1. Lent a time to slow down Lent Lent= slow (French)

2. Lent is like bread rising. We need time to just sit and breathe so that we can let desire well up within us, making us the best product we can be. Some people keep kneading time until their substance is no longer life-like. We NEED time to rest. Mary- Jane White

3. Lent = On Loan our bodies held in sacred trust

4. The body is your house of belonging in this world

5. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit

6. How do we see ourselves?

7. Our image of ourselves is NOT how God sees us

8. What makes us able to stand naked before God?

9. Look at myself in the mirror We're gonna have a conversation We're gonna heal the disconnection I don't remember when it started But this is where it's gonna end My body is beautiful and sacred And I'm gonna celebrate it

10. All my life I've been looking for Somebody else To make me whole But I had to learn the hard way True love begins with me This is not ego or vanity I'm just celebrating me

11. Which of your self-images get in the way of your relationship with God?

12. So If Lent is not about punishing our bodies, what kind of action does God want of us in preparation for Holy Week? social justice, non-aggression, taking our feet off the necks of the oppressed, sharing our bread with the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, letting go of our sense of entitlement, and not speaking maliciously. this is the real fast God wants!

18. What real actions can I take to include others who are on the edges? Isaiah says explicitly that God prefers another kind of fasting which changes our actual lifestyle and not just punishes our body. What is the authentic fast to which God calls me? Jesus has come to transform people, not to exclude them.