Listen here if you wish or here [mp3]

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Holy Father, who hast redeemed us with the precious blood of thy dear Son: Keep us, we beseech thee, steadfast in faith, and enable us no longer to live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again, even the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

On Desert Island Discs you choose a book, but they tell you ‘You’ve already got the Bible and Shakespeare’. I used to say to clergy, ‘tell me your two Desert Island texts’ – and I used to add, ‘And you’ve already got John 20 and Romans 8.’

That sends me for a moment across to John, where we find a graphic personal outworking of Paul’s theme: those whom he justified, he also glorified. In John 21 Jesus meets Peter on the shore after Peter’s disastrous denial. Three times Jesus asks him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Three times Peter answers with a tentative Yes. The narrative then cries out for a word of forgiveness, but Jesus gives a word of commission. Feed my sheep. And then a word of warning: follow me, all the way to the cross. Those whom he justified, he also glorified: those to whom he gives the word of free forgiveness, to them he also gives the commission to join him in his costly work, to come when he calls, to go where he sends, to do what he tells you. The word of forgiveness and the word of call and commission regularly come together. We are not forgiven in order to sit back and do nothing. We are justified in order that we may also be glorified.

And equally every call and commission in the service of Jesus begins with that free, undeserved, by-grace-alone forgiveness. When I was in Durham a national committee proposed a new ordination service which included lots of creative and exciting things, and to make room they proposed some cuts, including the confession and absolution. My Durham colleagues and I agreed that this was nonsense. All Christian calling and ministry flows from the forgiving grace of God. That’s where Peter started; that’s where we all start. Start anywhere else and you’re building on sand. We thank God today for a life and ministry which was rooted in that forgiving and justifying grace and never grew weary in speaking of it. Those he glorified have already been justified.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Lyrics:

1. Behold me here, in grief draw near, Pleading at Thy throne oh King.
To Thee each tear, each trembling fear, Jesus Son of Man I bring.
Let me find Thee, Let me find Thee.
Let me find Thee, Lord of mercy King of grace.

2. Look down in love, and from above, With Thy Spirit satisfy.
Thou hast sought me, Thou hast bought me, And thy purchase Lord am I.
Let me find Thee, Let me find Thee.
Let me find Thee, Here on earth and then on high.

3. Hear the broken, scarcely spoken, Longings of my heart to thee
All the crying, all the sighing, Of Thy child accepted be.
Let me find Thee, Let me find Thee.
Let me find Thee, Wounded healer, suffering Lord.

This was the offertory for worship where I was this past Sunday--listen to it all; KSH.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Liturgy, Music, Worship

Grant, O Lord, that in thy wounds we may find our safety, in thy stripes our cure, in thy pain our peace, in thy cross our victory, in thy resurrection our triumph; and, at the last, a crown of righteousness in the glories of thy eternal kingdom.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given us, for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, now and for evermore.

--Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Listen here if you wish. More Sunday Worship here

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O God, whose blessed Son did overcome death for our salvation: Mercifully grant that we, who have his glorious passion in remembrance, may take up our cross daily and follow him; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Scottish book of Common Prayer

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Help me.
Help me spread Your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that my life may be only a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me and be so in me
that every soul will feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see,
see no longer me, but only You

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O God, who willest not the death of a sinner: We beseech thee to aid and protect us who are exposed to grievous temptations; and grant that in obeying thy commandments we may be strengthened and supported by thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty God, long-suffering and of great goodness, we confess to thee with our whole heart our neglect and forgetfulness of thy commandments, our wrong doing, speaking and thinking, the harm we have done to others, and the good we have left undone. O God, forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and raise us to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Listen here

[Words and music for Lent featuring cantatas from Buxtehude's 'Membra Jesu Nostri' - meditations around the suffering limbs of our Lord Jesus Christ]

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst take upon thee the form of a servant, humbling thyself and accepting death for us, even the death of the cross: Grant that this mind may be also in us; so that we may gladly take upon ourselves the life of humility and service, and taking up our cross daily may follow thee in thy suffering and death, that with thee we may attain unto the power of thy endless life. Grant this, O Christ, our Saviour and our King.

--Harold Anson

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Save us, O God, from the false piety that parades itself in the eyes of men and women and is not genuine in thy sight; and so sanctify us by thy Holy Spirit that both in heart and life we may serve thee acceptably, to the honour of thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Frank Colquhoun (1909-1997)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Listen here - Service Sheet is here

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Lord our God, long-suffering and full of compassion: Be present with us, we beseech thee, as we continue in this season in which we make ready to recall our Saviour’s sufferings and to celebrate his triumph. Grant us the aid of thy Holy Spirit, that as we acknowledge our sins, and implore thy pardon, we may also be enabled to deny ourselves, and be upheld in the hour of temptation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Listen to Bishop Mark Lawrence's sermon on Luke 17:11-19 from St Michael's Charleston on February 3rd here

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Thou who hast prepared a place for my soul, prepare my soul for that place. Prepare it with holiness; prepare it with desire; and even while it sojourneth upon earth, let it dwell in heaven with thee, beholding the beauty of thy countenance and the glory of thy saints, now and for evermore.

