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
