mayo-moyle

Category: lent

  • Alone

    Song of the day:

  • Tempted

    I was having trouble coming up with a photo to capture “Tempted” but this song has been stuck in my head all day.

  • Lent 3: See

    The word for day 3 was “see” so I just went for the straightforward image of my glasses which have been helping me to see for about 27 years now. Last summer, I (foolishly) wore my glasses into a wave pool at an amusement park in Iowa, and promptly lost them when the first large wave hit me. I spent the rest of the day (and part of the next) in full blur mode. It’s amazing how something as simple as a piece of plastic shaped in just the right way to refract light, can make the difference between seeing the world and being effectively blind.

    There are lots of ways to turn that metaphor into a sermon, but I’ll spare you that, at least for this time…

  • Lent 2: Return

    This is the second image from the Lenten Photo-a-day project in which I’m participating. The word was “return” and while the first thought of “return” for me was the story of the Prodigal Son (and I sort-of had an idea of how to capture that), I guess I was still in an Ash Wednesday mood Thursday morning when I was ready to work on the project, and instead went with the scripture “to dust you will return.”
    At the same time I was preparing this image, I was also working on a poem that was part of a larger piece with 6 other poets on the seven last words of Jesus. The phrase I had was “it is finished”, and so that idea of mortality, and in particular how we, as modern-day Christians, I believe, really shield ourselves from the painful reality of death was on my mind. (I’ll probably get the poem posted on the site closer to Good Friday).

    On this same general theme, I was reminded again just this week, just how amazing Leonard Cohen’s song, “Going Home” is, (one day I hope to write, and even sing like this)…

  • Lent 4: Injustice

    The theme for this day was “injustice.” The day before, I had spent time both in Flint and Detroit, and there were opportunities to take pictures of the “obvious” images of injustice – urban blight, abandoned homes, “pay-day loan” stores, but none of those really appealed to me, and the idea of photographing abandoned homes felt a little like it could be perceived as “ruin porn,” so I thought it more appropriate to just write out one of my favorite verses from scripture.

    Until that day comes, I’ll just keep singing (out of tune) with Billy Bragg…

  • Lent 1: Who am I?

    In this season of Lent I’m attempting the UMC’s Rethink Church Photo-a-day Challenge where I am posting a photo each day related to a specific word (or words). My hope is in addition to posting the photos on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, I would also try to add them to my blog with a litte explanation behind my thinking.
    For the first day, “Who am I?” – I decided to keep it pretty simply. Just start writing out words and phrases that would describe me. What I found interesting about the exercise was a commitment to try and keep it fairly honest – especially with it being Ash Wednesday I didn’t want to write only positive things, I felt like some measure of confession and self-reflection was due, but I also refused to write only the negative things (which is where I often go, internally, already). So I found myself pairing off words that describe me, but also speak of contradiction – things like “fearful” and “brave”; “healing” and “hurting”; “myself” and “fake”.
    We all have these contradictions, we all live in the grey in-between area of vice and virtue, between saint and sinner, but all too often, I suspect, we gravitate towards the easy labels. We force ourselves to choose one or the other. Especially when it comes to other people – we tend to judge them in very black-and-white ways, forgetting that we are all multifaceted beings.
    What would it mean if we were to finally come to peace with our contradictions, to laugh at our imperfections and see the amazing complexity in all those people around us?
    Hopefully that will be one of my aims this Lent.   

  • mandatum novum

    An old meditation I wrote about this day…

    Mandatum Novum

    A New Command
    To love and to serve
    Of course it isn’t really so new
    We’ve heard it before
    Preachers and prophets proclaimed it
    Telling us it was God’s Word, God’s will
    To love, to serve
    We’ve heard it before –

    In the commandments
    carried down the mountain by Moses
    In the words of Micah,
    “Seek justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God”
    In Isaiah’s invitation,
    “To loose the chains of injustice… and set the oppressed free”
    We’ve heard it before
    But never really understood it,
    never really lived it

    It’s a new command
    That isn’t so new
    Only revealed in a new way
    When the Master acts as the servant
    When the King takes on the cross
    When the great reversal is revealed
    And peacemakers prosper
    And the humble inherit
    And the persecuted find a place in the kingdom of God
    When mercy, not might, reigns supreme
    And in death, new life is revealed

    This is the moment
    The new commandment takes new root
    Shattering our assumptions
    Opening our ears
    Transforming our lives
    A new command
    Given to us
    By the One who lived it
    By the One who loves us so much
    Anything is made possible

    Even we – with hardened hearts
    Even we – ready to employ every excuse
    Even we – are loved
    Even we – are forgiven
    Even we – are called to live like he did
    Loving and serving
    So that all may know
    Of the grace
    of the greatness
    of the glory
    Of our God.

  • lent – fasting and feasting

    David Warkentein offers this wonderful prayer for Lent:
    Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling within them.
    Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
    Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
    Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
    Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
    Fast from anger; feast on patience.
    Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
    Fast from worry; feast on trust.
    Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
    Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
    Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
    Fast from hostility; feast on nonviolence.
    Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
    Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
    Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
    Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
    Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
    Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
    Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
    Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
    Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.

    Gentle God, during this season of fasting and feasting, gift us with Your Presence, so we can be gift to others in carrying out your work. Amen.
    via Mike Todd