Corona Light-Walkers

Almighty God, 

through the waters of baptism 

your Son has made us children of light. 

May we ever walk in his light 

and show forth your glory in the world; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, now and for ever. (BAS p291)

…the Collect (or prayer of the day/week) for the Fourth Sunday of Lent in most Canadian Anglican Churches. It is one of the Collects featured in “A Collection of Disciplines for Lent,” a “devotional” I prepared for the current issue of Taste and See…, Anglican Renewal Ministries Canada’s quarterly magazine (to subscribe go to www.armcanada.org). 

Having written it, I feel obliged to follow it. Following it forces me to ask myself some demanding questions about how I am living my life. When I do these things certain phrases light up for me. For example, “May we ever walk in his light” brought the idea of being a Light-Walker into my mind. Which, in turn, conjured up a bit of a jumble of rather grandiose Star Wars and Lord of the Rings imagery and with that, of course, St Paul: 

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. (1Thes5.5)

We are Light-Walkers all: illumined by, bathed in, refracting and reflecting the lovely Light of Jesus, the LIght of the World and bravely showing forth his glory all around. 

When I wrote the “Collection of Disciplines” the coronavirus was not the thing that it has become. As I pondered Light-Walking I remembered that a corona is much more than just a virus. A corona is the glowing envelope of light which surrounds the sun, the moon and the stars but which is only visible during an eclipse. We Light-Walkers are to be the glowing corona-like light of Jesus enveloping and warming all who live in fear and are suffering because of the viral, crepuscular eclipse of normal life and freedom visited on us in the pandemic. 

And not only that, a corona is also a crown. Not only are we Light-Walkers showing forth the glories of the life-giving corona light of Jesus, but we are to worship and proclaim him as our heaven crowned King of kings and LORD of Lords (Rev19.16) before whom no mere virus, or anything else, can stand. 

Love in Jesus,

Gene+

Going Faster: Autumn Solemn Ember Day of Prayer and Fasting Two

Autumn Solemn Ember Day of Prayer and Fasting two, but not really because it is bumped by the Feast Day of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist—I’m going to treat it as Solemn Ember anyway because of my devotional OCD-ness. And since I know that Jesus said when I fast I’m not to look gloomy or disfigure my face, or, presumably, draw attention to myself so that my (extremely spiritual) fasting may be seen or known about by others like you, dear reader, I’d better not refer to it lest I lose my reward (Mt6.16-18). 

I don’t like it. Fasting, I mean. I usually feel a bit of a fraud with my not-quite-24-hour-Solemn-Ember-Day efforts during which I forgo just breakfast and lunch. Judy, my wife, says it would be more meaningful for me to give up coffee than food for the day. Sigh. I felt convicted, so today I’m drinking it without milk or cream. Black (like my spirit-of-religion heart, no doubt). 

Oops. There goes my reward. O well, there’s always tomorrow (did I just lose it again?)…

But then, I’m not supposed to like it. I afflicted myself with fasting wrote King David in Psalm 35.13. Afflicted—to cause pain or suffering to; affect or trouble. Perhaps my self-imposed version of affliction is too light and momentary (2Cor4.17). LORD, have mercy. But it does remind me of what I’m about on these Ember Days. Every hunger pang reminds me to pray, of what I’m asking God to do and that I’m totally and absolutely dependent on Him for help. 

Why bother? Because the Church is beleaguered without and within. There are scandals from the Roman Catholics to Willow Creek. Our Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) is in numerical decline in attendance and finances. In just ten months General Synod 2019 will vote on a momentous doctrinal change to our marriage canon. Earnest, heart-felt, prayer (and fasting) is vital and much needed. 

Please join us. 

Gene+

Putting On the Armour of Light: Advent Ember Days of Prayer and Fasting for the Anglican Church—Prayers at Mid-Day

One of them in the BCP is this:

And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.
BLESSED Saviour, who at this hour didst hang upon the cross stretching out thy loving arms: Grant that all mankind may look unto thee and be saved; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. (p16)

Saving faith for all is the goal. Pray for our church to be a fruitful part of that.

