Interfaith Services of the Lowcountry

Patient Trust In Ourselves
And in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God…
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end
Without delay.
We should like to skip all the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown,
Something new,
And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made through some stages
Of instability…
And that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you…
Your ideas mature gradually- let them grow, let them shape themselves
Without undo haste.
Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be that today… What time
(that is to say, what grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
Will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Given our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

One of the central messages and abiding secrets of the spiritual life,
If we are to make progress in gaining any depth of understanding or make
any progress in our quest for meaning and wholeness, is learning to give up
in order that we might receive.
In the season of the year, in the various quests and journeys of our hearts, we are asked, and sometimes we are compelled to let go, give it up, release or surrender.
We submit willingly in order to make room in our hearts and minds for a new reality- to make room for a new kind of blessing, a new kind of freedom, a new way to participate in genuine family, authentic community.
There are so many new things that need to occupy our hands, fill our embrace,
And once we empty ourselves of our previous pre occupations and concerns, we make our hearts the home of a new hospitality, and we make our minds capable of welcoming new possibilities and realities.

Those who make themselves ready, those that willingly release, give room, energy, will and spirit to new directions… Directions that would transform our lives…
Whenever we risk letting go, we make it more possible to open ourselves to a larger hope, greater dreams….
PEL

“I am endeavoring to see God through service to humanity, for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor is God down below, but God can be found in every one.” Gandhi

There is a certain courage that comes when we greet the dawn, our shadows and uncertainties fade when we respond to the growing warmth, the glowing promise of the light.
At first, we can be startled by the entry of more light into our lives, and wistfully
Try to hold on to sleep, dreams, and solitude. We seek to preserve the darkness, for there is a strange comfort to be found there… Strange and true. Yet the light of day, the light of consciousness and the dawning of a true community beckons and entices us…
To rise from our darkness and to stand face to face with whatever the day promises to us. It is in this call to be who and what we truly are, to be willing to stand fearlessly and to respond openly, that we can find that which is essential to self and to our community… A way of being together that brightens the daystar of our souls.

May the light around us guide our footsteps, and hold fast to the best and to the most righteous we seek.
May the darkness around us, nurture our dreams, and give us rest so that we may give ourselves to the work of our world.
Let us seek to remember the wholeness of our lives, the weaving of light and shadow in this great and astonishing dance in which we move.
The Rev. Sally McTigue

Sanity and Sanctity
How do we learn about our differences, and how one person’s talent or skill is not to be envied, just as another person’s spiritual beliefs are not to be shunned or put down? Here is a story form the famous Black theologian, Howard Thurman that offers us an answer:

“I dreamt that God took my soul to Hell. To my right, there among the trees, were men and women hard at work making a garden. And I said, looking at them, ” I should like to go and work with them. Hell must be a very industrious place, filled with lots of personal success and much individual accomplishment.”
Then God said,” Nothing grows in the garden they are making.” Together we look more carefully: And I saw those people working among the bushes, digging holes, but instead of planting anything, there was nothing to fill these holes. The workers covered the holes with sticks, straw, leaves, and earth, and I noticed that each man as they walked back behind the bushes, they watched their footsteps very carefully, then the men hid themselves and intently watched their holes…

I asked God, “What were they doing?” And God said, “Oh, they are making pitfalls for any man or woman to fall in.” I said to God,” Why do they do it?” And God said, “Because each person who lives in Hell thinks when his brother or her sister falls, then they will more easily rise or succeed.

And then I asked, ” How will he or she rise?” God said,” They will not rise, but instead, they will fall into egotism and fail to truly succeed”
And I asked God,” Are these people sane?” God replied, ” They are not sane; there is no sane person in Hell.”

As I understand it, life requires us to accept with gratitude, the gifts and talents of others, and not seek to feel superior or inferior. Also, we are to honor all the different ways of understanding God, or what is good or what is considered to be Holy- We are not to sharply criticize the differences, but we are to compare, and to appreciate so that we can learn from them.
After all, if we are to trust the intent of World Scripture, we are given the view that God created humanity so that we can bless and care for one another, not so we could harm or judge each other- No one truly gets ahead when another person fails, and no one is made better by trickery or deceit, envy or revenge.
In fact, it could be said that only as we learn to tolerate and accept one another’s differences, and not try to create pitfalls, can we begin to find a genuine and lasting sense of inspiration within the diverse communities that we build, …
And only then, does even a glimpse of heaven become possible.

You and I are in the business of building kingdoms and queendoms together- to build the realms of wonder and sustain the structures of integrity and worth in which all of our sisters and brothers of the liberal and lively spirit work together and dwell….
This is ideal of community- It consists of the blessings and grace we can experience in caring for one another, and the that can be found in sharing our life’s journey with one another, thereby enriching and supporting each other all along life’s way….

