The Presiding Bishop's Lenten Message, from Walking With Integrity

Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori speaks to us, the Church during this holy Lent:

I greet you at the beginning of Lent.

In this year I’m going to invite you to think about the ancient traditions of preparing in solidarity with candidates for baptism, to think about the old disciplines of prayer and fasting and alms-giving and study, through the focus on those beyond our communities, in the developing world, who live in abject poverty.

I invite you to use the Millennium Development Goals as your focus for Lenten study and discipline and prayer and fasting this year. I’m going to remind you that the Millennium Development Goals are about healing the worst of the world’s hunger. They’re about seeing that all children get access to primary education. They’re about empowering women. They’re about attending to issues of maternal health and child mortality.

To read all of ++Katharine's message, please go here.

Sacred Practices: A Lenten Reflection from Arizona by Kaze Gadway

Kaze Gadway is Youth Minister at Episcopal Diocese of Arizona. She lives in Goodwater, Arizona and is from Chicago, Illinois. She is at work with the emerging leaders of the Episcopal Church within the Native American community of Northern Arizona. They are youth of promise from twelve to twenty. Her blog, Infaith's Practices, is a treasure cache of wisdom and insight into spiritual life. Read more of her "lessons" on her blog. Her latest post is here:

Julian of Norwich “Pray inwardly, even though you find no joy in it. For it does good, though you feel nothing, see nothing, yes, even though you think you cannot pray.”
Lent is not like Advent. Advent is a preparation of the celebration of God with us, God walking among us. Although Lent comes before Easter it is a season not like any other. It is forty days of intensifying holy practices.

All religions have holy practices. They are ways in which we discipline ourselves to be immersed in activities that expose us to the sacred. It may be putting money in a jar to give to the poor. Or depriving ourselves of food or pleasure to remind ourselves of what is really fundamental. Or writing down our faith responses in a journal. Or meditating on Holy Scriptures in a different way. Or spending time in contemplative silence. Maybe it is a walk in which you observe such awesome particulars such as a leaf. Or it could be intentional prayer.

I pray all the time. Usually it is in response to something. I am concerned for someone or someone asks me to pray. During Lent, I pray in a cycle to include all those who usually get left out of my conscious prayer life. I pray for those in danger, for those nations who are in social upheaval, for those crushed by the economy, for those disenfranchised in decision making, for those paralyzed by grief or loss, for those bruised in spirit in shame and guilt, and for those who have lost their way. How I feel doesn’t come into it. I go inward to hold up those that are disconnected and fragmented in their daily joy. I don’t usually have an outcome, like I hope everyone gets a job. I hold them up as significant to the God who dwells within us.

“What are you giving up for Lent?” asks a child who has heard this on TV. “Nothing,” I reply. “I don’t believe in giving up something like candy that I shouldn’t be doing for my health anyway. I do add things.” And I give her an abbreviated context of holy practices.

“I’m going to give up fighting with my mother,” says one youth proud of himself.
“That’s great,” I reply. “What are you going to do instead?”
There is a thoughtful silence in the small group. He says, “Maybe I should help around the house more. That’s what we fight about.”

Another youth who has been with us for a long time says, “Maybe you should clean a different part of the house every day. That would make it a spiritual practice, wouldn’t it?” He looks at me and I tell the story of Brother Lawrence again of finding the sacred in even the smallest of kitchen chores by doing it intentionally with reverence and dedicating it to God.

“We do that in Native ceremonies,” an older youth comments. “Every implement we use, everything we undertake is lifted up and prayed over.”

We talk about that in general terms in order not to reveal the particulars of confidential sacred ceremonies. They have all participated in some kind of intentional sacred practice, including helping at the altar in Church.

One of the youth confesses, “Sometimes I am only praying by rote. I don’t really feel anything.”

I assure him, “Feeling is not necessary but intentionally holding up some person or issue to God is. Like when we pray for Haiti. We’ve not been there but we can take the time to hold up that country to God. That puts it into our minds and it also declares that we believe that God holds this as important and worthy to be cherished.”

