Fishers of hope and love
Photograph by Matan Levanon via Unsplash
Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil
Thirty days before the beginning of this Lenten season, I joined a global journal writing community where our group leader gave us daily prompts to reflect on and respond to in our own writing. I entered this 30-day practice as an intentional preparation for Lent. What I did not expect was to be enveloped by God’s whispers as I took in my journal prompts and put pen to paper. Sitting at my dining room table, knowing that many others were also pondering the same questions, allowed me to pause with this new breath in unexpected ways. Have you ever been in local or national community on a virtual platform and realized God’s omnipresence across multiple zip codes? Living such a moment had me speechless on one level and fervently writing on another level.
Colleagues of mine who have been part of choir communities for years have often spoken of the layers that connect the tones of voices. I can say that this pre-Lenten contemplative practice offered a journey into divine presence.
I have been experiencing Jesus’ call “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men” in a new way this Lenten season.
Might I have been experiencing Jesus’ call “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men” in a new way? The questions offered as journal prompts were for me an invitation to delve into holy presence.
Now, the world is seeing a Lenten season where new, dark clouds are erupting around us because of American missiles being dropped on unsuspecting neighborhoods in the Middle East. How might we choose to live Jesus’ call expressed in the gospels? What are the intentional and authentic choices to be the light of Christ, light of truths, light of hope and love? May these seven prompts be your prompts to become fishers of men and women with hope and love:
Where do you notice hope crossing boundaries?
What are inward signs of hope you have lived with in all seasons?
How can you become a keeper of hope for someone else?
What are you longing for as you light the candle of hope?
What do you need to shed to make space for God’s blessings?
How do you show up with God’s love to your neighbor?
What word of wisdom helped you reframe a situation? What has it made space for?
An ordained minister with ABC-USA, Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil serves as a Ministry Coach and Women’s Group Retreat Facilitator with the Center for Career Development & Ministry. Fluent in English and French, she has had cross-cultural lived experiences in several countries in Africa, Europe and North America. Rev. Sandra is a published author of three devotionals, “Walk with Generosity,” “Beacons of Hope” and “Luces de Esperanza,” as well as co-author of a leader’s guide for leaders of short-term mission teams of volunteers, “Short-Term Mission Team Essentials – Together on The Journey.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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