Hello my Dear Friends,
We are in the season of Lent. This is traditionally a time when believers take on new disciplines and give up things that they enjoy. The point of these disciplines is to help us remember what is important, to celebrate the simple gifts God affords us each day, and prepare to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.
In the early church, persons who became aware of ways in which they harmed others often separated themselves from the community. In some societies they were even “shunned” for a time. Lent was the time in which they prepared themselves to rejoin the community. In this way, Easter was a day of resurrection and restoration to the community.
We are having quite a Lenten season, aren’t we?!
For the sake of our own well-being and the health of others, we are having to give up quite a bit. Our ordinary lives have been turned upside-down. Things we have taken for granted have become precious. We are also having to learn new ways of doing things, and taking on different responsibilities. We have had to separate ourselves from each other, and from our beloved communities – at least in physical presence.
This enforced Lenten season may extend beyond this year’s date of Easter: April 12 for the Western Church, and April 19 for Orthodox traditions. But we can take heart. We will prevail. We will make it through this. We will help, encourage, support, and pray for one another. We will learn new ways of being in community, we will learn again to cherish the simple gifts of home and family, and we will be ready to celebrate anew our restoration to physical community.
Today is Saint Patrick’s Day. Patrick was a Roman Briton, who felt called to be an evangelist to Ireland. He answered that call, later became a bishop and is considered the “Apostle to Ireland.” The story is told that he used a clover, with its three lobes, to each how one God could be the three persons of the Trinity. Legend holds that he banished the snakes from Ireland.
And what he was doing when the venomous snakes started attacking him, causing him to banish them? That’s right, he was on a 40-day fast. He was fasting – something often done to rid oneself of poisons of the world — and in the course of that fast banished the poisonous snakes from his adopted land. This legend echoes Exodus 7:8-13, the story of Moses contending with Pharaoh:
“8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’“ 10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts. 12Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs. 13Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”
Dear Lord, we find ourselves at a time when we are contending with a new contagion which has infected so many. In order to slow the spread and provide space for healing, we have had to change our ways. Use this time, Oh God, to reform and renew us. May our frustration and anger turn them to hope and commitment to care. May we rediscover and learn again to cherish the simple gifts of home and family. Help us to maintain community in new ways. May this truly be a time that by our separation and deprivation, we may drive out the poisons of our world. Make us ready to celebrate our reunions when that day of restoration comes. This we pray in the name of you, our Triune God. Amen.
Your church staff are here for you. While there will be no meetings on the campus and we will worship exclusively online, we will reach out in ways old and new. In the next two weeks we will seek to call each home for which we have a telephone number. We are here to answer your calls and emails. And each week day you will receive an email such as this from one of our staff members.
May God bless you this day and always.
George Hooper