Becoming Whole

We do not have to be part of the world’s brokenness.

Make no mistake, the world will break us all. No one gets through this life without scars. We may have been taught that suffering is always a punishment for wrongdoing or a consequence of bad choices, but the truth is that most of our wounds are just the price we pay for being alive in an ever-evolving universe. And whatever our particular pain has been, it does not have to turn us into people who contribute to the brokenness in our world. Rather, if we will let it, it can empower us to be healers in our lives, relationships, and world.

But how do we find wholeness amidst the brokenness?

It can be tempting to give in to the unpredictability and pain, to allow our brokenness to define us, and to stop caring about the impact we have on others. But we will never find relief that way. It is only when we make the difficult daily choice to seek wholeness—for ourselves and for our neighbours—that we can overcome the cycle of brokenness in our lives and relationships. And as we do this, we spread the healing around a little more.

Becoming whole is far less dramatic than it may sound. It doesn’t happen in a moment, and it doesn’t require supernatural intervention or extravagant acts of devotion. All we need are small daily choices to be authentic, release shame, expand our awareness, and commit deeply to Life.

Lent is the season of learning to become a little more whole.

For many people, the Season of Lent can seem like a morbid time of self-recrimination and self-denial. But that’s not what Lent is about. Yes, it is a time of repentance, but that simply means it’s a time in which we consciously seek to evolve in positive and life-giving ways. Essentially, Lent invites us to confront the things that break our relationships and rob us of life, and learn to live more fully, authentically, creatively, and courageously. And that’s why this Lenten Guide is entitled Becoming Whole: A Lenten Journey of Transformation.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday and running through to Palm Sunday (with the Devotional Guide continuing through Holy Week), Becoming Whole is based on the Lectionary readings for Year A from Matthew and John. Each chapter explores how Jesus’ teaching and example can help us to overcome the things that harm us and find better ways to navigate the brokenness of our world.

The BECOMING WHOLE Liturgical Guide includes:

• Reflection chapters for every service of the series based on the Lectionary readings for Year A;
• Purpose-written prayers and liturgies for all services from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday;
• Ideas and suggestions for decorating your sanctuary and for creating visual elements to enhance your worship;
• A theme-based Table Liturgy that can be used at any service in the series;
• Theme-based graphics for your projection software, including welcome screens and backgrounds for song lyrics, liturgies, and sermon notes.

The BECOMING WHOLE Devotional Guide includes:

• Preparing, Responding, and Integrating practices for every day of the series to ensure that you can easily apply the message of each day to your own life. 
• Copies of the Reflection chapters for each week for quick reference in your daily devotional practice. 
• Daily reflection questions to enable you to listen more deeply to the message of the Scriptures and apply it to your life and relationships.
• Suggestions for preparing and decorating your devotional space to make it more conducive to the Lenten journey.

The BECOMING WHOLE Bundle includes:

Designed for communities that want to journey together, while also providing a meaningful personal journey for congregation members, the Bundle includes both the Liturgical and the Devotional Guides. It also includes a license to share the Devotional Guide through any or all of the following channels: 

• Printed handouts to distribute to congregation members; 
• Digital copies sent to members via email; 
• Posted on your church's social media channels; 
• Posted on your church's website.

BECOMING WHOLE includes the following chapters:

Ash Wednesday: Facing What We Hide

The Lenten journey, which begins on Ash Wednesday, is all about renewing our commitment to Jesus’ way of authenticity, turning away from play-acting, and embracing again the simple, secret disciplines that transform us into people of integrity, justice, and love.

Lent 1: Finding our True Self

The temptation of Jesus, then, is an invitation for us to do what he did: to face our False Self, to recognise its limitations, and to choose instead to embrace and embody our True Self.

Lent 2: When We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

To be born again, then, is to recognise what we don’t know, to release our assumptions, and to become lifelong learners who hold our knowledge and assumptions lightly in our relationships, our work, our activism, and our personal choices and decisions. 

Lent 3: When Shame Defines Us

No one is healed, rehabilitated, or restored by shaming them. But when we can help someone—including ourselves—to see beyond our shame to a life of possibility and creativity, of meaning and fulfilment, of connection and love, that is when we break the power of shame, and we set ourselves and one another free to live fully, authentically, and courageously.

Lent 4: When Our Awareness Is Distorted

How we see God is how we see. How we see is what we see. What we see is how we live. Jesus saw so clearly, and so he lived in a world of glory—of love, compassion, connection, joy, abundance, and peace. 

Lent 5: Life in a Death-Dealing World

We may live in a world that too often and too casually deals in death. But we can call ourselves back to life. We can call one another back to life. And we can embrace fullness of life at every opportunity, no matter how small, even when it is hard. 

Palm Sunday: What Do We Expect?

The history of faith is filled with examples of how open and curious people learned to recognise God’s presence and activity in unexpected ways. If Jesus’ surprising entry into Jerusalem teaches us anything, it’s to release our limiting expectations and embrace curiosity, learning, and surprise in our lives and relationships.