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    A Daily Lent Reader
    A Daily Lent Reader
    A Daily Lent Reader
    Ebook81 pages4 hours

    A Daily Lent Reader

    By Cameron Gordon

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    About this ebook

    This book is written as a series of daily reflections for the season in the Christian calendar that is referred to as Lent. Lent is a time that commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist; the subsequent retreat of Jesus to the desert to face his three temptations by the devil; and then Jesus' return to Jerusalem, his death on the Cross (Good Friday) and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. But what does it really mean to say that Christ is risen, and that he has died no more, nearly two millennium after the fact? How can one follow the teachings of a man who lived in a radically different society, so long ago, in a way that is relevant and meaningful today? The answer is to connect with those events as if they were happening today. That is the real potential power of the liturgical calender. In a superficial sense the calendar commemorates past happenings but it can be used as a daily practice. Living in the day is a way of eliminating time and history. After all, clocks and calendars are social conventions, useful but not fundamental aspects of the nature of reality. God's creation is eternal and past, present and future collapse into this present moment, always. Practicing Lent in one's daily life puts this on a human scale where the truth and reality of eternity can penetrate into daily consciousness. This daily reader is a tool to help with such a practice.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCameron Gordon
    Release dateFeb 9, 2016
    ISBN9781310755392
    A Daily Lent Reader
    Author

    Cameron Gordon

    More will be revealed. My watchword. My life. Like everyone else's life. I am nothing special. Just a writer who embraced the craft, the art and the vocation relatively late in life, with later better than never. I have had two careers up to now, the first as a policy researcher, analyst and report writer in government (in the US) and the second as an academic lecturer and researcher (in the US, Australia, China, Singapore, Russia, Spain and the UK). These careers have been creative in their own way and have involved a lot of writing. But it took me a long while in that rather plush wilderness to embrace the identity that I have always known, and practised 'on the side', namely artist. That's a rather pompous term to be sure, but for me it simply is devotion to one's craft, putting it first, and giving it form on a regular and daily basis. To quote the poet W.S. Merwin, who visited Ezra Pound to get this advice: "...it was important to regard writing as not a chance or romantic or inspired (in the occasional sense) thing, but rather a kind of spontaneity which arises out of discipline and continual devotion to something." (p. 318, Good Poems for Hard Times", Keillor, Garrison (ed), Viking: 2005). That is why I have left my former work behind and embarked on the writing life full-time. I write both poetry (haiku in the beginning and now other forms as well), short stories, novellas and novels, and plays. I also write creative non-fiction. I have a play in early development with the Street Theatre in Canberra, Australia (where I now live as a former native New Yorker) and two poetry books nearing completion. I am currently also editing a collection of my short stories and am reworking a first (unpublished) novel. I blog regularly on a number of platforms. My themes seem to focus on two major things: the life of cities and the tension between humanity and mechanisation. But, of course, I cover a wide range of topics, as most people do as they live a daily life and the days accumulate into experience.

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      Book preview

      A Daily Lent Reader - Cameron Gordon

      A DAILY LENT READER

      By Cameron Gordon

      FRONT MATTER

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2016 Cameron Gordon

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      A BEGINNING

      This book is written as a series of daily reflections for the season in the Christian calendar that is referred to as Lent. Lent is a time that commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist; the subsequent retreat of Jesus to the desert to face his three temptations by the devil; and then Jesus' return to Jerusalem, his death on the Cross (Good Friday) and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. This sequence of events is said to have taken place over forty days but the Lent season we mark today runs for forty six actual calendar days. For western rite Christian churches of the Catholics and Protestants, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. For eastern rite Orthodox churches the season begins two days earlier on what they call Clean Monday. This reader starts with Ash Wednesday, following the western practice.

      One can approach Lent mechanically or superficially. The practice of giving up some desired thing, such as chocolate, is a common way of practicing Lent, though many have trouble following such a discipline to the end. Attendance at church services, and taking part in Lent rituals, such as getting one's head smeared with ash on Ash Wednesday, are other means of marking the season.

      While helpful, doing just these things alone are not a full living out of the Lent spirit. The purpose of the liturgical calendar is to make present and real the events of Christ's life today, so that the lessons of the Gospels and the experiences of Jesus can be engaged with just as immediately as they were by the people around when Christ walked among us. Indeed, Lent ends with Easter and the cry of Christ is risen and in a real sense a Christian will attempt to move in this modern world as if the living Jesus were still here.

      But what does it really mean to say that Christ is risen, and that he has died no more, nearly two millennium after the fact? How can one follow the teachings of a man who lived in a radically different society, so long ago, in a way that is relevant and meaningful today? The answer is to connect with those events as if they were happening today. That is the real potential power of the liturgical calender. In a superficial sense the calendar commemorates past happenings but it can be used as a daily practice. Living in the day is a way of eliminating time and history. After all, clocks and calendars are social conventions, useful but not fundamental aspects of the nature of reality. God's creation is eternal and past, present and future collapse into this present moment, always. Practicing Lent in one's daily life puts this on a human scale where the truth and reality of eternity can penetrate into daily consciousness. This daily reader is a tool to help with such a practice.

      As for me, the author, I am nobody special, not a biblical scholar nor holy man nor especially gifted. I have had a few experiences that could be deemed ‘peak’ or ‘religious’ but I don’t consider myself as 'enlightened' or 'saved'. In my own journey as a Christian I have come to a place where I felt the best way that I could relate to Jesus was to relate to him as a man and contemplate the life that he actually led while he was here on earth. If I just stick to the man’s life, as much as I can understand it, maybe I can better understand the twists and turns of my own life. This practice has led me to some deep personal explorations of the liturgical calender and the writing of this little book in particular. I hope that is has things to say to others in their explorations of Lent as well.

      An editorial note: whenever I use biblical quotations, I have kept them short and I am using the New International Version (NIV) translation, under fair-use copyright provisions.

      ASH WEDNESDAY

      The Lent story begins with Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist and experiencing a wild and unsettling experience of the heavens opening and speaking to him. Jesus immediately flees to the desert, following the leading from above. Here is the account in Matthew (3:13-17)

      Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? Jesus replied, Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

      This is a dramatic experience that few of us are likely to experience. And we know that Jesus was not your ordinary human being. But he was still human and that meant that he was born, he was living, and he would eventually die, just like everyone else.

      It is interesting that Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. In some churches people go to a special service on that day and receive ashes on their forehead to signify that we came from dust and to dust we shall return. Celebrants then walk around with an ashen cross on their forehead, not washing if off until the following morning.

      Why does Lent begin with such solemnity, one might even say morbidity? One possible interpretation is that ash signifies a fundamental choice about life. We know that death is inevitable. We don't have forever. What do we do with the life we've been given?

      Jesus was facing this very question after his baptism. He was told to go to the desert and wait there. He had a mission of some sort, but it was not clear what it was. He had to go off by himself for a while, to face himself, with the help of God alone.

      It must be remembered that Jesus could potentially 'fail' in his appointed mission. We read the story now and assume that a positive outcome is a foregone conclusion. But for Jesus, in that day, this obviously was not so. Instead Jesus was faced with situations and leadings, like his call from above after his baptism, that forced decisions on

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