Celebrating the Resurrection in You
by Rev. Karen Saunders
The Lenten season is always a season of renewal for me. The weather is changing and the temperature is rising. You begin to hear the birds outdoors and see the flowers sprouting. I feel the Lenten season is a redirection of spirit, where the cold weather may have caused me to retreat indoors, the warmer weather gives a lift to the spirit.
I feel the same for the Lenten season as a renewal of the spirit and a rejuvenation of my awareness of the Christ spirit that allows me to move on a higher spiritual plane. I pull out one of several books such as “Keep a True Lent” by Charles Fillmore, “The Week That Changed the World” by Ernest C. Wilson, or “The Lenten Program” (to be used in connection with “Teach Us to Pray” by Charles & Cora Fillmore) for study during the Lenten season.
The Lenten season allows me to not only rejuvenate my spirit but uplift the spirit of my congregation as I teach the stories of the Bible and how they relate to our daily lives. The times that we live in can be challenging and disruptive to our daily lives; however, if we are focused on the divine that is always with us we can rise above the distractions. I recall the year after my mother passed, which was during the previous Lenten season. She had always taught a Lenten class, and I attended as often as work would allow me to. Even during the Lenten season that she passed, she started the Lenten class in my home and continued it until her health did not allow her to teach.
The following year spiritually, I was not able to use the “Keep a True Lent” book, so my prayer partner and I chose a different book to study during the Lenten season, “The Week That Changed the World.” I recall even now how the prayers and meditations renewed and rejuvenated my spirit during the time of memory of the passing of my mother and the loss that I was still experiencing. When we are able to renew our spirits and feel the rejuvenation that prayer, meditation and newness of the season bring, we are able to move forward in light, love and laughter. We are able to be the beacon of light that shines forth as the sun for those that are feeling the darkness of the times.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Take this time to pray, meditate, rejuvenate the holy spirit that lives within each of you and allow your light to shine forth.
Rev. Karen Saunders is the senior minister at Christ-Love Unity Church, Omaha, Nebraska, and a board member of Unity South Central Region.