--Joseph Hall

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’
[John 8:12 - from today's Gospel reading]

Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Euchologium Anglicanum

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who hast made the light of thy truth to shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--W. Walsham How

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty God, spirit of peace and of grace, whose salvation is never far from penitent hearts: We confess the sins that have estranged us from thee, dimmed our vision of heavenly things, and brought upon us many troubles and sorrows. O merciful Father, grant unto us who humble ourselves before thee the remission of all our sins, and the assurance of thy pardon and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

We are not worthy, O Lord, to enter into thy presence, for thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. But thou, Lord, art merciful and full of compassion; forgive us therefore all the sins and offences whereby we have grieved or dishonoured thee, and receive us again into thy favour, that we may worthily magnify thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty and most merciful God, we acknowledge and confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed; that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul, with all our mind and strength; and that we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We beseech thee, O God, to be forgiving to what we have been, to help us to amend what we are, and of thy mercy to direct what we shall be; so that we may henceforth walk in the way of thy commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--John Hunter

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

We are not worthy, O Lord, to enter into thy presence, for thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. But thou, Lord, art merciful and full of compassion; forgive us therefore all the sins and offences whereby we have grieved or dishonoured thee, and receive us again into thy favour, that we may worthily magnify thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Blessed Saviour, who art full of mercy and compassion, and wilt not cast out any that come to thee: Help us, we beseech thee, who are grievously vexed with the burden of our sins; and so increase in us the power of thy Holy Spirit that we may prevail against the enemy of our souls; for thy name’s sake.

--Henry Alford

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord God, the lesson of thy holy Word, that only the pure in heart can see thee. Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination. May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor acquiesce idly in aught of which our conscience accuses us. Strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--C. J. Vaughan

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Eternal God, who hast taught us by thy holy Word that our bodies are temples of thy Spirit: Keep us, we most humbly beseech thee, temperate and holy in thought, word and deed, that at the last we, with all the pure in heart, may see thee and be made like unto thee in thy heavenly kingdom; through Christ our Lord.

--B. F. Westcott (1825-1901)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Lord our God, long-suffering and full of compassion: Be present with us, we beseech thee, as we enter upon this season in which we make ready to recall our Saviour’s sufferings and to celebrate his triumph. Grant us the aid of thy Holy Spirit, that as we acknowledge our sins, and implore thy pardon, we may also be enabled to deny ourselves, and be upheld in the hour of temptation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Spiritual Disciplines Prayer from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Almighty and eternal God, who has so made us of body, soul and spirit, that we live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from thee: Make us to hunger for the spiritual food of thy Word; and as we trust thee for our daily bread, may we also trust thee to give us day by day the inward nourishment of that living truth which thou hast revealed to us in thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

--James Ferguson

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Listen to it all if you so desire.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics

O God, our Judge and Saviour, set before us the vision of thy purity, and let us see our sins in the light of thy holiness. Pierce our self-contentment with the shafts of thy burning love, and let that love consume in us all that hinders us from perfect service of thy cause; for as thy holiness is our judgment, so are thy wounds our salvation.

--William Temple

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Spiritual Disciplines Meditation from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Lord our God, who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity: Have mercy upon us, we beseech thee, for our sins accuse us, and we are troubled by them and put to shame. We have done wrong to ourselves in ignorance, and to our brethren in willfulness, and by our selfish and faithless ways have grieved thy Holy Spirit. Forgive us, we humbly pray thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Spiritual Disciplines Study from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

But in order to arrive at its full meaning, we must suppose that David felt an inward struggle and opposition, which he found it necessary to check. Satan had raised a tumult in his affections, and wrought a degree of impatience in his mind, which he now curbs; and he expresses his resolution to be silent. The word implies a meek and submissive endurance of the cross. It expresses the opposite of that heat of spirit which would put us into a posture of resistance to God. The silence intended is, in short, that composed submission of the believer, in the exercise of which he acquiesces in the promises of God, gives place to his word, bows to his sovereignty, and suppresses every inward murmur of dissatisfaction.

--From his commentary on the Psalms, and quoted by yours truly in this morning's sermon

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

Blessed Lord, who wast tempted in all things like as we are, have mercy upon our frailty. Out of weakness give us strength; grant to us thy fear, that we may fear thee only; support us in time of temptation; embolden us in time of danger; help us to do thy work with good courage, and to continue thy faithful soldiers and servants unto our life’s end.

