Entering Lent

February 12, 2018 Uncategorized

Dear friends,

By the time you read this, we will have entered the holy, challenging, introspection-inviting season of Lent. I pray that it will be a life-giving season for you and for all of us, a time for looking bravely at the messiness of our lives and, simultaneously, at the unending love and grace of God.

At our Ash Wednesday services, you were invited to the observance of a holy Lent. I hope you take the Church up on that invitation. As always, our worship during Lent is shaped by the solemnity of the season, crafted to help us undertake the penitential work to which we are called. We omit the use of the word alleluia from all services except funerals; we remove flowers from the altar; we drape the holy table in somber purple. We even change the shape of our liturgies themselves, placing words of confession at the very start of our worship.

And on February 18, the first Sunday of Lent, we will pray The Great Litany during the opening procession at both services. The Great Litany is an ancient form of intercessory prayer, first used in the 5^th century. Because of its penitential nature, it is especially appropriate in Lent. The Litany begins by called upon the Triune God to have mercy on us; continues with petitions for protection from evil and disaster; invokes Christ’s saving work; and includes many general intercessions, including the plea for God to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanders. You can find The Great Litany on pages 148 to 153 of The Book of Common Prayer. I encourage you to spend some time with it prior to Sunday.

The Great Litany is not a prayer for the faint of heart, but it is a fabulous prayer for those who truly want to turn their hearts again to God. May that be our aim in this holy season.

Blessings,

Anne+