Gene+

Putting On the Armour of Light: Advent Ember Days of Prayer and Fasting for the Anglican Church—Day Three

Well this will reveal the super spiritual saints among us! Who fasts two days from Christmas? And the awful thing is, even if we we are feeling a little full of ourselves because we do, we can’t tell anyone lest we lose our reward! (Mt 6.16-18) Sigh.

Fasting, or not, do take some time—at least a moment—to pray for the Anglican Church of Canada today—it’s people, its leaders—present and future, its Synods and councils. Pray that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to reign over us with truth and grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

For readings and other resources see yesterday’s post.

May your Advent waiting and Ember Days Prayer (and Fasting) be rewarded with the renewed presence of Jesus himself—extra bright, palpable and unmistakable—in your Christmas worship and in your celebrations with family and friends.

Gene+

Putting On the Armour of Light: Advent Ember Days of Prayer and Fasting for the Anglican Church—Day Two of Three

Today is the second of the three Advent Ember Days of Solemn prayer and fasting for the Church (See the post on the first day here). 

The rubrics for THE ADVENT EMBER DAYS BEING THE WEDNESDAY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT state the following: 

On Ember Days the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, page 210, shall always be used first. (BCP p100)

This is the Collect to which they refer: 

ALMIGHTY God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers Orders in thy Church: Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same; and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue them with innocency of life, that they may faithfully serve before thee, to the glory of thy great Name, and to the benefit of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p210)

For the purposes of our vigil for the Church, this is an excellent prayer, not only for those “called to any office and administration,” but we can also use it for those who presently hold such offices—our bishops, priests, deacons and lay folk, especially when they are called together as members of synods. Doctrinal truth and innocency of life would be of great help in keeping us safely in God’s will. 

The Collect for Advent (BCP p95, BAS p268) is also a good classic prayer for the Church for such a time as this. We need to be both alert enough to identify the works of darkness which threaten to lead us astray and which need to be cast away, and to be awake enough to recognize the armour of light which is available to us. 

Add to that, the PRAYERS FOR THE CHURCH, number 7, For General, Provincial, or Diocesan Synods (BCP p42—if you don’t have a BCP, you can download it by following the link here: http://www.anglican.ca/about/liturgicaltexts/). 

Assigned readings for these Ember Days can be found here. Note the link to BCP readings also. Pray and not lose heart!(Lk 18.1)

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 30—Blood of Christ, Inebriate Me

Jesus speaks of difficulty, impossibility, leaving family behind and the first coming last in the St James Devotional Guide Matthew 19 (vv23-30) reading this morning. Hard, sacrificial, impossible things. And yet, I prayed in Morning Prayer:

May we walk this day in the way of the cross
and always be ready to share its weight,
declaring your love for all the world.

That’s a Lenten leaning I hadn’t thought of. Being ready for some of the weight of the cross of Jesus to lean on me. Heavy. Difficult. Impossible without God. I thought I’d be doing all the leaning and Jesus would be doing all the supporting.

More blood this morning, too. In the shorter Prayer During the Day liturgy for Passiontide, this:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me,
body of Christ, save me,
blood of Christ, inebriate me,
water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me:
hide me within your wounds
and never let me be separated from you.
From the wicked enemy defend me,
in the hour of my death, call me
and bid me come to you,
so that with your saints I may praise you
for ever and ever.
Amen.                          Anima Christi (14th century)

Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Now there’s another difficult, seemly impossible thing. I can’t imagine getting tipsy on the blood of Jesus—for blood to be a joy—to be that blood thirsty. And yet…

Kathleen Norris, in her book, The Cloister Walk (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996) writes of Diane Glancy, a poet, who “loves Christianity because it is a ‘blood religion’” (p154). And in Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998) she quotes Rubén Martínez who

cheerfully describes himself as "not just a cultural Catholic, mind you, but a flesh-eating, blood-drinking practitioner of the faith" (p113-114).

