I’m writing this on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the liturgical calendar. Here are some of my thoughts as I consider what these things mean to our little community and what we’re doing as a congregation in this special season.
We started up our weekly discussion gatherings yesterday. It’s been more than a month since this group was able to get together. Winter weather, snow-packed roads and nasty viruses all conspired to keep us apart. But we determined to meet this Tuesday. Reflecting on our conversation I realize that we didn’t really think about Ash Wednesday. Maybe that could stand as an example of “confession” that IS part of the Ash Wednesday tradition. What we DID talk about just what do the traditional prayers we use in our various services mean. What do we mean when we promise to “take up on us” Jesus name? What are we really doing when we pray the “peace prayer”? Is it enough that we’ve been praying a peace prayer for many, many years?Then we examined our efforts to do more than talk about those things. Our budget, recently passed, includes three items labelled “pursuit of peace.” We took a hard look at those three things and asked ourselves if our intention to pursue peace is actually moving the bar. The three things were support of Encounter World Religions, our bursary in support of music education for young children and our Prayer Shawl ministry.
Encounter recently reported projects to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, police education and the importance of religious literacy in work places, schools, and more. We uphold these things and we continue to support and follow Encounter’s work.
Music education gives young children a tool for finding joy and peace in their own lives and helps model participation and interaction between parents and children and, we hope, promotes peace in families.
Prayer shawls continue to provide that much needed warm hug in time of personal illness or distress and, yes, lack of peace for individuals.
So what do these have to do with Lent? Lent is time of personal reflection and intentional spiritual work. We confess where we have fallen short and work in a mindful way to make necessary change. This is the time we take honest stock of ourselves and repent where we can. We leave behind practices done out of habit only and try to get in synch with our truest, best intentions.
I confess that I didn’t give Lent a thought yesterday, but on reflection I think what we did do can well fit into a Lenten basket. And I hope you’ll join me as we embark on the journey toward Easter with intention and resolve.
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