Dear Restoration family,
The season of Epiphany is drawing to a close, and Lent is just around the corner. Lent, the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, is a spiritual pilgrimage; it is a great fast before the great feast; it is a giving up and a putting on; it is prayerful and slow; it is ancient and new. I encourage you to enter into Lent with intentionality and anticipation.
Journey Together, not Alone
Lent is not a solo hike. It is a pilgrimage with your church family. Come to Ash Wednesday and receive the sign of the cross on your forehead, reminding you of your mortality. Join a Table Group; gather with friends and housemates; confess, forgive, and pray together.
Plan for Holy Week, and make room for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the Great Easter Vigil, and Easter Morning. The journey is most hearty and full when we go together.
Giving Up and Putting On
The staff have prepared tables with books, activities, and resources in the Fellowship Hall on Sundays, March 2nd and 9th. Please plan on stopping by this Lenten Fair!
Consider these suggestions of what you might want to give up for Lent.
Fast from sunrise to sunset on Fridays, or abstain from meat on Fridays.
Give up sweets and alcohol.
Fast the whole day on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Digital Fasting
Turn off your phone for one hour per day.
Abstain from music in the car.
Abstain from social media.
Things to take on…
Set aside more time than usual to pray. For example, add Midday Prayer to your weekday schedule (BCP, p33).
If giving up a meal, consider reading the Bible during that time.
Confess your sins aloud to a clergy person or trusted spiritual father or mother in the church.
Give generously to a special cause, such as Restoration’s Good Friday fund.
Please view the above suggestions simply as that: suggestions. These might spur other ideas. Also, consider giving up the same things as your spouse, housemates, or Table Group.
What to expect?
The practice of Lent shapes us more into the likeness of Jesus. Here are some themes that often emerge.
Reordered Loves. Lent can jostle our routine and invite us to reflect on our own habits from a different perspective. This may loosen unhealthy attachments to creation and stir us to rely more fully on the Creator.
Renewed Imaginations. During Lent, the church calendar slows down —and during Holy Week, we walk the passion of Jesus in real-time. The services and practices become a window into the heart of God and the nearness of his Kingdom.
Humility, Joy, Hope, and Dependence. As we let go of worldly attachments, we unlearn the lie that we are self-made, self-contained individuals. We learn to draw upon the life of God and the bond of affection with our Christian brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of the Church, may we prepare our hearts to keep this season of Lent together, becoming more and more like our Savior Jesus Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Rick
