Prayers for a Blessed and Holy Lent
As we embark, yet again, once again, on this journey we call Lent, our prayers are for each of you: pastors, leaders in churches, that you may enter into the far reaches of your souls, discover Holy Ground, and meet God there. May you see the Face of Christ in all you serve. As we begin, part of a favorite poem, from Four Quartets, by TS Eliot (who borrows from the generous Julian of Norwich)
If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Quick now, here, now, always--
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
Blessings to Each and All,
Erin Cox-Holmes and Michael Wilson