Lent

 Kantha Cloth

I know the title of this post is "Lent" but I'm still on Valentine's Day projects (sigh!). This is a piece of Kantha cloth that I made last month. I am calling it Kantha cloth because I can't really think of anything else to call it. I took a piece of red cotton velveteen and fused a piece of lightweight quilt batting to the back of it. I then took a variety of embroidery threads (different colors, weights) and did a running stitch (Kantha stitch) through the velveteen and batting. You can't see the various colors on this one but you can see it in the heart I cut out of the piece below. I used some metallic threads as well which added some interest. I had enough fabric to make 3 hearts which are on their way to becoming pins.  

Kantha Heart

Perhaps by next Valentine's Day they will be finished products! The past several weeks have been busy as the house continues its progress in being painted and some minor remodeling. The house is looking really fine and it is exciting to make the interior of the house reflect my personality and style. And I have been doing some clergy supply work as well.

Yesterday on the First Sunday of Lent I was at Good Shepherd Episcopal Lutheran Church in Galax, VA again. I think I have said before how much I enjoy this church and its people. For me they symbolize the future of the Church because they choose not to focus on where they disagree, or are different from each other; rather they choose to find their common ground and celebrate that. 

The lessons for yesterday were about temptation: Adam and Eve in the garden and Jesus being tempted by Satan. Several years ago I preached a sermon on these lessons called, "The Devil is a Friend of Mine" and used the Jerry Garcia song, "Friend of the Devil" in the beginning of the sermon. That might have been shocking to some (still may be). It does seem to me that Jesus and Satan in Matthew's account of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness sound like two old rabbis debating religion. Most mental health professionals would say that befriending our "devils" is a good thing. Getting to know the "shadows" that lurk in our hearts enables us to be aware of the places where temptation can take hold so that we don't trip over them so often. Anyway, here is how I ended my sermon yesterday:

         Lent is that time when we try to do something that will stop the usual patterns of our lives. We give up something or take on something that will stop us in our tracks so we can explore who we really are. Yes, we really are human. Like our ancestors in the garden we still want the fruit that will make us complete. We reach out and we take it over and over. Then we hide it, and we hide ourselves. We blame others for our failures and we blame ourselves…we trip and yes, we fall.

         All those things are true and you don’t need me to tell you that. What you do need me to tell you is this: God made you, every cell of you. And God has loved you from the moment you took your first breath. You have tripped and fallen and God has been there, loving you and helping you up, turning you to face in a different direction. And Lent is for this one thing: For you and me to know that in the midst of all that is chaos in our lives, God placed One who is human and is also God in our midst to show us that life doesn’t end after we fall. Life continues even when we are broken and scarred and dented. Jesus is at our side to show us that even if we are wounded to death, life will continue.