​Exercise #4: Allow for Interruptions

In the great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his followers on how to handle disagreements with one another. From this teaching, we can identify another spiritual exercise that can enrich our lives and our relationships during this Lenten season. 

The teaching goes like this, 
if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matt. 5:23-24 ESV)

While this teaching is specifically directed at reconciliation, I believe the spiritual exercise we can glean goes far beyond one application. What is being encouraged here is to be willing to be interrupted from almost anything we are doing in order to pay attention to something that is more important. 

What This Means for Us

Our lives often revolve around set patterns we have established in order to make order out of chaos. Some of these patterns take on the nature of rites and rituals. We get our coffee in the morning and read a few news headlines. We take the same route to work. We hang out with the same people. We have an evening ritual of preparing for bed. 

Nothing wrong with any of this, except that it can be difficult to get our attention around something that is seeking us, calling us. 

According to Jesus' teaching, we can be right in the middle of the most sacred ritual possible -- that of worship of God -- and still miss what God might be trying to tell us. Listen to those interruptions, he seems to be saying. Allow for our "shows" to be interrupted by a message from our sponsor. There may be something more important, more pressing. A call to life. Don't miss it. 

Reflection Questions

​What does your worship or sacred time look like? How can you make room within it to listen more carefully to what life may be calling you to do?

When was the last time you got an interruption in the middle of something important -- or at least it seemed important? How did you respond? Did you resent the interruption or welcome it as a potential message from God? What was the outcome? 

How do you respond when your daily rituals are disrupted? How can you deepen your awareness of what larger priorities God might be asking you to cultivate? 

Exercise #3: Persistent Pushiness 

In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, we read a story about a woman whose child was troubled by a mental illness. From this story, we can see what a third spiritual exercise looks like in action -- the exercise of pressing against opposition until healing breaks through.

The woman was a foreigner -- not a member of Jesus' religion or his nation of origin. Jesus was worn out and was trying to take a break in a friend's home. Somehow the woman got in and begged Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus went silent.

The disciples wanted Jesus to send the woman away; her cries were annoying to them. When Jesus finally spoke, it was to remind the woman of his mission on earth -- to find the lost sheep among his own people. But the woman would not give up. Jesus again sought to discourage her by saying, I have only so much bread (time and energy); I cannot help you. The woman persisted, cleverly turning Jesus' metaphor back on him. She asked for the opportunity to sit under the table and collect any crumbs that might fall. 

That kind of faith Jesus could not resist. He praised the woman and released divine power from his body. The woman's daughter was instantly healed.

What This Means for Us

Sometimes when our prayers seem to go unheeded, we give up too easily.  To practice the spiritual exercise of persistent pushiness is to be so sure of God's love and goodness that we allow no obstacle to get in the way of healing. Our request may be met with silence, outright opposition or a patient reminder to wait in line. In order for God to do the work of love on earth, we must take the chance to cut through all the spiritual paperwork and claim a share of God's goodness for our own child, our own neighborhood or our own nation.  

This Lenten season, let's practice a newfound boldness in our prayers. Don't take "no" for an answer.

Reflection Questions

Think about a time when you prayed patiently for divine assistance but your prayers seemed to fall on deaf ears. What would it look like to start praying for that assistance again, taking your prayers to a new level of faith?  

Who are the people in your life who discourage you from claiming all the love and grace available to you as God's child? How can you push through that opposition, listening more fully to the voice of God within you than to the discouraging words around you?

What is some gift of grace on behalf of someone you love that you want so badly, you are unwilling to take no for an answer? Can you hear God's affirmation of your faith? What is an additional step you can take to be a conduit of God's blessing on behalf of your loved one?

​Exercise #2: Turn Around and Go Back 

For our second spiritual exercise for this Lenten season, let's look at the story found in the gospel of Luke, a story about 10 persons suffering from the disease of leprosy. When they called out to Jesus for help, he responded with these instructions -- "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they walked out of the village to follow his directions, immediately they were healed. 

Nine of the men continued on their way to show the priests. One turned around, came back to Jesus and praised God with a loud voice (since leprosy affects the vocal chords, this would not have been possible before his healing). Jesus is amazed at this person's return and wonders why the others didn't do the same. 

What This Means for Us

Have you ever set your eyes on a particular goal and pursued that goal with all of your strength? We usually think of that as a good thing. But sometimes, it is worth re-evaluating the goal in light of new circumstances. How often do we continue on in a certain direction just because that's the way we are headed? Too often, I fear. 

This Lenten season, I invite you to reconsider the direction you are heading. Is it time to turn around and go back? Time to prioritize your contact with the healer over the blessing of those with spiritual authority? 

Reflection Questions

​Think about a two or three goals that you are currently pursuing. Where are these goals taking you? Is that where you really want to go? 

What keeps you from turning around and returning to the place where you find the most life? 

What is one goal you'd like to let go of so that you can enjoy more fully a life of spiritual freedom? 

​What are you doing for Lent? For the next 40 days, I'm going to be doing some exercises. Not the physical kind -- but spiritual exercises. And not the typical spiritual exercises like fasting and giving up things. A different kind of "stretch." Here's my exercise for the first week of Lent.

 Exercise #1: Crossing to the Other Side of the Boat

Do you remember this story from the gospel of John? It was after Jesus' resurrection. Peter decided to go fishing; it was, after all, his profession. Some of the disciples went with him. But they didn't catch anything -- all night long.

About daybreak, they saw Jesus on the shore. He asked them if they had caught anything and they replied "no." Then he told them to cast their net down on the other side of the boat. They did, and caught so many fish they could barely get them all to shore.

Jesus was a carpenter trying to tell experienced fishermen how to fish. He invited them to do something differently than what their experience taught them to do. And because of that, they caught more fish than they knew what to do with.

 What This Means for Us

During this Lenten season, I invite you to join me in trying out this spiritual exercise. We think we know the right way. Our experience gives us confidence to act in ways that have worked in the past. But sometimes we need to listen to the voice of inexperience. To let someone who can see things we cannot see give us instruction. We need to let go of "our way," crossing over to the other side of the boat to look at life through "resurrection eyes."

 Reflection Questions

Think of something you are really good at. At what point does our expertise and experience get in our way? Are you still learning things or have you gotten comfortable with the way you have always done it?

What is something that is not working very well for you right now? How can you open up your mind and heart for someone else to show you the way?

Where is your comfort zone? What side of the boat is your favorite? How can you move across to the other side and gain new insights from a different perspective?