Rector's Musings: Season of Lent
This Sunday we shall read the story about the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor where the appearance of his face became dazzling white. To some, the experience of God could be a blinding experience. In the Bible, the experience of blindness is always a precursor for deeper discovery and encounter (think about Saul, Bartimaeus, and the blind man in John’s gospel). Could this Lent be a time for you to explore your spiritual blindness and learn seeing things in new ways anointed by the vision of Christ? So here are some invitations for the upcoming season:
Ancient rituals, new expressions: Join me gathering in the church new courtyard following the 10 o’clock service on Sunday to turn last year’s palms to ashes. Palm branches represent the love of God revealed through our misplaced hopes. We shall reflect on what we have learned from our “misplaced hopes” last year. The ashes we made will be used for the ecumenical Ash Wednesday Service at Living Faith Lutheran Church at noon the coming week. Come and experience this powerful symbol of wearing ash on your forehead.
Lenten Fast: giving up chocolate or wine for the sake of your waistline? How about giving up plastic for the sake of the world? Download this Less Plastic for Lent Calendar. Copies also available in the Narthex.
Sign up for a daily meditation: Lent is not Rocket Science: An Exploration of God, Creation, and the Cosmos by Bishop Knisely, who is also a physicist and astronomer. “From the biggest to the smallest phenomena in the universe, this devotional series takes an accessible look at how natural theology can point us to the great mystery and presence of God.
Join a book club or read on your own: 8 people have signed up for the Archbishop’s invite to read Gregory Boyle’s Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. I wonder what it’d take for the whole parish to read a book this season.
Lovingly always,