This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker
Dear St. Paul's Family,
On Sunday we will celebrate together the last Sunday after the Epiphany by remembering the Transfiguration of Jesus on the high mountain with Peter, James, and John. It is a short but fascinating story of Jesus' clothes appearing dazzling white while Elijah and Moses show up to have a 'chat' with Jesus. It will be fun to explore that with you on Sunday ... the last Sunday for alleluias and decorative elements for six long weeks.
It's hard to believe this coming Wednesday is already Ash Wednesday and we will begin the deliberate journey to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Our Lent last year was interrupted and irregular. This one will not quite return us to 'normal', but at least we have our feet under us again in terms of having services, meeting in-person, & having some perspective of the world around us.
Our Ash Wednesday services this year (at Noon & 6pm) will be similar to previous years with the exception of the imposition of the ashes. A great deal of conversation and debate has occurred across the entire church as to whether imposing ashes is safe during the pandemic, and if so how to do it. Our own diocesan clergy gathered on a Zoom call to discuss this as well. And the Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee, Bishop J. Neil Alexander (Wikipedia link), wrote a lovely essay that includes his thoughts and suggestions. This article has circulated widely around the church in recent weeks. It is available here if you'd like to read it: A Note on Ash Wednesday and the Imposition of Ashes in a Time of Pandemic.
At our January worship committee meeting I shared with the committee that while I doubted my proximity to each of you, or even my physical touch of your forehead with my thumb to impose the ashes, would endanger either of us, I simply didn't think it was a good idea in this season of pandemic. Knowing that the imposition of ashes is NOT a sacrament, it's not a required component of a legitimate Ash Wednesday service nor of a Lenten journey, we agreed not to impose ashes. Instead, as a sign of my spiritual leadership in the parish, I will impose ashes upon myself and humbly wear them on your behalf. It's a different year and a different kind of Lent. This is simply one more visible component of that.
Instead of ashes on your forehead this year, you will receive a bookmark. Mike Konieczny and I have designed a simple bookmark that will be included in your worship bulletin on Ash Wednesday. It will include a graphic of an ashen cross along with the prayer offered during the service:
Almighty God, thou hast created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these
ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember
that it is only by thy gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus
Christ our Savior. Amen.
Remember that we art dust, and to dust we shalt return.
It is my hope that you will take this bookmark home and place it in your Lenten reading, whether that be your Bible, Bishop Ed's The Heart of a Leader book we will be studying, or another resource. Each time you see or touch that bookmark you will be reminded of our Lenten journey together.
Even as we step into Lent this year my friends I am aware that the days are gradually getting a little longer. I think about how this Spring will bring us a world where COVID-19 is a bit less threatening than last year and hopefully more controlled. I reflect upon what a long distance we've come together as a faith community, with a new priest, in the last year. And I am THANKFUL! May this Lent birth in each of us, and our congregation as a whole, a deeper and fuller hope in our Lord and in our next steps as a faith community here in LaPorte.
Mike will send the registration link for the Ash Wednesday services to you on Monday. Please register if you know you can attend in-person, or feel free to join us online. I can't wait to see you either way!
Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
The Way of Love in Lent (with the Diocese)
Another Study Opportunity
Life Transformed - The Way of Love in Lent (revised for 2021)
Date: Saturdays - February 27, March 6, 13, & 20
Time: 10/9 a.m. (EST/CST) on Zoom
Facilitator: Bishop Doug Sparks
Register here!
The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self- giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, communities are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will reflect anew on the loving actions of God as recounted in the Easter Vigil readings. Together, we will walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption. This Quiet Day for Lent ties the Easter Vigil readings to the seven practices of the Way of Love. Drawing on the ancient practice of setting aside Lent as a period of study and preparation for living as a Christian disciple (known as the catechumenate), this curriculum encourages participants to reflect on salvation history; walk toward the empty tomb; and embrace the transforming reality of love, life, and liberation. As we stand with the three women at the empty tomb, we hear his call to go and live that transformed reality.
Session I: Introduction to the Way of Love and a Rule of Life; TURN: Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ (Romans 6:3-11)
Session II: PRAY: Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:10-15:1); LEARN: Learn Wisdom and Live (Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6)
Session III: BLESS: A New Heart and a New Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-28); REST: The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
Session IV: WORSHIP: The Gathering of God’s People (Zephaniah 3:12-20); GO: The Empty Tomb (Luke 24:1-12)