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This week marks the beginning of Lent. It seems like we have just taken down the Advent banners and removed the wreaths from our hearths, but here we are on the doorstep of another, very different holy season. On Wednesday evening we gather for worship, communion and the imposition of ashes. On Sunday we will hear the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, and we’ll turn with him toward Jerusalem as he makes his journey to the cross.

Lent is a unique and often difficult season to walk through. It’s a season that invites us into self-examination and repentance. We are led to take a long, hard look at ourselves and to name those things that keep us from loving and trusting God. Given the events that have happened in our community and in our world over the past few weeks, we are deeply and painfully aware of our own brokenness and our need for God’s mercy and grace. This is part of our Lenten journey.

As we go through this six-week season, we will continue on Sunday mornings hearing from the Gospel of Mark. The lectionary calendar actually moves into the Gospel of John, but our worship team here decided to stick with Mark and to let him continue telling us about Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem. Through Mark’s gospel, we will be asking ourselves, “What do we need to turn away from in order to turn toward God?” Each Sunday we’ll hear a story that invites us to ask that question in different ways.

In addition to worship on Sunday, there will be lots of opportunities for reflection, prayer and growth during Lent. I’ll be teaching a special six-week Sunday School class down in room 109. We’ll be looking at the last 24 hours of Jesus’ earthly life, based on a study by Adam Hamilton. For those of you not currently involved in a Sunday School class, this might be a good way to explore this season and what it means for you.

The Spiritual Formation Committee is putting together a book table with suggested readings during this season. They’ll also have devotional guides for us based on the writings of Henri Nouwen as he reflected on the story of the Prodigal Son.

Lent invites us to find more time in our lives for prayer, silence and reflection. Sometimes, it’s hard to find that space in our lives, so on Wednesday nights the Sanctuary will be open after dinner for you to come and pray. Of course, throughout the week the Sanctuary and the Prayer Room (across from the kitchen) are always open for you. Personally, I like the Quiet Room just outside the Sanctuary. You can see the cross and the altar, but you’re also enclosed in a quiet space apart from the world.

Often, we think of Lent as a time to “give something up,” and that may be just what God is calling you to do. If you find that your hurrying keeps you from God, then you might want to give up driving over the speed limit. If you find yourself preoccupied with food or videogames, you might want to give up snacks or Angry Birds. But whatever practice you choose, it should be about you and your relationship with God. This is a time to open ourselves fully to the loving gaze of God and ask, “How is it with my soul? What is getting between God and me?”

Let’s walk through this season together. Call me if you want to talk or pray together. Come to worship on Wednesday and on Sundays. Pick out a book. Read Nouwen’s devotional guide every day. Start a new prayer practice. Let us keep a holy Lent. Together.

One of the things I love about this church is our openness. Several years ago, The United Methodist Church developed a motto that you may have seen on church signs, television commercials and publications: “Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” I always liked that description of the UMC, and I’m so glad to be part of a congregation that truly embodies openness.

Christ UMC is a congregation that is open in so many ways: open to new ideas, new ministries, new people, and new ways of worshiping. We are open with our hearts, with our minds, with our hands…and even with our building. Did you know that there are ministries going on in our building every day of the week? Did you know that there are 12-step groups, watercolor classes and a home school band that meet here every week? There are community groups and Bible studies and prayer groups and scrapbooking groups. The list goes on and on.

Last week, I ran into a cousin of mine walking through the halls. She was here to help organize a debate tournament that’s taking place in our church in a few weeks. She went on and on about how gracious everyone had been and how she felt the spirit of Christ so powerfully in this place. I was glad to hear that this congregation’s hospitality was real and alive.

One of the benefits of being open and sharing our building and ministry with others is that we get unique opportunities to
connect with others in the body of Christ. I want to tell you about two upcoming events that highlight our “connectedness.”

As you may know, there is an Anglican congregation that worships in the sanctuary on Saturday afternoons. For the second year in a row, we will join with them in an Ash Wednesday service. This year’s service is on February 22. We will share in a simple meal of beans and rice beforehand in order to remember the poor across the world whose primary diet consists of rice and beans. Then at 6:30 we’ll move into the sanctuary. Rev. Kenny Benge, pastor of the St. John’s congregation, will be preaching. He and I will preside together at the communion table, and our congregations will join together in receiving communion and the imposition of ashes. I hope you’ll plan to begin the 40-day season of Lent with this powerful experience of worship.

Then on Sunday, February 26, at 6:00 pm our congregation will join with the Wesley Foundation at Tennessee State University in hosting the second annual Black History Celebration. We will gather in the sanctuary to worship and honor five “Living Legends,” African-American leaders who have made a lasting impact in our community. This was an amazing and powerful service last year—just ask the members of the choir! I hope you’ll mark your calendars and plan to be there.

Having “open hearts, open minds, and open doors” gives us so many opportunities to worship, learn and serve. I thank God for your openness, and I look forward to sharing God’s love and ministry with you and all of God’s people over the next few weeks.

At our Leadership Retreat in January, we did lots of important learning and working together. We spent time talking about our Safe Sanctuary Policy and what we can do to keep our children, youth and adults safe; unveiled our new website; talked about our leadership structure; and spent some time talking about our church and settings goals. This last exercise was part of a movement within The United Methodist Church to create more Vital Congregations. While the goal-setting felt forced and somewhat artificial, we had a great conversation about who we are as a church, and I wanted to share some highlights from it…

What do you love about Christ UMC?

• Feels like home
• Worship
• Diversity of many kinds
• Community service
• Empowered to follow your passions
• Open and honest about our faith and struggles
• Authentic discipleship lived out here
• Wide-range of ministries
• Grounded in the real world
• Music
• Active ministries with young people

Why are you active and engaged here?

