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February 6th.
2008
LENT:INVITATION AND OPPORTUNITY
With Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday
we begin the most sacred season of our Church year. As it states in the
Ash Wednesday liturgy:
The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's
passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to
prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of
Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for
Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious
sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled
by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the
Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message
of the Gospel of our Savior, and the need which all Christians
continually have to renew their repentance and faith.
I believe at its core Lent is both an invitation and an opportunity. As
we hear in the above words we are both individually and as a faith
community, being invited to be very intentional about preparing
ourselves for that which is ahead of us. Like Jesus' 40 days in the
wilderness, we are invited to spend time wrestling with those things
that separate us: separate us from God, separate us from others and
thereby the community, and separate us from whom God is calling us to
be.
The opportunity that Lent provides is the chance for us to reflect, as
the liturgy states, “put in the mind of the message of the Gospel of our
Savior.” And it is an opportunity for us to “renew (our) repentance and
faith.” - in other words to turn from any direction that leads us away
from that which the Lord is calling us. None of this happens because of
our own volition but will with God's help.
My consistent experience is when we embrace and engage the invitation
and opportunity that this sacred season of Lent provides we truly emerge
on Easter morning with new life in Christ.
May God bless you with a fruitful and faithful Lenten journey.
Blessings,
The Rev. Brian N. Prior, Rector
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