An invitation for the
season of Lent 2010
February 17 to April 3
Lent is the Christian season of forty weekdays (Sundays excluded)
extending from Ash Wednesday – February 17 this year – to Easter Eve –
April 3. Based on the story of Jesus' forty-day ordeal of testing in
the wilderness at the beginning of his public ministry, this is a period
for personal and community re-evaluation of our Christian commitment.
There is a longstanding Christian tradition of undertaking a particular
discipline for the season of Lent. Certain church leaders have commonly
required that their communities of faith give up eating meat and dairy
products. And often individual Christians have chosen to deny
themselves luxuries like alcoholic drink, candy, or some other favourite
pleasure. Such deprivations may serve various purposes, such as
encouraging focus on the self-sacrificing journey of Jesus, challenging
one’s own self-indulgent habits and assumptions, or nurturing greater
spiritual awareness and devotion.
It
is also possible to think of Lenten discipline in a positive, active way
– in other words, to consider doing something instead of not
doing something, taking up something instead of giving up
something. And the kinds of discipline chosen could range from
traditional spiritual practices such as prayer or Bible study, to less
specifically religious endeavours that still nourish the soul and
contribute to the common good.
Again this year for the season of Lent I would like to invite friends at
Glebe to choose a special new or renewed commitment you feel would be
helpful for your own growth or the benefit of others. You may undertake
this commitment on your own, or in co-operation with your family or a
group of friends. Let me offer a few suggestions that are meant simply
to stimulate your imagination. You might
-
begin a
regular practice of taking a healthy walk, perhaps choosing some helpful
focus for meditation as you go
-
read a
good book – a thought-provoking novel, the biography of a person of
outstanding moral or spiritual qualities, a collection of prayers or
poetry, anything that might invite you to grow – and maybe ask someone
else to read it too so that you can share your reflections about it – at
Glebe we are currently inviting everyone to read The Geography of
Hope: A Tour of the World We Need, by Chris Turner, and then to get
together at the church at 7 pm on April 7 to discuss it
-
finally
get around to registering as a volunteer for that adult literacy program
or other such helping service where you’ve been meaning to offer your
skills for some time now
-
set aside
time for writing letters, making phone calls, paying a visit or offering
hospitality to those friends or relatives you’ve been tending to neglect
for awhile
-
take the
initiative to organize a helpful project among likeminded friends at
church – the Glebe children are doing this for us this year during Lent,
inviting everyone to help them in a project of support for earthquake
victims in Haiti
-
make a
point of seeking help with that addiction or emotional stalemate you’ve
been struggling with
-
make a
financial commitment to an important cause – church or other
-
get busy
and educate yourself about a perplexing community or global problem and
look for something you can do to make a difference
-
take to
singing an uplifting hymn or song each morning
-
develop a
pattern of regularly memorizing helpful scripture passages, poems, songs
or other texts
-
adopt a
habit of daily Bible reading and prayer, perhaps enlisting someone else
to share the same schedule of reading and reflection
If
you do choose to make some such commitment for Lent, be intentional
about it. Write it down and stick it on the fridge, note it on your
calendar, or tell a friend or family member who will serve as witness to
your commitment. Think carefully about how you’re going to make time
for it, what other things in your life may need to be re-arranged to
make space for it. Be realistic about it, but be prepared to challenge
yourself, to put yourself out a little, in the interest of personal
growth or service to others.
Finally, I encourage you to view this not only as a commitment to
yourself or between you and God, but also as a commitment within our
church family. During the Palm Sunday service on March 28, there will
be a special moment for us to consider – either silently or in a few
words spoken aloud – how the season of Lent has been for us this year,
what successes or failures we have experienced in keeping our
commitments, and how we might wish to carry these efforts forward into
the future.
Feel free to speak to me if you would like company in deciding on your
commitment for Lent. Blessings to you as we enter again this special
season in our life of faith and service.
Bill Elliott, minister at Glebe
416-435-1881
Here I write my special
commitment for Lent 2009:
A Reflection for the New Year
“We live very close to a mysterious presence. God
is ‘nearer to me than myself,’ as St. Augustine put it, but we do not
see or understand him. He is utterly mysterious, and strangely gentle.
When he makes himself known we are confounded, yet at the heart of our
bewilderment there is a sense of recognizing something we have always
known.”
(The Coming God. Maria
Boulding. Great Britain: SPCK, 1982.)
At this time of winter, many of us have the urge
to hibernate – to go inside, close the door, light a fire or a candle
and not venture out without good reason. Winter can be a time of quiet
introspection, a time perhaps for pondering reflections such as Maria
Boulding’s - deep questions of who and where God is in our life.
For many, God is a transcendent Being who lives
somewhere out there beyond the boundaries of earth, a long way from the
immanent Presence spoken of by St. Augustine – “closer than myself,”
closer than our very breath - a Presence for whom our language is
inadequate. We may be able to describe attributes of this God, this
“mysterious presence,” but still not capture the essence of who God is.
Just as a child in its mother’s womb has no knowledge of the world it is
about to enter, we see the reality of who God is “through a glass
darkly” (Paul writing to the Corinthians around AD 55) – we don’t have
the language or the knowledge to fully describe this Ultimate Reality.
After a profound experience of God, St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most
respected theologians of the undivided church, said that everything he
had written was straw in comparison to the magnificence of God.
But Jesus, a divinely human person, is our guide.
He shows us that we can enter into a close and intimate relationship
with him and with this Presence that permeates all of existence. Jesus
called God “Abba” which is an informal, Aramaic version of Father,
something like ‘daddy.’ This conjures up an image of tenderness,
vulnerability and intimacy. Jesus says to his disciples, to us, “Come to
me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest…I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Matthew 11:28)
What must we do to find this rest, this
relationship? Perhaps it’s a desire, a hunger, a need that permits us to
open our hearts to God. Or a willingness to spend time developing “eyes
that see and ears that hear” the mysterious presence within us and
around us – the “something we have always known.” Perhaps it’s an
openness to forgive or to set aside our skepticism, our fear and risk
the discovery of this Reality and what it would mean for our lives.
Spiritual practices such as prayer and study,
worship and sacraments help break down the barriers, the obstacles that
stand in the way of our fully entering into and receiving this love of
God which is beyond words, but which is “strangely gentle” and
ultimately so very familiar.
“We are pilgrims on a journey, and companions on
the road; we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the
load.
I will hold the Christ -light for you in the
night-time of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace
you long to hear.
Brother, sister, let me serve you; let me be as
Christ to you; pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant
too.” (The Book of Praise)
Judy Wootten |
