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Grace and peace,
The period of Lent, forty days preceding Easter, has a long history of both preparation for baptism, as well as mirroring, through fasting, the forty days Jesus was tempted in the desert. With the possibility of infant baptism, the long and intense period of baptismal preparation has fallen away.
In more recent years, the rigidity of the fast, a single daily meal void of meat, dairy, eggs, and alcohol, has morphed into a more casual no-chocolate, or other tempting vice, a voluntary restriction. This leaves us with either a token fast, or the question of how is it that Lent can actually shape and impact our lives.
The liturgy of Ash Wednesday reminds us that this is a season of self-reflection, repentance, pardon, and absolution. Too often, the season of Lent becomes a time of self-flagellation for Lenten promises not realized, rather than a time of seeing ourselves as God sees us – as God’s beloved. Lent is an opportunity to reflect on those things, and habits, that can bring us closer to, or separate us from, God, and the image of God.
We are each created in the image of God, imago Dei, and as such, we are God’s beloved.
This Lent, we invite you into a time of intentionality; a time of intentional reflection on those things that will help us to live into the image of God, as well as a time of intentional recognition that God loves us, inspite of who we are, but because of who we are – we are God’s beloved.
In Japan there is a centuries old practice of kintsugi, the mending of broken pottery using powdered gold or silver that does not hide the repair but highlights the beauty of the broken vessel. The breakage and the repair are a part of the story of the piece of pottery, and the item is more beautiful as a result of it having been broken.
We each carry wounds, regrets, and varying degrees of brokenness; and we are each more beautiful because of this – and we are each beloved by God.
Currently, in our solarium there is a piece of broken pottery, in which we invite you to write your intentions on a card and place them in this vessel. There are also journals, conveniently 40 pages long, that will provide an opportunity for you to record your thoughts and feelings about your intentions, as well as your beloved nature as one of God’s Beloved. As you journey through Lent, be mindful of your intentions AND that you are beloved by God. We are all Broken but Beloved.
Amen,
Fr. Henry+
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