Lent: Brokenness and Rescue

I must confess: I love Lent.  There is the drama of the lectionary procession, a sense of circling down into the labyrinth of human brokenness.  A path that starts in amazement and ends in amazement, but in the middle it is us at our worst.  I have had profound Lenten seasons and ones where I went through the motions but only found a shallow and dry season.  We are not ideas, but incarnate stories.  We make meaning through motion, ritual and practices: faith is trust, but it is also bodies making shapes out of our belief and our unbelief. 

Religious scholar Dorothy C. Bass reminds us that "The movement of the liturgical year also honors the body as central to our search for God. The liturgical calendar is a record of embodiment, as it takes shape around the life of Jesus and the community he called into being. Fasting during Lent, foot washing on Maundy Thursday, celebrating the Easter Vigil at midnight unite us with Christians of every age who have sought to enter bodily into the narrative of Jesus’ life and death."

We are not called to the practice of a Holy Lent because it excites us or because we like the challenges of limited fasts.  We are called to practice a Holy Lent because it is the way of the people who follow Jesus throughout the ages.  If Easter was the first annual celebration of the community that became known as church, then Lent was the second.  How do you prepare for the mystery of the resurrection?  By acknowledging through prayer, fasting and looking boldly at the brokenness that our mistaken-ness inflicts on this sacred world.  A terribleness that Jesus loves and forgives and rescues, by showing us the way out of the wretchedness.  This way is love, truth and compassion.  It is becoming one with him, with what he said and how he lived.

Lent certainly begins with Ash Wednesday, but it even more so begins with Shrove Tuesday.  A big old party of fat foods and jolly frivolity.  A celebration of life and graciousness and all that is good in our life together.  So mark your calendar and come out for a pancake or two at the annual Shrove Tuesday celebration on February 9th, starting at 6pm.  Then I commend to you that you commit to an Ash Wednesday practice.   We will have liturgies at in the nave of St. Paul's at 7am, 12.10pm and 7pm (the final one with some music).  I will be offering Ashes to Go at the Reid Center on the Whitman campus from 11am till 2pm. 

Ash Wednesday Prayer Centers

The practice of repentance and confession isn't just for adults.  Even young children can name things they do and say that keep them from being who they are supposed to be.  Beginning the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday practices is an ancient practice that has nurtured Christian formation for over a thousand years.   However, we also know that family schedules are difficult to negotiate.   So in 2015, on February 18th we will offer several self guided Ash Wednesday prayer stations. 

These centers/stations will include:

• the Burning of Sins, 
• Ashes to Go
• Biblical Story and
• Weaving of prayers.  

These stations are come-and-go as you need, they do not need to be encountered in any particular order, and they do not require the ability to read.  That said they are meaningful for people of all ages.  The prayer stations will be open after school until just before the evening liturgy.

Ash Wednesday Youth & Family Prayer Stations
3-6.30pm                     18 February 2015

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
303 Catherine Street Walla Walla, Washington
www.stpaulsww.org

40 Pins for Lent

Forty days and forty nights.  Lent is approaching quickly.  Several sources have offered word-a-day projects or hashtag-a-day systems for your Lenten practice.  This set of 40 pins are simply starters for your creative response.  There are enough for 40 days, however many of us find that we have to seek and pray with these in two and three day stints. 

What do you do, how do you pin?  Remembering a bulletin board, but also refering to the social media platform Pinterest, to put a pin in something is to pick it up and place it so that you can come back to it.  Sometimes it is the creating and the searching that is the most important.  Other times it is looking at how the pinned responses play with each other. 

A pin could be any type of response.  Perhaps it is taking a photo, perhaps writing a journal entry, or maybe it serves as a meditation mantra.  You could research a quote or find some art that connects to the word.  40 pins for Lent is open ended, do what you want with them.  (Although if you desire a social media hashtag I suggest #40pins .)

The right 40 Pin set comes from the amazing and stunningly Lenten children's novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  I certainly hope that you might choose to pick up the novel as the season progresses, however it isn't necessary.  The words speak for themselves.  Younger readers may want to look up the definition of the word and create a response from their research. 

The left 40 Pin set comes from a poem by the Chilean Pablo Neruda titled 'The Wars'.   A startling defense of human life and an unsubtle critique of all forms of facism, the Wars is a provocative poem.  The word selection cannot help but weave itself with the narrative of Lent. 

 There are many resources available to enter a Holy Lent.  How can we help you find yours?

Tenebrae..Service of Shadows: 6pm April 16th

The St. Paul's Youth Group will be offering a unique incarnation of the Tenebrae Service this April. 

Tenebrae means shadows, and the Tenebrae service begins with light and ends in near darkness.  This is a contemplative service that will be comfortable for a wide audience.

Our Tenebrae service will feature the instrumental music of our youth while wandering through excerpts and prayers from the devotional book Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro.  

Yg: Lent Plans

YgWW for March and April 
will be focused on our procession towards Holy Week and Easter.  
New this year the Yg will offer the service of Tenebrae on April 16 at 7pm.
Each week before hand worship will focus on one of the lessons from Tenebrae.   It will consist of readings and instrumental music and candle extinguishing.  
It is a way to give back to the worship life of St. Paul's.

12  March               Whedon Wednesday     The World is Ending Again?  

19  March               Crash Course: Treasure

26   March             Whedon Wednesday     Sacrifice of Love

2 April                   Game: Board Games

9 April                   No Yg…SPRING BREAK

16 April                 Offer Tenebrae for Holy Week  (please arrive by 5.30pm)

Ready Set Lent! Online Resource Discussion February 19th from 2.30p-3.30p

Are you still wondering about how to foster a most Holy Lent for adults, or teens, or children, or families?  I will be hosting a 'google hangout' discussion on February 19 to discuss options, ideas and easy to get resources for your Holy Lent.

More resources will be posted here next week!