Dear friends,
Welcome once again to the season of Lent, the forty-day season in the church’s year where we are invited to reimagine our relationship with God, following the pattern of Jesus’s own journey of wilderness and prayer.
In this e-news, you will find access to our Lent calendar and resources for the season, as well as a note from Brian Locke about our liturgical music during Lent.
For our adult education series, Devon and I will be inviting our congregation to be Journeying Together Through Lent as a community. In this e-news, the bulletin, and on QR codes in the Narthex, you will find copies available of a small study with which the congregation may engage. There will also be a small book for the children in our Sunday School and their families, Praying Through Lent, following the Godly Play Faces of Easter series. There is also “Why?” in Lent, a book study for middle and high school students.
For all three studies, each week in Lent there are scripture readings, prayers, and, for the adults, a fast which we can share in. For Journeying Together Through Lent, there will also be gatherings during Wednesday evenings where we will go deeper into the weekly themes. Central to this will be our reading of an essay by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, “On Being Creatures,” which explores the theme of new creation and dependence on God, and which is the underlying focus of our Lenten study. By studying and fasting together, we will be able to engage in one of the central elements of Lent, that is, to participate in this journey together. And even if you cannot make all the services or gatherings in this season, these study booklets and our prayerful responses might help us maintain our connection with one another nonetheless.
Please read the introduction to our Lent study by Devon, with the links to the three booklets we’ve prepared, and to learn more about our music and liturgy during Lent, please read Brian’s letter to the parish! If you are interested in taking part in the Wednesday evening sessions, they take place on March 12, 19, and 26, and April 2 and 9, at 7pm. Please email me directly if you wish to sign up!
With every blessing,
Ed.
The Rev. Edward Thornley
Rector of The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist