This weekend is our Pancake and Beetle Drive. I know it’s Lent, but it is pastorally expedient. Here is our sheet for the Beetle Drive. Please feel free to use it as you wish, or download it from the parish website
Although it is not my usual practice, the A-word (or as spelt on this sheet, the H-word) will be permitted in Lent for one evening only. We are an Easter People and Alleluia! is our cry: even in Lent.
Texts: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
“Remember, child, that you are dust and to dust you shall return”
Saint Paul, as we have just heard, urges us to be reconciled to God. Perhaps no surprise there, as we gather this Ash Wednesday evening with reconciliation very much in mind, but his way of being reconciled may surprise you: Paul does not suggest a confession, or propose any self-examination, or lay out a lengthy program or exercise or series of personal denials – he tells us that we should simply accept the grace of God when the time is right, and, behold, now is that acceptable time.
This is not a message many of us are ready to hear. Most of us were taught that the lengthy period of Lent was one of penitence and fasting, a time provided for those who were separated from the church by their sins, so they could be reconciled by acts of penitence and forgiveness. In fact, we will hear words very similar to those following this. That is, of course, one meaning of our Lenten season.
For most of us, Lent is the time of sometimes painful self-examination, during which we scrutinise our habits, our spiritual practice, and our very lives – hoping to make ourselves better, trying to make ourselves worthy of the love of God.
We “step up” our prayer, fasting, and self-denial in order to remove worldly distractions from our lives. And we take on Bible study, classes, and service projects in order to add meaning and depth to our existence.
For some children, Lent means no sweets, for teenagers, less time on Facebook. For adults, it may be consuming less meat or alcohol, or attending that Lent course.
However we go about it, the goal is pretty much the same: Lent makes us ready for Easter. Quite simply put, we are better able to appreciate Resurrection joys come Easter Day by enduring these Lenten disciplines now.
Except, just a moment: St. Paul says we need to be reconciled to God – now, today.
Not after enduring a forty-day fast. Not after lengthy Bible study. Not even after prayer, but now, here, today: Be reconciled to God.
Paul not only invites us to be reconciled to God, he actually beseeches us. That is, he pleads, implores, presses, begs, and demands. “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. … Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.”
For many of us, this could mean a whole new kind of Lenten discipline. Instead of putting our hand into the refiner’s fire, we could be dancing in flames of love’s delight. Instead of seeking to squelch the voice of sin within us, we could be cultivating the sounds of joy. Instead of wallowing in our guilt, we could be reveling in our gratitude.
For not only did God create us, and everything there is; not only is all of creation wonderfully good; and not only are we offered the grace of God; but we are also offered that again, and again, and again.
We are offered God’s love in times of hardship, affliction, and tumult; in times of hunger, calamity, and sickness; and in times of peace, surplus, and prosperity.
We are offered God’s love both in times of distress and in times of accomplishment; in times of triumph and in times of failure; in times of righteousness and in times of sin.
Yes, that’s right: even when we sin. When we do things we know are wrong; when we hurt ourselves or others; when we lie, cheat and steal: that is when God loves us most.
Because when we sin, we need God even more. We need courage to turn away from darkness and to face the light. We need daring to turn away from the world’s false comforts and to accept the enduring grace of God. And we need faith to turn away from death, and face the new life that is freely given to all of us.
God has put no obstacle in anyone’s way. God finds no fault in anyone’s service. And so, as servants of God, we are called to commend ourselves in every way. We are called to seek those qualities St. Paul writes about: purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.
Some of these are character traits we can cultivate in ourselves. We can commit ourselves anew to promote forbearance through patience, to emulate purity through simplicity, to encourage knowledge through study, to foster kindness through gentleness, and to nurture truthful speech.
The rest are not things that are up to us, really. They are not results of our labours, or products of our will. The Holy Spirit, genuine love, and the power of God are not up to us. There is nothing we can do to create these, nothing we can do to snuff them out.
But we do have a choice. And that choice is whether to allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, whether to let genuine love enter our heart, and whether to open ourselves up to the power of God.
And in this we have an entirely new idea for a Lenten spiritual discipline. Not giving up things, if such a discipline makes us miserable. Not taking on things, if that makes us miserable. But cultivating good qualities and opening ourselves up to the power of God, because only that can make us truly satisfied and content.
So, for a moment, let us consider Paul’s list of qualities:
First, forbearance. What can we do to increase our patience, to cultivate self-control, tolerance, and restraint? The list of specific steps will be different for each of us, but the objective is the same: to become more merciful.
Next, purity. Now, we can’t become more pure, we cannot restore innocence – but we can cultivate decency, transparency, and simple cleanliness.
Then there’s knowledge. This may be more like a traditional Lenten discipline than many of the others, for we can increase our knowledge and love of for the divine by meditating on God’s holy Word in the Scriptures. We have a list of the Mass Readings for everyone to take home and read daily. In a wider sense, we can also increase our knowledge of the church through reading. We can devote ourselves to learning more about who were are as Christian people.
After this comes kindness. This Lent, let us all seek to be more compassionate, more gentle, more considerate. It can be our aim to set aside all spite, viciousness, and harsh talk – no matter how people treat us.
Last among the virtues we can work on, is truthful speech. The vision for this church is one where all can participate fully, with no hierarchy, no cliques, no agenda save the agenda of building Christ’s kingdom. I believe in openness and honesty, and hate church politics, not merely because I am so bad at it, but because I believe that honesty and openness are mark of our openness to God.
To become more merciful, more pure, more knowledgeable, more kind, more truthful – these cause us to behave more like Christ. And how can we do this? How can we emulate perfection, how can we aspire to the goodness that is the divine?
That’s where the second part of this discipline comes in: to allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, to let genuine love enter our heart, and to be open to the power of God.
The only way any of this can work, the only means of making this a life-changing season, the only method for making permanent changes from destructive patterns of behaviour is to seek divine assistance.
And that is what we are especially called to do in Lent. To acknowledge that we are not doing the best we can, to aspire to do better, and then to seek God’s guidance and God’s help in the lifelong process of becoming all that we can be.
For in each one of us is a spark of divine goodness that compels us to persevere with great endurance through afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, and hunger.
We do this because we know at our core we are called to something better. As Christians, we are called to cultivate purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, and truthful speech. And this we do through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the force of genuine love, and by the power of God.
So, this Lent, may we all be reconciled to God; for, behold, now is the acceptable time.
Amen
with respect to Fr. J. Barrington Bates
I thought I would do a test message out to the subscribers of the Blesséd Lenten Journey Meditation today, and within the space of 10 minutes, I made 2 cock-ups and a major discovery.
a) I have to send the messages out as ASCII text, because for some reason it chose a different (presumably chinese) character set and sent out 2 messages instead of one – double the cost! I managed to stop it but not before about half the subscribers got a split message. Changed to ASCII and it works. Ought to send a test message to myself just to check first.
b) Even with ASCII character sets, it misinterpreted the ‘ apostrophe character and just put a question mark in – hence Blesséd?s. Grrr. Ought to send a test message to myself just to check first. (deja vu?)
c) It took about 15 minutes to do, so I might have to time it carefully if I am in a rush and need my phone. It is time-consuming, but I pray that it will be useful.
I have had feedback (thanks, Sarah) that at least the message got out there, so full steam ahead for tomorrow.
Each day visitors can come to the Blesséd website and see additional material (some of which simply can’t fit into 140 characters), images etc. The format of the page is http://www.blessed.org.uk/res/ddmmyy.html so Ash Wednesday is http://www.blessed.org.uk/res/250209.html and so on.
In typical Blesséd style, I have woefully underestimated two things:
The solution for anyone else who wishes to receive these meditations is to use Twitter. By creating a Twitter account (and if you read this, I bet you know all about it by now, thanks to Stephen Fry) and ‘following’ BlessedAltW where the same text meditations will be posted.
International persons, Colonials and all similar Johnny Foreigners 🙂 who otherwise would have not been able to subscribe can also use this method.
My apologies if you wanted to receive them by mobile, but I hope this will work without breaking my bank!
On a technical note, I will be sending the texts from my PC using Quicker SMS. It can also send them as scheduled items, so on Good Friday, expect three: one for each hour of the Passion. Please pray for the technology, pray for the opening of the hearts of those who receive it, pray for those who have tried to write them to help others, and while you are at it, pray for Mother Kathryn who appears to have broken her arm in order to get out of Ashing. Get well soon and type left-handed…
1 What is your Christian name?
My Christian name is …………………
2 Who gave you this name?
My parents and godparents gave me this name at my Baptism.
3 What did God do for you in your Baptism?
In my Baptism God called me to himself, and I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
4 What did your godparents promise for you at your Baptism?
At my Baptism my godparents made three promises to God for me: first, that I would renounce the devil and fight against evil; secondly, that l would hold fast the Christian Faith and put my whole trust in Christ as Lord and Saviour; thirdly, that I would obediently keep God’s holy will and commandments and serve him faithfully all the days of my life.
5 Are you bound to do as they promised?
Yes, certainly, and by God’s help I will.
6 Where do you find a summary of this Christian Faith which you are bound to believe and hold fast?
I find a summary of the Christian Faith in the Apostles’ Creed and in the Nicene Creed.
7 Repeat the Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. l believe in the Holy Ghost; the hoIy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
8 What do you learn from the Creeds?
From the Creeds l learn to believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who is the creator and ruler of the universe, and has made all things for his glory.
9 What does the Church teach about God the Father?
The Church teaches that God the Father made me and all mankind, and that in his love he sent his Son to reconcile the world to himself.
10 What does the Church teach about God the Son?
The Church teaches that, for our salvation, God the Son became man and died for our sins; that he was raised victorious over death and was exalted to the throne of God as our advocate and intercessor; and that he will come as our judge and saviour.
11 What does the Church teach about God the Holy Spirit?
The Church teaches that God the Holy Spirit inspires all that is good in mankind; that he came in his fulness at Pentecost to be the giver of life in the Church, and that he enables me to grow in likeness to Jesus Christ.
Thus l learn to believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this Holy Trinity l praise and magnify, saying:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
12 What is the Church?
The Church is the family of God and the Body of Christ through which he continues his reconciling work among men. Its members on earth enter it by baptism and are one company with those who worship God in heaven.
13 How is the Church described in the Creeds?
The Church is described as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
14 What do you mean by these words?
By these words I mean that:
the Church is One because, in spite of its divisions, it is one family under one Father, whose purpose is to unite all men in Jesus Christ our Lord; the Church is Holy because it is set apart by God for himself, through the Holy Spirit; the Church is Ca tholic because it is universal, for all nations and for all time, holding the Christian Faith in its fulness; the Church is Apostolic because it is sent to preach the Gospel to the whole world, and receives its divine authority and teaching from Christ through his Apostles.
15 What orders of ministers are there in the Church?
There are these orders of ministers in the Church:
Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.
16 What is the work of a Bishop?
The work of a Bishop is to be a chief shepherd and a ruler in the Church; to guard the Faith; to ordain and confirrn; and to be the chief minister of the Word and Sacraments in his diocese.
17 What is the work of a Priest?
The work of a Priest is to preach the word of God, to teach, and to baptize; to celebrate the Holy Communion;to pronounce absolution and blessing in God’s name; and to care for the people entrusted by the Bishop to his charge.
18 What is the work of a Deacon?
The work of a Deacon is to help the Priest both in the conduct of worship and in the care of souls.
19 What is the Church of England?
The Church of England is the ancient Church of this land, catholic and reforrned. It proclaims and holds fast the doctrine and ministry of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
20 What is the Anglican Communion?
The Anglican Communion is a family of Churches within the universal Church of Christ, maintaining apostolic doctrine and order and in full communion with one another and with the Sees of Canterbury and York.
21 The third promise made at your Baptism binds you to keep God’s commandments all the days of your life. Where has God made these commandments known?
God has made his commandments known in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, especially in the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 Repeat the ten commandments found in the law of Moses.
23 Repeat the words of our Lord Jesus Christ about God’s commandments.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ Again: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you.’
24 What then is your duty towards God?
My duty towards God is:
25 What is your duty towards your neighbour?
My duty towards my neighbour is:
Thus I acknowledge God’s reign among men and try to live as a citizen of his kingdom, fighting against evil wherever I find it, in myself, or in the world around me.
Grace
26 How can you carry out these duties and overcome temptation and sin?
I can do these things only by the help of God and through his grace.
27 What do you mean by God’s grace?
By God’s grace I mean that God himself acts in Jesus Christ to forgive, inspire, and strengthen me by his Holy Spirit.
28 In what ways do you receive these gifts of God’s grace?
I receive these gifts of God’s grace within the fellowship of the Church, when I worship and pray, when I read the Bible, when I receive the Sacraments, and as I live my daily life to his glory.
Worship and Prayer
29 What do you mean by the worship of God?
To worship God is to respond to his love, first by joining in the Church’s offering of praise, thanksgiving, and prayer, and by hearing his holy word; secondly by acknowledging him as the Lord of my life, and by doing my work for his honour and glory.
30 Why do we keep Sunday as the chief day of public worship?
We keep Sunday as the chief day of public worship because it was on the first day of the week that our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
31 What is prayer?
Prayer is the lifting up of heart and mind to God. We adore him, we confess our sins and ask to be forgiven, we thank him, we pray for others and for ourselves, we listen to him and seek to know his will.
