When most people think of the season of Lent, they think of giving up something. In 2020, Holy Family Episcopal Church invited people to join the Lenten Challenge by taking on spiritual practices that centuries of experience have shown will help them see Christ more clearly, love Christ more dearly, and follow Christ more nearly.
To participate in the Lenten Challenge, participants agreed to make a diligent effort to engage in the following spiritual practices during the six weeks of Lent—from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday.
Pray. Spend time each day sharing with God your cares, concerns, joys, and hopes; praying for the needs of others; listening for God’s still, small voice.
Worship. Make it a priority to worship with the Holy Family community each week and make a special effort to participate in each service during Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday.
Serve. Consider devoting at least two hours during the six-week Lenten season to serving, either in ministries within the church or mission outreach activities beyond the church walls. Contact a member of the Vestry or clergy to learn about serving opportunities.
Learn and Discern. Spend time each week studying and meditating on Holy Scripture and other spiritual works, seeking guidance from God’s Holy Word.
Share. Consider increasing the proportion of your income that you contribute to advance the mission of Christ’s church through the ministries of Holy Family, working toward the tithe—10 percent of income—which is both the Biblical standard of giving and also the standard of giving in the Episcopal Church. If you already tithe, you can participate in the Lenten Challenge by making an additional donation to Holy Family during Lent, for example, by adding 10 percent to what you are already giving.
All participants in the Lenten Challenge received support and encouragement through the prayers of the congregation, weekly messages, and special events. The meditations below were emailed or sent by text to each person.
To participate in the Lenten Challenge, participants agreed to make a diligent effort to engage in the following spiritual practices during the six weeks of Lent—from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday.
Pray. Spend time each day sharing with God your cares, concerns, joys, and hopes; praying for the needs of others; listening for God’s still, small voice.
Worship. Make it a priority to worship with the Holy Family community each week and make a special effort to participate in each service during Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday.
Serve. Consider devoting at least two hours during the six-week Lenten season to serving, either in ministries within the church or mission outreach activities beyond the church walls. Contact a member of the Vestry or clergy to learn about serving opportunities.
Learn and Discern. Spend time each week studying and meditating on Holy Scripture and other spiritual works, seeking guidance from God’s Holy Word.
Share. Consider increasing the proportion of your income that you contribute to advance the mission of Christ’s church through the ministries of Holy Family, working toward the tithe—10 percent of income—which is both the Biblical standard of giving and also the standard of giving in the Episcopal Church. If you already tithe, you can participate in the Lenten Challenge by making an additional donation to Holy Family during Lent, for example, by adding 10 percent to what you are already giving.
All participants in the Lenten Challenge received support and encouragement through the prayers of the congregation, weekly messages, and special events. The meditations below were emailed or sent by text to each person.
Week One
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
Individual prayer is hard to define, since putting it into words begins to limit what it can be, and since it is communicating with God, the possibilities of prayer forms are divinely infinite. If we are praying only to ourselves, sort of talking to ourselves, we can easily get off track. But if we are vulnerable to God’s responses, than the potential is endless.
Four everyday suggestions I have for jumpstarting daily prayer. First is to pray for whoever and whatever is in front of you. As I drive, I pray for anyone with a broken down car, whether they are in sight or not. I also pray when I enter a place for the first time that day, that God’s peace may be on all who are there. I pray when I hear a siren, that those needing and those giving will be blessed. Finally, there is the traditional one of praying, usually silently, in thanksgiving for meals.
These ideas just scratch the surface of course, but I want to emphasize that we don’t have to pray only for huge things like world peace, though I do, but also for the situations we see or experience in the present moment. The more we do embrace that sort of prayer practice, the closer we get to that way of life in which we pray without ceasing.
The Episcopal Church has an almost overwhelming amount of resources to aid people in having a full and rich prayer life. Such a list of resources can be expanded greatly by including helpful works from other Christians as well as other faith traditions. Below are some links that might be supportive of a deepening prayer life. Richard Rohr is a Roman Catholic monk, and the Poetry Foundation is not religious, but I have found both helpful. The rest of the links are to Episcopal ministries of various types.
