“Gather us in the lost and forsaken….gather us in the blind and the lame….”

These words are found in a lovely piece of music created by Minnesota composer Marty Haugen. I begin with these words as a way to open up a daily practice for the season of Lent which begins on this day, Ash Wednesday. This practice has its inspiration in a challenge of sorts created by ReThink Church, an online forum for looking at new ways to express what it means to be people of faith. The challenge is to be present to a word, a particular word, for each of the 46 days of Lent. In being present to this single word people are invited to take a photo, create an image, that expresses that word. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’, right? Last year I watched as people used these words and then posted photos. It was inspiring and challenging and often even amusing. 

I have been absent from these pages over the last few weeks as I have participated in a weekly course of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. This course has taken my creative time in different directions and a different kind of daily writing. But I have chosen to use the words of the daily Lenten word practice to return to these pages, offer reflection and invite people to Pause in the ordinary tasks on the every day. Each day I will write about the word offered in this challenge and direct people to the images people have created using the same word. I am excited to see where it might lead and what might bubble up through this kind of observance. 

Today’s word is ‘gather.’ It is impossible for me to think of the word gather without seeing circles. I think of the many circles that make up our lives. Circles of people around tables. Circles of family and friends sitting closely sharing stories. Circles of people from the beginning of time gathering around fires making meaning of their lives. 

In churches all over the word people will gather today to have the mark of ashes placed on their foreheads. It is a gathering to remind ourselves that we share a faith story and the human condition of being finite. It is a gathering that says ‘I am with you in the joys and sorrows of living.‘ And it is a gathering that affirms that the Holy One walks the journey of wilderness and discovery with us.

‘Gather us in the rich and the haughty…gather us in the proud and the strong.‘, the song goes on. The circles of community in which we make our way are often diverse and perplexing. And yet we continue to gather because being known and moving, living in the circle is the soil of life. Rich…poor…haughty…humble…proud…strong. At some point, we have been all of this and will be again. And being gathered with others can help us know compassion and empathy and give us grace for the things life throws at us, for the twists and turns of the circle dance.

The final verse of the song goes: ‘Gather us in and hold us forever…gather us in and make us your own..gather us in all peoples together…Fire of love in our flesh and our bone.’ As we come to be marked with ashes, a symbol of what it means to be born of the earth, knowing we will return to the earth, that Fire of Love pulses through our flesh and our bone calling us to fullness of life.

And so Lent begins….

****You can find out more about the photos for Lent at http://www.rethinkchurch.org/articles/spirituality/2016-lenten-photo-a-day-practice.