Wednesday Festival: Looking at Lenten Practice

Here we are, holding a festival on Ash Wednesday ~ hmmmm.  This reminds me of the year that I mentioned that my church would be holding a potluck dinner followed by an Ash Wednesday service ~ or was it the potluck followed by the Maundy Thursday service? ~ at any rate, I was excoriated by some folks for the blending of feast and famine.

So here I go again:

Teri at Clever Title Here makes suggestions for letting go and taking on ~ and includes a couple of excellent links.

Lenten spiritual practices?  Visit Josephine at Barefoot Theology.  She lost me for a moment when she mentioned something about it having been easy to give up chocolate one Lent, but she restored my faith and hope in possibility by including some great links to opportunities for Lenten transformation.

In Yearning for God, Jan posts on Fasting and Feasting.  For example, "Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm."  The words come from William Arthur Ward; you could implement a new exhortation every day and then start all over again as a practice for the entire season.

Jacquelyn's post from last year at Faith Stones provides a moving reflection on how her understanding of the imposition of ashes is enlarged by marking the foreheads of children.

As one of the extensive Lenten offerings at Ignatian Spirituality, Michelle of Quantum Theology begins her series of weekly reflections on the prayer of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises with a post on the apprehension experienced before diving deeply into prayer.

And finally, Kathleen posted an incredible sermon on iconography as a spiritual practice at Presbydestrian.  I wish I'd thought of this before I planned my preaching series on spiritual practices.  But maybe next year!

Enjoy your tour, and be sure to add additional links and posts as you find them!