Lenten Series- The Theological Center of Naples
Luncheon Presentation for the series, In Search of the Holy
“Walking the Via Negativa”

“So for yourselves, seek righteousness, reap then the fruit of steadfast love, break up your fallow ground- for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he might come and rain salvation upon you.” Hosea 12
A Parable Retold
adapted from Matthew Fox’s Creation Spirituality
Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of Earth, pages 143-45

“In the Gospel of Luke we read the parable of a rich man & a poor man named Lazurus. I propose the following updated version: There was a rich nation whose people used to dress in whatever clothes they wanted every day, and buy whatever cars they wanted which emitted untold amounts of carbon dioxide.
These people ate beef at fast food restaurants whenever they wanted; they created a whole new industry around beef eating by tearing down rain forests where the poor lived, even though it was explained to them how their children depend on these very rain forests so far away for their clean air and their health.
Now at the rich country’s border there lay many poor countries to the south; they were called “The Third World.”
They were covered with the sores of poverty, unemployment, lack of food and medical care, and owed many debts to the rich nation. Much of their land and forests had been stripped bare by the rich nation’s oil and lumber, fruit and meat industries, who supported dictators and their military guards. The “sores” of the “Third World” included 5 hundred million persons starving; 1 billion persons living in abject poverty; 1 billion, 5 hundred thousand persons with no access to basic health care; 1/2 a billion, 5 hundred million with no work and a per capita income of $150 dollars a year; 814 billion illiterate persons; 2 billion people with no dependable water; and no topsoil.
These “sores” were present daily for the rich nations to behold, but they turned their backs and pretended that such suffering was not “newsworthy.” Instead, they built a culture of denial and left the dogs to lick the wounds of the poor.
For years the “Third World” longed to fill itself with the scraps that fell from the rich nation’s table. But most of the assistance that the “Third World” received from the “First World” was in the form of military weapons and money to support the dictators and their armies because those armies were needed to keep the poor people from rebelling. The rich nation would train the poor armies in methods of effective torture. The rich nations then could continue to receive the fruit, the coffee, the sugar, and the cocoa and eventually all the cocaine and the other drugs that fed the rich nation’s insatiable needs.
And then, the poor nations died, and were carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich nation also died and was buried and sent to fires of Hades. In its torment in Hades, the rich nation looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with the “Third World” beginning to rise from the dead straight out of Abraham’s bosom. So it cried out, “Father Abraham, pity us and send the “Third World” to dip the tip of its finger in water and cool our tongue, for we are in agony in these flames.”
” My child,” said Father Abraham, “remember that during your life good things came your way, whereas you dealt the bad things to the “Third World. Therefore there is a great chasm that lies between us, and it is a gulf that is fixed to stop anyone who tries to cross over it.”
So the First World begged that Abraham send the Third World to the other rich nations of First World and give them a warning so that they do not wind up here in eternal torment.
“They have had Moses, & the prophets, let them listen to them!” Then Abraham said to the rich nation, “If they will not listen to Moses, or to the prophets or to Jesus, they would not be convinced even if someone would rise and return from the dead.”

Good afternoon… Today it is my privilege to present some thoughts on the Lenten season from a dissenting Christian and ecumenical perspective known as Creation Spirituality.
Creation Spirituality is a parallel path to the more commonly held Fall/Redemption Theology of Christianity. It also dates itself to Biblical origins and there are Biblical passages that support its teachings, so it is nothing new, just an alternative approach to our Western spiritual heritage that looks at the nature of humanity and the creation more inclusively and optimistically.
There are four paths or directions in which the Spirit moves in us and directs our attention towards God, humanity, community, and the allness of the creation. The first is the Via Positiva- often seen as the season of an expanded Advent. This first path is a profound Yes to life. It is the way of the Mystic and focuses on the affirmation of our Original Blessings, rather than becoming preoccupied by our Original Sins…..
The second path is the Via Negativa- which understood as the season of Lent- It can be understood as the way of the Prophet who calls us to social judgment and to a heartfelt, self-empting kenosis; to a life of simplicity and sincerity, that question our motives, and reflects on our ethics and authenticity before God.
The Third and fourth paths are the Via Creativa- which is Pentecost- The way of the Artist and the fourth is the Via Transformativa- which is the way of the Healer or the time and energy needed for the transformation for the community.

