Mother Teresa diagnosed the world’s ills in this way: we’ve just “forgotten that we belong to each other.”
(Tatoos on Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle, p. 187)
This season of Lent is a time for renewed reflection on our relationship with God. Reflection on our relationship with God inevitably leads also to reflection on our relationship with others. As Gregory Boyle makes clear in the book which many of us at Reformation are reading this Lent (referenced above), true kinship occurs when we refuse to forget that we are all human, all children of the same loving Creator God and, thus, sisters and brothers.
The traditional disciplines of Lent are self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love.
Arthur Lichtenberger, a former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, developed a “rule” for Lent for the modern world. (The word “rule” as it is used in the title refers to a religious principle that guides behavior and conduct.)
A Rule for Lent (and all seasons)
Fast from criticism, and feast on praise;
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy;
Fast from resentment,
and feast on contentment;
Fast from jealousy, and feast on humility;
Fast from pride, and feast on love;
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service;
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.
May this Lent season be a reminder of our kinship with all God’s creation and creatures.
Pastor Wayne Matthias-Long
Pastor Alina Gayeuski
Deacon Beth Barkhau