Transcript:
Greetings, beloved in Christ. I hope that you are well on this day. This coming Wednesday, March 5th is Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our Lenten season. The season of Lent is an ancient Christian observance whereby we are all called to a time of self-examination, of prayer, of fasting and of repentance. In our baptismal covenant in the Episcopal Church, we vow that when we fall into sin, we will repent and return to the Lord. It is our acknowledgement as Church that we all fall short of the glory of God. We all fall short of that ministry to which we have been called. And so we set aside these 40 days to examine as individuals and as community how we have fallen short of our call and how we might live more fully into that call.
Lent is characterized by prayer, and so I invite each and every one of you this Lent to examine your prayer life. When do you pray? How do you pray? Is your prayer life as you’re currently practicing it feeding you? And if not, what might be the catalyst to draw you into deeper conversation and communion with our living God? Lent is also characterized by fasting. Most of us, when we hear the word fasting, we think about abstaining from food. But fasting has a larger connotation. Fasting is an invitation to abstain from anything in your life that is drawing you away from a deeper relationship with our Lord.
For me, this Lent will include a fast from social media. I am fasting from Facebook and Instagram. I will not even be opening those apps on my phone or computer for the 40 days of Lent. I invite you to examine what in your life is drawing you away from peace, is drawing you away from joy, is drawing you away from deep conversations with God and with one another.
Finally, the season of Lent is characterized by generosity. Lent is an opportunity for us to examine the blessings that we have received all that God has given us in these days, and to find a way to pay that forward. To give, to be generous, to exercise that peace of being a blessing to others because it is in giving that we receive. Lent calls us as Church to walk more closely with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to align ourselves with His path. And in this time where there is so much turmoil in our country, where many are suffering, I think it is a prime opportunity for us to remember what it means to be Church. I wish you a blessed Lent.