Reflections for Lent (Part 2)
The ABC’s of Love: One Minute Reflections for Lent
Orleans United Church, 2025
Beginning Monday, March 31
In January 2024, along with many of you, I received my “Star Word” in worship at OUC. And like many of you, I was surprised and had to process how I might embrace it in the year ahead. My word was “LOVE.”
I thought it might be helpful to begin writing a list of words, one a day, that felt curiously “love- adjacent” to me. Eventually, a full year’s list of 366 “love-adjacent” words were collected, each one capturing some aspect of the multitude of Creator-inspired noticings about how I experienced and expressed love. They became signposts on my path during a year-long journey with my Star Word.
This is the second half of a Lenten devotional series based on some of those words, called “The ABC’s of Love.” It includes 26 more “love-adjacent” words in alphabetical order, plus a brief reflection and prayer for each. If you are interested in the words shared during the first weeks of Lent, contact the church office.
Continued blessings on your Lenten journey.
Glen Stoudt, Spiritual Director
February, 2025
Week Five
Monday, March 31 – AUTHENTIC
Discerning how to live authentically is our spiritual goal – to become more genuine, trustworthy and true in our loving.
Inspire my love, Compassionate Spirit, and encourage me to follow your way of caring as my path of becoming truly me.
Tuesday, April 1 – BITTERSWEET
Life is full of those poignant moments when sadness and love intersect, where what we long for feels just out of reach.
When I’m feeling forlorn, renew your promise, Gracious God, to be with me always and to soothe my tender soul.
Wednesday, April 2 - CONVICTION
Our conviction in faith is grounded in love’s truth, the confidence that God accepts us and everyone just as we are.
I deeply trust in your goodness and grace, Divine Source of Love, and feel confident that I can join you in loving others.
Thursday, April 3 – DISCOVER
Discovering God’s desire for us is possible when we are attentive to the ways of Holy Love and responsive to live it honestly.
Keep me attentive to the impulse of your love, Holy One, and show me ways to live as an expression of your presence.
Friday, April 4 – EMPATHY
Creator invites us to lovingly feel and embrace (as best we can) another person’s perspective, experience, and emotion.
Like you, Jesus, when relating to someone who needs love, I will prayerfully lean in and try being a caring companion.
Saturday, April 5 – FAITHFUL
God is faithful to all creation, eternally loyal and committed to be within us throughout our life on earth and beyond.
Thank you for your loving presence in my heart, O God, and for coaxing me to live faithfully with those I share life’s journey.
Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 6 – GROUNDED
Spiritually, feeling grounded suggests a bedrock of love on which our lives are built, a solid base on which we become.
Secure me in your grace, Holy Ground of Being, instruct me through your Spirit and establish your strength within me.
Week Six
Monday, April 7 – HEARTACHE
Relationships often include heartache, the anguish when that loving connection feels broken and even unrepairable.
God, I wonder if you feel heartache when my selfishness hurts you? And I wonder how you whisper your love to me still.
Tuesday, April 8 – INTIMACY
Tender moments when we experience the warmth and nearness of another can remind us of God’s affection to us.
Intimate Spirit, I feel you deep in my soul and that warms my heart. Help me deepen my relationships with others.
Wednesday, April 9 - JEHOVAH
God’s name IS, literally. Jehovah means “I AM”/GOD IS, the name whispered to Moses in the Exodus. That name describes true BEING, which Jehovah promises us in loving presence.
Loving Presence, help me be open in heart and mind, to imagine my true being in your name.
Thursday, April 10 – KNOWING
Spiritual Wisdom practices “knowing” ... looking deep within ourselves, to know and appreciate God’s truth and love.
Invite me, Source of Wisdom, to pause long enough today to feel the pulse of your loving truth deep within me.
Friday, April 11 – LAMENT
When sorrow and weeping rush over us, those moments shatter our wellbeing. We lament our brokenness in prayer.
