Wilderness 101 Day 1
Welcome to the first thought of the day as we begin our Lenten journey. The Elders of our congregation have written many of these, and others will come from various sources. We hope that you will use them as stimulus for your our thoughts. Comments are welcome. Please be aware that this is a public forum.
Today is Ash Wednesday. Wilderness is where the journey begins. Read Matthew 4:1-11. Richard Rohr says: “Remember finally, that the ashes on your forehead are created from the burnt palms of last Palm Sunday. New beginnings invariably come from old false things that are allowed to die.”
I’m having a hard time with the part of the quote: “old false things that are allowed to die.” It suggests that anything new starts because what was before was not real. What does that mean? That the “old false things” were not God’s real plans for us? That we’d gone astray from the path God had set out for us? Are we to forget what had been and only focus on what is to come? Interesting thoughts…
That is good thought Michelle. The good, bad and ugly are all part of our journey to become fully who we are suppose to become/be. All fully real and I believe fully divine in its own right. Our past success and mishaps are what make us who we are now. God allows us to live our lives, bringing beauty out of the ugly and giving us opportunities of divine appointments and brillance. Nothing false about that!
I do love the symbolize created by the ashes. Remembering the glory represented in palm sunday, to the cruxification of Christ and from those ashes we begin the season of preparing ourselves to intentionally become more like Christ.
I thought that reading the scripture, the quote might make more sense. After reading the scripture I realized they have nothing to do with each other, at least that I could see. The scripture brings to mind that we are all tempted every day in some form or another. We need to realize the temptations and figure out what God would want us to do. Temptation is the work of Satan and his attempts to steer us away for what we should be doing and what we know as right and wrong. Personally I find it hard to resist temptation and will strive to over come that this Lenten season.