LENTEN DAYS

I attended an Ash Wednesday High Mass at an Anglican Church in London, near to my favourite book shop. It was two hours of “smells and bells”, choral anitphons, pentitential readings and prayers. I loved it ! The liturgical stucture helped me focus on what the start of the Lenten season means – repentence, recognsing my weakness and frailty and centred on the cross and my relationship to Jesus and his Church. He demands my honesty and integrity. I cringed at the comment of two particpants as they left the service “ ..that was just too catholic!” I felt they had missed the point of this service. Through the symbolism of the liturgy, the exterior practices are echoed In the interior call and response to penitence, to humble myself before my God.

I have taken up a Lenten discipline of working through a Lent book written by a Francisan hermit who has had a profound impact on my life- the Way of Love by Brother Ramon SSF. I have longed to follow the liturgical year with more earnestness and focus and this is my small contribution towards that end. This involves giving up some of my time to spend meditating on the assigned scriptures and short reading/ response. I also feel challenged to look at some other spirtual practices, like fasting and alms giving. It is the corporate disciplines of prayer and worship that shape our personal devotions.

I was challenged by the sermon at this service. The vicar went on to say that the core structure of our faith is not individudalistic ( Me and my God) but centred on our life lived in the community of faith. Our faith is simultaneously both communal and personal, but the communal aspect takes precedence, when we look at the scriptures and our Jewish roots We are baptised into the family of God and are to be discipled through our involvement in Christ’s body. This tends to fly in the face of my own introverted nature, that can easily dispense with the closer connection to the family of believers in terms of my local church. I feel connected to the wider fabric of Christ’s body but not always feeling so comfortable, at home in my own local church. When I follow the Daily prayer, it feels more comfortable than having to be honest and accountable to people in my congregation, but that is what being part of the body is all about. It invovles honesty and vulnerability and I feel this Lenten challenge very deeply. I do not want to be vulnerable, to admit my weaknesses, that I need a shoulder to cry on, that I need support. God grant me the courage to take off the mask and be true to myself with you and with trusted others.