# Lent Day 1 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Gracious God, today begins a period of inner reflection and examination. The days stretch before me and invite me inward to that silent, holy space that holds your Spirit. This special time beckons me to see my life through Christ's eyes and the truth and reality of your love incarnate. Give me the grace to enter the space of these days with anticipation of our meeting. And, when I open my soul to your presence, let your loving kindness flow over me and seep into the pockets of my heart. I ask this for the sake of your love.* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 63 #### My Soul Thirsts for You #### A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. *63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you;my flesh faints for you,as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,beholding your power and glory.3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,my lips will praise you.4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,6 when I remember you upon my bed,and meditate on you in the watches of the night;7 for you have been my help,and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.* *8 My soul clings to you;your right hand upholds me.9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;they shall be a portion for jackals.11 But the king shall rejoice in God;all who swear by for the mouths of liars will be stopped.* #### Scripture for the Day: Joel 2:1-17 *2 Blow a trumpet in Zion;sound an alarm on my holy mountain!Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,2 a day of darkness and gloom,a day of clouds and thick darkness!Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before,nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.* *3 Fire devours before them,and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them,but behind them a desolate wilderness,and nothing escapes them.4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,and like war horses they run.5 As with the rumbling of chariots,they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.* *6 Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale.7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way;they do not swerve from their paths.8 They do not jostle one another;each marches in his path;they burst through the weapons and are not halted.9 They leap upon the city,they run upon the walls,they climb up into the houses,they enter through the windows like a thief.* *10 The earth quakes before them;the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened,and the stars withdraw their shining.11 The Lord utters his voice before his army,for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;who can endure it?Return to the Lord* *12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;* *and he relents over disaster.* *14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room,and the bride her chamber.* *17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,and make not your heritage a reproach,a byword among the nations.[a]Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”* #### Reading for Reflection: *Today is Ash Wednesday—the beginning of the Church’s observance of the Lenten season. It is a space in time in which we are called to stop whatever we are doing, no matter how important it might be, and enter more intentionally into the disciplines of prayer, self-examination and repentance. But these disciplines—as significant as they are—are not ends in themselves. They are a means to an end and that end is that we would return to God with all our hearts.* ​ *Unfortunately, the practice of entering into the Lenten season has often been reduced to the question: “What are you giving up for Lent?” This is a fine question, but it can only take us so far. The real question of the Lenten season is: How will I find ways to return to God with all my heart? This begs an even deeper question: Where in my life have I gotten away from God and what are the disciplines that will enable me to find my way back?* ​ *How many and how subtle are the ways that we as Christian leaders can “leave” God and the true spiritual journey in favor of other pursuits—even those that seem very noble and even necessary. The cares and concerns of life in this world and even the dreams and visions that God has given us can eventually become distractions from the relationship itself. One day we wake up and realize we have tolerated that which is intolerable and compromised that which is of greatest value. Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart.* ​ *What a poignant and compelling invitation! Who among us does not want to return to God with all our heart? (Lent: An Invitation to Return to God by Ruth Haley Barton)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Jesus I My Cross Have Taken *Jesus, I my cross have taken,* *All to leave and follow Thee.* *Destitute, despised, forsaken,* *Thou from hence my all shall be.* *Perish every fond ambition,* *All I’ve sought or hoped or known.* *Yet how rich is my condition!* *God and heaven are still my own.* *Let the world despise and leave me,* *They have left my Savior, too.* *Human hearts and looks deceive me;* *Thou art not, like them, untrue.* *O while Thou dost smile upon me,* *God of wisdom, love, and might,* *Foes may hate and friends disown me,* *Show Thy face and all is bright.* *Man may trouble and distress me,* *’Twill but drive me to Thy breast.* *Life with trials hard may press me;* *Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.* *Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me* *While Thy love is left to me;* *Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me,* *Were that joy unmixed with Thee.* *Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,* *Come disaster, scorn and pain* *In Thy service, pain is pleasure,* *With Thy favor, loss is gain* *I have called Thee Abba Father,* *I have stayed my heart on Thee* *Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;* *All must work for good to me.* *Soul, then know thy full salvation* *Rise o’er sin and fear and care* *Joy to find in every station,* *Something still to do or bear.* *Think what Spirit dwells within thee,* *Think what Father’s smiles are thine,* *Think that Jesus died to win thee,* *Child of heaven, canst thou repine.* *Haste thee on from grace to glory,* *Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.* *Heaven’s eternal days before thee,* *God’s own hand shall guide us there.* *Soon shall close thy earthly mission,* *Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,* *Hope shall change to glad fruition,* *Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.* ### Closing Prayer: *O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be our strength: by the power of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)* -----------