Lent Letter 2007
Saint John's Church
Lent Letter 2007
Dear Members and Friends,
We've all heard stories about "the one that got away." But did it ever occur to you that that tale just might be the story of your life? Like the proverbial fish that got away, our lives can get away from us, too. Unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others, the refusal to grow up emotionally and/or spiritually, the failure to cherish our loved ones with our time, chasing goals of dubious importance, increasing inability to appreciate the beauty around us- these are among the many things by which we let our lives get away from us. Before we know it, we are not ourselves; we are living someone else's expectations or are being driven by some "need" or desire which has overtaken us. You might well say then that your life has gotten away from you - the real you - the "you" ;God created in his image is lost.
Lent is the time of year when we are called upon by the Church to stop telling fish tales about ourselves or our world and to examine the truth revealed in our lives. It is our friends and fellow-parishioners in the local parish, together with the wider Catholic Church, who call each of us and each other to serious self-examination, repentance, and penitence. We learned ages ago to let the services of the Church put everyone under the same spotlight rather than have individuals point out the fish tales of our lives to each other. So it is the Church who calls us to stop and take heed to ourselves, to shut down the engines driving us and to examine our manner of living.
The wisdom of centuries of experience has shown the Church that all her people need a good sit-down and talking to every now and then to remind them of who and whose they are. Lent is one of her strongest and most pointed ways of accomplishing this. Many places today want to have a "joyous Lent" where they try not to burden busy people with fasting or extra devotions, or a call to self-examination and real change. These are places where Lent is given a cynical wink and a nod, and everyone needs to feel good about himself all the time. Not here. Lent at Saint John's is a seriously real Lent. Here it is a call to change and to the joys of renewed holiness of life. It is a call to order priorities aright. It is a call to experience the joy of Christ and the saints. It is a call to convert and be healed. Thus, it is also a warning of the disaster ahead for those who do not act on that call- not in some apocalyptic hell at the end of our lives, but in quite real hells of our own devising in the here and now, which will lead us step by step to that final and damning eternal turning away from God.
The immense joy of the ancient Church at Easter came through a well-kept, hard-slogged Lent. It came from grasping what was real and essential, what needed change and repentance, and from making the amends that needed to be made. The lasting joy of Easter came in having drawn closer to the risen Jesus and his people through prayer and fasting during Lent, in accepting the power which that closeness to Him brings- power to raise us from the dead of false lives and from self-inflicted hells. Do not squander nor waste this precious season and opportunity. This way of the Cross is what makes Easter real.
Faithfully yours,
(The Rev'd) Jesse L. A. Parker
Rector of Saint John's Church