As a young boy I was told not to eat meat on Fridays during Lent. So Friday would come and out came the fish. Friday meant no meat, but I never really new why. It was just one day of the week where we ate fish. Hey I had six other days to eat meat, so it was a good deal for me. I would sacrifice, if you want to call it that, one day of eating a big juicy piece of meat for a healthy small piece of fish. But was this a true sacrifice or was I going through the motions not really thinking about how it related to God? It was when I got older that I realized that Lent was about more than not just eating meat once a week, it was a time to get closer to God.
What does Lent mean to you? Is it the idea to give something up like a certain food, or TV program, or even meat once a week to get us a closer walk with God. Is it working? Do we find other distractions to fill in the distractions that we have given up during Lent or do we find time to serve people while advancing the Kingdom of God. When I think of this I think of 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 where Paul is writing that “whatever we eat or drink, do all for the glory of God, giving no offense to others, seeking not the profit of myself but of others so they may be saved” (paraphrased). So are we advancing the Kingdom of God during our time of Lent? Are we giving God the glory when we eat our fish on Friday, see a candy bar that we cannot eat or during that hour we said we would not watch TV? We should be and it should be a reminder of what God is doing in our lives, not only during the Lenten season as we wait to celebrate the risen Christ, but even after Lent has passed. So as we get near to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, what does this season of Lent mean to you? Is it a season of doing something different or a start of something that will last way after Lent and impact the Kingdom of God?
Submitted by Eric Kluth
2008 Lent Schedule
- Stations of the Cross Fridays at Noon and Friday, March 14th at 7:30 p.m.
- Wednesday Night Program "Healing Body, Mind & Spirit: A Lenten Discipline" with the Rev. Melanie Sunderland
March 5th at St. Thomas
Dinner at 6:00 p.m.
Program at 7:00 p.m. followed by Healing Prayer Service - Taize Service: Sunday, March 9th at 5:30 p.m.
- Private Confession available upon request.
- Healing Prayer after each service.
- The Chapel will be set up for private prayer during Lent. It will be available during office hours and some evenings. It will be available during office hours and Monday - Thursday 7:00 - 8:30 pm.
An Invitation to Holy Lent
Our Lenten season begins with a humbling of ourselves on Ash Wednesday. We stand before the Holy One and acknowledge that we all start the same and all end the same: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. This confession of our humanity, our frailty, helps us to be ready to begin a 6 week journey into our soul. It is time to be honest. It is time to repent, to turn away from our sins. It is time to take up our own cross and follow Jesus.
The church gives us many opportunities and examples of how to do this. We are to examine our consciences. You can do that at St. Thomas at our Reconciliation and Healing Service on February 14. When we can admit our sins, then we can change, repent, promise to do better and work toward being more faithful.
We are to pray, fast and deny ourselves. We can do that by faithfully attending church every Sunday. By adding some extra prayer time or a new prayer routine into our day. We can do that by giving up anything. Anything. Figure out what your biggest distraction might be, what you might be worshipping more than God, what you don’t think you can live without. Let it go. And be sure to take up whatever you are denying yourself and share it with others. If you save money by not eating meat, give that money away. If you save time by not playing computer games, volunteer that time to the poor. Give alms generously.
We are to read and meditate on God’s holy Word. There are many opportunities for that at St. Thomas. Our Wednesday night series on Healing Prayer. Our Taize service on March 9. Our class on meditation with Ven. Shih Ying-Fa. Or just read the Bible. Pick a book and sit with it. Pray morning or evening prayer. The church will be open throughout Lent for your silent prayer if that would be helpful.
You will notice that in the spirit of the season, we are simpler and quieter in our worship. Please use the time before the service for silent prayer. Notice that the silver is put away and ceramic is used. The altar cloth is not fancy. There is no Gloria or Alleluia. All that might be distractions to our quiet contemplation are put aside.
Try not to stay too long in your sinfulness. That can also be a distraction. Move through that so that you can pick up your cross and walk with Jesus to Calvary. Every Friday we will pray the journey in the Stations of the Cross. Please join us. Open your heart to all that Jesus has done for you.
Pray our St. Thomas Prayer every morning at 8 am.
- The Practice of the Presence of God, Donald Attwater, Templegate Press.
- Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict, Esther de Waal, The Liturgical Press
- Radical Hospitality, Daniel Homan & Lonni Collins Pratt, Paraclete Press.
- Becoming Who You Are, James Martin, SJ, Hidden Spring Press.
- The Healing Light, Agnes Sanford, Ballantine Books
- Church Street Ministries 17 Church St. Berea
- St. Thomas Outreach, Youth, Organ Maintenance, Prayer Books
- The Bishop’s Annual Appeal Diocese of Ohio 2230 Euclid Ave Cleveland
- Episcopal Relief and Development 815 2nd Ave NY, NY 10017
- Brookside Center
- Berea Community Meal (last Weds of the month)
- St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland
- TORCH (2nd Saturday with our youth)
Pray that all of us at St. Thomas move more deeply into our relationship with Jesus Christ in this Lenten season and are transformed by God’s love and grace!!!