{"id":223,"date":"2009-12-08T08:14:13","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T15:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=223"},"modified":"2010-01-02T21:17:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T04:17:00","slug":"what-to-give-up-for-lent-bad-religion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=223","title":{"rendered":"What to give up for Lent? Bad religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Printable PDF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Walking the Labyrinth, for example.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The labyrinth, a circular walking path for mediation, has its origin in ancient pagan rituals, \t\t\t\tmost famously at Knossos in ancient Crete, where one is located in the basement of a famous palace \t\t\t\twhere the man-eating Minotaur was defeated by the mythical hero Theseus.<\/p>\n

The most famous Christian labyrinth is embedded in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. Some \t\t\t\tproponents believe that medieval Christians walked labyrinths as a substitute for pilgrimages to \t\t\t\tthe Holy Land.<\/p>\n

Today some proponents describe three stages of the labyrinth\u2019s journey inward:<\/p>\n

1) Purgation or letting go; 2) Illumination; and 3) Union with God. Many labyrinths even have Bible \t\t\t\tverses to aid in mediation.<\/p>\n

One Lutheran youth group spent 200 hours making a labyrinth. Their pastor prayed for God\u2019s \t\t\t\tblessing on all who walked the labyrinth. One teenage girl prayed, \u201cThank you, God, for the \t\t\t\tlabyrinth. It helped me sort out my problems. Now I know I can go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become a Lenten thing-to-do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with this? Why not walk a labyrinth to sort out problems? To get closer to God? \t\t\t\tLet us count the ways the labyrinth craze goes wrong:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Christian does not make spiritual progress in life because the Christian is always totally<\/strong> sinful \t\t\t\t\tand totally<\/strong> righteous. As Luther said, the Christian life is a \u201chappy exchange\u201d in \t\t\t\t\twhich Christ takes our sin and gives us his perfect righteousness (Compare 2 Cor 5:21).<\/li>\n
  2. The Christian life is not a journey but a daily return to the foot of the cross. As Luther said, \u201cThe \t\t\t\t\tChristian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, once begun and ever continued\u201d (Large \t\t\t\t\tCatechism<\/em>, Baptism, Tappert 445:65).<\/li>\n
  3. Walking a labyrinth makes the Christian life something \u201cwe do\u201d rather than what God \t\t\t\t\tin Christ has done on the cross for us (see #1). For example:\n
      \n
    1. Labyrinth Stage 1: Purging or letting go of sin is not possible because we are caught in sin \t\t\t\t\t\tand cannot free ourselves. The only way out is to be rescued by Christ in baptism.<\/li>\n
    2. Labyrinth Stage 2: There is no illumination or light within us. Christ is not in us. As Luther \t\t\t\t\t\tsaid, \u201cWe should and must constantly maintain that God will not deal with us except through \t\t\t\t\t\this external Word and sacrament\u201d (Smalcald Articles,<\/em> Tappert, III\/8, p.313:10).<\/li>\n
    3. Labyrinth Stage 3: Union with Christ is not something we \u201cexperience\u201d as we experience \t\t\t\t\t\tphenomena in life. Our confidence is not based on any experiences, even spiritual experiences or \t\t\t\t\t\tvisions. As Paul states, \u201cEven Satan disguises himself as an angel of light\u201d (2 Cor \t\t\t\t\t\t11:14). Rather, Christ promises to be wherever his Word is purely preached and his sacrament administered \t\t\t\t\t\taccording to this Word. Our confidence is based on the promises of Christ.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cBut I find it helps!\u201d While it\u2019s possible to sort out problems while walking \t\t\t\t\ta labyrinth, it\u2019s also possible to sort them out while jogging or doing the dishes. There \t\t\t\t\tare no holy walks, holy paths, or holy spaces where God\u2019s presence is concentrated so one \t\t\t\t\tcan get a boost of divine insight. We bring all things to the Lord in prayer, and we sort out our \t\t\t\t\tproblems using the best common sense we can muster. In all things we live by forgiveness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      An Alternative<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Memorize the 4 verses of the hymn, \u201cMy Hope is Built on Nothing Less\u201d (LBW \t\t\t\t#294).<\/p>\n

      For freedom Christ has set us free;
      \nstand fast therefore, and do not submit to a labyrinth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Printable PDF Walking the Labyrinth, for example. The labyrinth, a circular walking path for mediation, has its origin in ancient pagan rituals, most famously at Knossos in ancient Crete, where one is located in the basement of a famous palace where the man-eating Minotaur was defeated by the mythical hero Theseus. The most famous Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-223","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223\/revisions\/395"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}