Our Lenten Journey: The Color Purple

I know what you're thinking, and this isn't a reference to an Alice Walker book. Lent is full of symbols. From the ashes that start a period of fasting and prayer, to the unleavened bread of passover, these visual cues transform our understanding of the forty days. The color purple is one of these symbols.

Color is powerful. Ever wonder why most fast food places use red or yellow in their color scheme? Red is used because we mentally perceive it as an energetic and confident color. Red excites us, stimulates us, and causes us to make decisions quickly. Yellow encourages communication, wakes us up, and gives us feelings of happiness. There's a reason McDonalds has "golden arches."

Purple is a different matter. We most often associate purple with royalty (for fast food places like Taco Bell, the "royal" emotion in purple triggers feelings of worth - "it's worth paying this much money for what I'm getting.") During Lent, however, purple is to remind us of the suffering endured by the King of Kings.

Here is what the ecumenical CRI/Voice Institute says about the symbol of purple:
"The color used in the sanctuary for most of Lent is purple, red violet, or dark violet. These colors symbolize both the pain and suffering leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus as well as the suffering of humanity and the world under sin.  But purple is also the color of royalty, and so anticipates through the suffering and death of Jesus the coming resurrection and hope of newness that will be celebrated in the Resurrection on Easter Sunday." (You can find the article here.)

Purple also aims to bring a feeling of simplicity to the season.

When a purple linen is draped over the cross, we are reminded of Christ's suffering on our behalf. In the last 26 days of Lent, consider wearing something purple. Do this as a sign of remembrance, much like the ashes we wore almost three weeks ago. Let seeing this color draw your mind back to the purpose of Lent - to draw nearer to God.

For more on color psychology, this website offers a brief overview of each color and how it impacts the human brain.

Acquire the Fire: Collide

Here are a few pictures from our weekend at Acquire the Fire. It was so good to see so many people gathered together for a weekend of spiritual renewal. We talked about areas of our life that needed restoration, and how only God can restore us.

Our group had a great time, and we're especially thankful for our gracious hosts at Trinity Baptist Church!

Enjoy!

To see more pictures, check out the Mount Zion facebook page.

Our Lenten Journey: Unleavened Bread

               

"Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’  This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand." Exodus 13:7-9

In the season of Lent, the church often celebrates communion with unleavened bread as a reminder of God's deliverance. During Passover, unleavened bread is used to remember when the Israelites fled Egypt. They were in such a hurry that they had to bake their bread without allowing the hours required to rise. This was to prove that God, not humanity, was responsible for their release from captivity.

Our release from captivity is a little different. We don't suffer from physical captivity, but we do suffer from slavery to sin and death (Romans 8:2). Eating normal, leavened bread (bread with yeast in it) during communion is mentioned in the Bible to represent thanksgiving to God (Leviticus 7:13). The term we sometimes use for communion is  Eucharist - which is a Greek word for thanksgiving.

Lent calls us to break the routine a little. By eating unleavened bread, not only do we remember the plight of God's chosen people, but we also remember God's deliverance is sometimes a difficult thing. We have to leave a life we've known and walk by faith. We have to endure deserts to see a Promised Land. We might even have to grab the bread before it rises because we don't have time to plan.


Try some unleavened bread this week and reflect on the times God has called you in a new direction. As you see and taste the difference, remember that God's plans and timing are perfect, even if we must endure some discomfort to see his promises fulfilled.

Our Lenten Journey: Ash Wednesday

Are you giving anything up for Lent? Are you a Friday vegetarian? Missing chocolate already? Maybe you're trying to get through the day without caffeine, or more difficult still, you're resisting the urge to check facebook.

Today marks the first day of Lent, a day in which many Christians will wear a cross of ashes upon their forehead. We use ashes as a reminder of our mortality, as God reminded Adam in Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Ashes also remind us of our need to repent and return to God. Formed in the sign of a cross, we are reminded of our sinfulness and Christ's salvation through his life, death, and resurrection.

