Lent: Drawing Closer to God

If you missed my very first blog (Calling & Vocation), you missed me introducing who I am and how I am called. 

Here it is in a nutshell: “I am called to be the embodiment of God’s love out in the world in everything I do.  I am a relational, broken (wounded), faithful, trusting believer, and I have many gifts and talents that I know God is using to fulfill the mission of reconciling the world through transformation.”  As an ordained minister I am a called “ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church” (UMC).

Why does this matter? If you have not heard, the United Methodist Church is gut wrenchingly breaking a part (yes, that is how I see it). People are being torn up, families broken, friends not speaking, and people losing faith not only in each other but in themselves because they can’t trust anymore.  It is a time of pain, sorrow, anger, and so many other words that I see and feel for myself and others around me.

We are in a valley (maybe cave is a better word) where we can’t see our way forward.  What better time to draw closer to God than Lent?

Prayer is a way to draw close, but we often pray for what we want and give up once we get it or we don’t get the answer we want fast enough. Why? Because we are a society of fast fixes and we want everything right now. Why do you think we have so many fast food options and we microwave everything? Impatience

I challenged you in my last blog (Lent) to think “How can you draw closer?”

I am reading a book by Trevor Hudson this season. It has 12 chapters, and it is called “The Serenity Prayer: A Simple Prayer to Enrich Your Life.”

I am grieving the loss of much this season, for the church I work at has voted to leave the UMC, and as I said, I am a called ordained Deacon in the UMC.  I won’t promise when or how many posts I’ll make, but I will blog about how the chapters of Hudson’s book are moving me and, my hope is, drawing me closer to God during this time.