So we each make a list of things that we normally do not pray for and each holds up one thing. The responses are amazing—being bullied, car crashes on our interstate that goes through our town, stores that depend on the tourist trade, people dying without family present, forgotten birthdays, violence in homes, and neglected animals. Our prayer life is enriched just by listing these things. We decide to check in and see what happens when we do something every day that exposes us to the Holy.

It is an exciting season.

Blessed Lent everyone.
In faith,
Kaze

The image is of Rainwater Canyon in northern Arizona

The First Verb: Hildegard

The Holy Spirit animates
all, moves
all, roots
all, forgives
all, cleanses
all, erases
all, our past mistakes, and then
puts medicine on our wounds.

We praise the Spirit of incandescence
for awakening
and reawakening
all
creation.

Hildegard of Bingen

Definitely a Lenten meditation.  Wishing everyone a meaningful yet lovely Lent.

The artwork is by a young Russian woman artist known as Inna Deriy.  See more of her work here.

Oregon's Interim Bishop pens letter to diocese, Church

February 25, 2009

Ash Wednesday

A Pastoral Letter

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

On Tuesday evening, we heard President Obama speak to the nation about the current economic crisis and how his administration intends to address it. I found his speech both sobering and hopeful. He suggested that it has taken us a long time to get into this “mess” and encouraged us to be patient as we seek to extricate ourselves from it. He also said there is enough blame to go around but that it is singularly unhelpful to indulge in those assessments (my summary of his thoughts). I’m reminded on this Ash Wednesday of the words of Scott Hahn, “Lent is a time when people stop accusing others and excusing ourselves.”

As you are all well aware, the national (and international) crisis is impacting our beloved church including many of you and your congregations. I have had reports from clergy that members have lost jobs, are experiencing foreclosure on their homes and have had their retirement incomes severely reduced. In addition, some congregations are cutting back on staff and reducing their DPA offering for support of the wider church’s mission and ministry. So our church situation parallels that which is going on nationally and a climate of fear seems to pervade.

As difficult as this situation is for many (and I don’t mean to minimize that in the least), we are a people of Faith. Among the dominant themes of Scripture, “Do not be afraid…Do not fear…” are major emphasis. That doesn’t mean that we piously ignore the realities of the present situation but we journey on confident that with God “All manner of things will be well” (Julian of Norwich). Illustratively, some years ago, there was a Kodak camera commercial which showed a waitress being beckoned across a beautiful field of flowers by Clark Gable (for the younger set he was a famous movie actor who starred in “Gone with the Wind”). Her comment in the commercial was something like, “I just didn’t realize how much muck I had to step in to get to him.”

These extraordinary times call for taking the long view rather than reacting quickly to the pressures of the moment. We are engaged in a marathon rather than a sprint. And the church, sometimes, is no better at marathoning than the culture, evidenced by the disastrous decisions some years ago to gut our college and university chaplaincies, thus effectively cutting off one of The Episcopal Church’s primary mission efforts. Thus all of the love, understanding, support and patience we can muster for one another at this time is important. By our baptisms we are called to rejoice with those who rejoice and suffer with those who suffer. From the largest congregation in the diocese to the smallest, we are in this together. Please know that all of us on The Diocesan Staff stand ready to lend a compassionate ear and support you in any way we can.

Bottom line: How we, the church responds to this crisis is but one way we witness to our core belief that through The Resurrection of Jesus the Christ, out of death will come new life.

May you all enjoy a Holy and Blessed Lent.

Your Brother in Christ,

Sanford "Sandy" Z. K. Hampton

Interim Bishop of Oregon

Provisions for Along the Way: Lent

Now that we are entered into Lent, we think of all the things we could do to make it meaningful to us as we anticipate the events that inevitably come, the moderated joy and the coming sorrows. I have found a blog created by our Scottish Episcopal branch and if you seek something from a fresh perspective, then I encourage you to journey to Beauty From Chaos.

Among the blogs I read, there are two that stand out as great examples of Lenten focus. The Psaltery blends the Word with hymnody in a unique and moving style. For a different view into another's Lenten journey, I encourage you to visit De Die In Diem where the visual compliments the written...both of these are truly excellent.

