Posts Tagged ‘Lent’

Experiencing the Church Seasons Through Art

September 12th, 2008

A while back I heard about a group in London doing an art exhibit for Lent. A number of artists (mostly photographers and painters) got together and all created art work having to do with Lent and journeying through Lent. I thought this was a really cool idea and thought why can’t we do something like this in Prague?

One of the things that I have done this past year is tried to enter into, and walk with Christ through, the different seasons of the church calendar (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and “Ordinary Time”). It has been an incredible experience for me and God has really spoken to me through each of these seasons. God has drawn me into deeper truths about my life and my own walk with Him as I have journeyed through Christ’s life and the life of His church during the church year. One thing that I have wanted though was to make that journey more in community and to do so in creative and artistic ways that touch more than just the mind but also reach into the heart – I wanted a journey through the church calendar that would not just be mental but symbolic.

God has shown me a lot over the past few years about the power that symbols and pictures and stories can have and the special ways that God can use these things to draw us to himself. So, I started to think about getting a group of artists and creators together to make an exhibit of pictures and symbols and stories for each season of the church calendar for one year. I dreamed of a group that would consist of all types of artists (photographers, painters, sculptures, potters, writers, movie makers, etc, etc) each bringing their own unique talent and gift to the table to show the different church seasons in an artistic and creative way that would help people to enter into the redemptive moving of God in the world, whether they are far from God or near to him. I imagined a group that would be made up of artists from all different backgrounds, nationalities and churches, united with a common desire to create something that would bring glory to God.

So, that was my idea or vision and honestly I don’t really know what will happen (or not happen) with it. But, I want to take a little step towards it and create an art exhibit for Advent. The weeks before Christmas are often so hectic for people and we all spend a lot of time preparing externally for Christmas day – buying presents, decorating the house, going to parties, etc. But, I would love to see a place and an experience that would help people prepare their hearts and souls for Christmas. I’d love to create a place, through art, where people could experience Advent and what it really means – a place where they could remember that Christ has come and is coming and will come again. And I think that art can speak to that and draw people into the story of Christ and his church better than anything else.

So, I don’t have any of the details worked out. I don’t have a venue or anything yet. I do have a small handful of people who have expressed an interest in being involved though and for that I am really thankful. So, if any of what I’ve written here resonates with your heart I would love for you to join me in praying about this and for it. If you live in Prague and are at all interested in helping make this happen by creating art (in any form) for the exhibit I would love to have your help. If you have any connections with art galleries and know of a venue that might work for this I’d love to hear about it. Or if you are just curious and want to hear more about it I’d love to talk with you about it.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany

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Week 6 of Lent: Into the Future

March 12th, 2008

So, we are now in week 6 of Lent. Like I wrote before the last 5 weeks have been interesting – they started out with fervor and zeal and an excitement for what God was going to do in me this Lent and slowly live caught up – slowly I got busy and started spending less and less time in prayer, slowly God seemed farther and farther away instead of closer and closer.

Last night I went for a walk around my parents house (we are in Arizona now) – there are certain places in my live that no matter how dry I feel spiritually when I go there I can feel God – the walking trails and sidewalks in my parents neighborhood are like that. Maybe it’s because of all the many, many years that I used to walk them and pray daily – like something lingering from that time – whatever the reason whenever I start walking them again God feels closer. I guess they are a “thin place” for me. And last night was no different. It was refreshing right at the moment when I needed to be refreshed – don’t you love it when God does that?

Well, as those of you who read this blog know I have joined my friend Tara in praying for specific “patterns” and focuses for the weeks of Lent and as we enter this 6th week, this last week of Lent the focus they have chosen is the future. Here’s what Tara wrote about this week:

We’ve already looked at patters within ourselves, patterns of confession, patterns of how we relate to our family, friends, and those who are “invisibles” or enemies. We’ve asked God to show us new patterns as we think about His Bride here in the US and give us new patterns of sight as we look at the rest of His world. So the question looming before us now is…how do we take these new patterns, new insights, new practices into the FUTURE and not fall back into old patterns?? Lent is not just about stopping or doing an activity for 40 days, but is about allowing God in that stopping or starting to change us and to live in that change into the future.
This week spend some time in quiet reflection over the past 5 weeks. What has God said to you? Where has He convicted you? Where has He given you a new pattern to live instead of an old? Then pray over all that and ask God to show you what this looks like into the future – His future. Pray for future generations of Christ followers. Pray for the future of the Church in the US and the world. Pray for future encounters with “invisibles” or family and friends. Pray for your future as you walk in relationship with God.

