'For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.' - Daj Hammarskjold
The sun is out, the beach glistens, buds appear on trees: the days grower longer, the nights shorter, but it is still winter.
Advent, not long past, was a season of anticipation, expectation, and preparation, quiet yet joyous, not unlike the last month before a birth, as the solstice, and the Son of God, approach.
By Easter the earth will have a taken a quarter-turn in its yearly revolution around the Sun. Lent is the run-up to this turning. The days before the holiest of weeks are filled with another season of preparation, this one more somber, yet one of adventure and exploration - of the heart.
The revelations of Epiphany, the continuing set of showings-forth of the glory of God, from the pageant of the day of the three kings to the last Sunday of the season with its three figures - Moses, Elijah, and Jesus - on the mountain of Transfiguration, give way to a quiet time, marked by the ashes of mortality, as we prepare for the life beyond life.
The false spring of Palm Sunday, the rumbling greatness of Holy Week, the compelling story of the Passion narrative, the gemütlichkeit and scandal of Maundy Thursday, the shock of Good Friday's news, and the dawning of a brave new world on Easter morning, are all ahead of us.
(Gemütlichkeit, the Wikipedia assures us, connotes the notion of belonging, social acceptance, cheerfulness, the absence of anything hectic and the opportunity to spend quality time. A bit premature? There is more to come, my friends, after the dishes are taken away.)
In the meantime, the time between hope and promise fulfilled, the time between God showing forth in episodes of emergent grandeur and the astonishing dawn of the Resurrection, we call each other and ourselves into a communal season of - looking forward, looking within, of an adventure of the soul.
You may find encouragement in the idea of a solitary discipline, reading the Bible and praying every day. You may find moments of peace at a retreat or a quiet day. You may have a moment, only, to call a friend, and remember and renew an old acquaintance.
There are many ways to explore the meaning of this time of year, many ways to adventure in the souls' realm of yearning and delight, many ways to prepare for Christ. You are invited to take the path that leads your soul to him; you are invited to join us, as companions on the way. - Fr. John
Gospel Grapevine 2009 February
From the Rector's Desk
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