I drink blood, too—well, sip it, actually. On Sunday mornings. Sometimes when I had to consume a little too much left over consecrated wine after the celebration of the Eucharist, I felt slightly inebriated. But that's not what the prayer is about. It's about another "impossible" thing—being glad hearted (Ps 104.15) enough to lose my inhibitions so that the weight of the cross leaning on me will declare to the world the love of Jesus.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 29—There Will Be Blood

The Church of England’s Daily Prayer in Lent has a set of prayers and canticles which resonate with the penitential feel of the season. At first they are fresh and new. After twenty eight days I was just getting to the stage where I felt as if I had squeezed about as much juice from them as I could. Just as I was resigning myself to having to hunker down into more serious Lenten discipline, and as Daylight Savings kicked in, so did Passiontide in the CofE’s calendar!

Things are fresh again. Just in time. Still have to hunker down, but not out of boredom. For the remaining days of Lent, the cross looms larger and there will be blood.

For example, the Morning Prayer Canticle, A Song of the Lord’s Gracious Deeds, from Isaiah 63, asks,

1 Who is this that comes from Edom, •
coming from Bozrah, his garments stained crimson?
2 Who is this in glorious apparel, •
marching in the greatness of his strength?
3 ‘It is I, who announce that right has won the day, •
it is I,’ says the Lord, ‘for I am mighty to save.’
4 Why are your robes all red, O Lord, •
and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?
5 ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, •
and from the peoples no one was with me.’
6 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, •
the praises of the Most High;
7 All that God has done for us in his mercy, •
by his many acts of love.

…mighty to save, blood stained and alone sounds like Jesus. But then I noticed that the Canticle skips a couple of verses of Isaiah’s biblical text between verses 5 and 6. Isaiah wrote:

            3 …I trod them in my anger
      and trampled them in my wrath;
                  their lifeblood spattered on my garments,
      and stained all my apparel.
            4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
      and my year of redemption had come.
            5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
      I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
                  so my own arm brought me salvation,
      and my wrath upheld me.
            6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
      I made them drunk in my wrath,
      and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” (Isaiah 63:3–6 ESV)

What’s that about? The blood on the robes didn’t come from Jesus. On the face of it, it looks like inappropriate proof-texting and editing in the Canticle, but as I’m reflecting on it, I realize that leaning into Lent is not like leaning into a nice soft pillow. Leaning into Lent forces me to face up to the hard, sharp, bloody reality of sin—my own and in the world around me.

Passiontide brings me face to face with the reality of God’s righteous wrath, expiation, propitiation and the hard, sharp, death-dealing, bloody, yet life-giving work that had to be done by Jesus to put things right.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 28—Holding Fast

Jesus says marriage makes a woman and a man into “one flesh” in The St James Devotional Guide’s Matthew passage this morning (Mt 19.1-10). God does the joining. I do the holding fast and resisting any hardness of heart.

Observing a Holy Lent by self examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and reading and meditating on the Word of God helps with that. Honest acknowledgment of my selfish, sinful ways, saying I’m sorry, praying for and with my wife, sacrificial (as opposed to “martyrish”) doing without for her sake that of the family, giving generously of my time and substance and allowing the Bible to set my standards will make me the best husband I can be. My natural sinful tendency to hard-heartedness will be thwarted as I am equipped to hold fast to my wife in a healthy life-giving way which will not oppress, control or smother her. We lean closer together in mutual submission, love and support.

These days, more and more couples are deciding that marriage is out-dated and no longer necessary. They believe that they can hold fast to one another in the strength of their love and that no ritual is necessary to seal the deal. But if they are ever to reach the truest and deepest one-fleshedness, they need divine help. According to Jesus, God the Father is the only one capable of the divine sacramental welding job that results in two separate, delightfully and alluringly different but complementary beings becoming one flesh. The first might do, but the second is infinitely better.

Just so, I can be a mature and devout Christian without observing Lent. But when I do make the effort, I place myself in blessing’s way and in the spiritual disciplines I hold fast to Jesus. As hardness of heart is revealed and softened, God the Father joins us together in one spirit and nothing, not even death, can part us.

A Holy Lent leans me safe into the arms of mother church—the Bride of Christ—her history, life and teaching. We await the Bridegroom’s return together.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 27—Turning It Up

Jesus, God the Father said, is “my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him” (Lk 9.35 ESV). Lenten disciplines are excellent spiritual ear incliners for listening to Jesus.

