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A smudge on the forehead can feel small, but it opens a wide door. We explore Ash Wednesday as a truthful beginning to Lent—less about performance, more about presence—drawing on the ancient use of ashes as signs of grief, humility, and honest turning. Steve reflects on why last year’s palms become this year’s ashes, how mortality grounds rather than shames, and why the most faithful move we can make may be to stop pretending we’re invincible.

Together we reframe repentance as realignment with love, not punishment, and we name the quiet relief that comes when community levels the room: no experts, no winners, just open hands. The ashes don’t change God’s posture toward us; they change ours. That shift invites practical steps—pausing to name a limit, bringing what we cannot fix into God’s presence, and asking a brave question: where am I being invited to turn this season? Along the way, we challenge narrow visions of Lent that focus only on giving things up or on self-improvement, and we move toward relationship, solidarity, and mercy that frees rather than burdens.

Whether you come from a liturgical background or have only watched Ash Wednesday from a distance, this conversation offers a gentle doorway into the season. Expect clear language, ancient context, and concrete practices that help real people in real time. If you do receive ashes, receive them as blessing, solidarity, and promise—the promise that God meets us in our limits and walks with us in our uncertainty. If you don’t, inhabit the moment anyway: tell the truth about your life and let love do the growing.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs gentleness today, and leave a review so more people can find a path into an honest Lent. What turn are you being invited to make?

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What if the fast God desires looks less like somber faces and more like shared bread, loosened yokes, and mended relationships? We open Isaiah 58 and let it reframe Lent from private sacrifice to public love, from spiritual mood to concrete mercy. Along the way, we confront a piercing truth: you can be spiritually serious and still be misaligned with what God wants most. The remedy is not louder piety but deeper proximity—toward the hungry, the unhoused, the overlooked, and even the kin we’ve learned to avoid.

We walk through the prophet’s unsettling clarity and hopeful promise. God is not impressed by symbolic suffering; God is concerned with real suffering. Healing follows love. Light follows justice. Nearness follows participation in God’s work. Instead of chasing renewal without disruption, we let love interrupt our schedules and budgets so there’s room for generosity to move. We explore practical, grounded questions for Lent: where do we hold quiet power—time, money, influence, flexibility—and how might we let it serve someone else’s good? What systems do we benefit from without asking who pays the hidden cost? Where have we normalized distance from pain and called it balance?

This conversation is tender with those who carry fatigue. Alignment, not exhaustion, is the call. We suggest small, faithful steps: turn fasting into margin that funds kindness, trade a habit for a human, speak up at work, listen longer at home, and let proximity do its slow work. Isaiah’s closing vision names us repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in—ordinary places becoming safer, kinder, more human. If you’ve longed for a Lent that feels meaningful, not just measurable, this is a path where devotion becomes compassion, prayer becomes justice, and faith becomes light.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s preparing for Lent, and leave a short review so others can find these reflections. What will your fast free you to give this week?

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What if Lent isn’t about subtracting pleasures but adding presence? We open our hearts to a gentler, braver path into the season by sitting with Matthew 25 and its plain, searching vision of faithfulness: feeding, welcoming, clothing, visiting. No grand gestures. No spiritual scorekeeping. Just the slow courage to notice and to stay. Along the way, we name how distraction, hurry, and self-monitoring can warp Lent into anxiety, and how love interrupts our pace long before it touches our wallet.

We trace the subtle but vital movement from private piety to public love, recognizing that Jesus praises not perfected rituals but ordinary attention offered to the least of these. There’s a freedom here: this is fruit, not currency—evidence that the kingdom has taken root, not payment for admission. We don’t have to fix everything. We are called to be faithful somewhere. One conversation, one meal, one visit, one interruption. And we tell the truth that serving won’t always feel meaningful; love is measured not by our sensations but by whether it stays when it’s awkward, tiring, or inconvenient.

