Archive for the ‘Special Days (Holidays)’ Category

Lent and Valentine’s Day

February 12th, 2008

italy-pictures-034.jpgWarning: This post is mostly about marriage and directed toward the married… if you are not married then I apologize to you for this more specific post…   

I was thinking a few days about how it seems weird to me that Valentine’s day happens during lent – it just felt strange to have a mushy, happy holiday about romantic love happen during a season that is focused on repentance and sacrifice. But, then I started thinking more about it and realized that Lent is the perfect time for Valentine’s day.

Lent is about recognizing brokenness and sin in our lives and our world, but it’s also about repenting of brokenness or sin in our lives. Lent is about turning away from brokenness and turning toward wholeness. What better place to start that process of recognizing and naming sin in our lives and repenting and repairing brokenness then in the sacred sacrament of marriage? If our marriages are to be examples and witnesses of Christ’s relationship with the church then it should be essential that we repair brokenness in them quickly that it might not hinder our witness. If our marriages are to be examples of Christ’s relationship with the church then they should also be examples of the healing and wholeness that sacrificial love can bring.

But, there’s another reason as well that marriage seems to me like a good next step of focus for this Lenten journey through brokenness to wholeness… My husband knows my brokenness and sin better than anyone else – he lives in close proximity to it – he feels the effects of it every day. For “[marriage] is the merciless revealer, the great white searchlight turned on the darkest places of human nature” (Katherine Anne Porter). My husband deserves my apology and my repentance maybe more than any other human being. And since I also live in such close proximity to him and his brokenness, he deserves my forgiveness and grace first and foremost.

So, I decided to take this next week or so of lent to focus on my relationship with my husband. Not that I shouldn’t do this always, but maybe in this more focused season we can create some habits of love that will last throughout the year. After having looked in the mirror and looked at my own heart, it seems essential to me that my journey through lent would next lead me to beginning the process of mending any current brokenness or separating in the relationship that is closest to me. For me that is my relationship with my husband. Hopefully in focusing on my marriage relationship I will along the way mend areas of my life that have been separated or broken from God as well.  

It seems clear to me that marriage is a sacred sacrament – a sacrament can be defined as a rite that serves as a means of grace and faith in our lives. So, I pray that this week especially God would use my marriage to mediate grace to me and my husband.  
It is clear to me that marriage is to be an example and witness of Christ’s sacrificial love for the church. So, I pray that this week especially Christ would show and teach my husband and I how to better live up to this high calling to show through the common marriage relationship the very uncommon, miraculous and mysterious relationship of Christ and his bride, the church.
It seems clear to me that my husband needs my forgiveness and sacrificial love and I need his. So, I pray that this week especially the Holy Spirit would show us our sin, our brokenness, and our pride and would lead us to genuine repentance and a restored relationship with each other and with God.  

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Blake Stedman

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Epiphany: Christ is Manifest

January 8th, 2008

One of the things I want to do this year is pay more attention to the liturgical year, the Church calendar. I have been thinking a lot about rhythm lately and about the importance of setting a rhythm for my life (as I think I have shared in previous posts and I’m sure I will talk about more in future posts) and this celebrating and recognizing the Church calendar is one rhythm that I would like to incorporate into my life this year and in the years to come. I began this blog with that thought in mind and focused a lot of my thoughts and blog entries on Advent and on entering into the first season of the Christian year (Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar). So, today is January 8th here (though it is still Jan. 7th for many of you in the states) and we have now entered the season of the church calendar known as Epiphany. To be honest I knew (and still know) very little about Epiphany. It is perhaps the season of the church calendar that I have the least amount of previous knowledge about – as you can tell by the fact that I am a few days late starting to talk about it – technically January 6th starts Epiphany and in some traditions it is celebrated as a one day event, but for most of the liturgical church Epiphany is more than just a day it is a season that begins on January 6th and extends for four to nine Sundays (followed by the first period of Ordinary Time before the beginning of Lent) or in some traditions Epiphany lasts up until Ash Wednesday. Whenever it ends it is clear that we are now in the season known as Epiphany and so I’d like to share a little bit of what I found when I was doing some research on Epiphany this morning…

Epiphany begins on January 6th with the celebration of the Three Wise Men coming to Jesus (or in some traditions with the celebration of Christ’s baptism). Personally it seems fitting to me that it would be a commemoration of the Magi coming to Christ as this is sequentially the next part of the story of Jesus life. The term Epiphany means “to show forth”, “to make known” or “to reveal” and it is the time of the church calendar that we celebrate and remember God revealing Himself to mankind. It begins by remembering God making Himself known as Lord and King to the Magi and it continues with celebrating other events in Christ’s life when He revealed Himself to humanity. We also remember that the Magi’s response to God’s manifesting His son’s birth through the star is to go and proclaim the birth – they leave their comfort and travel to find the one who has been born king of the Jews and along the way they tell of his birth and make known his coming to those they come across. Epiphany is a time for us to remember that Christ is God manifest to us and it is also a time for us to respond to that revelation like the Magi did by coming to Him and manifesting Him to others. As Christine Sine put it in her blog (as a side note for those of you who enjoy reading blogs I highly recommend hers, I found it only about two months ago but have really enjoyed reading it – she has really challenged my thinking on a number of occasions) ….  
“This [Epiphany] is when we are meant to celebrate the revealing of Jesus as God. We rejoice in the fact that through his entry into human history Christ’s lordship over all creation is revealed, made manifest and unveiled. We are also reminded that Christ is still present among us as a messenger of hope for all peoples and we are encouraged to embrace God’s call to “come and see, come and follow, go and tell others” about the God who loved us so much that he sent his son to live amongst us.”Lord, make yourself known to us… reveal yourself to us anew through your Son and through the working of your Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, do this not for our own sake but for the sake of your Glory – that we might manifest you more fully in our words and deeds and our very lives. May this Epiphany be a time when you show yourself to us in new and more complete ways – revealing yourself as you are and not just as we imagine you to be. Lord, may this Epiphany also be a time when you would give us open eyes to see the world around us as well – show us the world as it is, reveal to us what you are doing in your world and make known to us how we can join you in bringing your restoring and redeeming kingdom of peace to the world we live in. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we ask or imagine to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus both now and forever. Amen.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Some thoughts on New Years