I look forward to walking through this final week of Lent. I look forward to praying for the future – my own future, my families future, the future of the church, the future of the world at large. I look forward to finding quiet times of prayer even amidst the busyness this week. Most of all though I find myself today looking forward to Easter.

Rejoicing in the journey –
Beth Stedman

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Week 5 of Lent: Into the Wilderness…

March 5th, 2008

I feel like I don’t know if I’m coming or going right now. There are so many things I feel like I want to process and think about and pray about but the last week has been too busy to do much of anything but hang on. We spent the weekend in NYC and have spent the last two days in Orlando hanging out with friends. Tomorrow we will spend all day at Disney World and then Thursday we will spend all day traveling to Phoenix (with 2 layovers it will be a 12 hour flight).

Lent feels like it’s been put on hold. I woke up this morning and realized that tomorrow starts another week of Lent (I’ve been starting my weeks on Wednesday as Lent itself starts on Wednesday) and I realized that I didn’t spend nearly the time I wanted to in thinking and praying about the church. The few times I did have time to pray for the church I really struggled with it… but I’m still processing why. This week Tara’s focus for the week is to pray for the “rest of the world” – to look outwardly at the places in the world that we don’t have direct contact with; that are foreign and different and pray for the global community as a whole.

As I laid in bed this morning thinking about how little I really did focus on last week’s prayer topic and thinking about the schedule I will have the next few days and for the next few weeks I felt Lent slipping away from me. God felt far away. I didn’t feel like praying – didn’t feel like praying for me or those I knew let alone for such all encompassing topics as the church or the world. God seemed silent. I felt like I hadn’t seen him much in my conversations or encounters lately and like I didn’t have the time to personally seek him out in my hectic travels… But, then I realized something… What I was feeling felt like it didn’t fit with Lent, but it was in fact the very essence of Lent. I had wanted Lent to be this journey of repairing brokenness, this journey of spending devoted time in prayer, this journey of sensing God’s presence and feeling close with him… but that’s not really Lent – Lent is wilderness – Lent is brokenness – Lent is loneliness – Lent is silence – Lent is God’s silence as well as mine. The Biblical story that Lent symbolizes is that of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, the desert. It’s not a story of peace and tranquil quality time with God. It’s a story where the main character finds himself alone and lonely, without food and hungry – God is not around (at least not noticeably) instead there are temptations to face and Christ must cling to those worlds which God had spoken in the past because at the time God was silent.

Lord, today I am weary. My head hurts, I am in need of a good cry, I’m tired and I feel sick and you seem far off and silent. Lord, give me strength to persevere. Give me strength to pray for those who I cannot see, who I may never see. To pray for my brothers and sisters around the world and remember that like me they too are on a journey and like me they often find themselves tempted and tired and God seems far off and at times not real at all. Some of them have more than I have and some have much, much less than me, but we are not that different. Help me to not get so wrapped up in my own struggles and weariness that I forget the friend at my side, the neighbor down the street, or the stranger half way around the world. Teach me to pray, Lord. Teach me to pray even when I don’t feel like praying, even when you feel far off, even when I’m tired, even when I’m busy, teach me to turn to you and pray in the midst of the wilderness. In Jesus name, amen.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Dreaming about church…

February 26th, 2008

copy-of-img_9803.jpgI used to dream about church a lot – and ask questions about church a lot – what should church look like? What can church look like? How would it change people’s walk with God if this part of church was different? Why are certain things done certain ways in the church? I loved thinking about church, talking about church, dreaming about church and asking questions about church.

