Second Sunday in Lent
Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
Mark 8:31-38 (CEB)
After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Have you ever had the feeling you were getting in your own way? Like the harder you try to do something the less able you are to do it?
Maybe it’s giving up a bad habit or starting something new. Maybe it’s something you feel driven to strive for but you can’t quite seem to get there.
And then, once you give up trying, a whole new path you never saw before seems to open before your eyes…and you realize that you were trying to do something under your own effort that required a power beyond yourself.
Could it be that the very act of striving is what prevents you from achieving your goal? Could it be that the key to power is really powerlessness?
This week at New Wineskins we’ll continue our lenten series on self awareness through spiritual practices with a conversation about powerlessness and how embracing it opens us up to possibilities we couldn’t see otherwise.
Please join us this Sunday, Feb. 25, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we continue our Lenten journey toward Easter and Resurrection by discussing the power of powerlessness.
6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin
This week’s discussion video from The Work of the People asks us to consider what waking up means for each of us individually and collectively.
Click here to view this week’s discussion video (email address required)
Lent 2024: A Journey Into Self-Awareness
Many of us have experienced Lent as a season of repentance and self-sacrifice…of giving something up or letting something go.
But what if we saw it instead not as self-sacrifice, but self-awareness? What if we use these six weeks as an opportunity to know ourselves better and seek the kind of transformation that Divine Love invites us into?
This year for Lent, we’ll be exploring various spiritual practices designed to awaken us to who we are and what our place might be in the ongoing love project of transforming the world.
Celebrate Black History Month!
February is Black History Month and we’re celebrating by highlighting the voices of Black faith leaders by sharing inspirational thoughts about antiracism and building better communities and a better future. Each week we’ll post a video from The Work of the People that invites us to think more deeply about racist systems and structures and how resistance can lead to redemption.
Click here to view this week’s Black History Month video (email address required)
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