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As this is Holy week, and the culmination of the season of Lent begins with Maundy or Holy Thursday tomorrow, I will offer a reflection on our faith and its demands through the eyes of a prophet… While most of the traditional focus for the Lenten season seems to remind us and recommend us towards cultivating our interiority- to understand the need for meditative practices
and to affirm the value the role of prayer in our lives as Rev. Obercresser So avidly and joyfully recommended to us.
There is, however, a warning that any excessive pietism can lead us to passive self absorption so that we can easily forget that to have a complete picture of Jesus and a fuller more dynamic sense of faith is to practice “noisy contemplation”- that prayer when understood is also embodied- prayer leads us to act justly. From this perspective, the prophet who calls us to be faithful and just, earnest and righteous, calls us to fulfill ourselves, and to follow Jesus more completely during this Holy Week and each week of our lives. We are called to follow him in gratitude and with inspiration, to follow him and accompany him through scorn and tribulations, and then to follow him in triumph and transcendence.
You see, we have another Lenten lesson to remember here- Jesus was not crucified because he was too mystical, prayerful, or metaphysical, it was because he was too prophetic- his words, and actions were seen as a threat to the status quo….
So the season of Lent calls us into the question of how best can we work together to realize the Kingdom or Queendom of God as being in us and among us.
There is a constant need in all of us to experience God’s presence more fully for ourselves. As Rev. Harp so cogently put it, regrettably, we know best the absence of God and not the presence…

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As Dr. Kirchner put it, our faith story finds itself inviting us into the unexpected encounter with the Holy- to open ourselves to living out our faith by acting in virtuous, demanding, and exhalting ways.
If we are to set out to benefit from our faith, as we hold to its confessions and convictions, then we have to engage the essential task of the mature devotional life- to move away from the polite but often passive learning about God, and to make ourselves more ready and willing to act prophetically- To know who and what God is, and how those truths manifest and operate in your life.
So the goal of the Lenten season, and the path of Via Negativa, is cultivate the fallow ground of our hearts, remove the tares from our hearts, and to become the ready and ripe wheat & be the good seed that bears witness, bears fruit in our lives.
Miester Eckhart, German mystic of the high Middle ages, and probably the best spokesperson for Creation Spirituality since Jesus, puts it this way:
The seed of God grows into to God….Let yourself go, let God be God be God in you…
What is this ” Letting Go?” It means that we willingly engage in the Lenten spiritual and ethical disciplines that are unselfish and focussed on service to humanity and the earth, such as adopting a standard of living that advocates for a voluntary simplicity…. That when we limit our cravings and release ourselves from promoting a gluttonous, unrealistic standard of living so that others in this same County, in this city, might have access to decent housing, to basic dignity, and receive the necessities for their families. As Meister Eckhart puts it, “Faith is the place in our hearts where the clinging to the material things of our lives ends, and where our true grasp of God begins.”
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In this way, Lent is the season where letting go brings evidence of the grace that truly sustains us. As Rev. Leftkow reminded us, we gain a true holy and ethical perspective when we live out a Christ-like compassion in service to others. For it is true that through selfless service, the Holy often can be faithfully found. What the path of the Via Negativa during Lent teaches us, and challenges us to understand, is that we do not come to this ripeness of the soul- this Beatitude or Blessing way – without first dying to the stale, the trite, the safe, and the secure ways of life and in our religious life.

An Ash Wednesday Homily:
The Practice of Forgiveness: On Becoming a Phoenix!

The time span between tonight, Ash Wednesday, to Easter morning, is the time in the history of Western church and its religious archetypal culture, that focuses on Jesus as a working, living, relational model for how to live our lives more fully, more compassionately.
His message is of particular importance to those among us who are seeking a more spiritual and empathetic basis for their lives. Depending on how you look at him, and I see him as a spiritually infused man who was called into a special intimacy with the Divine. In and through his teachings about having compassion for one another and ourselves, he models how to live our lives in a way that affirms and bears witness to all that is holy and loving in everyone of us. As a role model, we can see his example as both a challenge and a gift…
Among his hardest teachings to uphold were his indications on forgiveness. He sought to overcome the concept of tribal revenge, and he offered a remedy for all slights and injustices, which we know as the practice of forgiveness. When others asked him how this act of compassion was to be done, or what attitude promotes and accomplishes it, we can remember his words:
“[Love your enemies, bless those who would curse you,
pray for others who might abuse you. As you wish others would treat you or would do for you, do that for them. ...
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It is of no credit to you to only love those who are lovable, but you are to lend and love, give and do, whatever is good and kind. Be merciful, and compassionate, even as your Father in Heaven has mercy and compassion for you."] Luke 6 NRSV adapted Mt. 5:48
In modern terms, his words and example ask us to live by empathy, and to live with a courage that extends your caring to others. Do not allow yourself to dwell in the toxic feelings of judgment, stuck in our resentments, bogged down by regrets, or wallowing in remorse or fear. Instead, his inspired and insightful teaching directs us to try to see your struggles and trials as reflected or shared by all people, and with sufficient wisdom or understanding, and a generous amount of forgiveness, we will win our heart’s release from any lingering bitterness or guilt.
Now, I am no stranger to fear, resentment, or guilt- throughout the many twists of fate, and those painful reversals of fortune, both in my personal life and in my larger ministry, there have been times when it seems that I could not do enough, be good enough, or be reconciled to the many different and difficult tasks that have been given to me.
I suspect that this is true for each of you… Whether your particular challenge or concern has been to be a good parent, spouse, worker, sibling, or caregiver, those nagging doubts and those disturbing feelings can lodge in our emotions or inhabit our hearts as deep feelings of guilt, inadequacy, and powerlessness.
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Even if we can identify that these feelings are varieties of unhealthy guilt or shame, just knowing it isn’t enough… We must act to completely release or reduce those negative feelings.
While recognition and acceptance are good and necessary first steps, the next, more difficult, yet more complete steps in our freedom, our health, and our joy is what the spiritual teachers East and West recommend: forgiveness, which becomes our flight path up and out… Up and out towards an unselfish regard and abiding respect for others and ourselves.
My friend, professional colleague, Joan Borysenko, has previously outlined these differences in two books. … The first is called Guilt is the Teacher and Love is the Lesson, and the second is entitled Seventy Times Seven. She concludes that our whole society tends to run on unhealthy guilt… What are some of the signs she lists as unhealthy guilt?
First, being overly committed, having too much to do, too many activities, being too wired or plugged in, and thereby having no real time to yourself- especially when it comes to giving sufficient time to reflect on the meaning of one’s life and its actions. Guilt festers when you do not give yourself enough time to attend to your spiritual and ethical growth, to give time to your need for wellness, creativity, or real relationships…

