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Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE
CHRONICLE
February 24, 2002, The Second Sunday in Lent
Volume 47, No. 8
"And
other such sacrifices…"
I
imagine many of you read or at least saw The Commercial Appeal article
entitled, "Lent lectures return to Calvary." It noted that
this is Calvary's 79th annual Noonday Lenten Preaching Series and then
listed the broad and rich array of our 2002 Lenten speakers. In the
text of the article the following statement was made:
The
Christian season of Lent is a 40-day period of reflection and repentance
in the weeks before Easter (so far so good). During Lent, the faithful
give up things such as meat and chocolate and make other sacrifices.
My
reaction: How glib! How superficial!
We
live in a world that is increasingly divided by race, socio-economic
stratification and creed; a world in which violence, global terrorism
and disregard for human life stretches to every corner of our globe,
including the very streets we travel each day here in Memphis. And all
we can say about the rich and fecund spiritual season of Lent has to
do with giving up meat and chocolate. I don't think so!
I
would invite us again to the deeply moving words of our BCP and specifically
the Litany of Penitence for Ash Wednesday (p. 267). There we will find
some Lenten discipline that will not only change the world in which
we live, but in the process, we will be changed.
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We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind…We have
not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others,
as we have been forgiven.
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We
have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
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We
confess…(our) pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives…
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Our
self indulgent appetites…our exploitation of other people…
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Our
anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate
than ourselves.
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Our
intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts…
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Our
negligence in prayer and worship…
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Accept
our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: blindness to human
need and suffering…false judgments, uncharitable thoughts…our
prejudice…our contempt toward those who differ from us…our
waste and our pollution of your creation and our lack of concern for
those who come after us
Lent
invites us into our "interior wildernesses" in order that
we might make amends with our own soul, with one another and with the
God who loves us beyond measure. Choose just one issue that is fractured
or broken in your life-a relationship, an issue of character, an inequality
of your spirit-and spend a disciplined and prayerful time with that
concern. This care in our Lenten journey could indeed be a holy and
life giving experience.
Faithfully, In Christ
~LaRue Downing
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