there is a season...

I had lunch with someone I dearly respect in my Church, and even though they may or may not read this, it did get me to thinking: seasons.

We talked about some things that hadn't worked so well, including this previous years' Advent series: Advent Conspiracy.  If you've never head of Advent Conspiracy, do yourself a favor and check it out.  It's a great thing, believe me, because it really made me rethink Advent when my then-awesome small group did the small group stuff the year before.

The one thing I said then, while doing the small group study, was "this would be SO powerful as a late September, early October series."  mainly because it builds you up for the preparation of Advent, then you could roll it over into a very deep Advent series that could really bring back the focus to Christ.  Doing a series about not buying a lot, using the saved money to build water pumps in third world countries is awesome, when you have't already blown the money on Littlest Petshop and My Little Ponies.

Can I get an Amen?

The same goes for the Lent season, but I got a late start on the idea. However, this year I'll be blogging daily (the first few posts from Boston) through Lent, and focusing on a churchwide experiment we did a few years ago called the 40 Days of Nothing.  I mentioned the concept before: doing nothing, to do more.  Instead of just giving up one thing, do something else in place.  Instead of just quitting smoking, use the money you would spend and donate it to an AA group, or the church's food kitchen.  The first post will be a retelling of the crucifixion.  I don't like focusing on the bloodiness of the endgame of Easter, but we seem to forget that Christ didn't just shed blood and die for us, that he suffered for our sins.  Suffered on the cross, for us.

Ever year, in preparation for Lent, I read this article.  When I first read it, I was just a baby Christian, that had been set on fire by the Holy Spirit, and when I first read it I cried in shame.  I won't spoil the article, but it's titled "The Science of the Crucifixion".  I think it's something every Christian should read, at least once, to really grasp the reality that was Christ's suffering.

The second post begins the concept of giving something worldly in the desire to give something to God unworldly.  I think that makes sense, right?  Then I'll just let the spirit guide me.

Grace and Peace,
Jesse