Episcopal Relief and Development Daily Meditations
Signs of Life Daily Meditations by the Order of St. John the Evangelist
The Rev. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations
The Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day
The Daily Offices by the Mission of St. Clare
Daily Prayer by The Forward Movement
The Daily Office Online with various media
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
Individual prayer is hard to define, since putting it into words begins to limit what it can be, and since it is communicating with God, the possibilities of prayer forms are divinely infinite. If we are praying only to ourselves, sort of talking to ourselves, we can easily get off track. But if we are vulnerable to God’s responses, than the potential is endless.
Four everyday suggestions I have for jumpstarting daily prayer. First is to pray for whoever and whatever is in front of you. As I drive, I pray for anyone with a broken down car, whether they are in sight or not. I also pray when I enter a place for the first time that day, that God’s peace may be on all who are there. I pray when I hear a siren, that those needing and those giving will be blessed. Finally, there is the traditional one of praying, usually silently, in thanksgiving for meals.
These ideas just scratch the surface of course, but I want to emphasize that we don’t have to pray only for huge things like world peace, though I do, but also for the situations we see or experience in the present moment. The more we do embrace that sort of prayer practice, the closer we get to that way of life in which we pray without ceasing.
The Episcopal Church has an almost overwhelming amount of resources to aid people in having a full and rich prayer life. Such a list of resources can be expanded greatly by including helpful works from other Christians as well as other faith traditions. Below are some links that might be supportive of a deepening prayer life. Richard Rohr is a Roman Catholic monk, and the Poetry Foundation is not religious, but I have found both helpful. The rest of the links are to Episcopal ministries of various types.
Episcopal Relief and Development Daily Meditations
Signs of Life Daily Meditations by the Order of St. John the Evangelist
The Rev. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations
The Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day
The Daily Offices by the Mission of St. Clare
Daily Prayer by The Forward Movement
The Daily Office Online with various media
Week Two
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
In this week’s experience of Holy Family’s Lenten Challenge, the focus is on corporate prayer, that is worshiping together. Since the earliest days of God’s self revealing, as recorded in the Scriptures, there is a presumption that people’s spiritual lives are integrated into their public lives, rather than something hidden away. By the time of Jesus, common worship is a cornerstone of Jewish worship, and the format from synagogue worship at the time of Jesus continues to be the focus of Christian worship in the liturgical Christian traditions of today, such as the Episcopal Church.
The reasons and benefits of corporate worship have fascinated faithful people for so long that millions of works in virtually every written language on earth focus on the topic. So I will today just focus on a handful knowing that so much more could be said.
Corporate worship is the primary tool for Christians to support one another in their walks with God. Even if nothing personal is spoken, together praying, singing, receiving Communion, pondering the Bible, and so much more helps people get through their weeks and the many challenges life brings. Knowing we are not alone is a key human need and spiritual truth.
Being in church together helps put a face on God’s love for everyone. Many Sundays, a child’s smile or the hope filled face of an elder inspire all around them that God is real and full of love.
Coming to church each Sunday encourages people new to Christianity in their walks with God. Many times newcomers will ask where a person they met the week before is, since that was someone with whom a connection was made. If the newcomer cannot find that person, discouragement is common and the importance of Sunday worship undermined.
No matter how loudly we sing in the shower, there is something powerful about singing a beloved hymn, or reciting the Lord’s Prayer, that just is not accessible when we are alone. And that something is the Holy Spirit moving through the congregation. Sometimes the people gathered provide the energy needed to overcome despair or brokenness within an individual.
Receiving Holy Communion gives everyone an intimate experience of God that is not possible when we worship alone. God is really present in the bread and the wine (and we need only receive one of those), and saying yes to God being part of one’s life in this intimate act of consuming is too powerful to do alone.
Again, there is so much more that could be said that is at least as important as these words. So this week’s Adult Forum (March 8 9AM) will be talking more about Episcopalians’ ways of public worship together and the ways those worship forms can be meaningful.