--B. F. Westcott (1825-1901)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

...We are all over stimulated. Blessed Lent, the sad springtime of the Church's year is the time when we support each other as believers in simplifying our lives; removing fuel from the fires of rage and fear; facing a little more of the shadow world within by laying aside some of our usual comforters...

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Chapter 1: The People Around Jesus

Discussing his preaching a sermon on this Parable of the Lost Sons to a foreign audience, Tim Keller notes that “some time later the translator wrote to tell me that, as he was preaching the sermon, the had realized that the parable was like an arrow aimed at his heart…It brought him to faith in Christ.” He continues, noting that “many others have told me that this story of Jesus…saved their faith, their marriages, and…their lives.” Why is that? How can such a short story have such a huge impact on those that receive it? Exploring this question is our task for this Lenten season as we read The Prodigal God and consider it is the father, representing God himself, that is the prodigal of this story, the character who is “recklessly spendthrift” in pursuit of his two sons.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • * South Carolina • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

O Lord and heavenly Father, who hast given unto us thy people the true bread that cometh down from heaven, even thy Son Jesus Christ: Grant that throughout this Lent our souls may so be fed by him that we may continually live in him and he in us; and that day by day we may be renewed in spirit by the power of his endless life, who gave himself for us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

--Frederick Macnutt

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Spiritual Disciplines Fasting from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O God, who by thy Son dost marvellously work out the salvation of mankind: Grant, we beseech thee, that, following the example of our blessed Lord, and observing such a fast as thou dost choose, we may both be subjected to thee with all our hearts, and united to each other in holy charity; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Gelasian Sacramentary

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Intro. to Spiritual Disciplines from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Spiritual Disciplines Fasting from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Spiritual Disciplines Study from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Spiritual Disciplines Meditation from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Spiritual Disciplines Prayer from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” Mark 2:19-20

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph. 3:17-19

Dear Lord Jesus, it’s Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. For the next forty days we have the privilege of surveying your cross and acknowledging our need. For your glory and our growth, we ask you to inundate us with fresh grace in the coming weeks.

Indeed, we don’t want an ordinary Lenten season, Jesus. Melt us in your mercies; overwhelm us with your love; astonish us with your kindness, for it’s your kindness that leads us to repentance. It’s all about you, Lord Jesus. It is all about what you’ve done for us, not what we promise to do for you. It’s not about beating ourselves up, it’s about lifting you up. Our deepest conviction of sin comes from the clearest sighting of your beauty.

That’s why we begin Lent today anticipating our wedding, not our funeral; for you are the loving bridegroom who died to make us your cherished bride. The work’s already done; the dowry has been paid in full; the wedding dress of your righteousness is already ours; the invitations have been sent out; the date has been secured; you’ll not change your mind about us! We are much more beloved than we are broken. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Over these next forty days give us an insatiable hunger for yourself; reveal new dimensions of your love; intensify our longing for the Day of your return—the Day of consummate joy—the wedding feast of the Lamb.

In light of that banquet, we choose to deny ourselves (fast from) certain pleasures for this brief season; but we’re not looking to get one thing from you, Jesus—just more of you. Fill our hearts with your beauty and bounty. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and loving name.

Read it all h/t Lent and Beyond

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

..So, my prescription for this current crop of students who have this inflated sense of self-worth, sense of entitlement and narcissism is the 40 days of Lent. This is actually a good prescription for all of us. It is a way of downsizing the ego.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3)

Read it all and see what you think!

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

...this is not to say that there is no value in Lent—far from it! A time, whether it be a weekend retreat or a 40-day period, in which we spend time in devotions that draw us closer to God, is of enormous value. Such times are penitential, in that they will undoubtedly include self-examination and confession of any known sins. In these times we can grow spiritually and find new direction for our lives and ministries. And, sometimes, acts of self denial such as fasting help us to focus our resolve during this time and demonstrate to God and ourselves the seriousness of our undertaking.

The problem comes when we think we are doing something virtuous when we manage to give up things for 40 days that, in actuality, we ought to give up 365 days a year. Or when we reduce our right standing before God to a game of addition and subtraction—as though our salvation depended on the good we have done outweighing the bad. Or when we think that God delights in sacrifice more than mercy, or that petty acts of contrition can bridge a chasm that could only be bridged by the death of God's only-begotten Son.

We would do well to remember the purposes for which Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying in the wilderness. He had no sins for which he needed to atone. We have no sins for which we are capable of atoning. If we could, what He did for us—what He had to do for us—would not have been necessary.

In a holy Lent, we need to spend time being reminded of our need to trust in the providence of God (“Do not put the Lord your God to the test”), the supremacy of God (“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only”), and the sufficiency of His Word (“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”).