The night before last I went with my son and some friends to an Ian Fletcher Thornley concert in Calgary. I mentioned it in my earlier Leaning Into Lent: Day 19—Blown Wide Open post. He is a brilliant guitarist and composer. The trouble was, for my old ears anyway, the band’s wall of sound was too much. Even with ear plugs (not hi-tech ones, granted), it was so loud it caused my ears to “break up” like an overloaded speaker. I couldn’t discern individual instruments properly or hear the lyrics. It was muddy and overwhelming.

I was fascinated to hear that it was loud but not too loud for my younger companions. They thought it was a good mix. So the problem was obviously mine—the product of the too loud a volume portion of my mis-spent youth. It was hard listening so I wanted to lean away. Sigh.

Holy Lent listening to God can be hard, too. Up to now in my far from consistent or faithful life of listening to the Lord, I’ve never been blasted like I was at Thornley’s concert the other night or like Isaiah was when the foundations of the thresholds shook and house was filled with smoke (Isa 6.4—that must have been quite a concert). I’ve never needed spiritual ear-plugs. I’ve had the opposite problem. I need things louder. I need the Lord’s sound man to turn it up and do a clean mix for me to hear anything at all and even then, most often God’s word comes to me in something like Elijah’s mere whis of a whisper on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19.12 ESV).

The thing is, if God did decide to let loose with the lights and smoke and all, it would be much, much bigger than any concert and would, no doubt, blow my ears out and me away. In his mercy, God’s audio comes divinely attenuated in a mysterious and minimalist mix which is exactly tuned for my old ears. My job is to lean close and keep listening, whether I think I hear anything or not. God, the Father, said so.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 26—More or Less…

Leaning into Lent orders my leanings aright. Observing the Lenten spiritual disciplines helps me to trust in the LORD with more and more of my heart so I will lean less and less on my own understanding. There are benefits. As I acknowledge the LORD in more and more of my ways; for example, in my relationship with my wife, in making time available for spiritual disciplines and service, in my sexuality, in church-going, in my finances; the straighter he will make my paths. As I trust in and fear (in the healthy Biblical sense) the LORD in every aspect of my life, not relying on any wisdom which appears to come from what I see with my own in-a-mirror-dimly (1 Cor 13.12) eyes, while turning away from evil, it will be healing to my flesh and refreshment to my bones (Prov 3:5-8).

What, specifically, in Daily Prayer builds that trust in the LORD so I can lean less on my own understanding?  These, in Morning Prayer, for a start:

In the darkness of our sin,
your light breaks forth like the dawn
and your healing springs up for deliverance. (Opening Prayer of Thanksgiving)

Full of compassion and mercy and love
is God, the Most High, the Almighty.
Lord almighty and God of our ancestors, •
you who made heaven and earth in all their glory:
All things tremble with awe at your presence, •
before your great and mighty power.
Immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy, •
for you are God, Most High.
You are full of compassion, long-suffering and very merciful, •
and you relent at human suffering.
O God, according to your great goodness, •
you have promised forgiveness for repentance
to those who have sinned against you. (From The Song of Manasseh)

And in Evening Prayer:

In the darkness of our sin you have shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. (Opening Prayer of Thanksgiving)

He has mercy on those who fear him, •
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm •
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones •
and lifting up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things •
and sent the rich away empty. (The Magnificat—The Song of Mary)

These excerpts provide a potent list of saving acts that God has done, is doing and will do. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is most worthy of our trust.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 25—Unless…

Millstone Image from here

Jesus said unless I turn and become childlike I will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18.3). The spiritual disciplines of an Holy Lent are designed to dismantle my prideful, “adult” delusions of grandeur revealing my true healthy, humble, God-given childlike self.

What would I be like if I was childlike? I would play more and be joyful. I would be mischievous. I would be dependant on others for food, clothing, shelter, protection and learning about what is right and wrong. I would be growing and learning exponentially. I would be innocent.

