Ash Wednesday reflections on Lent, 2019

I invite you, therefore... to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.  (BCP p. 265)

I find myself wanting more than television or the internet can provide.  I click through amazing amounts of channels and sites and the sheer volume available does not provide or guarantee any product of the quality I am looking for:  something absorbing, something that will make me think; something that will offer a new insight into my way of being or that of humanity's.

When I put my phone down, when I turn away from my computer, when I turn off the television, I have time to breathe; to sit, read, and absorb that which is emerging in me.  I am more connected with myself,  those around me, and with God. 

Thinking about Lent after this morning's 8:00 sermon, it's a journey of exploration that includes the presence of God along the way, a God who's alive and who shows up in unexpected places and times.  In our own Lenten journeys, if we take the time, I think we experience the humanity of God - in us.   At the end of Lent, Holy Week offers all that it means to be human, and to feel all the emotions as we make the switch from Jesus being with us to our being with Him on His journey to the Cross, His tomb, and the inexplicable wonder and mystery of His Resurrection.

Lent is not a time to be clicked through or rushed.  If rushed, one misses the silences that allow new possibles to be glimpsed and engaged with.  The one thing I would suggest this Lent is to use its time well.

I invite you, therefore, to take the time to go on your Lenten journey and explore where it takes you.

God bless  you in this Lenten season.

​Stephen+

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