Lent can become a school for sight. Formation happens through repetition: practice noticing threats and you become anxious, notice inconvenience and you grow irritable, notice need and compassion takes shape. Christ does not hide in riddles; he places himself in ordinary vulnerability right in front of us—at home, at work, in our neighborhoods. So we offer a simple practice for the week: intentionally notice one person you usually rush past and offer something small—time, listening, encouragement, patience, help. Not to earn, but to learn to see. If this reframing resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who’s rethinking Lent, and leave a review with one small act of love you plan to practice this week.

Scripture:

Matthew 25:31-40

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What if the quiet you’re hearing isn’t absence, but invitation? We open season two by stepping into 1 Samuel 3 and the tender moment God calls a sleepy apprentice by name. The word was rare, the lamps were still lit, the rituals kept going—yet clarity felt thin. From that ancient night, we draw a living guide for modern hearts that have learned the sound of notifications but forgotten the shape of holy interruption.

We trace Samuel’s missteps without shame. He runs to Eli because he hears a voice and assumes the familiar. It takes time, patience, and a wise nudge to teach him the simplest posture: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” That line becomes our compass. We don’t chase spectacle; we practice availability. We talk about recognizing God’s voice in ordinary moments—a line that lingers, a conversation that won’t let go, a verse that resurfaces when you need it most. We look at repetition not as redundancy but as mercy, the way truth returns until we are ready to receive it.

Along the way, we get practical. Start small. Make space for a sentence, not a performance. Notice recurring themes across scripture, conscience, and community. Trust that God plays the long game and isn’t offended by your learning curve. If God called Samuel four times, He can handle your hesitation. And if you’re weary or unsure, take heart: being human is not a defect. It’s the place where grace does its best work.

If the season ahead feels crowded or thin, join us as we practice a gentler way to listen. Subscribe, share this with a friend who could use some quiet courage, and leave a review to help others find the show. What simple line is echoing in your life right now?

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Greetings, Friends!

Welcome to Episode 10 of the podcast, and I hope you are all well. In this final episode in the "In the Beginning...Again" series, we look into Revelation a little bit. Revelation is a book filled with so many images and so many things which we have feared and questioned...but what if it isn't all about the end of things, but is a beginning? What if it is happening now, because God is with us, and the end of fear and doubt is upon us because God is with us in our hearts and lives already? Let's talk about it!

Scripture:

Revelation 21:1-5

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Friends, welcome back to Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart!! I am thrilled you are here once again! This week we look further into God's beginnings...into freedom, justice, and peace. This week we look at how Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s actions and his own convitcions in his faith and in humans led him to remind us that action is not the absence of peace, and faith and love may yet be found, even in suffering. Please offer a moment of pause to remember this important work toward equality and justice. May we remember Dr. King's words as injustice and oppression are yet present and active. Be safe, my friends, and be well.

Scripture:

Genesis 1:1-5

Amos 5:24

Matthew 5:9

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Welcome, friends, to Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart! In this week's installment of our "In the Beginning...Again" series, we're having a look at some familiar fishermen who found a new road when they chose to follow a man who stepped into their boat. Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. The balance of their overnight struggle to catch fish had left their nets empty, and suddenly Jesus fills them. It is not about obedience, but about trust that Simon Peter puts down his net again. His reaction is not one of celebration, but of humility. This is one of the greatest lessons of all: within the struggle, God is present. That struggle, in that moment when all seems as though it was not worth the work, God shows us a new beginning...a new path. God bless you all, my friends. Love one another and speak hope from your heart.

Scripture:

Luke 5:1-11

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Greetings, All!

Thank you for joining once again and for listening to Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart! Here in week 2 of our "In the Beginning...Again" series, we are exploring words from the prophet Isaiah. What we witness here is that God offers yet another call out of a darkness of sorts; one that repeats over and over again. Not the same as in Genesis, but a human darkness...a place of hurt and a place of loss. The words "But Now" offer a new beginning, because all the pain and struggle that came before...all of it was about to change with two simple words. Sometimes we all need a "but now," and my friends I tell you truly: we are in this together. Let your light shine brightly, and see that others shine as well. He has called You by name! You are loved!!

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