Lent and Holy Week Schedule 2023

 

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

Have mercy

Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sing to the Lord

A prayer for this Lenten morning, "sing to the Lord," "shout for Joy," "raise a loud shout," and "kneel before the Lord our Maker"!!

Venite

Psalm 95:1-7

Come let us sing to the Lord;*
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving*
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the caverns of the earth,*
and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,*
and his hands have molded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee,*
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.*
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

Bishop Daniel Gutierrez's Lenten Messege

Lent 2017

My brothers and sisters, I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The season of Lent approaches, and I would like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts about our journey together. It is my hope that we will all pursue a holy Lent. Lent is a time of preparation; we prepare ourselves as individuals, and as a community of faith, for our journey with Jesus Christ.  Nothing is as important as our walk with Jesus.  Lent is a time of intentionality and fasting.  Our Lenten discipline is a movement away from the temporal satisfaction of the world and toward the eternal heart of Christ. We open our hearts and minds to the presence of God.

I have traveled on the pilgrimage, been present with our laity and clergy, and heard the beauty of your stories, individually and corporately.  I have felt the Holy Spirit calling me and us collectively to begin a journey deep into our faith. That calling will be characterized by Prayer, Proclamation, and Peace. We will be the people of God in the Diocese of Pennsylvania dedicated to going deep in prayer, being bold in the proclamation of the Gospel, and committed to bringing peace in our communities.

In preparation to walk with Christ in his obedience and suffering, I am inviting you to participate as a diocese in several ways. First, let's pray.  I often hear people say they do not have time to pray or they need to learn how to pray once again.  Just speak to God; gaze upon the Lord.  Leave everything to God.  Speak to God in the car, during those "transition times" when going from meeting to meeting. Pray, pray and then pray again.  I have a feeling God wants to hear our voices.

I encourage you to center your life with worship and sacrament by seeking out a midweek or daily Eucharist service to attend regularly during Lent. We know the joy of our Sunday celebrations, and I also know that finding another opportunity to anchor your life to the celebration of Holy Eucharist will sustain you spiritually.

Second, I invite you to explore the practice of contemplative prayer. Specifically, I would like us as a diocese to pray the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner") as a way to center ourselves. To this end, I will make available prayer ropes to those who may want one, as a way of incorporating a significant tactile element to our contemplative life.  I would also encourage you to join over 1200 of your brothers and sisters in the Diocese in reading scripture daily through the Bishop 's Bible Challenge.

Finally, I invite you to read two books and watch one movie with me. I would like for us all to read and reflect on Fleming Rutledge's book "The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ."  The second book is "The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life" by Brother David Steindl-Rast.  The movie I encourage us to watch is "Of Gods and Men."  A film based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibéhirine in Algeria, from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996."

Our spiritual and communal journey is beautiful.  The Diocese of Pennsylvania is filled with faithful and hopeful people I am blessed to serve as your servant and shepherd.  You are a gift to the church, and we are sharing the Good News of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Know you are in my prayers and are deeply loved.

Faithfully yours,
The Rt. Rev. Daniel G. P. GutiérrezXVI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
View the Bishop's Video: https://vimeo.com/206106750

1st Lent 2011 Sermon by Peter M. Carey at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 13 March 2011

1st Lent 2011 Sermon by Peter M. Carey at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 13 March 2011

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

1^st Lent – Sermon – 13 March 2011

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA

In the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Today we pray that we might lead a holy Lent.  A holy Lent.  Holy.  Lent.  On Wednesday, I preached about the sense that holiness has to do with being whole; that to live in a whole way, we must consider our sinfulness, but also consider our blessedness.

All too often, the church has been a reminder of our sinfulness, of the ways that we don’t live up to God’s gift, of the ways that we fall down, and the church has all too often only been a source of reminding us of this sinfulness.  All too often, I find myself encountering people who are in some sense “recovering” Christians – be they Episcopalians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians or whatever room of the great mansion they may come from.  They are, in some senses “recovering” from the baggage laid on them.

