Week 1: What are you hungry for?
Fasting is really all about dialing up the hunger. When we cut out distractions and quick fixes we unmask hidden longings and that can make us uncomfortable.
It doesn’t feel so great to want or need something and feel like it isn’t available. But, here’s the thing – God invites us to a FEAST!
It’s a feast that fills our inner-most longings to feel most ourselves, to be at peace, to have connection to God and to others. Those longings are in us for a reason. When the volume is turned up on these longings we start to desire the fullness of God and the fullness of life as God intended.
This Lent, I invite you to join the Church@Convergence in this online retreat to explore fasting and feasting. Kathy Prudden has compiled poetry and exercises to be posted each week to help you both fast and feast in order to experience God in a more vibrant way.
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I hope you will join us in dialing up the hunger! What are you hungry for?
-Lisa
Lisa Cole Smith
Pastor/Artistic Director, Convergence
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
-Psalm 42: 1, 2
Activities:
As we consider what we are hungry for it can be helpful to reflect on those times when our hunger was satisfied, at least for a moment, or when we became aware of what we need. As you prepare for this activity set aside time and space for quiet reflection. You will also need a journal, or paper and pen to write with, and any art/music materials you have on hand. There are several parts to this activity; you can do them all in one setting, or spread them out over the course of the week.
To begin, think about the past several years of your life (go back as far as you want), and write down times and situations when:
you felt at peace,
you felt most yourself,
you felt connected to another person,
you felt connected to the earth/nature or something bigger than yourself.
Next, take a few minutes to write about these times. If you wish you can use color to enhance your words, or draw/paint/make a collage/create music/dance, or any art form that best conveys those experiences and feelings.
Then, as you reflect on the above, think about what you’d like to have more of in your life or return to. What are you longing for? Write out your thoughts.
Finally, think about what can serve as inspiration for what you want to bring into your life. Some suggestions are: place an inspirational picture or a poem in a prominent place in your home (the refrigerator works well for many); listen, throughout the week, to a piece of music that brings you a sense of renewal or peace; or set aside a few minutes in the morning to greet the day or in the evening to reflect on the blessings it held. Commit to engaging in one act of renewal during the period of lent.
Poetry for Meditation and Reflection
There are several ways that you may specifically engage with the weekly material:
personalize one of the poems to create your own;
respond to the poem through poetry, journaling, or other art form;
underline words or phrases that speak to you from the reflection, poetry, and/or scripture and create a poem from these words;
create art in response to the reflection;
maintain an ongoing journal of your experiences with the material;
engage in a weekly discussion with someone about your experience.
Attempts
by Mark Nepo
When the old life is burning,
everything will smell like ash for a while.
So trust your heart,
not your nose.
Trust the music of the ages
to surface what’s left way inside.
Wait like a cello
for each rub to bring you closer.
Learn how to ask for what you need,
only to practice accepting what you’re given.
This is our journey on Earth.
Winter: Tonight: Sunset
by David Budbill
Winter is the best time
to find out who you are.
Quiet, contemplation time,
away from the rushing world,
cold time, dark time, holed-up:
pulled-in time and space
to see that inner landscape,
that place hidden and within.
Hard Night
by Christian Wiman
What words or harder gift
does the light require of me
carving from the dark
this difficult tree?
What place or farther peace
do I almost see
emerging from the night
and heart of me?
The sky whitens, goes on and on.
Fields wrinkle into rows
of cotton, go on and on.
Night like a fling of crows
disperses and is gone.
What song, what home,
what calm or one clarity
can I not quite come to,
never quite see:
this field, this sky, this tree.
From Advent
by Jan Richardson
Here,
in the center of my chest,
their constant dwelling:
the persistent yearning
the insistent craving
the unbidden imaging
the desire awakening
the daydream, the nightdream
the reverie unfolding:
the language of longing
drawing me home.
Continue your retreat with the rest of the series:
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