In this Lenten practice I have chosen to engage in for 46 days, every Sunday has the same word for photographers to reflect on and snap: celebrate. I have chosen to write daily on these words and invite readers to check out the images people post at #rethinkphotos or #rethinkchurch.org. I have already been blown away by the creativity of the photos, the depth of people’s ability to take a single word and find so many images that illuminate it. What a wildly creative world we live in!

Celebrate. There has long been a pattern in the Christian household to withstand saying one of the chief words of celebration, “Alleluia”, during the season of Lent. Except on Sundays. During the week, Monday through Saturday have been meant to be days of solemnity,prayer and even penitence. But on Sunday we were called to remember that there are moments of resurrection,of new life, present even in the deepest times of self-reflection. In our worship, we name God’s presence in the wide swath of life….the joy and sorrow, the hope and the healing, the life and the death….which deserves a great, big old Alleluia. I guess that is cause to celebrate, isn’t it?

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says: “People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation.” I like to believe we have moments of this kind of celebration in our worship. It is what we hope for, plan for, pray for as we give shape to words, music and actions that create worship. As people bring the fullness of whatever has happened to them in the past week and offer it to one another and to the Holy, it is an act of reverence and something that creates sacred moments and space. In some ways worship is a suspension of time that creates a container unlike most of us experience during our daily walk. In that act of being engaged in reverence we can express appreciation for what it means to be creations of the Great Artist and connected to all the other elements of this amazing Creation.

Of course, you don’t need to go to church or a place of worship to engage in this act of expressing reverence or appreciation. Many of us have had this experience staring out at the ocean or listening to the call of a loon on a summer’s morning. Right now I am celebrating the way in which the snowflakes are falling so gently out my window. They look like tiny white feathers fallen from the wings of an angel. But I have found that the practice of coming together in a circle of other life-travelers all making some meaning out of life, all trying to name the More, is a good thing, a very good thing and for that my heart swells with gratitude. 

In fact, it might even be gratitude enough to warrant and “Alleluia!” in the beginning days of Lent. And for that I will celebrate.

***I wonder what images of ‘celebrate’ there will be at #rethinkphoto #rethinkchurch?

God has told you, O mortal, what is good;  and what does the Lord require of you,but to do justice, and to love kindness,    and to walk humbly with your God?~Micah 6:8

Today’s word for reflection in Lent is ‘injustice’. Where to begin? There is so much injustice around us and throughout our world that some days are just plain overwhelming. As a person of privilege, which I am and you may be as well if you are honest, we rarely feel the bone deep experience of the devastating acts of injustice. We need only read or listen to the news of any given day and our mind is filled with the pain, suffering, and inequity of injustice. For so many around our world injustice is their daily food.

Prophets of old, and prophets of this day, have never been the most popular kids in class. They are usually loud and say things we don’t want to hear, things that make us uncomfortable and shine a light on our own privilege, our own neat and tidy little lives. The prophet Micah, writing sometime in the 8th century before Christ, was no exception. And yet these three simple rules for living a good life prevail and we often repeat them today in both the Hebrew and the Christian households. “What is good and pleasing to the Holy One? Do justice…love kindness…walk humbly knowing God is by our side.”

These are three short phrases that can be not only a Lenten companion but even a practice for these 40 days in which we seek to deepen our faith life. While none of us may be able to effect the large injustices in the world, there are countless, tiny injustices that happen in the course of our every day. Can you name them? Do we have the eyes to see them? 

Love kindness? I know I love it when kindness brushes my shoulder and I feel heard, valued, and of importance, when the words and actions of another seem the sweetness of life itself. And will I, will you, love kindness so much that we are willing to serve it up on a platter to each and very person and being we meet? 

And then there is walking humbly. Humility, being humble, is not a value in our culture. We more easily puff our chests up and allow our fists to rise to the ready in a stature of power and self-righteousness. To walk humbly with God, I believe, allows us to see the injustice directed at others and to feel it as not only theirs but ours as well. Perhaps that is the beginning of turning injustice toward justice.

It is something to contemplate and even take steps toward in these early days of Lent. It is a long season…and we do not walk it alone.
***People have posted photos of their own reflections of ‘injustice’ on #rethinkphoto and #rethinkchurch.org.

“Look!” “Look, Mom!” “Look at me!” Nearly every parent has had these words spoken, shouted, exclaimed to them at least once if not thousands of times. Look…today’s word for this Lenten practice. I think of the number of times both our sons yelled this word…”Look!”…so I would turn from whatever mundane or important task I was doing and give them my attention. A ball was kicked. A picture was drawn. A physical feat that needed an audience. A creation that deserved a viewer. While the activity changed, the hope was constant. Notice me. See me. Take note of my presence in the world.
There is a certain poignancy to this plea: Look! It is something we all want, sometimes with desperation, always with hope. While our voices may remain silent as we grow older, there is deep within each of us, I believe, a call…look. Please, look. For it is knowing that we are seen by others that we come to know something about who we are in the world. Whether we are young or older, whether we are short or tall, regardless of our status, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, we want to be seen and valued. 

A favorite story in the Sunday School of the Christian household has always been that of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, a tax collector and outcast wants to see Jesus when he comes to his town. But Zaccaheus is short and cannot see over the people who have gathered to see this healer, this teacher. So he climbs up a tree to get a better look. As Jesus passes by, he shifts his gaze up into the tree and sees the tax collector. Jesus sees Zacchaeus,calls him down and invites himself to dinner.

It is a simple story and one I have often thought children like because Zacchaeus is small…like them. And Zacchaeus climbs a tree…like they like to do. And Zacchaeus is really saying by his climbing: Look! Look at me! Something that children call out over and over in an effort to name and claim their place in the world and in their parent’s hearts.

Today I pray for all the children who call out ‘look’ and who are ignored. I pray for the adults who miss the opportunity to see and affirm the young ones who long to be seen. I pray for all the adults who are carrying a ‘look at me’ message in their deepest self…a message that goes unheard, creating a deep wound that will take much to heal.

Look. May we know the gaze of the One who breathed us into being this day, the One who continues to look even when we do not have the courage or the heart to call out. 
***Don’t forget to visit #rethinkphoto or #rethinkchurch.org to see what photos have been created on the theme of ‘look’.