Holy Lent disciplines help with all that. Self examination and penitence help with the mischief, innocence and knowing what is right and wrong. Prayer establishes God’s place in my life and my dependent place in his. Fasting also reminds me of my dependence as does Almsgiving, which also teaches me to share and be playful (or cheerful—2 Cor 9.7) in generosity. Reading and meditating on the Word of God grows me and teaches me.

Jesus goes on in the next few verses to describe a blessing and a warning to my adult self concerning my responsibilities towards children.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me (Mt 18.5)

May my Lenten discipline make me more open and welcoming to children, especially in church. But,

Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin…(Mt 18.6)

…the consequences are not good. What are some ways I could cause a little one to sin? I could teach them by my example that such things as worshipping God in church, forgiving and loving my neighbour and tithing, are optional—good if I have the time, but not necessary. I could teach them that it doesn’t matter what they believe as long as they are “spiritual” and believe something. I could teach them in word and deed that what the Bible calls sin, is not.

Or I could just tie a millstone around my neck and try and drag it to the nearest body of water.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 24—Out of Hiding

I read this in A Song of Entreaty, from Psalm 143, in Evening Prayer yesterday:

3 My spirit faints within me; •
my heart within me is desolate.
4 I stretch out my hands to you; •
my soul gasps for you like a thirsty land.
5 O Lord, make haste to answer me; my spirit fails me; •
hide not your face from me
lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.

I don’t feel as if my spirit is fainting or failing, that my heart is desolate, or that I’m gasping at the moment. Thanks be to God. But these verses remind me that there are those who do feel that way so I can pray for them. Neither do I feel like God has hidden his face from me even though I don’t feel his presence most of the time and I’m hardly ever aware of what God is up to at any given moment. After all, as I also read, in one of the Psalms for the day:

The hidden purpose of the Lord is for those who fear him •
and he will show them his covenant. (Ps 25.13)

The fact is, God’s ways and thoughts are so far and away higher than mine (Isa 55.9), that to my tiny mind God is pretty well always hidden. The five dollar word for that is inscrutable.

Observing a Holy Lent, however, isn’t so much about God being hidden as it is about me being so. When Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day after they had sampled the forbidden fruit, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees. So the Lord God had to call, “Where are you?” (Gen 3.8-9) and that has been his call ever since.

I sin and I hide in the weeds. Self examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, reading and meditating on the Word of God lifts my head above the weeds so I can say, “Here I am,” and we can walk and talk together again.

Then, if there is ever any hiding to be done. The Lord God can do it for me and keep me safe.

Keep me as the apple of your eye.
Hide me under the shadow of your wings. (From Ps 17 in Night Prayer)

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 23—Never Again

These are good lines to pray:

In the tender compassion of our God •
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, •
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

They’re from The Benedictus in Morning Prayer. With my Lenten self examination comes the realization that the darkness in which I dwell is not as dark as that in which some others do—Iraqi and Syrian Christians, for example. Death’s shadow seems to be leaning over others more closely than over me.

Those lines remind me of others in a song my son wrote and recorded with a friend under the name Bluff: Never Again.

Hey, son
You’re falling down
It's ripping out
My heart again 

What's with this
Horror in the
Corridors of the place we're in 

Spirits broken
Religion spoken
Bodies they're piling high.  

One day comes
Dark horizons
Good men stand up go inside 

Dark souls come
sorrow laden
Deal the world her final blow

The song is the cry of two young fathers’ hearts concerned about the savage and deathly dark shadow religious extremism casts over the future and their young families.

How shall I respond from a Holy Lent observed? I don’t walk away and ignore it like the good men in the song who stand up and go inside—unless, of course, it is to pray I go there. And I pray without losing heart (Lk 18.1). The Anglican offices such as those offered by the Church of England are brilliant for that. So are the ones in our own Canadian Book of Common Prayer and Book of Alternative Services (the texts of which are both online here). I can lean on them in my devotions because I know nothing important will be missed. I also know, as the song goes, that one day,

When it's alright
I'll come out again
Right at the end

And all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well, no matter what.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 22—Leaning into the Curves

This is a painting in progress by one of my brothers, Devon, of a motorcycle racer leaning into a curve at high speed (see more, along with works by my other brother Don, my nephew Dean and my son Anthony at PackwoodART).

