Holy Time (Lent), Prayer, and the Prophets

Holy Time (Lent): 
     "Don't think of it as a 'Lenten Rule,' Fairbairn; think of it as a training plan," said The Rev. Lee McGee, fomer professor of pastoral theology at Yale Divinity School and a beloved spiritual director.  I could get that:  I resist rules, but a training plan works for me.  So what we do (and don't do) during Lent is a way of getting in shape for Easter, getting a little better at sensing God's love and call, a little better at responding to God's love and call.

     It's far enough into Lent for us to have bombed on part of our Lenten plan... and therefore it's time to start again, and that's fine...  usually, we have to try over and over to learn new ways.  Fr. William Crummer, rector at St. Mary Magdalene's Toronto, gave one Lenten sermon with a calendar and an alarm clock as props, saying "This is the time we have; when it's gone, it's gone."

Prayer:  
    There are a gazillion ways to pray; we each find ways that work and ways that don't.  The proof that it's working isn't a warm fuzzy feeling (though those sometimes come and knock our socks off) but a change in how we're living.  Think of prayer as a conversation (some sharing from the heart, some listening) within a love affair.

The Prophets: 
   ... wrote of their understanding of God's love and purpose for their contemporaries -- they didn't do roadmaps for 2012, though we may discover our way by reading them.   Come learn more as we look at six Hebrew prophets on Wednesdays during February and March.  Soup at 6:30; study at 7:30.

This week: 
   Monday, 2/27:        Buildings and Grounds 7:30
   Tuesday, 2/28:       Women's Group, 1:00;  Communications 7:00
   Wednesday, 2/29:   Soup at 6:30, Study at 7:30
   Sunday, 3/4:           Service, Children's Chapel, at 10:00, followed by Coffee

What's Up This Week (2/5-2/12)

Coming this week: 
     February  5th,  10:00  -- Teens/Tweens meet with Sue Ploch
                                            Children's Chapel in the Library
                                            Main Service (Eucharist, Rite II) in the Church,
                                                    followed by coffee hour

     February  7th,    1:00     Women's Spirituality Group in the Libarary
                              7:30      Vestry meets in the Library

     February 12th  10:00      Children's Chapel in the Library
                                            Main Service (Eucharist, Rite II) in the Church,
                                                    followed by coffee hour
                              3:30      Absalom Jones Service at the Cathedral


Pray for Peace...   There's saber-rattling going on


One of my lifelong friends is a Quaker-Episcopalian, from a Massachusetts family which has given significant support both to a Friends retirement home and to the local Episcopal Church for generations.  When we differ, she leaves me squirming with her critique of our willingness to resort to force and threats of force.

It's happening now.  As I read the web news, I sense a ratcheting up of the language of threats in our dealings with Iran and Syria, a growing conviction that someone "should" or "will soon" attack Iran (whether Israel or the US), a demonizing of our perceived enemies.  There is momentum growing for another intervention (whether by Israel or by the US) which is reminiscent of the pre-Iraq assurances of "Weapons of Mass Destruction."  I remember standing on a bridge in Boston protesting this as President George W. Bush came to town.

It is estimated that the war in Iraq has cost the lives of over 100,000 Iraqis and 4482 American military, that 32,213 US military have been wounded, that over 1.5 million Iraqis are refugees, and that our running total cost has been $704.6 billion.   Can our best and brightest, can Israel's best and brightest, can Iran and Syria's best and brightest, not do a better job for us all this time?

From the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel, teachings on a radical way of living as God's people:

 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?'

Pray, dear friends, for a burst of sanity, a hint of humility, a vision of peace, and the courage to do something new, something godly in this time.

Fairbairn