Lenten Practices

With ashes imposed and the Great Litany prayed, Lent is upon us. I must confess that in many ways, Lent is my favorite season of the Church year. As we tend to meander along through the year, Lent serves as a giant "stop" sign, forcing us to consider our next steps.

Lent is about being conscious and attentive to our relationship with God and one another. The various practices of Lent are focused on increasing our awareness and consciousness. Prayer, self-denial and study have long been part of this holy season.

Prayer is somewhat obvious. It is about maintaining an ongoing conversation with God. Prayer is not only speaking, but it is also listening. I suspect few of us take the time to listen. Try making some quiet time that you might hear the whispers of God.

Self-denial is probably the most misunderstood practice of Lent. We tend to equate it with punishment, which could not be less helpful. Self-denial is about recognizing the ways we willfully satiate ourselves to mask the reality of the human condition. We gorge, literally and metaphorically, to avoid feelings of emptiness and isolation. Lent is the perfect time to remove the anesthesia, and look for God to fill the emptiness we mask in so many unproductive ways.

Finally, study is a hallmark of lenten devotion. Historically, Lent was a time of preparation for Baptism. Converts spent the season, leaving worship before the Eucharist to receive instruction in the mysteries, and then received communion at the Great Vigil of Easter. The Church still has plenty of mystery to contemplate. Hopefully, many will attend our book study or commit to another form of inquiry.

Times and traditions change. Yet, there is substance underneath changing forms and practices. My prayer for us is that we mine for substance and grow in awareness, consciousness and faith.

Christian Century Blog

Amy Frykholm asks some interesting questions about Church membership. It is worth a read and some thought.
Is Membership an Outdated Idea?

For Episcopalians, this is a particularly tricky area. We have a number of descriptions of membership that mean slightly different things. Part of the confusion, I think, has to do with the role of Confirmation.

It seems, according to my fallible memory, Confirmation is no longer required, if you have made an “adult profession of faith” in the denomination you are leaving. Prior to this change, the action of a General Convention, Confirmation was required of converts from denominations with no notion of the Historic Episcopate. This practice emphasized being in communion with the the bishop as a sign of apostolic authority and continuity. The change emphasizes Confirmation as a rite of passage denoting a certain spiritual maturity.

There are certainly positions to be taken and defended about Confirmation, but that is only one dimension of the membership question. According to canon, there are financial expectations for one to be a “member in good standing”. An individual or family is expected to make a pledge, which I see as an open-ended contribution to parish operations with no expectations other than general good stewardship. However, there are many that choose to make financial contributions of record to specific ministries. A member of a certain parish may designate a gift for music, mission or something else. The rub is that a pledge and a designated gift are different things.

There is also the expectation of attendance. Again, working from a soft, mushy brain, “members in good standing” are expected to attend and receive communion a couple of times a year. I think the intent is for attendance and reception on specific feasts, but I believe the specific wording of the canons to be murky on this point.

Of course, membership status means little in terms of practice. The two exceptions might be the privilege of having a wedding in a parish and voting in an annual parish meeting. Usually, good Episcopal clergy will baptize and bury almost anyone regardless of parish membership status.

Membership is a clubby sort of word that I don’t particularly care for, but I think it communicates investment and identification. I wish we could come up with a better word to communicate investment and identity. I also wish we thought in more enduring terms.

The ASA (average Sunday attendance) is probably the most useful indicator of life and “membership” of a parish. The ASA represents the people that are present through the course of the year. The word Church itself from Greek (ekklesia) really means assembly or gathering. Membership is really about the people that are present (obviously, I don’t intend to exclude those absent by virtue of health or infirmity).

Epiphany 5b 2009 Sermon Notes

In The Gospel According to Mark, Jesus maintains a frantic pace. His ministry is marked by rapid shifts from scene to scene. In fact, Mark's Gospel employs transitional words that note the shifts. "Immediately" is a word that appears often in the Gospel. Little phrases jump out at the reader paying attention like "again," and "then." These phrases give the attentive reader a true sense of Jesus' pace. Grasping the pace of Jesus' work gives us a feeling for the rhythm of Jesus' life and ministry.

We also gain a sense of what Jesus is about, as we explore the vignettes that the Gospel of Mark connects. The portion of the Gospel we just heard has four distinct shifts. We begin with Jesus leaving the synagogue. He enters the home of Simon and Andrew. He heals and casts out demons at the doorstep. In the morning, he seeks a deserted place to pray. We might think of Jesus' work as teaching and debate in the synagogue, domestic health and wholeness at Simon and Andrew's, public ministry outside the home, and private prayer alone.

The way the story is told, we see the focuses of Jesus' ministry, because they are connected. A balance of study and teaching, home, community and individual emerge. This balance is reinforced by the fact that most of the action occurs on the initial day of Jesus' ministry. It is easy to miss, but the Gospels from the last two Sundays reflect Jesus' work on a single day.

At this point, it would be very easy to make some trite point about time management. I have something more significant and substantial in mind.

The challenge is to become self-reflective and self-aware. If I claim to be a follower of Jesus, there has to be some reconciliation with who I am and what I say I am. So this balance of the Christian life, the one Jesus lived and called disciples to live, is the life we are called to live, if we are to be his followers.

A good first question is "What are we doing?" Jesus and his disciples were actively going from place to place engaging individuals on some occasions and crowds on others. Are we active enough as the body of Christ? Are we available, in appropriate and authentic ways to make the love of God known?

Next, are we united in a worshipping community seeking knowledge and a deeper understanding of God?

Are we seeking health, wholeness and love at home, with our intimates?

Are we open to life just outside our doors? Surely our homes and families aren't barriers to the world as the family of God.

Am I maintaining my personal relationship with God?

The answers to these questions will tell us if we are becoming who we claim to be. The Good News is that Jesus offers us the power to grow into our identity. It is not about perfection or being some kind of goody-goody. It is about living a life of congruence and integrity. It is about living a desiring life with God as the object and knowing we are objects of God's desire.