32 Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Bible
33 What is the Bible?
The Bible, in both the OId and the New Testaments, is the record of God’s revelation of himself to mankind through his people Israel, and above all in his Son, Jesus Christ.
34 How was the Bible given to us?
The Bible was given to us by the Holy Spirit who first inspired and guided the writers, and then led the Church to accept their writings as Holy Scripture.
35 How should we read the Bible?
We should read the Bible with the desire and prayer that through it God will speak to us by his Holy Spirit, and enable us to know him and do his will.
The Gospel Sacraments and other Ministries of Grace
36 What do you mean by a sacrament?
By a sacrament I mean the use of material things as signs and pledges of God’s grace, and as a means by which we receive his gifts.
37 What are the two parts of a sacrament?
The two parts of a sacrament are the outward and visible sign, and the inward and spiritual grace.
38 How many sacraments has Christ, in the Gospel, appointed for his Church?
Christ in the Gospel has appointed two sacraments for his Church, as needed by all for fulness of life, Baptism, and Holy Communion.
39 What other sacramental ministries of grace are provided in the Church?
Other sacramental ministries of grace are confirmation, ordination, holy matrimony, the ministry of absolution, and the ministry of healing.
40 What is Baptism?
Baptism is the sacrament in which, through the action of the Holy Spirit, we are’ christened’ or made Christ’s.
41 What is the outward and visible sign in Baptism?
The outward and visible sign in Baptism is water in which the person is baptized In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
42 What is the inward and spiritual gift in Baptism?
The inward and spiritual gift in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and a new birth into God’s family, the Church.
43 What is required of persons to be baptized?
It is required that persons to be baptized should turn from sin, believe the Christian Faith, and give themselves to Christ to be his servants.
44 Why then are infants baptized?
Infants are baptized because, though they are not yet old enough to make the promises for themselves, others, making the promises for them, can claim their adoption as children of God.
45 What is Confirmation?
Confirmation is the ministry by which, through prayer with the Iaying on of hands by the Bishop, the Holy Spirit is received to complete what he began in Baptism, and to give strength for the Christian life.
46 What is required of persons to be confirmed?
It is required that persons to be confirmed should have been baptized, be sufficiently instructed in the Christian Faith, be penitent for their sins, and be ready to confess Jesus Christ as Saviour and obey him as Lord.
47 What is Holy Communion?
Holy Communion is the Sacrament in which, according to Christ’s command, we make continual remembrance of him, his passion, death, and resurrection, until his coming again, and in which we thankfully receive the benefits of his sacrifice. It is, therefore, called the Eucharist, the Church’s sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; and also the Lord’s Supper, the meal of fellowship which unites us to Christ and to the whole Church.
48 What is the outward and visible sign in Holy Communion?
The outward and visible sign in Holy Communion is bread and wine given and received as the Lord commanded.
49 What is the inward and spiritual gift in Holy Communion?
The inward and spiritual gift in Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Christ, truly and indeed given by him and received by the faithful.
50 What is meant by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ?
Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ means receiving the life of Christ himself, who was crucified and rose again, and is now alive for evermore.
51 What are the benefits we receive in Holy Communion?
The benefits we receive are the strengthening of our union with Christ and his Church, the forgiveness of our sins, and the nourishing of ourselves for eternal life.
52 What is required of those who come to Holy Communion?
It is required of those who come to HoIy Communion that they have a living faith in God’s mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death and resurrection; that they repent truly of their sins, intending to lead the new life; and be in charity with all men.
53 What is Ordination?
Ordination is the ministry in which, through prayer with the laying on of hands, our Lord Jesus Christ gives the grace of the Holy Spirit, and authority, to those who are being made bishops, priests, and deacons.
54 What is Holy Matrimony?
Holy Matrimony is Christian marriage, in which the man and the woman, entering into a life-long union, take their vows before God and seek his grace and blessing to fulfil them.
55 What is the ministry of Absolution?
The ministry of absolution is the ministry by which those who are truly sorry for their sins, and have made free confession of them to God in the presence of the minister, with intention to amend their lives, receive through him the forgiveness of God.
56 What is the sacramental ministry of Healing?
The sacramental ministry of healing is the ministry by which God’s grace is given for the healing of spirit, mind, and body, in response to faith and prayer, by the laying on of hands, or by anointing with oil.
