I have a confession to make. A few years ago I started a Lenten practice called 40 Bags in 40 Days. I was very committed to the practice and made sure I has at least a plastic baggie that was either donated, recycles, or put in the garbage every day of the Lenten season. I am not sure whether it was during the first or second year I did it that I realized that the Sundays during Lent were considered “Little Easters” and not included in the 40 days. How did I not know that? Obviously, I never really counted.
Anyway, I felt that was a tidbit of information that might be new to somebody else too, which is why I share it. I am not sure how it relates to using the Lutheran Rosary as a prayer tool, but it does have to do with the symbolism of the beads in the configuration. There are 40 small beads in the Lutheran Rosary and it was originally introduced by the ELCA as a Lenten discipline. The suggested prayers are based on Luther’s Small Catechism.
In the suggested prayers, it suggests saying “I do believe: help me overcome my unbelief!” from Mark 9:24. That has become a favorite repetitive prayer mantra for me no matter which configuration of prayer beads I am using. However, I shorter it a bit to “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
That may sound like a contradiction, but I have learned that both those sentences can be true to me at the same time.
How do you hold that tension between belief and unbelief?
