On Your Mark, Get Sent, Grow! (H2odevoscbl 021710 Ash Wednesday)

H2odevoscbl 021710 Ash Wednesday On Your Mark, Get Sent, Grow!



Changed By Love (by Peter Mayer)

Changed by Love

And sent to share it

When you're changed by Love

You shine the Light and wear it

In your heart in every place

Lift our hands oh God of grace

We will never be the same

We are changed by Love

A good way to begin this forty day journey that we call “Lent” is to hear the words, “on your mark, get sent, grow!” The “mark” or beginning point for us on this holy day is the cross. In many churches people will gather to have a cross, a “mark” put on their forehead. This cross, this “mark” reminds us, individuals and communities that “we are dust and to dust we shall return.” In other words we are reminded in a stark, honest and sometimes mind-numbing manner that we will ultimately die one day. Our culture struggles with accepting this fact. The so-called “reality” tv shows will never show us that our quest for a “fountain of youth” will leave us high and dry. Ultimately, it is a mirage.

During our six weeks together we focus our attention as Peter sings that we are “changed by love.” I’ve been praying about those words because there is at times a tendency to believe that fear or law can be more effective in bringing about change. There is no denying that we can be “changed” by fear or “changed” by law. But, in the long run (and that’s what this Christian lifestyle is all about) it seems to me that to really see and experience the kingdom or reign of God is to be shaped, formed and re-designed by LOVE. We just celebrate Valentines Day. If you need a quick primer on love, check out

I Corinthians 13

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=i%20corinthians%2013&version=MSG;KJV;CEV

Lent is about being “sent.” Peter sings, “we are changed by love and sent to share it.” So there is direction and movement implied in this process. We haven’t been changed by love in order to “stand still.” But, rather, “changed by love and sent to share it.”

And in that intentional movement there will be growth. It might be the kind of growth we are expecting and desire. But, it might be growth of a nature and kind that is surprising and potential disarming for us. No matter, “we will never be the same.”

“Changed by love”

On your mark, get sent, grow!

rtg