January 1st, 2008

I like New Years. Maybe it’s sort of arbitrary but something about beginning a New Year makes you feel like you have a clean slate – like you have new possibilities and new opportunities. You start to dream about how this year is going to be better than the year before. You make resolutions that just show your determination to become a better person and have a better year. And even though most of us won’t keep our resolutions and the year won’t look quite like we imagine or dream it will look, and even though we know all that it still seems like every year we get caught up in the hope and excitement of a new year all over again. No matter how good the year before it was we begin a new year with dreams and visions of how this next year can be better… This year I really will exercise more. This year I really will write that book I’ve always wanted to write. This year I will find a job that fulfills me. This year I will… [fill in with whatever it is you want this year to be]. We know that there’s a good chance we won’t meet our goals or reach our New Year’s resolutions but we do it anyway… why? Maybe because we need to believe that life can be better, that we can be better. I think there is something in us that needs to believe we can start over – that we can be the people we want to be…something in us that wants a New Year, a new start, a new life. Something in us that longs for HOPE and finds new hope every year at New Years.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about hope… and feeling renewed hope in God and in the life that He’s given me. New Years is about hope. We have a New Year, so we can be New ourselves. Christ is all about hope… He came that we might have New Life, and have it to the full. The New Year offers us a new chance to be the people we want to be. Christ offers us a new chance to be the people He made us to be. But, with Jesus it’s not about making a resolution to be better it’s about simply giving up and following Him, walking with Him where He leads allowing Him to slowly but surely shape us into better people and use us to shape the world around us into His kingdom.

My hope for myself and for all those I know is that this New Year would be a time of New Life for all of us – a year of surrendering more fully to Christ and allowing Him to work in us and through us to bring new life and new hope to our own lives and to the world around us. Happy New Year and God bless us every one.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Goodbye 2007…Hello 2008

January 1st, 2008

2007 was a year of unstable living conditions – we were basically homeless for the first 6 months of the year.
2007 was a year of insecure customs – it was a year of culture shock and learning a new way of life and new language.
2007 was a year of travel – we moved to Prague and then got to travel to London, Paris, Vienna, Moravia, Slovakia, and Arizona and Seattle twice.
2007 was a year of unbalanced health – we struggled to figure out my chemical sensitivities and find ways to not only coop with them but ways to begin to overcome them.
2007 was a year of restored health – after much struggling and much prayer and the help of a good doctor I have begun to rebuild my health and feel better.
2007 was a year of uncertain relationships – because of the move we found ourselves separated from friends and family and having to make new friends together on our own.
2007 was a year of developing new friendships – I have meet people this year that I feel are “kindred spirits” and Bryan and I, together have begun to develop friendships with people who I think have potential to be lifelong friends and even “life partners” (to quote Bryan’s comment about one couple we have gotten to know better this year).
2007 was a year of developing new ways to relate to God – after a long while of feeling like my walk with God has been stagnant I feel like things have come alive again this year and I have learned new ways to relate to God and rediscovered old ways to commune with Him.
2007 was a year of accomplishing life goals – we moved to Europe (something both my husband and I have always wanted to do), we bought a second home and were able to hold onto and rent our first home, we bought a leather couch (silly – but still a fun little goal accomplished), we traveled a decent amount, we became part of a church plant (something I’ve always wanted be a part of).
2007 was a year of learning to trust God and wait on him more – there was a lot of waiting this year, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of experiences that needed patience and trust.
2007 was a year of deepening marital connection – Bryan and I had our ups and downs this year, we had our moments of deep intimacy and our fights and questions, but I think we have come out on the other side of both (not to imply that we won’t go through both many more times again throughout the rest of our life) with a deeper commitment to our relationship and more multi-layered knowledge and love of each other.
2007 was a year of renewed creativity for me – I got a wonderful new camera (thanks to my thoughtful in-laws) and have had a blast learning how to use it and taking pictures. I have also been writing much more lately and enjoying the creative outlet that gives me as well.
2007 was a year of restored vision, renewed passion, and fresh hope – I feel like we have taken steps this year to become the people we want to be and that those steps have brought us closer to the being who we want to be and I’m excited and hopeful about the future Bryan and I are going to share together.

I’m excited and curious about what 2008 will hold for us…
..hum, any guesses on what 2008 will be a year of…??

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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