57 What is the hope in which a Christian lives?
A Christian lives in the certain hope of the advent of Christ, the last judgement, and resurrection to life everlasting.
58 What are we to understand by the advent of Christ?
By the advent of Christ we are to understand that God, who through Christ has created and redeemed all things, wiIl also through Christ at his coming again, make all things perfect and complete in his eternal kingdom.
59 What are we to understand by the last judgement?
By the last judgement we are to understand that all men will give account of their lives to God, who will condemn and destroy all that is evil, and bring his servants into the joy of their Lord.
60 What are we to understand by resurrection?
By resurrection we are to understand that God, who has overcome death by the resurrection of Christ, will raise from death in a body of glory all who are Christ’s, that they may live with him in the fellowship of the saints.
61 What, then, is our assurance as Christians?
Our assurance as Christians is that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Thus, daily increasing in God’s Holy Spirit, and following the example of our Saviour Christ, we shall at the last be made like unto him, for we shall see him as he is.
Therefore I pray:
May the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that we have suffered awhile, make us perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle us. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Text: Mark 2:1-12
1 When he returned to Capernaum, some time later word went round that he was in the house;
2 and so many people collected that there was no room left, even in front of the door. He was preaching the word to them
3 when some people came bringing him a paralytic carried by four men,
4 but as they could not get the man to him through the crowd, they stripped the roof over the place where Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic lay.
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’
6 Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to themselves,
7 ‘How can this man talk like that? He is being blasphemous. Who but God can forgive sins?’
8 And at once, Jesus, inwardly aware that this is what they were thinking, said to them, ‘Why do you have these thoughts in your hearts?
9 Which of these is easier: to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven” or to say, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk”?
10 But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority to forgive sins on earth’ —
11 he said to the paralytic-‘I order you: get up, pick up your stretcher, and go off home.’
12 And the man got up, and at once picked up his stretcher and walked out in front of everyone, so that they were all astonished and praised God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’
Not a full homily here yet, as I plan to speak in the Spirit, but I will dwell tomorrow on Spiritual Paralysis and what happens when we are freed by God’s forgiveness. The audio will be available from tomorrow on the parish website.
Meanwhile, here is the slides. They are a nice couple of images, so please feel free to download and use them as you wish.
[slideshare id=1054934&doc=HealingofaParalysedManOrdinary7-090221121942-phpapp01
NEW FOR LENT!
Another Reminder!
Blesséd will be offering FREE a daily meditation and prayer in Lent direct to your mobile phone. Starting on Ash Weds 25th Feb, you will receive daily a free text with prayers, meditations, web links and other devotions to help you through your Lent journey.
There is no charge for receiving this text, it is a gift from Blesséd.
Some texts may contain meditations, prayer, scriptures or links to web pages to stimulate your faith and help your prayer in Lent.
The texts are not generated by an automated system but by a human being. All you have to do is sign up on the Blesséd webpage and texts will arrive from Ash Weds through to Easter Day!
They never agreed with anything I had to say, and frankly I thought they epitomised the prissy sort of Staggers AngloCatholicism thats gives Ordinands a bad name, but I have to admit, I have missed the massinformation blog. I don’t know if the pressure for essays is beginning to bite, or the Principal found out that they spend all their time linking to pictures of Romish excess and put a stop to it, but I quite enjoyed their blog.
It’s been a couple of weeks since a posting and the website is closed. Pity. If they ever read this, I’d let those pseudo-anonymous little Spikes know that they were doing a good job. I, for one, am praying for their return.
Update: The word in the coffee shops is that it was the principal exercising his authority. Time to move on. Nothing to see here.
It was Mother Margaret’s sermon this morning at 10am Mass. You can listen to or download the audio here. Sorry for not having a transcript.
Recording is done straight off the mixing desk to a MiniDisc player. I then have to record that onto the PC from the Mic In via SoundForge. Is there a better way of digitally extracting sound off a Sony MZ-R700 Minidisc without this analogue middle bit?
NEW FOR LENT!
Another Reminder!
Blesséd will be offering FREE a daily meditation and prayer in Lent direct to your mobile phone. Starting on Ash Weds 25th Feb, you will receive daily a free text with prayers, meditations, web links and other devotions to help you through your Lent journey.
There is no charge for receiving this text, it is a gift from Blesséd.
Some texts may contain meditations, prayer, scriptures or links to web pages to stimulate your faith and help your prayer in Lent.
The texts are not generated by an automated system but by a human being. All you have to do is sign up on the Blesséd webpage and texts will arrive from Ash Weds through to Easter Day!
