Thursday, March 20, 2014

 

Lenten Reflections
Diocese of Newark


Thank you for joining us in prayer and reflection during this season of Lent. We will travel through daily scripture, reflection and prayer.  Additional people have been joining us each day. Please feel free to forward these reflections to others. We invite you to explore the other resources of the season found at the bottom of the page as we continue the journey together.
  
Christian Formation Commission

Scripture 

 

Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims.

 

You know the old saying, "First you eat to live, and then you live to eat"? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!

 

God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.

 

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one." Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever-the kind of sex that can never "become one." There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

 

1 Corinthians 6:12-30 (The Message)


Reflection 

 

I find it hard to be in tune with my soul and spirit when my body is tired or suffering from any kind of physical pain or discomfort. I throw prayers right and left when I don't feel good and can't pinpoint what is wrong with me. The body is what connects us to this world and it is through the body that we live and sustain our terrestrial existence. Without the body, we leave this world. Our soul goes elsewhere and when it stays, it no longer belongs. For that, we should all value our body as a temple to celebrate God and life. When we go sleepless until the body gives out, it is God's temple we are destroying. And when we eat unhealthy and toxic food out of stress or desperation, it is God's temple we are breaking down. And when we take care of the body, it is God's temple we are honoring. The body is the key to life, so be gentle to your body.

 

Prayer 
  

Dear God,

Allow my body to always be strong and healthy. Help me always to be respectful and gentle to it. I value the body you gave me in this life and I am thankful for all its functions. Amen.


You are invited to click these links and explore more resources:

 

 

 

Praying Lent - Resources for Lent - from Creighton University (A Jesuit Catholic University)

 

Holy Week and Good Friday Resources - from The Episcopal Church

 

The Meaning of Lent - from Vibrant Faith @ Home   

         

Prayers and Liturgies for Lent - from Faith and Worship   

 

Lenten Mediations and Bulletin Inserts (English & Spanish) from Episcopal Relief & Development

 

Lenten Giving Calendar - from Jenifer Gamber

 

Love Life - from the Brothers of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE)

 

Lent Madness 

 

Resources for Lent 2014 - from Bread for the World 

 

Lent 2014-Hunger:A Matter of the Heart - from the Upper Susquehanna Synod/Evangelical Lutheran Church

 

Living the Easter Mystery - 5 session Ecumenical Lenten Program from the South Australian Council of Churches

 

Lent and Easter Ideas to Use at Home - from Barnabas in Churches (UK)

 

Labyrinth for Lent - from Barnabas in Churches (UK)

 

Lent and Easter Plays for Children - from Skiturgies  

 

Pro/Claim - Engaging the Baptismal Covenant - from the Diocese of California

 

 

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