So Lent is really much more about what God adds to our lives as we spend intentional, focused time with Him rather than what we give up, because the Gospel is always about what God has done for us, not about what we do for Him.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

...We all share Bilbo’s dragon sickness. We confuse the goal and the means. We get things totally back to front. The dragon treats the treasure like it is the goal, the purpose. We know the gold and treasure is supposed to be the means. For the dragon the treasure is ultimately totally useless. We know this.

And yet, even though we know it, it traps us. We are like the Master of Laketown, like Gollum, even like Bilbo (when he gets the Arkenstone it possesses him).

The goal is God. Everything, everything else is the means. And we get it back to front – making other things the goal of life, and then finding we are possessed, addicted by these. Even using God as the means to get our goal.

Lent is much deeper than simply “giving something up”. Lent is the unexpected journey – with Gandalf as wise guide and each of us as Bilbo. The painful adventure and journey of Lent, where we leave behind our obsessions with the trivia of handkerchiefs, and doilies, and mother’s dishes.

Through the prayer and self-denial and generosity of Lent we may be surprised to find that we arrive at Easter changed.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

In the season of Lent 2013, the Titusonenine blog needs to shift in terms of its focus and character.

There are a number of reasons for this, but let me cite several.

First, I have had a significant change in my personal circumstances. My father, as a number of you know, came down to South Carolina suddenly in 2012, in need of skilled nursing care. Since getting him an original place to be looked after, we wanted to move him closer to ourselves here in Summerville if possible, and recently a spot has opened up at the Presbyterian Home here (they now call themselves “The Village at Summerville”).

Dad has just moved to this new facility in early 2013. He is 80, and neither of us is getting any younger. My wife and I would like to see him more often, and this is a wonderful opportunity.

Also, my right knee has been a continuing and worsening problem. A number of years back I had surgery for a torn meniscus. Then a couple of years ago the pain began to inch up to the point of being more and more of a distraction and obstacle. It was time to go to the doctor (yuck). I have now been to two specialists, both of whom say I need a knee replacement. When this was first proposed, I nearly screamed (by the way I am not getting older and not in denial either [g]). Now that both of them and my wife and my co-worker at the parish where I serve have said it is time, the jig is up. It looks like the procedure will be in the late spring. I need to get ready.

Second, the situation in the diocese is demanding. The conflict with the national Episcopal Church is a real mess and it is not only personally and emotionally draining, it is spiritually challenging. True, is also an opportunity, but I need to retool the engines so to speak in order to live into that possibility.

Thirdly, the parish where I serve is headed into a new Lenten series entitled “into the wilderness.” The more I wrestled and prayed with the theme the more appropriate I sensed it would be for me to be more in the wilderness also in terms of a blog break.

Finally, although I can scarcely believe it, this blog has been in operation for ten years as of next month. Somehow that timing, also, makes this choice appropriate.

In any event, with the exception of some Anglican and South Carolina news and developments, blog posts will focus on theological and devotional topics as well as open threads on edifying discussion topics, and I will be posting occasionally with help from others.

I wish all of you a blessed lent 2013, and ask your prayers for myself, my family and the diocese of South Carolina. Thank you for your readership, participation, and support—KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Health & Medicine • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Lent Reflections and Resources
Lent and Beyond—Recommended Blogs and Links for Lent 2013, February 12
Daily Devotionals from Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge
Three Meditations for Ash Wednesday from Bishop Mark Lawrence, February 13

Spiritual Disciplines
Kendall Harmon and others - Five Spiritual Disciplines for Lent - Introduction, Fasting, Study, Meditation and Prayer, February 13
Five Lenten Disciplines ExplainedChurch of the Incarnation, Dallas - Examen, Prayer, Lectio Divina, Fasting, Service
The Meaning of the Great Fast: The True Nature of Fasting - Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware [h/t Ad Orientem]

Lent Courses
Into the Wilderness - Lent Series from Christ St Paul's
Part 1:Off into the Desert - Kendall Harmon
Part 2: Prayer in the Desert - Kendall Harmon
Worship in the Desert - Kendall Harmon [NEW]


Services Online
Ash Wednesday Services Online

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst take upon thee the form of a servant, humbling thyself and accepting death for us, even the death of the cross: Grant that this mind may be also in us; so that we may gladly take upon ourselves the life of humility and service, and taking up our cross daily may follow thee in thy suffering and death, that with thee we may attain unto the power of thy endless life. Grant this, O Christ, our Saviour and our King.

--Harold Anson

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Are human beings born good or born with a volcanic anti-God allergy in their hearts? Answering this theological question is one of THE great challenges for Christians as we stand on the brink of a new millennium.
On one side of the divide stands Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Men and women “are born free,” he famously said in his Social Contract, yet “everywhere” they are “in chains.” Rousseau believed that we are born good. His explanation for the deep problems in the world? They came to us from outside us. Error and prejudice, murder and treason, were the products of corrupt environments: educational, familial, societal, political, and, yes, ecclesiastical.