So how does Ash Wednesday relate to giving up sweets?

It doesn't.

That's right. Our self-sacrifice means nothing unless it draws us closer to God. Giving up soda or fast food might be good for your waistline, it might create a noticeable absence, but if you're not reminded of Christ's sacrifice for us, it doesn't matter.

While Lent is about self-denial, it also about the spiritual practices of fasting and prayer. Everything we do in Lent should be pointing us back towards Christ. Ash Wednesday starts the season off with a visible reminder: Christ gave up his life so that we might live. When you see the mark of a cross of ashes upon someone's forehead, let it remind you to practice self-sacrifice for the sake of the cross.

Don't give up something for sake of giving it up. Lent isn't a test of your will; it isn't to see how well you resist temptation. Lent is a time of searching your heart and drawing closer to God. If giving something up is just because it's fun or because "everyone else is doing it," you've missed the point.

Let your sacrifice, whatever it is, remind you of what it would mean to give up everything.

If you receive ashes today, let it visibly mark forty days of spiritual reflection. Spend more time with God. Seek His will. Receive His grace.

Don't let this Lent be another season of empty ritual. If you give something up, do it for God.


For more information on Lent, try this article by the Upper Room: Lent 101

March Youth Events

March Youth Events:

Sunday, 3/6: Youth from 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Monday, 3/7: Youth Council Meeting from                   

7:00 – 8:00 PM.  We will discuss the Mission Trip and Race of Grace.

 Saturday, 3/12: Ole Fashion Supper. Come help from 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

Sunday, 3/13: Youth from 5:00 – 7:00 PM, Praise Practice from 7:00 -8:00 PM. Money for the hockey game is due.

Friday, 3/18-Saturday, 3/19: ACQUIRE THE FIRE – We will leave the church at 4:15 PM on Friday afternoon, travel to Greensboro for the gathering and return Saturday night (Sunday morning) around midnight. The cost is $80.00 including deposit.

Sunday, 3/20: No Youth.

Saturday, 3/26: Raleigh District Youth Hockey Game & Tailgating. The Carolina Hurricanes will face the Tampa Bay Lightening at the RBC Center in Raleigh. Tailgating begins at 4:30 PM and the game starts at 7:00 PM.  Meet at the church at 3:30 PM and return around 11:00 PM. Tickets are $20.00 and must be paid by Sunday, March 13^th.

Sunday, 3/27: Praise Practice from 4:00 – 5:00 PM, Youth from 5:00 – 7:00 PM.

Do You Suffer from MTD?

A recent project by the National Study of Youth and Religion shows that most of the church is no longer Christian. Instead, the church is turning into Moralistic Therapeutic Deists (MTD), and many don't know it's happening. MTD springs from the following psuedo-Christian beliefs:

     1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
     2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
     3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
     4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
     5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

While we may adamantly deny that we believe any of the following (though the first two beliefs are fairly consistent with Christian doctrine), our religious conversations might suggest otherwise. Let's be honest, wouldn't it be nice if our only goal in life was to feel good about ourselves? Christ suggests a different alternative in Matthew 22:36-40: 
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Love is a difficult route, but it's our only hope from breaking free from the ego-centric watered down "Christianity" that is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Here are couple thoughts to reflect upon while analyzing your own beliefs:
     1. MTD is person-centered. Christianity is God centered.
     2. MTD is about doing the right thing. Christianity is about knowing there’s no amount of right things that can save us.
     3. MTD is about being happy. Christianity is about becoming holy.
     4. MTD is about here and now. Christianity is about here and now and later and forever.
     5. MTD is about a distant but accessible God. Christianity is about God with us, and in us, and unavoidably around us.
     6. MTD is about pretending to be okay when its drowning. Christianity is about  desperately needing a savior.


For more information on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, read Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith; Almost Christian:What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church  by Kenda Creasy Dean; or this article by the Christian Post:
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism--the New American Religion