arctic.she.wolf wrote:

Alittlebit, thank you for your acknowledgement. Do not take it all on yourself though. There were three others who made judgements about my communications skills to. I'm teribly sorry that not everyone here is an english major or a communications major.

Aws720K, if I expected hostility like last time i would not have tried to come back. I was truely hopeing for a much less hostile place than i encountered before. I will take my leave.

In spite of the unwelcome enviroment, I pray you all have a good lent and a good easter, and that your lives are filled with grace and mercy more than you show it.

Hello, artic.she.wolf.....
I'm very sorry that you feel the way you do! IMHO, this group is a treasure trove to me! When I first came here, I was like a duck out of water. I was soooo computer illiterate, lacked the sophistication that many here have, yet, they were kind enough to help me when I ran into a roadblock!
No one judges me for my mispelled words, or my greatest FLAW, which is PUNCTUATIONS!:eek:
Perhaps they felt sorry for me?! LOL.....What I found is that WORDS and the way it is expressed, can sometimes offend others, whether or not that was our intention.:(
Most of us here have had disagreements with certain topics at one time or another, the bottom line is we all agree to disagree and that's what makes the world go round. Being one of the babies (younger) one here, I feel humbled with the wealth of information I have gained and the knowledge that everyone here is willing to share. Again, words are POWERFUL tools used in communication...it can work for you or against you:( Maybe you can tread lightly in troubled waters and see what response you get! We are all fallible...and in the hour of our greatest needs, there is no other group like the AGERS!:) We are not getting OLDER, we're just getting STARTED!!!?

Thank You for letting me throw in my 2 cents.....Have a Blessed Easter ....

Aloha Ke Akua,
~Kapua~

stardove wrote:

Maggie,

As of last night there was nothing at the profile to know what belief system ASW has. All we have here is the statement that she is a Christian. My point was Lent was a non event in my early Christian experience, so I could speak from that.

OT: A number of years back I attended two funerals in one day. One was for a Baptist and the other for a Catholic. The Baptist service was full of hell, fire and brimstone. The Catholic service was about love and loss of a father, husband and friend. It made me wish I had been raised up a Catholic. Even got to take communion at the Catholic funeral, as the priest invited all who wanted to take communion to do so. I had my rosary on, but felt so much better with the way the invitation was given. At the next Catholic funeral service I attended the priest invited Catholics to take communion, so I didn't go down. :o

thank you for that clarification Stardove. and I was so glad to read that the first priest invited everyone interested to receive communion. I am a faith-filled catholic and love my tradition greatly in addition to be grateful that that is the way I was raised. it has meant the difference between life and death for me (seriously). but I am also of the liberal end of the spectrum. my faith rests totally on Jesus and anything and everything the church itself adds to my understanding of him and his mission (which is A LOT!) I am very grateful for. but they are a bit too tightly focused currently with the pickiness of whether visitors can receive communion. the way I understand it is if someone who is not a catholic but who (for whatever reason) attends one of our services and is moved to receive communion...then they should be welcomed to do so. that's how I see Jesus doing it: sitting down to table fellowship with anyone who wants to sit down with him. amen.

Kbear and Early thank you for adding that each of you also had read the tone of Arctic She Wolf's post as a bit antagonistic. I am glad to know that I haven't gone off the deep end seeing things that no one else saw.

having said that, let me post the following to Arctic She Wolf:

if you were sincere in your questions and your writing style didn't work for some of us, not all is lost. we can assume now that we've gotten the irritations out of the way and can earnestly address your questions some of which I hope have already been answered.

let me add that this series of posts has been a learning experience for me; I have always been vaguely aware that some christian groups don't know what others take for granted; I see that it might be more prevalent than I suspected and would happily answer any and all questions anyone ever has about the vast amount of info that the RCC works under. happily.

in general, traditional lenten practices are of three kinds: prayer, sacrifice, and almsgiving...EACH of these areas UNPACKS to include A LOT of details. so the first thing to do is NOT assume you know which each category is really about. sincerely.

we've thus far (in the earlier posts) covered the time period and whether or not the early christians observed lent. if any of that info was not clear enough, please let us know and we will go at it again.

the purpose of individual lenten practices is to clear away "underbrush" that might be hindering our growth in love of Jesus. but no one does that without serious assistance from the holiest of spirits. it's a process that we give ourselves over to NOT a process that we direct (another fully-loaded idea that would need to be unpacked for clarity)

also I would say again that life is change. God is constant. but our life on earth is about change. God is okay with us growing in our awareness and changing habits even updating some practices so long as our goal remains union with Jesus. God sends angels to cheer us on in our growth processes.

no one panic. union with Jesus can mean something very specific but Jesus is more than we know so union with Jesus, for me, translates into "gotta good heart? than you're on the right track" I always agree with the statement "salvation comes only through Jesus" yes. I do. I cannot do otherwise. I am a full-fledged devout christian. my entire faith turns on Jesus. BUT I always add: however we do NOT KNOW HOW salvation comes through Jesus. only God knows the how of it. that's why I tell non-christians do NOT panic. it is NOT an exclusive club. where your treasure is is where your heart is and if you treasure compassion and love, you're on the right track. follow your conscience honestly. all assistance that you will need will be provided for you. God can not help himself: he loves us. period. we are, in fact, his beloved...down to a one of us.

now. doesn't that make you wanna smile :-)

Hi all,  This is a quote from our Ash Wednesday Service at our Church. 
Today we begin a spiritual journey that will span 40 days, from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday before Resurrection Sunday.

In the early days of the Church, the season of Lent was a time of preparation for new converts as they readied their hearts to enter into Christian Baptism on Easter Sunday.  Since these new members were to be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to preparation.  Also, this was the time when those who had been separated from the Church because of explicit sin would prepare to rejoin the community of Faith.

The season of Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, self-examination, and penitence for all Christians as we prepare to celebrate Easter.  Through this 40 day journey, we are reminded that we are totally unworthy before God, that we have nothing with which we can obtain salvation, and that our best efforts at being righteous fall far short.  This season reminds us how much we need grace in our lives in order to live a transformed life that reflects God's love.  We are called to renew our commitments and our faith as we continually acknowledge our need of God's transforming presence with us.

You are invited to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.
Reflect in silence on the gospel message and make your confession and your vows of repentance and new life before the Lord. 

Receive God's forgiveness and blessing and go in peace, remembering that you are but dust and ashes and unworthy of being called the people of God.  But also remember that you who were no people God, by His love and grace, has made a people, children of His own household.

Let us go forth in humility to be Christ to the world... shining His light, through the Holy Spirit, on a world that desperately needs Light!
AMEN.

I thought that this was a beautiful ceremony.  We received our ashes, but also a lot to think about when we left the Church.  Lent is not a one day thing.  It is 40 days.  Time to reflect, fast, and ask God to point out to us what He wants for our lives.  Living your faith out loud, so that others will wonder what it is in your life that makes you so peaceufl and loving... and wanting it in theirs.

God bless, Gail