If you prefer more visual or creative ways in which Lent is express, then I bid you visit The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts page. There is some moving and amazing art inspired by this contemplative season in our Church. I find that there are time when a visual image helps me attain a better focus on what is truly spiritually important and life changing. Prayer, being a vital part of our spiritual lives, can be beautiful in its simplicity, as well as in its complexity. Many people use a form of the Jesus Prayer to help guide their way in not only contemplative prayer but also in centering prayer. My own priest once shared with me how she uses the Jesus prayer for becoming centered in spirit. The portion of the prayer that I use as a result is:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner.

This and other related prayers can be found at King of Peace--Anglican Prayers. One could pray these prayers with an Episcopal rosary. Sources for these warm and quietly lovely rosaries--also known as simply prayer beads--can also be found on this site and on InnerLight, a place where you can choose the types of materials that reflect your spiritual person.

Another of my particular favorites for prayer is Interlude: Prayers. Here you will find a wide range of prayers for Lent or any other season of our Church year. Thomas Merton is featured among other writers, known and unknown. I encourage you to visit and perhaps find a prayer that will become a special blessing to you. Related to the Interlude: Prayers site is the Interlude Internet Retreat page. There you will discover prayers from around the world that may move you in ways unknown during this holy Lent.

There are prayers and litanies from other countries that have moved me in ways that only a new culture's perspective can lend. One unique prayer that I simply love is the "Prayer for Light in the Darkness", a prayer from Africa:

O Father God, I cannot fight this darkness by beating it with my hands.
Help me to take the light of Christ into it. Amen.

It is my hope that some, or all or even one of these resources will be an inspiration to you along this Lenten way with one another, no matter where we are, we journey with our Lord Christ. Will you be my companion along the Way?

Catherine+

"All My Stirring Becomes Quiet"

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places

where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes

and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.


Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.

Wendell Berry [1934 - ] was born in Kentucky following 5 generations of Berrys who raised tobacco. In 1987 after an extensive education [his classmates were Larry McMurtry, Edward Abbey and Ken Kesey at one point] and writing career, he returned to the English Department at the University of Kentucky to teach and write. He is a prolific writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays. He has won numerous literary awards and prizes, and continues to write to this day.

First two photos courtesy of Google Images

Last photo courtesy of Webshots

A Season of Fasting: ++Katharine Reflects

Episcopal News Service
February 20, 2007

[ENS]Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori offered the following reflections following the February 15-19 meeting of Anglican Primates near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Hear her spoken remarks via streaming audio here.
--------

A Season of Fasting: Reflections on the Primates Meeting

The recent meeting of the Primates in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was a challenging one. Fourteen new primates joined the group; three longer-serving primates were unable to be present. It was a great joy to meet and begin to know a number of the primates, and to renew friendships with others. While much of our time and energy was focused on the Episcopal Church, several other agenda items were of considerable interest to many of those who gathered.

The Design Group for an Anglican Covenant submitted an initial draft for consideration by the Primates' Meeting, which in turn commended it to the Communion for consideration, debate, and revision before the Lambeth Conference next year. This covenant is a further step in the Windsor process, engaged in the understanding that all human communities need boundaries in order to function. Anglicanism has always valued a rather wide set of boundaries, and boundaries are a central issue in the current debate - where are they, and how wide a space can they contain?

The Covenant in its current draft attempts to define what the essentials and non-negotiable elements of Anglicanism might be, and how the Communion might live together in diversity.

Read the rest here.
__________________

This will be a very different Lenten season than most of us have experienced, for left, right and center. Let us all take The Great Litany to our very hearts and souls on Wednesday.

Kneeling, let us pray:

O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth,
Have mercy upon us.

O God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

O God the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful,
Have mercy upon us.

O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God,
Have mercy upon us.

Remember not, Lord Christ, our offenses, nor the offenses of our forefathers; neither reward us according to our sins. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and by thy mercy preserve us for ever.
Spare us, good Lord.

From all evil and wickedness; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; and from everlasting damnation,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all want of charity,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and commandment,
Good Lord, deliver us.

Pray the rest from page 149 of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. And maybe we need to pray it more than once this season.

