February, 2007

Dear parishioners and friends,

Lent begins February 21st (Ash Wednesday). Last year our Lent was overshadowed by our move to West Laurel Hill and Mount Airy. Blessedly that is now behind us, and we can give ourselves to Lenten devotion this year without such distractions.

Lent is a penitential season. Penitence is godly sorrow for our sins. Ungodly sorrow is also pos­sible and all too common: as when we feel sorry for ourselves because we have done something wrong. We want to be good, and we may think of ourselves as good people. Sin interferes with that self-image, and can lead us to self-pity when we fail to live up to that image. Self-pity can make us feel pretty wretched: which means that it can deceive us into thinking that we are being penitent when we are really being sorry for ourselves.

Godly sorrow for sin is sorrow that we have offended our beloved Lord and Savior. There are three parts of this penitence. First, we must acknowledge that sin is wrong. It is wrong not just because it offends my self-image of goodness, but because it violates God's law of righteousness. Sin is objectively wrong. When we sin we violate our own nature, since God created us to be like Him and to live in com­munion with Him – which means living according to righteousness. All sin, whether little or big, is seri­ous, because it violates God's creation, and thus offends the creator. The beginning of penitence is to see sin for what it is.

This is not always easy. Since we do not like to be sinners, we are tempted to minimize our sin. We are tempted to pretend that our sin doesn't really matter; that others' sins are so much worse than ours; that we do lots of good deeds which will outweigh the sin; that since God is forgiving our sin can be ig­nored. Such temptations will preclude honesty about sin and its evil.

The second part of penitence is acceptance of our responsibility for it. Here, too, we are tempted: to claim that there are mitigating circumstances which mean we are not really responsible; to point to good intentions; or even to deny that we did what we did -- “It wasn't me!” The denial of responsibility for sin is rooted in our pride, our heritage from the Fall. It doesn't help that we are living in an age which increasingly glories in irresponsibility, as when the courts defy common sense in assigning responsibility for events (e.g., penalizing a company when a man is injured while burglarizing the plant) and the con­comitant increase in tort litigation, or in the increase in state-sponsored gambling, which represents the desire to get something for nothing. This thinking surrounds us, and is bound to have its effect.

When it comes to sin, we need to acknowledge directly that it is our responsibility. The penitent thief on Good Friday is a wonderful example of a sinner taking responsibility for his sin: “... we indeed justly,” he says, even in the midst of suffering the pains of crucifixion. That cannot have been an easy ad­mission for him: he could have blamed the fact that he got caught, or claimed that he was not so bad a thief as to deserve crucifixion. His willingness to accept responsibility for his sins opened him to receive Jesus' promise of paradise. Such a great reward should inspire us to a willingness to take responsibility for our sins. We need not fear to do so: God is merciful – and after all, He already knows (even better than we do) our misdeeds and our guilt.

The third part of penitence is recognizing that our sin wounds God's love for us. Sin affects our relation with God. So we need to see it not just in terms of what it does to us, but for what it does to His relation to us. To put it another way: we need to see our sin in relation to the Cross of Christ. Jesus went to His death to atone for my sin. This shows us how important our sin is – important to us because my sin occasions His death, and important to Him because this is how God chooses to deal with our sin. In order to establish a relation of peace and communion with us, the Father wills that the Son die the death we deserve because of our sin. This is how much God loves us.

For penitence to be complete, it must lead us to the love of God, and thus to the Cross. For this reason, penitence leads from its characteristic sorrow to its characteristic joy. The joy is rooted in forgive­ness. God forgives us, and we receive His forgiveness by penitence. Thus the sorrow of being a sinner opens us to the joy of being a forgiven sinner. It is a joy we will forfeit if we decline to be penitent.

Practically, the short, daily self-examination helps us to cultivate penitence: three to five minutes, usually later in the day, when we look back at the day to see where we have failed (or succeeded) as Christians, and tell God we are sorry (or thankful). Penitence is also fostered by sacramental confession, which is particularly appropriate at the beginning (and end) of Lent. Additional confession times before Ash Wednesday will be listed in the Sunday leaflet. A third aid to penitence is the Friday night services of Stations of the Cross, which help us make the connection between our sin and Christ's sacrifice. This year, Stations is at 7 every Friday beginning February 23rd through March 30th, at All Saints' Church in Wynnewood. (There is a surprise in store: come and find out what!)

