Lent - Week 1; Day 1

Today is an overview of what we're going to be doing for the next 6 weeks.  The brothers at the Society of St. John the Evangelist have a program called The 5 Marks of Love.  Today's video gives an outline of the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion as defined in 1984.  They are:

1. Proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God; 
2. Teaching, baptizing, and nurturing new believers; 
3. Responding to human need by loving service; 
4. Transforming unjust structures, challenging violence of every kind, and pursuing peace and reconciliation; and 
5. Striving to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustaining and renewing the life of the earth.

Now, these are the work of the church in the world, but what I want you to do is think about first, your own church and community.  Are you fulfilling these missions?  What are you, personally, doing to contribute to these missions?  And finally, what could you do to make these missions more of a focus in your own life, in the life of our church, in the community in which you live?

So this week, start writing out your assignment, which will result in a letter to God that you'll write out in full on Saturday to share as you see fit.  Guidance for the assignment is:  "Slowly writing out our words of love for another person can be a meditative practice that connects us in a deep way. This week, spend some time hand-writing a letter to God.  What would you say? How might you express your love for God in words?"  There is also additional guidance at the video link above if you want to get started on it early.