Those of you who have ridden a motorcycle, or a a bicycle for that matter, will know that there is some leaning required in order to negotiate bends or corners. In fact, if you’ve ever ridden a motorcycle or motor scooter with a nervous pillion passenger behind you who tries not to lean on corners, you know how destabilizing and even dangerous that can be. Effective cycle or scooter leaning comes from learning to “feel” for what’s going on as I move and the confidence to know I’m not going to fall over and bite the dust.

I have also learned that when I’m moving, I can safely lean further over than I can when I’m stationary. If I’m in motion, leaning actually helps me to negotiate curves and bends with ease, enjoyment and even exhilaration.

Leaning into Lent is the same. It gets me moving in my spiritual walk, helps me negotiate the twists and turns safely and without falling over and hurting myself or anyone else.

So, this morning I leaned into The Benedictus praying:

Guide our feet into the way of peace

In Evening Prayer’s opening hymn I ask the Lord to help me negotiate the treacherous hairpin corners of darkness and perplexity:

Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray;
through darkness and perplexity
point thou the heavenly way.

And in the Collect I asked for divine help in leaning into “the way of the cross,” that I “may find it none other than the way of life and peace.”

It is a race I’m running (Heb 12.1) and so are you. But I’m not travelling anywhere near as fast as the racer in Devon’s painting. And, like the painting, I’m not finished yet. I don’t know that I’ll ever have to travel as fast or lean over quite as far as the racers do, but if I do, I know it will be exhilarating—only I’ll be as safe as houses.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 21—Lent, Collectively

Prayer is one of the six spiritual disciplines of an Holy Lent so I thought I’d step aside from the Daily Office for a day and review what we’ve prayed in our Sunday Collects (in The Book of Alternative Services) since Ash Wednesday—a collective assessment at the half way point of Lent.

Each Collect has an introduction which makes an important theological statement about the Christian faith. To believe and appropriate them strengthens us. Here they are so far:

ASH WEDNESDAY
God despises nothing he has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent.

FIRST SUNDAY
Jesus, God’s son, was tempted as we are but did not sin.

SECOND SUNDAY
Jesus was revealed in majesty and suffered death on the cross.

THIRD SUNDAY
alone we have no power to help ourselves and that weakness can be discouraging.

After declaring those truths, this is what we’ve asked of the Almighty and everlasting God, our Gracious Father of Mercy so far:

Create and make in us new and contrite hearts,
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our brokenness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness. (Ash Wednesday) 

Give us grace to discipline ourselves
in submission to your Spirit,
that as you know our weakness,
so we may know your power to save (First Sunday) 

Give us faith to perceive his (that is, Jesus’) glory,
that being strengthened by his grace
we may be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory (Second Sunday) 

When we are discouraged by our weakness,
strengthen us to follow Christ,
our pattern and our hope (Third Sunday)

Lord willing, so far this Lent, we will be receiving perfect remission and forgiveness, grace, and knowledge of God’s power to save. We will also be changing into the likeness of Jesus from glory to glory as we are being strengthened, all through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 20—Odd Leanings

Jesus said

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 

in the Evening Prayer reading from John 8 (31-32). That’s what continuing our reading and meditating on the Word of God Lenten spiritual discipline can do for me. Make me free.

As we come to know that truth, it will also make us "odd," wrote author, Flannery O’Connor. The non-believing people around us will see us as having an odd and irrational leaning into religion, superstition and outmoded moral standards.

Or, we might be tempted to lean too far the other way. Thirty years ago I read something Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon wrote in their book, Resident Aliens, which has stuck with me ever since: in their effort to be relevant to the surrounding culture many Christians have leaned so far over that they’ve fallen in.

The fact is, I need to be aware of which way I’m leaning, and why. Is my leaning bringing me closer to Jesus, or taking me further away? Am I fitting into the culture too well, or maintaining some salty oddness—enough to be tasty and different in an intriguing way.

The danger is, just as Ian Fletcher Thornley’s character yesterday “thought” he’d put away the things that could come back and blow him wide open, if I pay too little attention I, too, can “think” the things that could trip me up have been put away and dealt with. Better for me not to just “think” I’ve put things away. A Holy Lent’s spiritual disciplines manage my leanings and help me to be sure.