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She goes on in her list to include: perfectionism, playing the martyr, keeping negative partnerships for the sake of money or emotional insecurity… Or blaming yourself for your parent’s problems, and accepting false responsibility or excessively worrying about things that are out of your personal control! The list goes on… And I am sure you can add things of your own…
Her remedy is also mine, and both come from the wisdom of Jesus. Practice forgiveness- practice it daily, hourly, if need be, holding on to no poisonous thoughts or destructive feelings, and then be willing to look courageous and empathetically at your own flaws in a new light…
As my Jungian and archetypal studies have taught me, these flaws, these areas of weakness, inadequacy, or avoidance that we all have- are paradoxical and powerful. These shadow emotions and hurtful experiences -when they are understood, or when they are brought to our conscious awareness-, can become our disguised blessings. These flaws can be transformed into shining facets of wisdom and understanding- Since these experiences have been created from the pressures of life and our imperfections- that serve us well by refining and redefining us, and that keep us exploring, and growing.
When these troublesome feelings manifest, and take it from me, they always do… They are, in their positive light, asking us to understand them, heal them or release them…
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and it is from the synergistic grace we receive from those personal struggles, that we can authentically come to know a greater sense of wholeness, equipoise, and peace.
I believe that we are all in need of forgiveness… therefore, we need to be always ready and willing to forgive ourselves and others, for it is from such humility that positive change is encouraged, and it is from that blessing of release, that we encourage the growth of wisdom in our hearts, creating a more resilient , multifaceted spiritual understanding of life.
In my research, and in my life practice, forgiveness has four general ways it expresses itself- two are self defeating and unproductive, and two are positive and are more effective or more redemptive.
Briefly, the two less useful or ineffective ways we express forgiveness center themselves on fear: first is when we will forgive because we are afraid to lose the friendship or partnership, so we forgive too quickly . We forgive without ever expecting a change in the behavior of those who have hurt you… In other words, we are too damn easy on them, too ready to excuse someone’s behavior, and so we can find ourselves saying, “Oh, they couldn’t help it!” This attitude often allows the callous or the egotistical behavior to continue… It gives permission for the cycle of any form of abuse to go on and on…

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The second self-defeating approach is found in the refusal to forgive- when we continue to rehearse the hurt, hold on to grudges, or refuse to move on emotionally from the slights and insults we all can receive over a lifetime…
From my Buddhist Tara teachings, I was given clear instruction that advises anyone who chooses to work towards enlightenment , towards greater emotional clarity, we must first personally encounter, and then we have to overcome the three great psychic poisons: Regret, Remorse, and Resentment. Holding on to these toxic feelings imprisons you, and ultimately can rob you of your health and your life! They can never serve growth, good, or grace… When we spitefully hold on to negative feelings, it is as if we continue to drink poison, and then expect the other person to get sick!