Note carefully that the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM is located outside men and women, and the MEANS of evil developing comes from the outside in. The NATURE of the problem is one of environment and knowledge.
Augustine (354-430) saw things very differently. Describing the decision by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Augustine writes in The City of God: “Our parents fell into open disobedience because they were secretly corrupted; for the evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it.” The motive for this evil will was pride. “This is undue exaltation, when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself … By craving to be more” we “became less;” and “by aspiring to be self-sufficing,” we “fell away from him who truly suffices” us.

For Augustine, men and women as we find them today are creatures curved in on themselves. We are rebels who, rather than curving up and out in worship to God, instead curved in and down into what Malcolm Muggeridge once termed “the dark little dungeon of our own” egos.

In this view the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM is located inside men and women, and the means of evil developing comes from the inside out (note Jesus’ reasoning in Mark 7:18-23). The NATURE of the problem is one of the will.

The difference between Augustine and Rousseau could not be more stark. In a Western world permeated by Rousseau, we need the courage to return to the challenge and depth of Augustine’s insight.
To do so makes the good news of the gospel even better. Think of Easter. What is the image which Paul uses to describe what occurs when a man or woman turns to Christ? New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Jesus rose to transform the entire created order from the inside out, beginning with our evil wills which he replaces with “a new heart…and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Glory Hallelujah!

--Kendall S. Harmon from a piece in 2007

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Theology • Anthropology

Three Welsh bishops are taking up a tough Lent challenge which will see them give 40 talks over five weeks at eight different venues.

The Archbishop of Wales, the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff and the Bishop of Monmouth will be out and about in churches across South Wales almost every weekday night in the weeks leading up to Easter giving talks about the Bible. And they’re inviting people to make it their Lent resolution to join them for discussion.

The Bishops hope to build on the success of similar talks last year which attracted more than 1,000 people a week.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Wales • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin a new Lenten journey, a journey that extends over forty days and leads us towards the joy of Easter, to victory of Life over death. Following the ancient Roman tradition of Lenten stations, we are gathered for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The tradition says that the first statio took place in the Basilica of Saint Sabina on the Aventine Hill. Circumstances suggested we gather in St. Peter's Basilica. Tonight there are many of us gathered around the tomb of the Apostle Peter, to also ask him to pray for the path of the Church going forward at this particular moment in time, to renew our faith in the Supreme Pastor, Christ the Lord. For me it is also a good opportunity to thank everyone, especially the faithful of the Diocese of Rome, as I prepare to conclude the Petrine ministry, and I ask you for a special remembrance in your prayer.

The readings that have just been proclaimed offer us ideas which, by the grace of God, we are called to transform into a concrete attitude and behaviour during Lent. First of all the Church proposes the powerful appeal which the prophet Joel addresses to the people of Israel, "Thus says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning" (2.12). Please note the phrase "with all your heart," which means from the very core of our thoughts and feelings, from the roots of our decisions, choices and actions, with a gesture of total and radical freedom. But is this return to God possible? Yes, because there is a force that does not reside in our hearts, but that emanates from the heart of God and the power of His mercy. The prophet says: "return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment" (v. 13). It is possible to return to the Lord, it is a 'grace', because it is the work of God and the fruit of faith that we entrust to His mercy. But this return to God becomes a reality in our lives only when the grace of God penetrates and moves our innermost core, gifting us the power that "rends the heart".

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

Choral Evensong from St John's College, Cambridge for Ash Wednesday
Listen here

Choral Eucharist from Trinity College, Cambridge for Ash Wednesday
Listen here

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Liturgy, Music, Worship

Audio recordings may be listened to here

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

"Confess your faults one to another" (Jas. 5:16). He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. This pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. so we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!

But it is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone. "My son, give me thine heart" (Prov. 23:26). God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that; He loves the sinner but He hates sin.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Theology • Anthropology • Pastoral Theology

The idea of national repentance seems at first sight to provide such an edifying contrast to that national self-righteousness of which England is so often accused and with which she entered (or is said to have entered) the last war, that a Christian naturally turns to it with hope. Young Christians especially-last-year undergraduates and first-year curates- are turning to it in large numbers. They are ready to believe that England bears part of the guilt for the present war, and ready to admit their own share in the guilt of England. What that share is, I do not find it easy to determine. Most of these young men were children, and none of them had a vote or the experience which would enable them to use a vote wisely, when England made many of those decisions to which the present disorders could plausibly be traced. Are they, perhaps, repenting what they have in no sense done?

