Invitation to a Holy Lent

March 6, 2019

Today is the first of our 40 days where we double down on turning our hearts to God. It is when we try to silence the noise around us and REALLY give God some eye to eye, heart to heart attention. Lent is often thought of as a solo venture. Sometimes we share our Lenten disciplines, choices, tasks, whatever you choose to call them. Sometimes they are simply between God and you.

However, I have noted through the years we often, if not always, think of Lent as an individual act of faith. This year I invite you to join the Vestry and the Staff in our Lenten practice of meditation. Lent is actually a time for the community to turn to God. In our recent Vestry retreat we talked about listening for God, where God is calling St. Cross and how we can use intentional practices to discern where we need to go next. We know it can be a challenge to start a new habit, and part of the gift of Lent is to commit ourselves to a practice over a period of time. The Vestry hopes you will join us as we all work on this new habit as a community.

We are using the Headspace app (iTunes, Google Play) which you can find in the app store or online. It walks you through a 10 day introduction to meditation and techniques for the practice. Then you can either join, or find a free app to continue your practice. Many are starting at the 3-5 minute daily mediation with the hopes of growing toward a full 20 minutes by Easter.

In short, we invite you to a Holy Lent, fasting for these 40 days from our individual piety and to feasting on the abundance of God’s richness we can find in one another as we pray together.

Peace,
Rev. Rachel+