The two more positive ways combine a willingness to accept and then forgive with the clear expectation of behavioral reform, or true sense of contrition by the offending person.
The first way is simply known as Acceptance. Accepting what has happened to us, knowing what our role in this experience has been, and seeking understanding for both the offense and our reactions. The best response towards regaining our peace of mind, and a quietness of heart, is our willingness to let go of those feelings that can capture or control us….
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and to know or realize that the path to our freedom is found by gaining the wisdom from the lessons learned, and it is made complete by having compassion for all who were involved… Then, taking what we know as our inner teacher, we can use that wisdom as our guide to moving past it or to getting on with our lives in ways that preserve our dignity, and keep us from being trapped into any repetitive patterns…
I know that it is often really difficult to grasp or accept the awful truth that we might never receive an apology, never genuinely hear “I am sorry”, but as long we have actually learned from the situation, we can consciously choose to let it go… In that conscious act of letting go, we can detoxify our hearts… Remember this insight: Acceptance does not excuse or forgive the abuser or the actions, but it does release the burdens from being stuck in our hearts and minds…
The last approach I would call Genuine Forgiveness.
It involves not holding a grudge, but it does clearly expect behavioral changes that can eventually restore trust, friendship, and intimacy. If those changes are not made, the relationship remains broken, and there is no complete or authentic sense of forgiveness to be found!
Forgiveness, as a personal healing process, is affirmed in one’s heart and it is recognized as something that is good, right, and true…
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It is received by one’s conscience, or by inner moral compass, and it understood by our sense of justice and empathy. When Jesus’ disciples asked him how much or how often they were to forgive, he replied, “seventy times seven” or until your own perfection arrives! Only then are you allowed to cast stones or pass judgments. He knew that harsh judgments never improved anyone, and often they impeded change by the burden of anger or resentment. …
Yet, he did not offer an easy form or a blanket forgiveness that is without behavioral demands… Only with such an tough love stance, can lasting change ever take place. …

There is, in my understanding, a supernal, or a higher altruism that is also as a part of acceptance and forgiveness. There is a gracious synergy or a healing energy that is released when we truly forgive… Every time we forgive, we generate a quality of warmth that builds into a greater fire of compassion, and as we forgive, we give birth to a new transcending, loving force for good, that is more accessible to all humankind…
Like a grand fiery orange Phoenix that arises from the ashes of the ego, whose nest was filled with all the slights and sufferings we humans can experience, we can, through wisdom and grace, be propelled upward into a new flight, a new life!

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Forgiveness renews our souls, as the ancient Jewish texts declare, we carried up on the wings of a great bird, that lifts itself from the ashes of despair, and begins to fly beyond any regrets to become enlivened, unburdened, and free! (Hebrew neshar)
In closing, let us remember this timeless, transcendent lesson from this Lenten season:
As we live, we must forgive…
As we love, we rise above…

And, so it is, that we gather on this Ash Wednesday night… To attend reverently to an ancient and powerful ritual that will work to anoint us with the holy promise of God that can release us from any guilt and pain, so that we can continue our lifelong flight towards integrity and wholeness, compassion, and peace…

Shalom & Shalem AMEN, So Be IT!

Selected Reading:
From a min-course in healing: Thoughts inspired from A Course In Miracles by Jerry Jamplowsky, MD.
“Whenever I see someone else as guilty, I am reinforcing my own sense of guilt or unworthiness…
I cannot truly forgive myself unless I am willing to forgive others… Only through forgiveness can my release from lingering guilt or fear be complete.
So today, let me choose to let go of all my past misconceptions and see myself and others in the light of true forgiveness.
I was mistaken in believing that I could give anyone anything other than what I wanted for myself…
Offering love is the only way I can accept love for myself.

The irreverent and anti-establishment psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz encapsulates the teachings of forgiveness in these pithy and declarative words:

The stupid neither forgive nor forget
The naive forgive, and forget
The wise forgive, but do not forget….

Children and Forgiveness:
When we are young, we learn from our parents…
When we are older, we judge their actions…
And when we are old enough, and wise enough, we learn to forgive them… . Adapted from Oscar Wilde

“[We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Any of us who is devoid of the power to truly forgive, is also devoid of the power to truly love.
It is true that there is some good in the worst of us, and there is some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate, and more open to life and love.]” From Martin Luther King, Jr.