If they are, it might be supposed that their error is very harmless: men fail so often to repent their real sins that the occasional repentance of an imaginary sin might appear almost desirable. But what actually happens (I have watched it happening) to the youthful national penitent is a little more complicated than that. England is not a natural agent, but a civil society. When we speak of England's actions we mean the actions of the British government. The young man who is called upon to repent of England's foreign policy is really being called upon to repent the acts of his neighbor; for a foreign secretary or a cabinet minister is certainly a neighbor. And repentance presupposes condemnation. The first and fatal charm of national repentance is, therefore, the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing-but, first, of denouncing-the conduct of others. I

--C.S. Lewis, "Dangers of national repentance"

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

Our first parents fell into open disobedience because already they were secretly corrupted; for the evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it. And what is the origin of our evil will but pride? For "pride is the beginning of sin." And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation, when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself. This happens when it becomes its own satisfaction....The devil, then, would not have ensnared man in the open and manifest sin of doing what God had forbidden, had man not already begun to live for himself....By craving to be more, man became less; and by aspiring to be self-sufficing, he fell away from him who truly suffices him.

--Augustine, The City of God 14.13

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Theology • Anthropology • Theology: Scripture

O Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son hast taught us that whosoever will be his disciple must take up his cross and follow him: Help us with willing heart to mortify our sinful affections, and depart from every selfish indulgence by which we sin against thee. Strengthen us to resist temptation, and to walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Over the years, we have a posted a lot of entries with favorite links for Lenten resources and devotional reading. I’ll link to some of those previous compilations at the end of this post. However, such compilations quickly go out of date. So, here is a list of some of the blogs and websites that I expect to be reading pretty regularly during Lent 2013. Note my emphasis in the links below is to focus on sites that I expect will provide frequent and edifying devotional or prayer entries throughout Lent, as opposed to specific Lenten resources or individual articles or blog posts...

Read it all and check out the links.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

Worshippers from across the Church of England's 12,500 parishes will celebrate Ash Wednesday in special services tomorrow. Keeping with the centuries old tradition, worshippers' foreheads will be marked in ash with the Sign of the Cross, from the ashes of burnt palm crosses, as a sign of the spirit of penitence with which the season of Lent is kept.

Among other special events for Ash Wednesday, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will be visiting All Saints Church and Teesside University in Middlesbrough taking prayer into the public domain offering to pray with people in their worries and concerns or to give thanks for their blessings.

The Bishop of Dudley, Rt Revd David Walker, will be with members of churches in Worcester, Bromsgrove and Stourbridge hitting the streets and offering to say a prayer for the people they meet.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry

The vicar of St George's Church, Baghdad, has written a special reflection focusing on how Lent is a special time to refocus on God, to mark the launch of the Reflections for Lent 2013 app from Church House Publishing.

Canon Andrew White writes: "For all in this land Lent is combined with the fast of Nineveh and is an intense time of giving thanks to the Lord… In the midst of our immense suffering we remember the suffering of our Lord, culminating in his intense suffering on the Cross. That time though was also his greatest time of glory and also our greatest time of glory. So this is a time when we all draw near to God and He draws near to us. There is no better time to do this than to find time to reflect."

Take a look at the whole thing.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Iraq

"Lent is a time of repentance and fasting, of turning away from all that is counter to God’s will and purposes for his world and all who live in it", he said. "This year, I invite Anglicans to focus their Lenten ‘acts of love and sacrifice’ on our contribution to climate change, and on those most impacted by it."

Archbishop Makgoba chairs the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) and is Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa which includes some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Two of the Church’s dioceses, Lebombo and Niassa in Mozambique, have recently been hit by devastating floods, leaving more than 150,000 people homeless.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of South Africa • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Energy, Natural Resources • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

A poll found that enthusiasm for traditional lenten abstinence was highest among students and people in their early 20s and declines as they supposedly mature.

The survey by YouGov for The Church Times found that 35 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 were planning to give something up for lent this year.

It compares with 30 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds and only 21 per cent of those over 35.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, which we heard in the first reading, is set against a background that contains one of the last great frescoes of the Old Testament: the ancient story of the construction of the Tower of Babel. But what is Babel? It is the description of a kingdom in which people have concentrated so much power they think they no longer need depend on a God who is far away. They believe they are so powerful they can build their own way to heaven in order to open the gates and put themselves in God's place. But it's precisely at this moment that something strange and unusual happens. While they are working to build the tower, they suddenly realise they are working against one another. While trying to be like God, they run the risk of not even being human – because they've lost an essential element of being human: the ability to agree, to understand one another and to work together.