Because Lent is a season of penitence it is also a season of discipline. This is where the Lenten rule comes in. The discipline is not an end in itself, but the means for us to love God the more. Being in love (think earthly love) requires that we rearrange our life in order to spend time with the beloved. It means that some things get sacrificed because love is more important. Often this requires planning and preparation, coordinating schedules: otherwise time with the beloved would not happen. Our rule is a means for us to give proper priority in our lives to the love of God. We want to have time for Him, and especially time to be with Him in His passion which He suffers for us – thus the special rule during Lent.

Lenten discipline is not just about time, of course. Our fasting gives us a means to allow God to reorder our desires so that love is primary – the love of God and not the “love” of having our physical desires gratified. In other words: to make us more faithful lovers. Fasting also teaches us how little we can manage to accomplish for ourselves, and thus how much God does for us. Fasting, and Lenten dis­ciplines generally, are often occasions for failure, and thus for humility. Seeing how weak and helpless we really are puts our relation with God on the firm foundation of truth: only by recognizing our helpless­ness can we learn to depend on God as we should.

The Lenten Quiet Day is set for Saturday, March 17th, at All Saints, Wynnewood, beginning with Mass at 9:30 in the chapel. Kindly mark this on your calendars now.

Ash Wednesday services: there will be a low Mass at 10 a.m. at the rectory, and a Sung Mass at 6:30 p.m. at West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Ashes will be blessed and imposed at both Masses. Kindly bring back your palms from last year no later than Quinquagesima (February 18th), since we will need to burn these to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Bishop Lugumira's Visit

On Sexagesima (February 11th), the Right Reverend Jacktson Lugumira will be with us to preach at the ten o'clock Mass. He is Bishop of the Diocese of Lweru, along the shore of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. Not too long ago (before he became a bishop), he spent some time studying at Westminster Seminary. During his time there he got to know the folks at St John's, Churchville, as well as a few at St Michael's. Fr Lyman has kindly arranged for him to be with us on the 11th. Not only is this a chance to hear the Gospel preached by someone other than me, it is also a chance to hear of the faith and practice of another part of the body of Christ. It is also encouraging for us that there are bishops out there who are willing to support us. Do come and welcome him.

Annual Meeting

I would remind you that the Annual Meeting and Vestry Election of the Church of St Micahel the Archangel follow the ten o'clock Mass on Septuagesima, February 4th. There are three candidates for three vacancies for three-year terms: James Altena, John McCann and Becky Wilhoite. St Michael's By-laws provide for a “rotating” vestry: after two terms, a vestryman must be off the vestry for at least a year before standing for election again. As each of these is currently serving, this second term will be his last. In addition to the vestry election, we will share the financial results of 2006, take a look at the current state of our various programs, give thanks for what God has done among us this part year, and take a peek at what might be in store for us in 2007. We have managed a lot in the past year, and I hope that all mem­bers of the parish will make the effort to be present to make this a family celebration of what God is doing with us and among us.

Kudos

Thanks goes this month to:

-- the Wednesday Bible Study for folding and stuffing each month's Chronicle mailing.

-- Fr Rix of All Saints, for loaning us the creche set we used at the Christmas Eve service, and for extend­ing to us their hospitality for the Stations of the Cross services, Mario Ressa's funeral, the quiet day, etc.

-- Hal Denton (sponsor) and Beth (arrangements) for the Sunday School trip to a 76ers game.

-- those who provide transportation for others to church services and events.

-- Chris Jordan (and others) for continuing the tape ministry (sermons, classes, etc.).

-- those who are helping with the Prayer Box project (we can mail requests for intercession if there are those who wish to join in the prayers but live too far to pick them up at church: please let me know).

Faithfully,

Fr David Ousley