The Rev. Peter Gray
“A season of penitence and fasting...self-examination and repentance...of reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” These are the words the Book of Common Prayer uses to describe the season of Lent, the six and a half weeks Christians spend in preparation before Easter. Very often as we look toward Lent, we begin having conversations about our fast, that is, what it is we are going to give up during this period. This year, I invite you to prepare for Lent by focusing on what it is you’d like to gain.
On February 4, I’m going to try something new. Rather than announcing what I think we should study on Sundays as we move toward Easter, I’m going to let you all set the agenda. How do you want to grow as a Christian? What parts of scripture are most intriguing or interesting to you? Is there some part of the Church’s history that you’d like to hear more about? Or maybe you’ve been looking for new ways to nourish your personal life of prayer? I want to know what you want to learn about, and on February 4 Nativity will make a decision on how we spend our Lent.
Whether you attend 8am or 10:30 worship, come ready to rip a corner off your bulletin and scribble down your idea. Drop that scrap of paper in the offering plate as it comes by. I’ll sort the ideas by topic, and the top vote-getter will be our topic for adult forum during Lent. The Nativity Facebook account will announce what we’ll be studying that Sunday afternoon, and on Monday morning, I’ll get to work learning, studying, and exploring what it is Nativity wants to learn about.
One of the gifts of having a church family is that we are constantly reminded that the spiritual life is not an individual sport, but a team one. As we enter Lent, the prayer book invites us to a season of self-reflection and learning. Some of that will happen in the silence of our own prayers, but some of it will take place here at Nativity surrounded by sisters and brothers who, like each of us, are looking to grow in the knowledge and love of God. So, what do y’all want to learn?
Peter+