Loading...Dear Friends in Christ,
Lent approaches. Lent has been observed since apostolic times and runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Week, Maundy Thursday or Easter according to different beliefs. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Western churches once provided for a 40-day fast (excluding Sundays) in imitation of Jesus’//www.merriam-webster.com/concise/Jesus fasting in the wilderness; one meal a day was allowed in the evening, but meat, fish, eggs, and butter were forbidden. These rules have gradually been relaxed, and today the rules of Lent have pretty much gone the way of New Year’s resolutions.
It all starts on Ash Wednesday and continues for 46 days. Sundays are feast days. Ash Wednesday is so called because of the imposition of ashes on the forehead of believers as a celebration and reminder of human mortality and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. This year an Ash Wednesday Cluster service will be held at Stras Memorial beginning at 7 pm. Ashes of the palms left over from last year’s Palm Sunday will be imposed on the foreheads. For communion we will use wine that Lonnie Quesenberry brought back from his recent visit to the Holy Land.
We will continue our observances of Lent on March 19, at St. Mary’s with a dinner at 6:30 followed by a reenactment of the Last Supper. We will be asking volunteers to help with this. It will be a moving experience.
On March 26, we will celebrate a Service of Healing and the Holy Eucharist at Christ Church. This service will begin at 7:00 pm. The oil used for anointing also comes from the Holy Land and is scented with frankincense.
We conclude our Lenten programs at Stras with a Seder Meal once again led by our good Jewish friends Robert and Annabelle Galumbeck. We are so fortunate to have Robert and Annabelle share with us this traditional Passover meal. This wonderful tradition helps us to remember and celebrate our Jewish heritage.
I hope you will join us in these important celebrations of our faith. Please, also try to attend the Holy Week services in your communities. If I am not able to get a supply priest to help us on Maundy Thursday, we will have to have a Cluster service. Good Friday’s schedule will be as usual: Stras at noon, Christ Church at 6:30, and St. Mary’s at 8:00 pm.
When you observe Lent by giving up something, make it something you have to really sacrifice. Remember that it is not just giving up something, it can be making a change in your life for the better like getting more exercise, volunteering, smiling more, or spending more time with loved ones.
I think I will continue to try to love others as God loves me – unconditionally. It is hard for me sometimes; I can’t imagine how hard it is for God.
In Christ’s Love,
Father Russ
