1st Sunday in Lent--Year A

Lent 1A March 9, 2014 I cannot pray the words of the Great Litany without being transported to another time and place in my past. This long prayer that we prayed at the beginning of our service is a prayer that covers any condition and petition that we can think of. We usually pray it here on the 1st Sunday of Lent; and it is a sufficiently penitential start to this penitential and reflective season. But the first time that I can remember ever praying the Great Litany was on the 2nd day of classes at seminary in the midst of great chaos and fear and confusion as we all huddled together in the chapel at General Seminary in New York City on September 11, 2001. We didn’t even know what to pray for at that point, so someone started praying the Great Litany. The Psalmist today speaks of this in Psalm 32 that we just read together—“therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble, when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.” Many of us, myself included, instinctively pray to God in times of trouble or fear or uncertainty. When those we love are suffering; when the outcome is unknown; when we are at the end of our strength and our hope and we just don’t know what to do. But other times, we are like Miss Cornelia, staunch pillar of the Presbyterian church in the book Anne of Green Gables. When Miss Cornelia asked one of her friends about another woman’s health, her friend Susan said, “Oh…I’m afraid she’s going to have to rely on the Lord now.” “Oh no!” Miss Cornelia responded. “Surely it isn’t as bad as all that!” For many of us, those are our only prayers; prayer has become for us a last-ditch effort; a spiritual “Hail Mary pass” to God. It is no wonder that we are so rootless, so restless, so searching for meaning and connection and things to fill us up! My friends, it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to be this way! During this season of Lent—a time of deliberate turning and returning toward God-- we are being offered an invitation. It is an invitation to find in God “a hiding place,” a place of safety and comfort and rest. It is an invitation to rediscover your identity in God. (Did you happen to notice that is how Satan tempted both Eve and Jesus in today’s readings? By questioning their identity and their belonging in God….) It is an invitation to you to fall in love with God again, to allow God to kindle or rekindle in you desire for God. Now, look, I know this is scary stuff! We Episcopalians can be quite allergic to prayer. But don’t be afraid! God is already at work in you and in this parish, kindling our desire for God. God is already at work through the Holy Spirit praying in us already with sighs too deep for words. Your vestry and I have embarked on a study of the book Unbinding the Gospel by Martha Grace Reese which includes 40 days of prayer exercises and journaling. This is what the author has to say about prayer: “Remember the Spirit’s word to the church at Ephesus? ‘I know your words, your toil, and your patient endurance…I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.’ We work so hard but the joy, the ‘first love,’ the ‘in love’ feelings with God fade to dusty duty, good works, more work. Prayer is the way to stay in love with God. Prayer is the way individuals, small groups, and congregations grow and become vivid. It is a habit, a discipline, but not a discipline with a clenched jaw. Prayer is more about receiving from God than it is about asking God for things or working hard at intercession…. Prayer involves effort, habit, and focus; but it results in lightness and energy and excitement.” (51) So where do we even begin? 1. If you’re not coming to church every week, then I encourage you to try to take on weekly attendance for every Sunday in Lent. In that way, you will be praying regularly with the gathered community. Spend that time that you are in church inviting God to rekindle God’s love in you and to ground you in your identity as God’s beloved child. Your prayer could be as simple as “Come, Lord Jesus!” 2. Consider trying to pray daily throughout the season of Lent. There are a variety of practices to help you do this—the Daily Office with scripture readings for each day (found in the book of Common Prayer under Morning, Noonday, Evening Prayer and Compline or online at http://www.missionstclare.com/english/; there’s also Lection Divina—praying with a particular piece of scripture. This is what Bishop Gray is modeling for us in his reading and reflection on 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans; Centering Prayer—where you focus on sitting in silence and emptying yourself in God’s presence. When your thoughts wander, you have a sacred word that you repeat to help gently refocus your openness to God. (There’s a group that meets in the parlor every Thursday morning. They would be happy to teach you more about this ancient method of praying.) You can journal; do yoga; pray the rosary (yes, we have an Anglican rosary); sing in the car; pray in the shower (some of my most connected prayers happen in this way.) 3. If that seems too intimidating to you, ask someone to teach you how to pray. We have a number of practitioners of a variety of prayer here in our midst. I can help you find them or I am delighted to help you myself. There are as many different ways to pray as there are people. Don’t be afraid! Prayer is about you and God; it is about being open to a connection with God who already knows you intimately and loves you thoroughly. Listen to God’s spirit that is already kindling the desire in you and trust that; follow that. May you recognize this season of Lent as being an invitation to you from God—an invitation to find in God a hiding place, a place of safety, comfort and rest. May you recognize it is an invitation from God for you to rediscover your identity inside of the heart of God—rediscovering your belovedness, your cherishedness, your belonging in God. May you accept this invitation from God to fall in love with God again through prayer, through worship, through community. In a workshop on Centering Prayer, a nun expressed to Fr. Thomas Keating feelings of failure at this meditative exercise, because during the twenty minute practice session she'd "had ten thousand thoughts.” "How lovely!" said Keating, without missing a beat. "Ten thousand opportunities to return to God."