This biblical story contains an eternal truth: we see this truth throughout history and in our own time as well. Progress and science have given us the power to dominate the forces of nature, to manipulate the elements, to reproduce living things, almost to the point of manufacturing humans themselves. In this situation, praying to God appears outmoded, pointless, because we can build and create whatever we want. We don't realise we are reliving the same experience as Babel. It's true, we have multiplied the possibilities of communicating, of possessing information, of transmitting news – but can we say our ability to understand each other has increased? Or, paradoxically, do we understand each other even less? Doesn't it seem like feelings of mistrust, suspicion and mutual fear have insinuated themselves into human relationships to the point where one person can even pose a threat to another? Let's go back to the initial question: can unity and harmony really exist? How?

The answer lies in Sacred Scripture: unity can only exist as a gift of God's Spirit, which will give us a new heart and a new tongue, a new ability to communicate.

Read it all (emphasis mine).

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

Holy Father, who hast redeemed us with the precious blood of thy dear Son: Keep us, we beseech thee, steadfast in faith, and enable us no longer to live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again, even the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son hast taught us that whosoever will be his disciple must take up his cross and follow him: Help us with willing heart to mortify our sinful affections, and depart from every selfish indulgence by which we sin against thee. Strengthen us to resist temptation, and to walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O God, whose blessed Son did overcome death for our salvation: Mercifully grant that we, who have his glorious passion in remembrance, may take up our cross daily and follow him; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Scottish Prayer Book

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst feed the multitude by the lakeside, using the humble gifts of a boy’s generous impulse, and a disciple’s faith in thy power: Help us in thy Church to call forth such generosity in others, and strengthen our faith that the hungry millions can be fed; for thy name’s sake.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Lord and heavenly Father, who hast given unto us thy people the true bread that cometh down from heaven, even thy Son Jesus Christ: Grant that our souls may so be fed by him who giveth life unto the world, that we may abide in him and he in us, and thy Church be filled with the power of his unending life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty God, who has taught us in thy holy Word that the law was given by Moses, but that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: Grant that we, being not under the law but under grace, may live as children of that Jerusalem which is above, and rejoice in the freedom of our heavenly citizenship; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Lord Christ, almighty Saviour, we cry to thee for aid against our strong enemy. O thou who art the Stronger than the strong, deliver us, we pray thee, from the evil one, and take sole possession of our hearts and minds; that filled with thy Spirit we may henceforth devote our lives to thy service, and therein find our perfect freedom; for the honour of thy great name.

--Frank Colquhoun (1909-1997)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O God, who through thy Son has taught us that a house divided against itself must fall: Save us, we beseech thee, from the danger of a divided allegiance; unite our hearts to fear thy name; and grant that in all our course of life our eye may be single and our purpose one; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Henry Alford

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Euchologium Anglicanum

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Lord, whose way is perfect: Help us, we pray thee, always to trust in thy goodness; that walking with thee in faith, and following thee in all simplicity, we may possess quiet and contented minds, and cast all our care on thee, because thou carest for us; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

The first suffering of Christ we must experience is the call sundering our ties to this world. This is the death of the old human being in the encounter with Jesus Christ. Whoever enters discipleship enters Jesus' death, and puts his or her own life into death; this has been so from the beginning. The cross is not the horrible end of a pious, happy life, but stands rather at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ. Every call of Christ leads to death. Whether with the first disciples we leave home and occupation in order to follow him, or whether with Luther we leave the monastery to enter a secular profession, in either case the one death awaits us, namely death in Jesus Christ, the dying away of our old form of being human in Jesus' call.

….Those who are not prepared to take up the cross, those who are not prepared to give their life to suffering and rejection by others, lose community with Christ and are not disciples. But those who lose their life in discipleship, in bearing the cross, will find it again in discipleship itself, in the community of the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship is to be ashamed of Christ, of the cross, and to take offense at the cross. Discipleship is commitment to the suffering Christ.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditations on the Cross (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1998 [trans Douglas Stott]), pp. 14,16

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Germany • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

We confess to thee, O heavenly Father, as thy children, our hardness, indifference, and impenitence; our grievous failures in pure and holy living; our trust in self, and misuse of thy gifts; our timorousness as thy witnesses before the world; and the sin and bitterness that every man knoweth in his own heart. Give us, O Father, contrition and meekness of soul; grace to amend our sinful life; and the holy comfort of thy Spirit to overcome and heal all our evils; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--E. W. Benson

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty and most merciful God, we acknowledge and confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed; that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul, with all our mind and strength; and that we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We beseech thee, O God, to be forgiving to what we have been, to help us to amend what we are, and of thy mercy to direct what we shall be; so that we may henceforth walk in the way of thy commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

The special prayer for this Second Sunday of Lent (Lent 2) invites us to admit that we “have no power of ourselves to help ourselves”; and therefore we need God to protect us “from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul.”

Lent 2 wants us to recognise our powerlessness.

There is much to be thankful for: like the advances we see in science – especially in medicine. But haven’t we also seen our spiritual poverty – having lost what makes us really human: love of God and neighbour?

