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Hard Work: Big Results |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 3/25/2009 2:31 PM | Greetings on the waiting to rain day….
How is your Lenten journey going? Have you had any “aha” moments? Have you been able to incorporate more of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and meditation into your daily life? Are you ready for it to be over?
Well, it will be in the not too distant future, but don’t wish this time away. A few weeks ago in worship I said “I love Lent.” I was surprised at the reactions I got: some who thought I was crazy (but, hey that could be for any number of reasons!), some who talked to me earnestly about their difficulties with Lent, but who were committed to doing their best to do the hard work in front of them. I heard from people who said that they never really thought of Lent as being much different from any other time of the year, and finally I even heard from a couple of you who understood what I meant and agreed with me!
But for those who didn’t understand what I meant, let me try and elaborate. I love Lent because it makes me do some things that I ordinarily might not dive into. In that way, it is sort of like going to the gym or sticking to a healthy diet dictated by a physician. Going to the gym is a pain. There are days when I have to fight myself tooth and nail to get there. It’s hard work, the locker room can be crowded, it takes so much time. But you know what? Virtually every time I make it to the gym and do my workout, I feel much, much better afterward. My day gets better and I just feel better. Same way with a healthy diet. It’s hard to cook healthy stuff, good fresh vegetables are hard to find, I miss my extra cheese pizza. But you know what? After a very short time of “eating right” I feel better! Imagine that.
That’s how Lent feels to me. It’s hard to find time in my day to shut everything else out and simply be with God. It is uncomfortable to ask hard questions about how I honor God, or don’t, as the case may be. It’s difficult to own up to the mistakes I have made, the people I have hurt, the sins I have committed before God. But when I do make the time, when I do face up to my shortcomings, when I do ask the hard questions, I feel better. God graces me with a peace that is hard to describe. Knowing what I need to work on is very freeing and when I see that I have made progress in changing the way I do things and I feel closer and closer to God, I know that all of it is worth the effort.
So, if you have resisted Lent this far along, take heart, you still have 2 and ½ weeks to do the hard work, and come out feeling better. I hope all of you are finding, and will find, that it is all worth the effort.
For an updated prayer list and list of upcoming activities, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
For your prayer list:
Please keep David Daunch, Chuck Daunch’s brother, in your prayers. After a long, long struggle, he is experiencing multiple organ failure.
Please keep Pam Short, a friend of Melissa Rodgers, in your prayers. She is undergoing medical tests Saturday and seeks prayers for good results and peace of mind.
Upcoming Events
Holy Week is almost here! We will celebrate Palm Sunday “Praise on Peachtree”-style with our first Sunday alternative worship in the fellowship hall on April 5. Then, on Thursday April 9, we will observe a Maundy Thursday service in our sanctuary at 7:00 p.m. and on Good Friday, April 10th the sanctuary will be open for a prayer vigil from noon to 3:00 p.m. And of course, Easter Sunday starts with a Community Sunrise Service at Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church at 7:00, a BCC Fellowship Pot Luck Breakfast from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., Sunday School at 9:45 for all ages, worship at 11:00 and an Easter Egg hunt following worship…please make plans to celebrate with us!
We will be creating a new church pictorial directory. It is essential that we get everyone’s photos in this directory. Please mark your calendars to bring your family to the church on May 1 or May 2 for photography. More information regarding scheduling and details will come soon. If you have any questions or wish to help with creation of the directory, please contact Mary Ann Brooks at maryann@brooksnet.org or Harold Kinney at hhkinney@comcast.net . Thank you!
I hope you can make it as we observe the fifth Sunday of Lent this Sunday March 29th. The sermon is entitled “Sacred Dying” and the scripture is John 12: 20-33. Have a great rest of the week!
Be peaceful,
Brad
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