Because so many present day seekers have come from other, more conservative and conventional churches when they were young, many of us have been exposed to the season of Lent as having a historical and theological significance. In our Western religious culture, one cannot escape at least a superficial acquaintance with its meaning and purpose.
Lent is a time often described as a time for increased piety, extra prayer and worship services, and self sacrifice. Historically, Christians and particularly those Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans who were required to abstain from certain practices, habits, or activities and most often were instructed to fast or abstain from eating certain foods.
Now, the ideal or best practices associated with the Lenten season can be summarized as attitudes that encouraged retreat from the world’s fast pace and demands. Then to take that freed up time, and focus it on becoming more contemplative, looking at those areas of your life that might need improvement or reform, and to focus of new insights that can help to release you from habits and fears. The noble ideal behind the food restrictions was to help us to break our attachments, addictions, and pleasures- any tie we had to external material rewards and egotistical routines. The goal of these Lenten disciplines was to make the Christian more properly ascetic: that is, more able to give up their problems, in order to receive or claim more freedom, becoming more willing to release ego preoccupations and spend time in discerning their next steps and what sources of inspiration and guidance were available to them in their lives.
Classically, it is from our souls being more disciplined or aligned with God that we are freed to practice more loving self acceptance and more intelligent self control. …
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Now, among those of you who were made to observe Lent when you were growing up, did anyone ever satisfactorily explain it to you in that way? Is there any lasting value in Lenten observance for you now, as U-U’s? I will venture my own interpretation, and I will offer to try to provide you with a viable alternative.
First, a little religious background for all of you who were ever curious about what your Catholic and other high school friends were going through… Originally, Lent was a brief and intense time that prepared a person for Baptism. It was that soul-searching time before someone declared themselves a Christian in the early, and often persecuted Church. Considered to be a time for deep reflection and profound decision-making, it was a momentous step in a person’s life. This time of Lent was originally only 40 hours long, to reflect the time period between Good Friday and Easter morning. However, then it was a time of complete fasting, and a rigorous mental discipline.
This practice went through many historical changes. The principal one happening during the Middle Ages, when the time period for Lent was increased or prolonged to reflect a correspondence to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. This extended time period was accompanied by a selected fast from meat and dairy products for all healthy people between the ages of 12 to 60; the only exceptions being nursing mothers. Unfortunately, or shall I say, predictably, this eclesial rule of a selected fast was dolefully interpreted as being a time for self-sacrifice and deprivation, rather than as a time associated with grateful remembrance and devotion.
The attitude of self deprivation, especially when enforced by a particularly dogmatic clergy and inflexible church structure has yielded some interesting and contradictory results. The most appealing begin the creation of of many preLenten revels, all-out parties, and celebrations… The most famous of these are French “Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras” or the Portuguese Rio Carnivale. … For you see, the words carnivore and carnival relate to the same kind of fleshly cravings and indulgences! Therefore, Mardi Gras and Carnavales were the reluctantly condoned revels or church-related orgies just before the days and weeks of required self-sacrifice. (Remember, the restriction of one’s diet is a common religious occurrence; for example, there are Kosher food laws, Islamic fasts during the month of Ramaden. Tragically, part of our misunderstanding of food practices has contributed sociological and psychologically in the development of dietary imbalances and psychological illnesses- from our society’s chronic pre-occupation over weight to the tragedies of bulimia and anorexia that are now affecting 20% of all young women (1 in 5) and is currently growing in older women (and in some men) being seen in increasing amounts in women of mid life Or ages 35-55…

I can remember meatless Wednesdays and Fridays all through my Catholic youth. At that time, I considered it quite a hardship, and its rationale was a perplexing, obtuse mystery. ( It was much later, when reading anecdotes in church history that I discovered that the Pope, in the 1800’s, instituted the eat fish laws in order to help out the Italian fishing industry!
These eating restrictions were was told to me as something we all have to do! I really did not like the idea at all, and I wasn’t a member of the Big Mac/Whopper generation of today! After all, my traditional fare of lentil beans, cornmeal, and some fish, no matter how nutritious, got a little boring, and even I could get tired of pasta! (When I was 10, My Father & Mother went off to an FBI school, so my Aunt Frances had to care for me feed me. Every Wednesday and Friday night she said that I could have my choice: I can have pasta and beans or beans and pasta! Story about the Statues around her home; St. Anthony; ; dialogues; turning him around! Also I have included a more serious and somber reflection on Ash Wednesday and Lent on my webpage)
So you see, the idea of Lent was related to me as a time to be endured, not understood. An almost morose pallor engulfed my family during the week. We all looked forward to the big Sunday meal, our weekly indulgence.
That was a big feast with all the chicken, sausage, and meatballs you could stuff in! Some quality religious observance that was!
One time, my family held a ravioli eating contest… I came in second, or first in the junior division, having eaten 48 raviolis (big squares!) Of course, there was a lot of Pepto Bismal in my future, as I could not eat another thing for the next two days!
When I look back on the prevalent family attitude, it was far from holy or reverent. Now, I find that it is all too ironic,that as an adult, I have sharply reduced my eating of any meat without any overtones of religious persuasion … but that would involve another sermon on world hunger, ecology, and proper nutrition…
Needless to say, much of the original intent, the symbolic and spiritually based reasoning behind Lent was never adequately explained, and that has resulted in generations of people playing out empty, self-defeating rituals. So I have had to ask myself, if there is any lasting value in Lenten remembrance for us today, if so, what might it be?

