What to DO in Lent 2013?
Is this a season to go deeper and to reflect on updating one’s theology?
Where is the journey taking us?
Diana Butler Bass writes that,
“Contemporary Western culture is marked by a sense of dislocation, the feeling of being lost in the universe, unmoored, without direction, without hope.”*
Do Christians have an unwillingness to show the world who we are – people who live with values that are in contrast to the “popular culture”? As a Christian, am I concealing my faith, contrary to the counsel of Jesus? (Matthew 5:15)
United Church of Canada Moderator Gary Patterson visited the Christian Resource Centre in downtown Toronto a week ago Monday. Part of his reflection on that visit is as follows:
“I could tell you about reactions when well-meaning suggestions were made to remove the word “Christian” from the name of the Resource Centre—to make it more inclusive, interfaith, non-threatening, and perhaps more eligible for government funding. It was people of the community who said, “Why ever would you do that? You’re Christian; that’s why you’re doing this work.”
And that included Muslim members of Regent Park, who said,
“Please, we respect and appreciate that this is who you are. It’s good that you say you are Christian.”
The blog of the Moderator’s experience can be found at: http://www.garypaterson.ca/2013/03/11/christian-resource-centre/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=christian-resource-centre
Where is this Lenten journey taking me?
Is it a journey that will help me live with a sense of purpose in God’s world?
* Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us, page 223
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