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Lord, for thy tender mercies’ sake, lay not our sins to our charge, but forgive us all that is past; and give us grace to amend our lives, to decline from sin and incline to virtue, that we may walk with a perfect heart before thee, now and evermore.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord God, the lesson of thy holy Word, that only the pure in heart can see thee. Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination. May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor acquiesce idly in aught of which our conscience accuses us. Strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--C. J. Vaughan

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O God, who by thy Son dost marvellously work out the salvation of mankind: Grant, we beseech thee, that, following the example of our blessed Lord, and observing such a fast as thou dost choose, we may both be subjected to thee with all our hearts, and united to each other in holy charity; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Gelasian Sacramentary

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

O Lord our God, grant us, we beseech thee, patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all our spiritual foes. Grant us sorrow for our sins, thankfulness for thy benefits, fear of thy judgment, love of thy mercies, and mindfulness of thy presence; now and for evermore.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Almighty and merciful God, the fountain of all goodness, who knowest the thoughts of our hearts: We confess that we have sinned against thee, and done evil in thy sight. Wash us, we beseech thee, from the stains of our past sins, and give us grace and power to put away all hurtful things; that, being delivered from the bondage of sin, we may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and at last enter into thy promised joy; through the mercy of thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Alcuin (c.730/740-804)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • Preaching / Homiletics • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Churches

Come, Lord, and reign over me as my rightful King. Rule in my heart and fill it with thy love; rule in my mind and bring every thought into captivity to thyself; rule in my life and make it holy like thine own; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Ruth Burrows has always been a very challenging writer on the life of prayer. When I first encountered her work in the early seventies, I was deeply struck by what she had to say about two things.

The first was about living with the disconnect between what you ‘know’ is true and couldn’t live without and what you are actually feeling at any given moment. As with the great Carmelite teachers of prayer, St Teresa and St John of the Cross, this isn’t about ignoring, fearing or despising your feelings: it’s about not letting them dictate your deepest commitments. They are real, and they are powerful, they need to be recognized and accepted. But they are only part of the picture of how you make sense of yourself before God. Sister Ruth’s own autobiographical book, Before the Living God, recently republished, spells this out with painful clarity.

The second main theme is what puts this first one into proper perspective....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer • * Culture-Watch • Books

Almighty and everlasting God, who for the well-being of our earthly life hast put into our hearts wholesome desires of body and spirit: Mercifully increase and establish in us, we beseech thee, the grace of holy discipline and healthy self-control; that we may fulfill our desires by the means which thou hast appointed, and for the ends thou ordainest; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Euchologium Anglicanum

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Methodist • Roman Catholic

Check it out if you wish to listen to this recent sermon.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Sermons & Teachings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology • Christology • Pastoral Theology • Soteriology • Theology: Scripture

Check it out if you wish to listen to it.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Sermons & Teachings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology • Soteriology • Theology: Scripture

We confess to thee, O heavenly Father, as thy children, our hardness, indifference, and impenitence; our grievous failures in pure and holy living; our trust in self, and misuse of thy gifts; our timorousness as thy witnesses before the world; and the sin and bitterness that every man knoweth in his own heart. Give us, O Father, contrition and meekness of soul; grace to amend our sinful life; and the holy comfort of thy Spirit to overcome and heal all our evils; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

One day at an unnamed University several students as a prank spread Limburger cheese on the upper lip of a sleeping fraternity brother. Upon awakening the young man sniffed, looked around, and said, "This room stinks!" He then walked into the hall and said, "This hall stinks!" Leaving the dormitory he exclaimed, "The whole world stinks!"

And the heart of the world's problem was under his nose the whole time.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent

Blessed Lord, who wast tempted in all things like as we are, have mercy upon our frailty. Out of weakness give us strength; grant to us thy fear, that we may fear thee only; support us in time of temptation; embolden us in time of danger; help us to do thy work with good courage, and to continue thy faithful soldiers and servants unto our life’s end.

--B. F. Westcott (1825-1901)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

If you're thinking about giving up Twitter for Lent, here's one reason not to....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking

Almighty God, long-suffering and of great goodness, we confess to thee with our whole heart our neglect and forgetfulness of thy commandments, our wrong doing, speaking and thinking, the harm we have done to others, and the good we have left undone. O God, forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and raise us to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Spirituality/Prayer

An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners pressed for time or reluctant to come inside the church for the Lenten observance.

The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati offered the ashes Wednesday evening for people of all faiths beginning around 5 p.m. in the church parking lot. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, which concludes after 40 days with the celebration of Easter, and the faithful traditionally have a smudged cross drawn on their forehead.

Bridget Spitler, the church's secretary and building manager, said the church had received a lot of positive feedback for offering the drive-thru ashes.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Lent • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Methodist