Some links on Corporate Prayer…
Learning to Pray through Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer Online
The Eucharistically Shaped Life
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
In this week’s experience of Holy Family’s Lenten Challenge, the focus is on corporate prayer, that is worshiping together. Since the earliest days of God’s self revealing, as recorded in the Scriptures, there is a presumption that people’s spiritual lives are integrated into their public lives, rather than something hidden away. By the time of Jesus, common worship is a cornerstone of Jewish worship, and the format from synagogue worship at the time of Jesus continues to be the focus of Christian worship in the liturgical Christian traditions of today, such as the Episcopal Church.
The reasons and benefits of corporate worship have fascinated faithful people for so long that millions of works in virtually every written language on earth focus on the topic. So I will today just focus on a handful knowing that so much more could be said.
Corporate worship is the primary tool for Christians to support one another in their walks with God. Even if nothing personal is spoken, together praying, singing, receiving Communion, pondering the Bible, and so much more helps people get through their weeks and the many challenges life brings. Knowing we are not alone is a key human need and spiritual truth.
Being in church together helps put a face on God’s love for everyone. Many Sundays, a child’s smile or the hope filled face of an elder inspire all around them that God is real and full of love.
Coming to church each Sunday encourages people new to Christianity in their walks with God. Many times newcomers will ask where a person they met the week before is, since that was someone with whom a connection was made. If the newcomer cannot find that person, discouragement is common and the importance of Sunday worship undermined.
No matter how loudly we sing in the shower, there is something powerful about singing a beloved hymn, or reciting the Lord’s Prayer, that just is not accessible when we are alone. And that something is the Holy Spirit moving through the congregation. Sometimes the people gathered provide the energy needed to overcome despair or brokenness within an individual.
Receiving Holy Communion gives everyone an intimate experience of God that is not possible when we worship alone. God is really present in the bread and the wine (and we need only receive one of those), and saying yes to God being part of one’s life in this intimate act of consuming is too powerful to do alone.
Again, there is so much more that could be said that is at least as important as these words. So this week’s Adult Forum (March 8 9AM) will be talking more about Episcopalians’ ways of public worship together and the ways those worship forms can be meaningful.
Some links on Corporate Prayer…
Learning to Pray through Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer Online
The Eucharistically Shaped Life
Week Three
by The Rev. Cathy Scott
James 2:14-26 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)Faith without Works Is Dead14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
The Christian life is a life lived in loving service of others. The deacon stands at the sanctuary door for a reason. The dismissal words of the deacon, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord" are meant to invite parishioners to leave the comfort and peace of the sanctuary in order to serve God’s poor and forgotten and marginalized. The deacon ushers us out of our comfort and in to the kingdom – to find and serve Jesus in others.
How do you “love and serve the Lord" except through loving and serving others. Jesus is found in the tired grandmother who fries hamburgers at McDonald’s because she desperately needs the money for her rent. Jesus is in the prisoner who stole from the Dollar General store. Jesus cleans tables, cooks at a restaurant, walks the streets and alleys, and shivers in the cold because he has no home.
Walk from this sanctuary and be a living sanctuary for others this Lent. Talk with Deacon Cathy about putting your faith into action by serving others. God's Kingdom is a Kin-dom where we are truly all brothers and sisters. Your brother is homeless. Your sister doesn’t have enough food to feed her children. This Lent, fast from your own desires and feast in service to God’s children.
by The Rev. Cathy Scott
James 2:14-26 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)Faith without Works Is Dead14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
The Christian life is a life lived in loving service of others. The deacon stands at the sanctuary door for a reason. The dismissal words of the deacon, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord" are meant to invite parishioners to leave the comfort and peace of the sanctuary in order to serve God’s poor and forgotten and marginalized. The deacon ushers us out of our comfort and in to the kingdom – to find and serve Jesus in others.