Catherine+

February 25th declared ONE Sunday by ++Katharine

Mission: Jefferts Schori calls for marking of ONE Sunday near beginning of Lent.

[ERD] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is calling congregations to commemorate "ONE Sunday" on February 25, the First Sunday in Lent.

"ONE Sunday" is an effort to join congregations in prayer and reflection for people living in extreme poverty worldwide. Episcopalians are also encouraged to advocate for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77743_ENG_HTM.htm) and rally with others who are members of ONE Episcopalian (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE/), a grassroots partnership between the Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign.

"As Christians around the world begin their Lenten journeys with commitments to acts of personal devotion, prayer, and almsgiving, congregational celebration of 'ONE Sunday' provides an opportunity to deepen our commitment to actively participate in God's mission of healing the world," said Jefferts Schori.

Through Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), "ONE Sunday" is an opportunity to make a contribution to a special offering that will help people suffering from chronic hunger, disease and poverty around the world.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_82564_ENG_HTM.htm

This announcement is courtesy of ENS [Episcopal News Service] February 20, 2007.

Besides, we need to channel our energy and disappointment in the Primates and their questionable decision-making into something meaningful and positive...this is part of that effort.

Catherine+

Of "Lint", Buzz and Doing...

What's the buzz in the blogosphere? For Episcopalians and Anglicans, it's Tanzania...all the time for now. And as interesting as Tanzania and the Primates' meetings are, thankfully, the rest of the world as we know it does not revolve around that one event. For some, it certainly does, but for most of us, Episcopalian or not, there are more important and life-changing events going on in the wider world. I suspect Our Kate would not want us to be focusing solely on our Episcopal selves but reaching into the world as Christ asked us and extending our hands...
This is Our Kate, courtesy of USA Today...

Some of us are thinking of the Lenten season fast approaching on Wednesday the 21st to be more specific. Some of us are thinking about our neighbors and how they are managing on a fixed income with all the recent cold weather and consequent heating bills. Others of us are contemplating our spring garden preparations, drawing colored planning diagrams to figure out where all the plant stuff will be going in the small scheme of things. While others are wondering what job is coming up that they might apply to, either for financial reasons or career change reasons. Volunteer opportunities abound here at home and abroad. Whether it's volunteering for CASA, working on saving the county libraries, making time for the local Red Cross or training with them to help victims of domestic or foreign disasters, these and thousands of other ways are all over the place, calling us to help, or serve in some capacity.

As we have learned over the weeks of Epiphany, everyone has one talent or another, a skill or a gift, that we can offer or give to the wider world, beginning with the world right outside of our front door to the front door of a grass hut in Africa or the doorstep found in an urban setting of concrete and asphalt. We all have something to give to someone, as much as they have to give to us.

As I consider the approach of Lent, I realize that the world will not slow down for those who observe it, this time of waiting and contemplation. We don't wait easily nor do we whip out our Blackberries to input time for contemplation. But I think that's the beauty of each action: waiting with Christ and considering Him in our everyday life should not be something we have to schudule like a meeting or class, or evening a manicure. It should simply BE part of our intangible life that comes automatically to us but in itself is not automated or performed by rote.

Ideally we should be able to slide into time with Christ and slide back into our human existence as if it were first-nature. Some people have accomplished this, but not many. It is something I strive for but not with any great physical exertion. That's not what its about. It's a state of mind, a state of heart...a state of soul. And often times we do it and we are completely unaware that it has happened. Others may wonder where we have drifted off to, and sometimes we don't know either but that's how time with Christ should be...so simple and easy.
As some people volunteer time to help others, they also unknowingly or knowingly, configure this time in such a way as to be in a moment of waiting with Christ, helping the poor, the sick, the less fortunate, and the act itself becomes their contemplation.

The waiting and the contemplating do not have to be static; it can be active as it occurs. That's the beauty of it.

So, as we come to the last Sunday in Epiphany, let's take but a moment to consider how we can be active in our waiting and contemplation with sharing our gifts and skills, regardless of what they may be. I believe in so doing we will know great quiet joy.

Catherine+
quietly preparing to slowly live Lent in the fast lane of this life...