Rector’s Ramblings

[Note: if you would like to see other Rector's Ramblings, look under Categories on the left side of the page and click on "Rector's Ramblings", or check in recent issues of the Triad. And if you would like to leave a personal message for Karen, send her an email to: htrector(at)gmail.com

From the March Triad:

Rector’s Ramblings

On the first Sunday in Lent, Bishop Breidenthal and his wife Margaret were with us.  Congratulations to Bruce Ford, Dan Pratt and Emily Reese who were confirmed.   It was a wonderful day, and I give thanks to all who made it happen.

Our song in procession that Sunday was The Great Litany, led by Steve Elliott.  It can be found on page 148 of the Book of Common Prayer.  Some of its language speaks to me in powerful  ways, as relevant today as ever before.   In the Litany, we pray for the Good Lord to deliver us “from all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all want of charity.”    Even “from dying suddenly and unprepared.”     I’m not convinced we can ever be totally prepared for dying suddenly.  Yet daily, many of us spend time with people who are not dying suddenly, but dying.  Are they prepared?

Frankly, this question is one for all of us, no matter what our life stage or circumstances.  For life is a paradox: as we are all living, we are all dying.  Our culture may do everything possible to tempt us to deny this, but we really are smarter than that.  We know differently.  We know that even as youngsters, some of our naive notions about things have to die in order for us to grow up, let alone grow into the full stature of Christ, as we say in our baptismal vows.   We know that as we age, we experience loss in so many ways: loss of our own health and dreams, loss of the physical or mental/emotional presence of family and friends.

And we know how important it is for us to be prepared for our living.  ” … that it may please thee to inspire us, in our several callings, to do the work which thou givest us to do with singleness of heart as thy servants, and for the common good.   We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.”   During Lent, take a moment to pray The Great Litany from the perch of wherever you do your daily prayers and meditations.  Take time this Lenten season to remember what inspires you, and to reaffirm your calling, the gift of your work, and the common good for which you offer both.  May this Lent be a time of preparing for your living, because in preparing for our living, we are preparing for our dying.  Life and death cannot exist without each other.  Together they form a sacred symbiosis which allows us to live and move and have our being.      Thanks be to God.

Every Blessing, Karen