As I see it, the lasting principle found in a sincere Lenten observance is the time when each of us can reflect on having more personal motives and consequences, and the human need to learn greater objectivity and self control. Stripped of its pious baggage, Lent can become a time, for setting new priorities for one’s life, and for cultivating purposeful actions that free us from any negativity, and that assist us in accomplishing our higher goals.
Many of us who shared a similar dutiful childhood, and as a consequence, later, as adults, we have become religious liberals because we balk at the imposition of sanctions and limits, especially when enforced by some restrictive irrational and unexplainable moral code. However, when these disciplines are of your own devising, we can use them to focus our willpower and to develop greater inner peace and self-control. Rather than just going the way of all of our inner cravings, Lent can be a time to remedy or reduce these faulty inclinations all of us have, and we can apply ourselves to the task of greater self understanding.

I believe that every one of us has some demon or habit or character trait that is unflattering, that has to be faced and overcome. Therefore, because it is human and universal, there can be no judgment nor room for arrogance; no need for any lasting remorse or endless regret. Instead, Lent can be that personally bestowed gift of time and focus we give to ourselves to help us clarify and release the emotional or personal struggles any of us, and all of us might have.
In truth, we must, in some measure, agree or be willing to accept the consequences of some behavior in order to continue it. Even if that conduct is self-defeating, risky or unhealthy, we have to agree to it or else it would soon disappear. In that way, Lent is a time to reacquaint yourself with your own limits and to energize your own potentials and to begin positive steps towards growth, freedom, and greater awareness.
And yes, sometimes what we are faced with are issues and problems in our lives that are unsettling, awkward, and often damn difficult! Yet, that self admission is no grounds for being severe, hateful, or unkind toward yourself or any one else. These steps toward greater responsibility and freedom for one’s mind, body and spirit, for one’s health, relationships, and ideals, bringing us to of humility and to the advocacy of compassion. As Jesus put it, “Only those who are without sin can cast stones.”

As I see it, to live, is to be involved in a continual, evolutionary and ethical process, for each person has to deal honestly with their personal banes and come to know and be grateful for their individual blessings. Each of us has to understand how, or in what ways they might need to explore, change, or transform their lives.
I would propose two healthful measures that have been useful to me. They come from two diverse sources: from training in Gestalt therapy, and from training in Buddhist philosophy. The Gestalt or psychological format asks us to appraise our behavior patterns without censure. It simply states that we are to evaluate our feelings and actions by whether they are nourishing or toxic to us.
When behavior is nourishing, it give us dignity, awareness, understanding and self-respect. When because is toxic, then it is harmful to our self-esteem, our health, our families, to our well-being. I find that to be a simple and effective measure or standard to apply for greater self-awareness that is free of punitive conclusions and self righteous moral judgments.
The second guideline I would recommend is from Buddhist teachings. It emphasizes justice and sobriety, balance and the avoidance of excess; be it dietary, financial, relational, mental or physical. It states that we are to act without any feelings of self-denial nor act in ways that are self-indulgent. We are simply, to think ethically, act soberly, and speak broadmindedly. It emphasizes justice over judgment, equity over imbalance, moderation in thought, feeling and behavior. In this way, our tendencies and habits, problems and pressures, do not or will not control or victimize us. It can be summarized as this: That it our shared human need to establish inner personal guidelines so that we can overcome our actions that can lead to addiction- which is simply defined as the human tendency to try to get too much of what we don’t truly do not need.
This Lenten season, try to take some time each day to reflect on various virtues and principles you would like to see manifest in your lives. Then look at your lifestyle, your choices, your patterns for living and then try to notice if there is anything that could use some improvement, some further balance, some greater empathy and understanding.
Be willing to examine your goals- decide for a more positive, creative, and inspired approach to living. Maybe you can begin to keep a dream log, start a journal, or an exercise program, attend a class, or be aware of how your sacred intentions or prayers can bring new insights and empowerment to you with persistent progress.
And remember to begin soon, because according to the consensus of opinion in psychological circles, it takes at least three weeks to break a negative habit, establish new learning, or develop a lasting initiative that can span this Lenten season.

Lent can become a holy time- a gift your give to yourself as a time when you can discover who and what you are, and with inner guidance and grace, all that you can truly be.
Amen, So Be it!

Towards A New View of Lent:
Giving up what… to get… What?
Chalice Lighting:
There is a tale for Lent that comes from a far-off place… One day, the Devil decided to close up shop in a certain part of the world, and so he decided to hold a fire sale and an attitude auction. Some evil people were pleased to get his tools like fear, ignorance and prejudice and be able to play his infernal games at half price…
But one person seeking to be more spiritual and caring, wandered into the shop. Intensely curious, he looked around at all the tricks of deception and the tools of malice, until he spotted the quality on the highest shelf that had the highest price. Boldly, he asked the devil what that quality was, and why was it so expensive. The devil replied, “That is discouragement. Why is it so expensive? That’s simple. It’s my favorite. With the tool of discouragement, I can pry into any person or any group and cause all kinds of havoc and damage.”