How do you “love and serve the Lord" except through loving and serving others. Jesus is found in the tired grandmother who fries hamburgers at McDonald’s because she desperately needs the money for her rent. Jesus is in the prisoner who stole from the Dollar General store. Jesus cleans tables, cooks at a restaurant, walks the streets and alleys, and shivers in the cold because he has no home.
Walk from this sanctuary and be a living sanctuary for others this Lent. Talk with Deacon Cathy about putting your faith into action by serving others. God's Kingdom is a Kin-dom where we are truly all brothers and sisters. Your brother is homeless. Your sister doesn’t have enough food to feed her children. This Lent, fast from your own desires and feast in service to God’s children.
Week Four
By the Rev. Cathy Scott
Learnin' and Discernin' the Word of God
This weekend’s Lenten discipline centers on reading and, taking to heart, Holy Scriptures. We hear the Scriptures every Sunday – four different scripture, usually linked around a common theme. But are we really listening? Meaning, we may cognitively pick up some of the ideas, words, and scenes from the scripture we hear, but that is just the beginning. We must also, as St. Benedict writes in his Holy Rule, listen with “the ear of our heart.” How can we do this? Here is an ancient monastic practice that is used by folks today to bring the wisdom of the Scriptures into our daily lives:
Lectio divina is a practice of reading and meditating on Scripture with “the ear of your heart.” It is an easy practice with profound results. Incorporate lectio divina into your life on a daily basis. Anyone that says they have no time for a 20 minute practice may need to reevaluate what is consuming their life. Here are the steps:
By the Rev. Cathy Scott
Learnin' and Discernin' the Word of God
This weekend’s Lenten discipline centers on reading and, taking to heart, Holy Scriptures. We hear the Scriptures every Sunday – four different scripture, usually linked around a common theme. But are we really listening? Meaning, we may cognitively pick up some of the ideas, words, and scenes from the scripture we hear, but that is just the beginning. We must also, as St. Benedict writes in his Holy Rule, listen with “the ear of our heart.” How can we do this? Here is an ancient monastic practice that is used by folks today to bring the wisdom of the Scriptures into our daily lives:
Lectio divina is a practice of reading and meditating on Scripture with “the ear of your heart.” It is an easy practice with profound results. Incorporate lectio divina into your life on a daily basis. Anyone that says they have no time for a 20 minute practice may need to reevaluate what is consuming their life. Here are the steps:
- Carefully and slowly read a passage of scripture. Reread it, even more slowly. Do your eyes stop on a phrase, a word….stay with that phrase or word.
- Meditate on that word or phrase. What does it mean for you and your life? Your relationships? Your journey with Jesus?
- Pray for understanding, courage, strength, whatever the Scripture inspires in you.
- Move into contemplation. Meaning, allow that phrase or word to sink deeply into your being. Thinking is over, just rest with God's Word and allow God to work with you. End your lectio divina with Thanksgiving to God for the gift of this time and the grace of the moment.
Week Five
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
The theme for the last week of the Lenten Challenge is Share. When Holy Family’s leadership designed the Lenten Challenge many months ago, the thought was that this part of the challenge would be focused on trying tithing (donating ten percent of one’s income) for the weeks of Lent. That is still a worthy goal for a household, and certainly Holy Family could put the funds to good use. Tithing is an important spiritual expression of our love for God and humanity.
But with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and of the international economic situation, the spiritual dimensions of sharing have become much more important to how we choose to live each day. Government guidance is not just about staying home to stay safe, but also to only buy what we need so there is enough for everyone that day. Sharing in this time is about being generous with giving up our personal desires to get together with people beyond our households so that more people can be saved from the virus. It is about supporting local businesses when we do go out so that all who depend upon those businesses for their livelihoods can be kept whole. It is about sharing greetings (at a safe distance) with people we come across on our neighborhood walks and parking lots when running essential errands.
There is also a deeper step we can take. We can be generous with our prayers for both people we know and for strangers. Social media is full of prayer requests (or maybe just my clergy algorithms fill my feeds with them). I am tempted to skip them if it is someone I don’t know, or if I am in cranky state, evaluate them for credibility. Instead, I should just pray for each person and situation, however briefly. I invite you to do the same.
