • Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. What should I pray for?
  • Look toward tomorrow. How do I feel about tomorrow?

The Weary World Rejoices

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This year I am weary. Maybe it’s my cynicism flaring up, but I feel the weight of our present reality more acutely than in years past.

I’m worn out by our political climate. I’m tired of the name calling and the line drawing, the hypocrisy and the partisanship. I’m tired from holding my tongue and I’m tired from speaking up (however infrequently). I’m fatigued by our lack of decency and our infatuation with power at any cost.

I’m worn out by the Church too. From our political idolatry for sure, but also our constant bickering over petty stuff. I’m tired of watching people walk away from faith because they were shown an inaccurate view of God. I’m drained by self-appointed gatekeepers intent on keeping people out. I’m worn out by church as entertainment and the pull to chase crowds and celebrity. I ache for congregations doing their best to be faithful in a world that has no time for them. And I’m tired of story after story about how we who are called to bless the world have instead wounded God’s beloved.

I’m exhausted from grief as I see people limp through life. From those who are denied justice to those who have made a mess of things.

I see friends and family and strangers on the internet who carry heavy loads. Who battle trauma and depression and estrangement. I watch as people wrestle with doubt and hardship and diagnoses that suck the life right out of them. People we love and people who are us have struggled in finances and bodies and loneliness and child rearing and every single other thing. It has run us ragged.

I’m tired from the 24 hour news cycle. The constant outrage. The constant apathy. The refugee crisis and gun violence and racism and terrorism and war and suicide and consumerism and all of it.

I’m weary from all the times I’ve blown it and all the times I wish I had chosen differently. I am even tired from knowing I have it better than so many others and my seeming inability to bring about progress.

I am weary.

And yet.

The old song sings, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn.”

A thrill of hope that Jesus is here. On our side. At work. Restoring. Redeeming. Re-orienting us.

Despite our brokenness. Despite our shame. Despite our constantly screwing it up and never getting it all right, God is with us.

God sees our mess and moves toward us to show us the way. The way out of and away from all the things that beat us down. A God who comes not to burden us but to carry our burdens for and with us.

A God who comes to the bedraggled and barely making it. To battered souls and threadbare faiths. A God who comes and offers unconditional love and incomprehensible peace even in the midst of all that is wrong.

I believe there will be a day when weariness will be no more and darkness will be banished and justice will roll like a river. I believe in a day with no more sickness or political pandering or shattered hearts.

However far off that day feels, Christmas reminds us that it isn’t out of reach. A better world is on the way. The someday we await is just over there, as close as the next dawn.

The light of eternal sunrise is waking from its slumber. It creeps across the horizon, slowly stretching its warm fingers and chasing away all that is shadow. It will not, can not be held back.

When we look for it we can see it. When we are uncertain we can walk toward it. When we are undone by the weight of it all we can rest in and celebrate the goodness of God’s coming.

Even our longing for rest and wholeness serves as a reminder that God is on the move. With us. When we hurt. When we fail. When we want to crawl into bed and sleep for a decade. When hope feels more like an ache than an excitement.

God is near. The sun will rise. The angels will sing. Our tears will be dried. And life and light will bring all that we need.

So rejoice, weary world. Lift up your head. You are not forgotten. You are not alone. All will be made new. Love has come.

Bryce Harper and the Problem of Partisan Politics

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I am a fan of Philadelphia sports teams. This necessitates that I hate Troy Aikman, JD Drew, Sidney Crosby, Joe Carter, Sean Rodriguez, and plenty of others.

For seven years I hated Bryce Harper too.

He played for a rival. He was entitled and arrogant, an obnoxious jerk. Easy to hate.

This year he switched sides. He plays for Philadelphia now. He is one of us.

Suddenly he isn’t entitled, he is driven. He isn’t arrogant, he is confident. He isn’t a jerk, he is passionate. Easy to love.

Instead of taunting him, I defend him. Instead of pointing out his abysmal batting average and strike out rate, I laud his defensive skill and hustle.

Last night in Washington, his former city, he was heckled for switching sides.

In sports you are either for us our against us.

This is ugliest when people ignore grievous sins like assault and abuse when it benefits their team.

It turns ugly when it shows up in our politics too.

When the only thing that matters is the name after the name on the ballot. When we determine what we think about a person only by the party they belong to.

When we defend the indefensible simply because they are on our “team.” When we ignore lies or immorality or twist ourselves into pretzels to explain away troubling realities.

When we attack the other team for doing the exact same things we applaud on our side. When we pick and choose based on an R or a D after a name.

We have reached a time in our country where we have long settled what and who we believe and any evidence to the contrary is rationalized away with ease because we are more loyal to our team than we are to rational thought or even our convictions.

In politics you are either for us our against us.

And we are worse for it.

It hurts the country, the Church, even the parties we seek to defend. I mean, is there no one else from your political bent who can advance your causes while still being a decent person?

As a Christian I cannot allow a political party to determine what is right and wrong. I cannot allow leaders to steer my moral direction. As the psalmists says, I cannot put my trust in princes and human beings who cannot save.

Church, blind and unmoored partisanship is idolatry. It aligns our heart with other kingdoms and it destroys our credibility in the world. We should be the most consistent when it comes to right and wrong, yet we are often seen as the least.

Our elected officials should be held to higher standards, even when they play for our team. Let’s not so fear making our team look bad that we are afraid to call out wrong behavior. Let’s stop defending people and things simply because we agree on some policies.

We say our hope is in Jesus then we act and talk and attack like our hope is in the president or congress. We say truth and morality matter and then turn a blind eye if it benefits us. We say that Jesus is Lord and then participate in the ways of Caesar.

We must be more faithful. Partisan politics will exhaust us to the point of death and will drag others right along with us.

May our convictions guide us more than our favorite teams. May accountability lead to health for us and the Church and our nation. May we be free to always fight for what is right and good. And may righteousness and justice matter more than winning.