Let us light the chalice this morning for hope, for compassion, for the courage to look deeply at ourselves. By not being discouraged by life’s challenges, we uncover the diamonds among the dust, to find new insights and opportunities, and learn how best to accept ourselves as being love-worthy, just, and kind.

Invocation/Opening Words:
Our religious world seems to governed by two kinds of people with two different attitudes; there are those who love only themselves, and then have a disdain for God or goodness, and there are those who love God or goodness, but depreciate themselves. In truth, we can only truly love and appreciate ourselves as we love and as we appreciate God or what is good. St. Augustine -adapted

Children’s presentation: Believe it, Achieve it!
How many of you know about Star Wars?
Here is a lesson from Luke Skywalker to each of you… In the Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke flies his X-wing star-fighter to a swampy planet on a personal quest. He landed safely, but his jet got stuck in the swamp and soon it started to sink. There he seeks out a Jedi master named Yoda to teach him all the secrets in becoming a Jedi warrior. Luke wants to free the galaxy from the oppression of the evil tyrant, Darth Vader.
Yoda reluctantly agreed to begin to train Luke and started by teaching him how to lift small rocks with his mind, just by thinking about them. Then, one day, Yoda instructed Luke to lift his space jet out of the swamp, where it had sunk. Luke complained that lifting rocks is one thing, but lifting his star-fighter is quite another matter! But Yoda insisted. Luke makes a quick valiant attempt, but fails in his attempt.
Yoda then focuses his mind, and lifts the star-fighter up out of the swamp with ease! Luke, being discouraged, exclaimed, ” How did you do that?” I don’t believe it!”
Yoda replied, “exactly. That’s why you couldn’t lift it yourself. You didn’t believe that you could.”

A Personal Lenten Remembrance : Ash Wednesday 1959
It was a damp, dreary and cold afternoon as I recall. Like many others, I knew we were dutifully on our way to church. It was a gray, late February day that was to begin another long Lenten season. It was Ash Wednesday, a somber day. We, the fearful and the faithful, assembled in the church, sitting in the foreboding shadows. Together, one could almost hear a dull, aching sigh come from our collective hearts. It was Lent; the time for inward sadness, a time when our spirits could become sullen and cold.
As I watched the others awaiting their turn to receive their mortal mark, I could feel the awkward tension, a deep desire among the people not to be there, yet there was this equally strong compulsion, a feeling of being riveted to this necessity and it s tradition.
Soon it was my family’s turn to kneel before the priest. Slowly, ever so reluctantly, each shuffled obediently up to the altar rail. People, feeling ever so small, wearing the lines of remorse and regret across their faces, knelt with apprehension. I began to hear the ominous words pronounced over each person as their foreheads were blackened with the charred ash of last year’s palms, to seal our human fate.

“Thou are dust,” The crucifix, the terse look on the priest’s face, the smell of ash in the damp chilly air, assaulted my senses and make my mind spin with questions. What was I to do? My indecision decided for me- an insistent nudge and I was before the priest.
Our eyes lock briefly in a severe stare. He stood over me and pronounced those awful words that hurt my ears. With a hard, cold imprint, he left a black smudge on my forehead- as a symbolic death mark within this time of self scrutiny and mourning. This was our mark of Cain, the imprint of our fleshly curse, all from a pessimistic church doctrine of control that enforced the belief that life must achieve death to allow the soul to be released from this all too weary world.

For a long while in my life, and before I sought to redeem and resolve those life experiences into the wisdom that would free me, because each Lenten season, I could easily recall those times of early anguish and negative emotional intensity. As I have worked to release myself in adulthood and provide others with new rituals that affirm positive meanings, I can begin to gain insight and value from the 40 days known as Lent. I am glad to be freed from any mandatory observances, and can welcome its arrival more each year as a time for thoughtful reflection, and a precious time when I could add to and deepen my self-understanding, personal growth and emotional healing.
Lent, this year, ends the wintry days of my soul. It begins to speak to me of new hopes, not far off. It is a time for preparing new beginnings, as surely as the Spring will soon emerge with its greening energy around me.
Yes, it is the time of Lent. …
May I continue to learn, ripen, deepen and discover more from it each year. May our collective hearts no longer groan, but become renewed through the message of becoming more soulful, compassionate and loving toward ourselves and others. Through reflection on our lives, Lent will help to make us ready for the next days of Spring, and living more fully in an increasing light.

Benediction/Closing Words:
Self-control- against which there is no law; for through having empathy and understanding of our needs and desires, and through a more calm, objective and invincible caring for ourselves and others, that which is best in us, that is truly good for us, can be attained and realized.
Meditations on being a Parish Priest