As I work from home, I try to have a good view out the window to be able to feel the life that is flowing outside in nature. But I am also now trying to intentionally pause and pray for each person I see walking by. With a few exceptions, I have no idea what specific needs and concerns they may have, so the vast majority of the time it is simply a prayer for God’s love to be with them. It costs me just a few moments, but it makes that time holy, and the space around my desk and the space outside become deeply sacred spaces. So the world is changed for the better. I invite you to do the same.
Finally, we should take seriously the opportunity to share Holy Family widely. Right now is a great time to invite people to church, since participating in an online service is about the least threatening test drive of a church and of God there is. Increasingly, there are very bad interpretations of these times being put forth in the name of God, so now is yet another crucial time for us to share with those around us, through our Facebook feeds, FaceTime calls, and any other means, the good news that God truly loves and cares for each one of us, and quite literally, does not wish any of us ill. This past Sunday’s online worship had well over one hundred participants, through the YouTube recording and the Facebook Watch Party. I hope everyone who did so had a sense of God’s love and care. I am going to try even harder to share on my social media and other connections the invitations Holy Family sends out for those opportunities. I invite you to do the same.
As we walk the last days of Lent, I pray that we all may find times to slow down enough to share, to share what God has given us-God’s love and peace and so much more.
By the Rev. Bruce W. Gray
The theme for the last week of the Lenten Challenge is Share. When Holy Family’s leadership designed the Lenten Challenge many months ago, the thought was that this part of the challenge would be focused on trying tithing (donating ten percent of one’s income) for the weeks of Lent. That is still a worthy goal for a household, and certainly Holy Family could put the funds to good use. Tithing is an important spiritual expression of our love for God and humanity.
But with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and of the international economic situation, the spiritual dimensions of sharing have become much more important to how we choose to live each day. Government guidance is not just about staying home to stay safe, but also to only buy what we need so there is enough for everyone that day. Sharing in this time is about being generous with giving up our personal desires to get together with people beyond our households so that more people can be saved from the virus. It is about supporting local businesses when we do go out so that all who depend upon those businesses for their livelihoods can be kept whole. It is about sharing greetings (at a safe distance) with people we come across on our neighborhood walks and parking lots when running essential errands.
There is also a deeper step we can take. We can be generous with our prayers for both people we know and for strangers. Social media is full of prayer requests (or maybe just my clergy algorithms fill my feeds with them). I am tempted to skip them if it is someone I don’t know, or if I am in cranky state, evaluate them for credibility. Instead, I should just pray for each person and situation, however briefly. I invite you to do the same.
As I work from home, I try to have a good view out the window to be able to feel the life that is flowing outside in nature. But I am also now trying to intentionally pause and pray for each person I see walking by. With a few exceptions, I have no idea what specific needs and concerns they may have, so the vast majority of the time it is simply a prayer for God’s love to be with them. It costs me just a few moments, but it makes that time holy, and the space around my desk and the space outside become deeply sacred spaces. So the world is changed for the better. I invite you to do the same.
Finally, we should take seriously the opportunity to share Holy Family widely. Right now is a great time to invite people to church, since participating in an online service is about the least threatening test drive of a church and of God there is. Increasingly, there are very bad interpretations of these times being put forth in the name of God, so now is yet another crucial time for us to share with those around us, through our Facebook feeds, FaceTime calls, and any other means, the good news that God truly loves and cares for each one of us, and quite literally, does not wish any of us ill. This past Sunday’s online worship had well over one hundred participants, through the YouTube recording and the Facebook Watch Party. I hope everyone who did so had a sense of God’s love and care. I am going to try even harder to share on my social media and other connections the invitations Holy Family sends out for those opportunities. I invite you to do the same.
As we walk the last days of Lent, I pray that we all may find times to slow down enough to share, to share what God has given us-God’s love and peace and so much more.