Today we’re half way home.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 19—Blown Wide Open

A week today, Lord willing, I’m going with Anthony, my son, and some friends to see Ian Fletcher Thornley (lately of the band Big Wreck) in concert in Calgary. I admire his guitar playing. Today I happened across one of his songs on YouTube. It’s called Blown Wide Open on his SECRETS album. I enjoyed it so I looked up the lyrics. Here’s a sample:

So I'm all surrounded

By the things I thought I put away…

And there's a pile in the closet

That's where I threw some yesterday

Maybe under the rug

That's where I swept some the other day

So the mess is drawing forces

Outside I hear them say

Just come out with your hands up

So we can blow you away

And I walk out the door

Get blown wide open

By the things I put away

And I wasn't even warned

Just blown wide open

Now the mess is where I lay

I was fascinated by how closely Thornley’s lyrics align with the sentiments in Morning Prayer’s Psalm 38 today. David describes a very similar state of affairs:  

3 There is no health in my flesh

because of your indignation; 

there is no peace in my bones because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; 

their weight is a burden too heavy to bear. R

5 My wounds stink and fester 

because of my foolishness.

6 I am utterly bowed down and brought very low.

I go about mourning all the day long. 

7 My loins are filled with searing pain;

There is no health in my flesh. 

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;

I roar aloud because of the disquiet of my heart.

I was also fascinated by how closely the character's dilemma in Thornley's song resembles my, and probably your, struggle with sin. If I allow them to, my sins pile up, not only in my closet and under the rug, but completely over my head! My foolishness and carelessness cause them to stink and fester. I am brought very low, there is searing pain, “the mess” draws forces and gathers dark energy with The Enemy’s help until one day, unless I take action, I’m called out, blown wide open and away.  Not a happy ending. 

The solution? Unlike the character in Thornley's song, I've been warned. So have you. The honest self examination of a Holy Lent which brings everything out of the closet and from under the rug into the light of day so they can be confessed, repented of and any evil or toxic forces “the mess” has drawn are rendered harmless. 

Leaning Into Lent: Day 18—On Being a Leaning Fence

A Leaning Fence, Port Chalmers, NZ

Life is complicated. We’re reading through the Genesis story of Joseph in Morning Prayer just now. After being sold into slavery by his brothers, unjustly imprisoned for four years after resisting Potiphar’s wife’s advances, and finally being reunited with his family (after getting up to a little mischief with his brothers), you’d think that the Lord would have let things settle right down so he could just relax. But no, when it came time for his father, Israel, to bless Joseph’s sons, Manassah and Ephraim, the old man crossed his hands (Gen 48.14) and leaned in an unexpected direction giving Ephraim, the younger son, what should have been Manasseh, the firstborn’s, blessing. It was Esau and Jacob déjà vu all over again. God seemed to be picking the “wrong” one.

The lenten lesson for me is—

1. expect God to do the unexpected
2. to take his own good, and usually very lengthy, time to do it and 
3. that I won’t necessarily like it. 

How shall I respond? Self examination, penitence, prayer… Self examination, penitence, prayer… Self exam…

Evening Prayer’s Psalm 62 arrives just in time:

3 How long will all of you assail me to destroy me,
as you would a tottering wall or a leaning fence? 

How long will doubts, and what-ifs, and guilt, and things I wish I’d done, or not, and things I’d hoped for which didn’t come to pass, and on and on, assail me and push me even further away and over in my leaning? If I allow my dissatisfaction with God’s will and timing to get the better of me, my “leaning fence” self may give way completely and fall. This morning’s reading from Hebrews includes a stern warning about how that can turn out (Heb 6.4-6).

Self examination, penitence, prayer… Self examination, penitence, prayer… Self exam…reading and meditating on the Word of God…Psalm 62 again:

1 On God alone my soul in stillness waits; •
from him comes my salvation.
…
5 Wait on God alone in stillness, O my soul; •
for in him is my hope.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, •
my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken. R
7 In God is my strength and my glory; •
God is my strong rock; in him is my refuge.
8 Put your trust in him always, my people; •
pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.

