THE EPISTLE
Volume 14 Issue 2 FEBRUARY 26, 2009
A LENTEN PRAYER
Eternal Spirit,
Who from nothing created this world and all things, and who, from the dust of the ground formed man and woman and breathed into them the breath of life; we praise you for all your good gifts to us and to all your children.Give us the grace in this Lenten season to look inward to very depths of our being where your spirit speaks to our spirit and where we are alone with you and ourselves. In this journey inward might we not only lament our sins and shortcomings, but might we work to correct what we see, but do not like.Give us the grace also to not only look inward but also to look upward. Lift our spirits from mere contemplative naval gazing to true communion with you. Save us from thinkingthat we are alone, that there is no one to share our problems with. Remind us that you cre-ated us and that you care for us on this journey of life. Strengthen our faith as we walk this sometimes arduous, but always exciting pilgrimage. And finally, O loving God, give us the grace we need to look not only inward and upward,but also outward toward our sisters and brothers. How often we are guilty of being so in-ward looking or so upward looking that we ignore the hurt and pain which surround us. How easy it is to be self-centered, to assume that we and we alone are filled with troublesand that everyone else is just fine. Open our eyes, O God, to the hurt and the pain around us. Sensitize our hearts to the sorrow which we so often ignore. Open our lips that wemight speak your word of mercy and peace to those who hunger and thirst for such aword, and in so speaking it, might we also be strengthened by it for life where you havecalled us to live it. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen
.
PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE
“Ashes, ashes, we all fall down”
As children we played “Ring around the Rosy” and sang those words, notprobably knowing the somewhat somber meaning of them. For us, they were justthe words of a children’s game and we sang them with smiles on our faces.Lent begins on February 25, Ash Wednesday, so called because Christiansare reminded of their humanity by wearing ashes on their foreheads. In the liturgyfor Ash Wednesday in the Book of Common Prayer, the ashes are imposed withthe following words:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall re-turn.
Well that’s a bit of slap “upside the head” if there ever was one. It kinds of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? The season of Lent, when we prepare ourhearts, minds and spirits to celebrate the great festival of Easter, is a time forstock taking; for looking deeply inward, even as we look outward in mission.Sometimes we have a hard time putting things in perspective because weare so consumed by all that there is and all that there is to do. On top of that, weare living in a precarious time in our nation’s history. We are troubled by manythings, most of them having to do with the economy, and yet ashes remind us thatall of us have a limited amount of time to live the life that God calls us to. Whatwe do with that life is up to us.Bernie Madoff thought he could “lay up treasures on earth” and he foundout that he couldn’t, or at least he couldn’t and not get caught. Lent is a
goodtim
e for spiritual soul searching, not in some kind of morbid way, but rather insuch a way as to seek to know and to do God’s will. When we are reminded of ourtrue purpose in life, to “enjoy God”, then we can have a full life. It
Continued
PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE(cont)
takes some soul searching, and Lent is agood time to do it.
We are helped in this search by ourcommon worship together on Sundaymorning, by our time of learning in Chris-tian education, by our sharing in our smallgroups and in our work together to bringwater to the Sudan and paint to Salem Nu-trition Center.Lent can be a good time, even if ourforeheads are a bit soiled.Your Pastor,
John
WORSHIP DURINGTHE SEASON OF LENT
Lent is that period of fortydays, not including Sundays,which precedes Easter and whichprepares us for the celebration of the great Easter feast. Traditionallyour worship service has changedsomewhat during this time, certainthings eliminated, such as the alle-luias. We remove the brass candle-sticks and substitute wooden ones.We also use wooden or potterycommunion wear. The choir doesnot process. This year we will alsomake another change. During Lentwe will begin the service with aThanksgiving for Baptism whichwill replace the confession andpardon. As God provided water forthe people of Israel in the desertand for our Lord in the wildernessof temptation, so he provides liv-ing water to us in Jesus Christ.This is symbolized in the Sacra-ment of Baptism. This year, par-ticularly, as we work to provideWater for Sudan, this reminderthat our Christian life begins in thewaters of baptism is appropriate
.
THANK YOU!
A huge thank you to the youth of our churchand their “support staff” who all made theSenior Valentine Lunch such a special event!There were precious welcome cards, place-mats and note cards. In addition, we weretreated to delicious soup, salad, dessert andcandy. The servers were so attentive andpolite. It was evident that weeks had beenspent preparing a real treat. Thank you somuch.Barb Roscoe
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