Vicar's message from February, 2006

Dear Members of St. Pat's,

On Ash Wednesday there will be two services at Saint Patrick's: the first one will be at 10:30 a.m. and a later one at 7:30 p.m. I invite all of you to join me in worship on that day. At each service, communicants will be invited to come to the altar twice: the first time is for the imposition of ashes, and the second time for the sacraments. We will be reminded that we are created from dust, and that to dust we shall return.
The foregoing statement is not something you and I like to hear. Becoming dust is a horrible thing to contemplate, even with the understanding that only the body dies. We would rather hear about things such as achievements and progress, good deeds, or positive thinking; and oh how we love to talk about victory -- victory over enemies, victory in war, victory over sickness and the devil and sin. Yet none of those things can soothe our fear about death.
Lent comes with an opportunity for us to face our fear of mortality.
Death of the body is unavoidable. Responsibility to the Giver of Life is also unavoidable. This is a good time for us to recall the Great Commandment: love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Remembering that we are created from dust, we respect the sacredness of life, our bodies, and of all creatures of God. As we accept the mystery of life and death, we come to accept the fact that we cannot be so certain about our own righteousness. All of us are guilty before Almighty God in one way or another.
What we hold true about ourselves and the world may not necessarily be what God sees. The way we look at other people may not be the same as to how God sees them. This belief prevents us from perceiving ourselves holy enough to cast the first stone against other human beings, or to follow anyone else in judging others. This belief insists that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, do not ridicule, or despise, or hurt the feeling of those who hold beliefs that are different from our own. This belief also insists that we must not perceive that God is only on our side, and that we are free to do to the world whatever we wish, based on our wealth and power. God has eyes, and the things we take liberty to do to God's creation are not consequence free. Lent calls us to repent.
Lent exhorts us to stop denying or running away from our own wounds and pain and suffering. Lent is the time for each of us to review our own personal life history -- from childhood to adulthood--recalling our own losses, or abuses and rejections, or disappointments, to this present time with all the challenges each of us face. As our brokenness is revealed to us, God's presence and God's love are also revealed, and so is our spiritual home.
Lent calls us to take care of ourselves. The greatest call to each of us is to first take care of our own needs-- bodily, mentally and spiritually. On this short journey each of us has on earth, let us ponder Jesus' teaching on love and forgiveness, and the way God sees the world, not only during Lent but also every day of the year, as we proclaim the hope of resurrection.
Once we experience God's love and forgiveness, in touching ourselves and loving ourselves, the presence of Christ becomes vivid in our heart, enabling us to be mindful of the needs of others and to reach out to the less fortunate with compassion. Tinh+