Just as well.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 17—Repent or Perish

Jesus said, “Repent…or perish!” twice within three verses of the gospel at church yesterday. He was commenting on the fate of some unfortunates who had been killed by Pilate, and eighteen others killed by a falling tower in Siloam, before going on to talk about giving a fruitless fig tree a load of manure and another year to produce some fruit, or else (Luke 13.1-9).

Before that we heard one of the Apostle Paul’s typically trenchant warnings to the wayward Corinthian flock (1 Cor 10.1-13). God was “not pleased” with most of the Children of Israel, he wrote, “all” of whom had enjoyed the wonders of the spiritual food and drink that came from Jesus, the rock that followed them. Despite those great blessings, most of them “desired evil” anyway and treacherously indulged in idolatry, sexual immorality, putting Christ to the test and complaining.  “These things,” he added, “occurred as an example” to the Corinthians—and to us.

Sobering words causing me to check to see if I am guilty of any evil-desiring leanings. For example and in particular:

1. Idolatry usually has to do with attractive, even good, things. The tree in the middle of the garden of Eden was “good for food” and “a delight to the eyes” (Gen 3.6).  Idolatry “means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing.”  (Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Plan for the World) It means turning a good thing into something I want and depend on more than God. 
2. Are any thoughts or actions leaning me away from sound biblical sexual morality? 
3. Am I leaning on any wilful behaviour or belief which puts the grace of Jesus to the test?
4. Am I grumbling about my lot and thinking that God has short changed me in any way?  

It’s Lent; an excellent God-given time to watch out to see whether I’m actually standing anywhere near upright, straight and true, or whether I'm teetering perilously close to a fall because of my disordered appetites, evil desires and leanings (1 Cor 10.12).

Leaning Into Lent: Day 16—the Key of the Day and the Lock of the Night

It’s George Herbert, Priest and Poet, day and Lenten silent retreat day at StB. Our retreat meditations are based on a quote from one of Herbert’s poems: “Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.”

The Key of the Day

Each day the opening prayer in the contemporary version of the CofE’s Morning Prayer goes like this:

The night has passed,
and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.

That’s a good “key of the day” prayer. It causes a day to lie open before us. George Herbert was right.

To begin a day prayerlessly leaves it closed. The day and its possibilities will be limited to my own puny consciousness, will and selfish appetites. Rejoicing will be stifled. The light of God’s presence is dimmed to a mere shadow; something crepuscular and inward looking. Hearts, which might have been on fire with love for Jesus, do not ignite. Love, which properly should be warmly directed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus in the Power of the Holy Spirit is refracted and reflected by the shards of my own distorted and sinful house of mirrors. The day becomes a maze which I must try and negotiate in my own strength using my own limited through-a-glass-darkly vision. Alone. Same for you.

If I want my day to lie open before me and welcoming; a gift of God in which to rejoice; my heart on fire with love for God, as George Herbert said, prayer is the key.

The Lock of the Night

Why does the night need a lock? Years ago I remember reading about why the time around supper time is often fraught for mothers with children. It’s because it is the primordial time when night starts to loom and there is a visceral dis-ease because we’re all afraid of the dark and it’s coming closer. So the children get skittish and irritating, mothers and fathers get impatient and cranky. The bogey man draws near. Something wicked this way comes. So we want to lock the doors, close the gates, set the watch and keep the enemy out.

How do we protect our souls, safe and sound, from those dark nights?

Compline (derived from the Latin completorium, the completion of the working day), or Night Prayer, is a good, strong, devotional combination lock that addresses that primal fear and leans us in the right direction. “The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end,” are the very first words. And soon after,

Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep. 

From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread underfoot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.

We finish with prayers like this:

Visit this place, O Lord, we pray,
and drive far from it the snares of the enemy;
may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace,
and may your blessing be always upon us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

In peace we will lie down and sleep;
for you alone, Lord, make us dwell in safety.
Abide with us, Lord Jesus,
for the night is at hand and the day is now past.

There, locked up safe and sound.