When my spirit feels broken and you feel so far away, I can’t hear you. Where are you, Whisper of Life? Please breathe on me again; softly rise in me anew and remind me of your love.
Saturday, April 12 – MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is a spiritual quality – being full attentive to what we are experiencing right now in mind, soul, and body, and how the Spirit is accompanying us.
I lean into this moment with a fully receptive mind to welcome your nurturing peace, O Wellspring of Inner Calm.
Palm Sunday, April 13 – NECESSARY
Feeling like we really need something does not always make it truly necessary. Regarding love, however, both are true.
Lover of All, make me wise enough to discern the difference between selfishly wanting and generously living, and to choose what is genuinely necessary.
Week Seven - Holy Week
Monday, April 14 – OBEDIENCE
Jesus’ Holy Week journey demonstrates the subtlety of loving obedience – following love’s way while resisting the temptation to live egotistically.
Selfless Christ, show me ways to live more obediently and humbly embrace my calling to love others unconditionally.
Tuesday, April 15 – PROMISE
Following the divine promise he felt deep within, Jesus vowed to live as an expression of self-giving love, born of God.
How will self-giving love be born within me, O Divine Promise? Inspire me today to grow into your promise for my life.
Wednesday, April 16 - QUALITY
A fundamental quality of our spiritual lives is unconditional love, upheld by compassion, inner peace and courage.
I affirm your quality of loving with no strings attached, Compassionate Christ. Now grant me the peace and courage to live it too.
Holy Thursday, April 17 – RESTORATION
When Jesus reinterpreted the Passover meal, he longed to restore our loving relationship with God.
Bread of Life, Cup of Love, let me hear your invitation with fresh ears of faith and reimagine your restoring embrace.
Good Friday, April 18 – SACRIFICE
Jesus’ death can feel confusing. Rather than focussing on Jesus as “the sacrifice” on our behalf, what if we centred on what Jesus sacrificed to remain true to himself?
Living sacrificially is daunting, Loving Spirit, yet pondering what it takes to remain true to myself feels beneficial.
Saturday, April 19 – TEARS
Jesus’ followers awaken in tears, suffering loss so deeply because the one they loved is dead. Grief weighs heavy, faith is broken, and their cries of sadness feel unbearable.
Where are you God, when loss shreds love, and tears are my only response? Transform my tears into love’s anointing.
Easter Sunday, April 20 – UNDERSTANDING
Regardless of how we believe in resurrection, a deeper understanding of how life and death are joined can be helpful.
Life on earth is fleeting, Risen Lord. May your love help me comprehend that life is more than physical and death is not to be feared.
Week Eight (Easter Season)
Monday, April 21 – VULNERABLE
On our spiritual journey, vulnerability is the fragility of love revealed – the willingness to reveal our true selves to God and others, to fully know and be fully known.
I hear Easter’s invitation, Lord; I keep wanting to be more vulnerable in your loving presence. I really do long to know your grace more fully and live it more freely.
Tuesday, April 22 – WHISPER
Like with Mary, Christ’s resurrection voice whispers our names too. Will we trust it, or rationalize it as a figment of our imaginations?
When your whisper surprises me, Loving Christ, linger long enough until my heart can hear your promise and reply.
Wednesday, April 23 – X
X – the first letter in the Greek name for Christ – has been used for 2000 years to remember the One who promises life.
X marks the spot in my soul where I feel the warmth and light of your heartbeat. Thank you, Centering Christ.
Thursday, April 24 – YOURS
Yours is a word that tenderly suggests the love we give freely – “Sincerely yours.” It is our “yes” to others.
“I am ‘yours truly,’” Loving God, because when I was born, I heard you whisper the same – your “yes” to me.
Friday, April 25 - ZOE
In Greek, Zoe means life. Creator breathes, creation lives. Life stirs within us, we are one with all creation.
Zoe’s Creator, I trust that your living breath will carry me away with the same love that ushered me in, inspiring me each day along life’s journey.