Lent Week 1: Thursday | Matthew 8 (23-34)

Blessings, Duffy.

N.T. Wright's focus on Matthew 8:23-24 in our reading today calls to mind a book that helped me greatly during Lent four years ago. We were still in the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. The book is called Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges.

We've come a long way since March 2022. 

"But the question we now can't avoid: Is this what it looks like when God's kingdom begins to arrive on earth as in heaven? Does it mean that some sort of cosmic battle is now in progress, with the storm on the one hand and the evil spirits on the other trying as it were to attack Jesus, to stop him bringing heaven's rule to bear on this dangerous and distracted world of ours?"

Whatever storms we encounter during the remainder of this Lent and liturgical year 2026, may we maintain our calm center by holding to the Way of Jesus.

How do Christian mystics talk about the importance of centering prayer to "calming the storm" psychologically in relation to Matthew 8:23-27?

Onward and upward!