But then I stopped… I think partly because life got sort of busy and partly because I feel in love and started dreaming about Bryan instead J and also I think partly because I was frustrated by the discussion – it was too hard sometimes – the questions I asked were uncomfortable sometimes – the churches I saw didn’t fit my dreams of church. But, maybe more than all that I wrestled with a question: If I really believed in the unity of the church, in the idea that God could work through any form, any church, any people, if I really believed that church wasn’t just for what I could get out of it but was for what I could bring to it, if I really believed that family mattered and part of Sundays joy was to spend time with family and connect with them, then is it really right for me to go looking for a new church to fit my ideal of what I want? Shouldn’t I instead just participate in and allow God to use the church that I already go to with my family/Bryan’s family? So, that’s where I landed for a while. I tried to just push my dreams about church aside, tried to get involved in the church structure that already existed and bring what gifts/ideas I could to that structure, but it was frustrating for me. I didn’t feel like I was selflessly serving where God had me (like I had intended/wanted) but instead I felt like my heart was turned off and I was just going through the motions. It was an interesting time in my life.

Then we moved to Prague… suddenly we had a chance to choose a church. For a while we just went somewhere where we knew people because that was easiest and I think it was good for us to meet people in an established church structure for a time when everything was so foreign in our new lives. But, then we met Craig and Sarah, and heard their vision for a church plant and decided that was where we wanted to be and what we wanted to be involved in. And slowly I felt this “church” part of my heart coming alive again. I started to dream about church again. I started to read emerging church blogs again. I started to ask questions about church again and ask them now with a vested interest… it wasn’t just what could church look like, it was what could this church look like. I started wrestling with some common assumptions about church again. I started thinking about how I could get involved and not only support what they are doing but add myself to it – give ideas and start things. I dream…

….But, it’s funny dreaming from the inside but still sort of on the outside…

This week’s focus for Lent is the Church – “Praying for her patterns of behavior and for new patterns toward health and life. Praying for unity among brothers and sisters and for a turning back to Jesus (not programs) to lead His church.” Tara and her family will be focusing specifically on praying for the US church and I will be joining them in that prayer but extending my prayer also to the church more generally around the world and more specifically here in Prague since this is where I am and where my local church is.

Just as I have only recently begun to dream about church again I have also only recently begun to pray about church again and I look forward to this week of focusing on praying intently for the church. Lifting the bride of Christ up to the throne of God and asking that God’s will be done in her.

I also plan on taking this week to share with you some of my recent thoughts and questions on church – I look forward to your input on these thoughts that are bouncing around in my head. In the meantime here are some blogs with thoughts on church that I found interesting…

This blog was fascinating to me – good questions that I will be mulling over for a while I think.

There were a number of blogs on Accidental Blog recently discussing ecclesia and church practice and I found the discussion very interesting. (see posts from Feb 17-21st)

Ok, that’s it for now. More thoughts on church to come…

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Friendship and Confession…

February 22nd, 2008

Confession isn’t popular. People not only don’t like to do it, they don’t even really like to think about it or talk about it. One way I know this because I don’t like to do it or to think about it or talk about it (not to mention that the blog I previously wrote on confession is incredibly unpopular statistically, but I digress…)

Yesterday, a friend asked what my focus for this third week of lent was and I told her “friends or more generally focusing on my relationships with those the people I come in contact with.”Her response was something to the extent of asking what that will look like and asking “so will you be confessing to friends this week?” I was kind of taken back by the question… I hadn’t planned on it. I didn’t want to confess to friends. I think as I had been thinking about this week I had thought mostly about praying for people I know and for the strangers I pass by, about being open to God leading me to talk to someone I normally wouldn’t talk to or to listen to a friend who needs a listening ear. I had thought about focusing on being a good friend to my friends and to those I wouldn’t normally consider my friends. But, I had forgotten that being a good friend requires openness and honesty and being open and honest requires confession. And I had forgotten the other focus of Lent that God kept bringing up in my research… repairing brokenness.

Is there brokenness in my relationships with others (whether they are family members, friends, acquaintances, etc) that God wants me to confess and mend?

Lord, look for truth deep within my relationships and show me where I might need to confess to them and to you and repent and change the way I relate to others. In Jesus name. Amen.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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