Lenten Practices in the Episcopal Church

Our own Rev. Pattiann Bennett made several suggestions this past Sunday on Lenten practices.  Here are some links for some indepth looks at some of them:

Fasting -The practice of fasting and how it can be done regarding your food.  Our priest also recommended fasting from a particular attitude that does not serve anyone's best interests.

Liturgy of the Hours -Interestingly, a recent study came out stating that we don't actually sleep best with an 8-hour sleep cycle.  During a time when life wasn't quite so hectic, nor computers and lights so readily available, people would sleep in a 4-2-4 cycle, where within that 2 hour break, one would take care of babies, pray the hours, and do whatever else married people might get up to in the middle of the night, before sleeping again for another 4 hours.  Perhaps taking a look at your own busy life might be a method of allowing you to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

40 Ideas for Lent - Sick of giving up chocolate or cookies for Lent? Looking for some new ways to do things differently this year? Check in over the next 40 days and 40 nights for creative ideas to take you from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday.

Lenten Reading Plan -This is the Church Fathers reading plan - the language can get a bit formal and dry, but it is interesting to see what has changed over the millenia.

Love Life, Live Lent - Provides the inspiration to live Lent in a way that is spiritually enriching and will transform the world. It encourages people to be generous, think of others and make a difference, without giving up chocolate!' An initiative of the Church of England Archbishops' Council.

Meditations - From the members of St. Paul's in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Burying the Alleluia - Holy Trinitarians all seem to have difficulty with this one. :)

Please add your own ideas or practices.

Baptism - Water or Holy Spirit?

As Reverend Katerina Whitley states in her sermon for this week:

Jesus comes like all the other people who come to John, and is baptized. God arrives to us without fanfare, in the ordinariness of our lives, and we don’t recognize him. He comes enfleshed, from distant, unimportant Nazareth – not from the significant city of Jerusalem, but from Nazareth! Jesus enters the waters as a human being and emerges from the waters with the unshakable assurance that he is God’s Son, the Beloved.

 As we see in Mark 1:11, God provides a private assurance to His Son that, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." 

How many of us have been baptized in Holy Spirit, as Paul describes in Acts 19:1-7?  How many have received gifts of the holy spirit, described in Corinthians 12:7-11?

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

 How many are believed when we receive that private assurance from God that we have received those gifts?  And how many of us acknowledge that we have received them?  Explored how we might use them in service to God and His creations?  How many deny their gifts, and act as if they have been baptized with water?

The readings this week lead to a fascinating contemplation of why Jesus chose to be baptized with water; why God made His assurance to His Son a private one; and how many of us accept the baptism by the Holy Spirit when we receive it. 

Naming Day!

Today would, by tradition of the Church celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas, be Christ's naming day, or Bris/Berit Mila.  When a parent gives a child a name, the parent is giving the child a connection to previous generations.  As we see in Matthew, Chapter 1, Jesus comes from a long line of notable people in history.  The Bris, Berit Mila must take place for an infant boy at eight days of age. If this is performed before the child is eight days old, it is not considered valid. The reasoning behind waiting for eight days is that everything was created in seven days. When a child is eight days old, the child has surpassed the physical world and entered a world far more spiritual. Mila is a sacred religious rite and not merely a hygienic practice. The Jewish parents accept this as a normal part of life.

"Jesus" is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), itself a hellenization of the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yĕhōšuă‘, Yeshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘), both meaning God delivers or God rescues.

Names are important in the Bible, both when self-taken (the change from Saul (meaning responded or prayed for) to Paul (meaning small or humbled)), and when changed by God (Abram (biblical patriarch) to Abraham (father of multitudes); Sarai (my princess) to Sarah (princess)).  At this start of this New Year, think about what your name means - and what you want it to stand for.  How would *you* like to be known in history?

Christ in Christmas

This week's reflection came from Linda Pepe, and the whole thing is well worth reading.  But I wanted to post the couple of paragraphs that deal with the topic if keeping Christ in Christmas:

Christ IS Christmas... and regardless of whether we show up at the door in the middle of the night after a divine encounter with a host of angels, or shuffle through the whole experience more concerned about coffee and gastric distress, Christmas will always be about Christ. And we can commercialize it or Santa-ize it, or bake through it or shop through it… but we still can’t TAKE Christ out of Christmas…



And do you know why? Because Christ can’t take YOU out of Christmas… you are the reason there IS a Christmas- you’re the reason that Jesus was sent here the first place- because of God’s great love for you…because of God’s love for US! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son!” For God so loved each one of us… because God loved, Jesus came to earth- bringing with him the foundations of everything he knows- love, joy, hope…

So Merry Christmas!  May it be exactly as you wished it to be, or exactly as you made it to be.  May you notice and welcome the gift of the Christ child.

Christmas Eve for the Homebound

General Seminary was selected to produce the nation-wide Christmas Eve program for CBS-TV this year.  You can tune in to your local affiliate at 11:35 p.m. to bring in Christmas Episcopal style.

Change

At this time of year, when so many of us are both watching every penny and wanting to share all that's in our hearts, this video is a wonderful reminder to appreciate the little things, and to know that it doesn't take a lot to make a difference in someone's life.

The Choice

Reverend PattiAnn Bennett pointed out in her sermon tonight that each individual has a similar choice to Mary.  Not discounting, of course, Mary's contribution to becoming the mother of the Christ child, but rather her choice to accept this as God's will - her statement in Luke, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

How often are we, as individuals, guided to do something, give something, provide something for someone else?  And how often do we make the choice to say, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."?

PattiAnn went on to describe several instances this past week where people have stepped up, "Here am I," and the Lord has provided people specially suited to their gifts - a family of 6 with frozen pipes, no money for many essentials, and much need received groceries, wood to burn, necessities and a coupon for the makings of Christmas dinner.  Their Wood Bank at St. Michael's and All Angels in Eureka is now a reality as people made the choice to aid those in their community by chopping wood, stacking, loading and unloading trucks to be delivered.

So when we're given an opportunity to be of service to our fellow man, will we follow Mary's example?