• Involvement brings life
• This is not a Sunday only church
• Blessings received
• I was asked
• Spiritual nourishment comes from many sources
• Congregational life is moving forward

What do we value and prioritize as a church?

• Relationships
• Outreach
• Doing (not spectating)
• Growth in faith
• Getting new members plugged in
• Family feeling
• Teaching
• Shared Leadership
• Diversity

What do we do well as a church?

• Integrate new folks
• Leadership equality across genders
• Making people feel needed
• Evolving, moving forward
• Open to new things
• Don’t lose sight of the important things
• Hospitality
• Self-care and family-care
• Great staff
• Communicate care for others
• “Govern” ourselves well
• Outward (rather than inward) focus
• Discerning God’s will
• Leadership is unpretentious
• “Staying power” with our ministries

What are some areas where we could improve?

• Keeping up with missing members
• New member assimilation
• Content to know who we already know
• Welcoming new folks into our lives
• Older Adult Ministry
• Singles Ministry
• College Ministry
• Sharing our faith (through words)
• Broadening leadership base

Who from our community is missing from our church?

• Non-English speakers
• Other races
• Lower income families

What challenges do we face as a church?

• Size (transition from medium to large)
• Financial
• Hospitality
• Plugging folks in
• Communicating opportunity and accountability
• Christmas Eve
• Moving away from a consumer mentality

Where are we headed?

• Deeper in Christ
• Out into the world in new ways
• Being in real relationship with all people

Our time together was uplifting and encouraging. Christ UMC is a wonderful church, and God is doing amazing things in our midst. But, like with any church, there are ways we can be more effective in our ministry and mission together. Overall, we are a healthy, vibrant, growing, and vital congregation. I hope this sharing will spark new ideas and conversations that lead to new ministry opportunities as we grow together in our knowledge and love of God. What do you love about our church? Where can you help us to make a difference?

If you were in worship on Sunday, then you heard the story from Mark’s gospel about Jesus going away to a deserted place to pray. We explored how this story invites us to find ways in our daily lives to pray, to make ourselves unavailable to the world around us in order to make ourselves fully available to God. (We even dared to consider turning off our cell phones and email. Gasp!) We were all challenged by this story. Several of you leaving the sanctuary after worship told me that I had made you feel guilty. Well, believe me, the story hit me just as hard. I preached what I needed to hear!

After the sermon, John Hill led us in a time of prayer. But instead of speaking the Prayers of the People, he ushered us into three minutes of silence. Three minutes doesn’t sound like a long time. It’s hardly enough time to walk down to the mailbox and back. But three minutes of sitting and doing nothing? That’s challenging.

In fact, those three minutes were more challenging than I thought they would be. In my prayer time at home, I often spend time in silence. I try to practice clearing my mind and my heart in order to listen more attentively for God, and I’m getting more used to it, more comfortable with it. So, sitting in silence for three minutes in worship seemed like a no-brainer. (Pardon the pun. Get it? Clearing your mind? No-brainer?) Anyway, I thought the silence in worship would be comfortable and easy and refreshing.

But as soon as everything got quiet, I felt anxious. I was overcome with a feeling of uneasiness. I wanted it to be over. Then I started to worry, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I feeling this way?” Over the course of the three minutes, I began to realize the source of my anxiety: time. I was worried about the service going long. It was communion Sunday, after all. And I was worried that people were getting restless. I was anxious that people would think we were wasting time by doing this, by “doing nothing.”

Eventually—and thank goodness we were given so much time to be silent—I offered all of that anxiety up to God. I realized that God was showing me some things about myself, far too many things to fit into one newsletter article. But I began to see that I carry these worries into worship with me, and they can get in the way of truly communing with God and with you.

Now, don’t get me wrong. All my thoughts and scattered feelings didn’t get resolved or figured out in three minutes. I got a glimpse, a brief revelation. But it was a gift, and it made me want to return again and again to the silence to see what else God might reveal.

The whole experience reminded me of a quote from Romano Guardini about contemplative prayer: “If at first we achieve no more than the understanding of how much we lack in inner unity, something will have been gained.”

I’m curious. If you were in worship on Sunday, what did you experience in those three minutes of silence? I would love to hear from you—in person, by email, by phone. Or, since you are here at our new website, you can comment below! If you feel led, share with me and with one another what this little taste of contemplative prayer was like for you. Maybe we can help each other move more deeply into the silence of our loving God.

Where do I start and where do I end sharing about the Christ UMC Women’s Retreat?

One of my favorite things about the retreat is that it was made possible by the love and care of so many people in our church. We work together, offer our gifts, and voilà! a retreat is successful and we walk away refreshed from being together and sharing together. This year our theme focused on resting in who we are. Sherry Cothran Woolsey, Senior Pastor of West Nashville UMC, led us in worship and song. We spent time in small groups to discuss the barriers that keep us from resting with God, and how to rest in who we are. Our afternoon breakout sessions were focused on relaxing through writing, gardening, designing, creating, stretching, and sharing. The day was full of women discovering new talents, new friendships and new connections.

Thank you to the 104 ladies that gave their Saturday to meet together. Thank you to the five men and a pirate willing to be part of Carol Sullivan’s Catering Team for lunch. Thank you to Brenda and Butch Malone going beyond the call to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s for registration, promotional, financial and multi-media areas. Jan Phelps helped again in developing the day and communicating our theme. Kristi Brown pulled all the small group leaders together to show participants weekly ways to connect to others at Christ UMC. The breakout leaders gave of their time and talents to offer an enjoyable afternoon. Others made soup and baked cupcakes for lunch.

Refreshment was experienced in so many different ways.

Thank you, Marne’ Price