Burgeoning Life

"Lent is an ancient word for springtime; it designates a season of burgeoning inner and outer life. Too often Lent has been misunderstood as a time of grim repentance, but it is meant to be a time of joy, the joy of a fresh start, the joy that greening meadows and blossoming trees proclaim each spring." From User-friendly Lent: Sharpening spiritual focus by Bro. David Steindl-Rast O.S.B. Visit Gratefulness.org and read it all here.

EPPN, Lent 1

"The destruction we see around us is not an accident.
But then, neither is the fact that you and I have
been placed here to do something about it."
-Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston

"Our climate is changing – and that means different things in different regions around the world. In some places it means droughts, in others extreme storms, and in still others melting ice. What it means for all of us is a degradation of the amazing beauty that God created for us. It means that we should be doing all we can to slow these changes in our environment." Read more here.

Reconciliation

"The sacrament of reconciliation, which is in our Book of Common Prayer, offers the penitent, the opportunity to confess the sin of things done and things left undone as well as my personal favorite "all the other sins which I cannot now remember." It is a rich service in which we bring our troubles to the table placing them there to be healed by God. It’s not about casting blame or suffering from ill placed guilt, it is about coming back to the God who loves us, the God who is there for us, the God who wants us to live life to the fullest, and the God who wants us to be a part of a reconciled world, and not just a part but a leader." From a sermon by the Rev. Dorian McGlannan. Read the entire sermon here.

True Sanctity

"True sanctity... consists in using God's creation in such a way that everything we touch and see and use and love gives new glory to God. To be a saint means to pass through the world gathering fruits for heaven from every tree and reaping God's glory in every field. "

By Thomas Merton, in Seasons of Celebration (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1950): 137. See also, The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living.

Resolution or Rule

Over at the Episcopal Cafe, the Daily Episcopalian features an essay by the Rev. Kit Carlson. It reads, in part:

"As I enter Lent this year, I am trying to not just make a resolution. Rather, I hope to make a Rule. I have been asking myself: what is lacking in my relationship with God? Or: how am I failing to honor myself as the person God created me to be? Or: what practice would make me more mindful of the presence of God? Or: what is standing in the way of my being able to love God and love my neighbor?"

Read the whole essay here.

Ash Wednesday

This Ash Wednesday is an invitation to all of us to deeper, fuller life. We are invited to walk this road together, as a Church community, to find together the incredible mercy and love of God. This beginning of Lent is our opportunity not to be overcome with guilt and regret, but instead to be filled as individuals and as a community with the joyful realization that our God is beckoning us, calling us. "Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation." Read the entire meditation by Fr. Peter Swarr, here.

... at St. John's Episcopal Church, Plymouth,
Michigan click here to see video; Detroit News article, here
photo above © by Dan Mears

Keeping A Holy Lent

"The Church gradually took on the discipline of Lent in solidarity with those preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil. That preparation work has traditionally been summarized as prayer and study, fasting, and almsgiving. Today we might remember the origins of Lent, take in our traditional understandings, and use these 40 days plus Sundays to prepare to renew our own baptismal vows. This ancient understanding of prayer, study, fasting, and almsgiving shapes the lives we lead. Each of us is baptized into a life of relationship with God (prayer), relationship with self on behalf of others (fasting), and relationship with all the rest of creation (almsgiving). Lent brings a regular opportunity to tune up our Christian life and relationships. "

From the Presiding Bishop's Lenten Message: Keeping a holy Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving. By Katharine Jefferts Schori, February 5, 2008. Read it all here at Episcopal Life Online

Ash Wednesday Services at St. John's Episcopal Church

10:00 a.m. Stations of the Cross

10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Healing Service, Imposition of Ashes

7:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist and the Imposition of Ashes

Many and Various Ways

Sisters and Brothers, just as Jesus was not limited as he lived on earth but displayed the glory of God in many and various ways—through healing, through teaching, through prayer, through his transfigured glory on the Holy Mountain—so too is our journey of faith not limited, not restricted to one way of being. God meets us time and again in so many different ways. God meets us time and again to call us ever more into ministry. God meets us time and again to remind us that we are not following cleverly devised myths but the very truth of God. God meets us and supports us time and again so that we might be attentive to the truth of God "as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." From a sermon by Fr. Peter Swarr. To read the entire sermon, click here.

As seen above, "The Soul Takes Flame" by Brie Dodson