Dear friends,
Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “Practice makes perfect.” I don’t believe it’s true. I also don’t believe perfection is the point. We are human beings, blessedly imperfect. Thank God!
Practice does not make perfect. It does make us disciples, people on a journey, learning and growing together. Practice enables us to develop habits that ultimately change the neural pathways in our brains. Practice allows us to make mistakes, learn from them and try again. Practice gives us focus and purpose, while freeing us to try new things.
For me, it is tremendously freeing to talk about “practicing our faith.” If I say I am practicing Christianity, or 
practicing following Jesus, I give myself permission to not have it all figured out. I open myself to learning, to changing, to being gentle with myself and with others who are also practicing.
At our Soup and Lenten Brainstorming Session on January 21, we chose our Lenten theme: “Practicing…” We all were intrigued by the invitation to let go of our need to be perfect, to explore a positive approach to creating habits, to make mistakes and keep trying.
In our worship, we will practice qualities of our faith: practicing breath, awareness of beauty, forgiveness, compassion, trust, courage, and ultimately resurrection. One Sunday, we will celebrate Glorious Failure! We will practice singing. We will practice praying the Lord’s Prayer in a variety of ways. We might even practice moving our bodies!
Beyond our worship, our young people will practice for a play about the Easter story, and they will experience “Lent in a Bag.” We will practice compassion at an interfaith “Widening the Circle” gathering (see below). We will practice listening and caring for each other as we share soups and cards and phone calls.
We will also share our reflections on this theme in our annual Lenten Daily Devotional, which will be offered via email and on our website and Facebook page. Remember, it’s not about perfection: you have something to contribute to the devotional. Karen Nell and I would be delighted to help you make that happen (see below for the sign-up sheet).
I look forward to practicing our faith together in this upcoming Lenten season!
Peace, Debbie
When my husband of 53 years was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I read all I could about caring for someone with the disease. I was going to do the very best I could. One quote that always stuck in my mind was “Caring for a husband with Alzheimer’s is practice for being a widow.” Another was, “When your husband has Alzheimer’s, you experience death twice, once when you get the diagnosis, and again when he actually dies.” As I cared for my husband, I was in fact practicing becoming a widow. I took on more and more responsibilities that I never knew I would need to do, or be capable of doing. For example, I am so non-technical, but I spent a grueling hour on the phone with a Verizon technician as he, thankfully, patiently, walked me through how to correct the issue with our TV. When it was apparent my husband needed me full time, I quit my job, expecting to be caring for him for years to come. He died of lymphoma the next week. I think my “practicing to be a widow” made things easier for me. I had gradually become a very strong woman. Now I was not only practicing being a widow, but after having worked 2 jobs most of my life, I was now also practicing being retired. I was always very busy, and I had always had the companionship of my husband. Now, with practice, I have made choices of how I want to spend my time – walking, reading, playing ping-pong, exercising, spending time with family. I used to have what I needed with my work and my husband. Now, without my husband, I know I “need a village”. I have become more outgoing than I used to need to be. I talk to my neighbors all the time, and have found a walking companion in one. I go back to my former coworkers, and socialize with them. When no one else is sharing at my meditation group, I am the one who speaks out. I share my feelings and experiences at my bereavement group, Everyone knows me at the senior center because I am there nearly every day. It takes a lot of different people to fill my different gaps now, but I am practicing. I thought (hoped) dealing with a mouse issue would be my biggest challenge, but now I am facing heart surgery. But….I keep practicing, and being brave, and re-inventing myself.