Speaking of sin is important, because it can help us to really live in such a way that we know that we can’t “do it” all on our own.  As Paul said, he “sees the good, but can’t do it.”  We may know in our hearts and minds what it might mean to live well and good and lovingly and morally, but sometimes, we just can’t quite make it happen.  Speaking of sin is important for the Church because it is a helpful antidote to arrogance and narcissism.  Speaking of sin is important, in order to help us to focus more on God and our neighbor than on our self.

Speaking of sin, however, can’t be all that the church does.  In order to help people live holy lives, in order to help people to live whole lives, we also need to constantly remind ourselves of our blessedness.  Surely the poor in Spirit need no reminders

that they are sinful, and that they “are dust and to dust they shall return.”  No, the poor in Spirit need to be reminded, and reformatted as the blessed.  Surely those who are persecuted for righteousness sake need no reminder that they are to be humble, or that they are sinful.  No, they need reminders that they are blessed, that they are children of God, despite the fact of their earthly persecution, despite their suffering.

And we too, need to be reminded of our blessing.  We too, need to be reformatted and recast, and transformed into the children of God.  To live holy lives, and to live whole lives we need both the reminder of our failings, and the reminder that we are blessed.  It is the sense that we may tell a coworker, or a student, or a friend when they have had a failure, “you are better than this.”  Being told, “you are better than this,” means that 1) yes you messed up – and there may be consequences, and you may need to pay the piper, however, 2) it also means that the promise is there for you to do much better.

And so we are called to live a holy Lent.  I might retranslate it that we should live a “whole” Lent.  What is keeping us from living whole lives?  What is standing in the way of our reception of the blessings that God has given us?  What is keeping us from fully embracing our status as blessed children of God?  Is it even our focus upon our weaknesses and sins that stand in our way?

As we consider entering into Lent, it is common to “give something up” such as chocolate, or alcohol, or television, or grumbling, or fried food.  Or, it is also common to “take something on” such as a reading project, or prayer or an exercise regimen.  I wonder whether these actions and these strivings bring us to greater wholeness.  I wonder whether these actions and strivings bring us to greater holiness.  Does giving up chocolate bring us closer to God and to our neighbor, or does it merely make us self-righteous and crabby.  If it does, I say eat your bon bons and be kind to your neighbor.

Does giving up television bring us to greater depth of prayer and connection with Jesus and open our hearts to a world in need, or does it merely mean we are acting “holier than thou” when Major League Baseball begins in earnest.  If it does, I say watch your television but spend some time in prayer.

Wholeness and holiness.  I pray that we might live a whole Lent, remembering our sinfulness, the sense that we are dust and to dust we shall return but also remembering that the dust we are made of is also stardust – stardust!  We are made of the same stuff as the stars.  We are dust, and yet we are also children of God, held, caressed, and blessed as his beloved babes, always.  Can we live in the place between?  Can we live in the midst of the tension between sinfulness and blessedness while we know that we are sinful, and yet we are also forgiven and blessed? Yes.  This is what it might mean to live a holy Lent, a whole Lent, embracing both our dustiness and our childlikeness.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,
to the observance of a holy Lent,
by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

-Book of Common Prayer, p.265

Lent, by George Herbert

Lent

Welcome deare feast of Lent: who loves not thee,

He loves not Temperance, or Authoritie,

But is compos’d of passion.

The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church sayes, now:

Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow

To ev’ry Corporation.

The humble soul compos’d of love and fear

Begins at home, and layes the burden there,

When doctrines disagree.

He sayes, in things which use hath justly got,

I am a scandall to the Church, and not

The Church is so to me.

True Christians should be glad of an occasion

To use their temperance, seeking no evasion,

When good is seasonable;

Unlesse Authoritie, which should increase

The obligation in us, make it lesse,

And Power it self disable.

Besides the cleannesse of sweet abstinence,

Quick thoughts and motions at a small expense,

A face not fearing light:

Whereas in fulnesse there are sluttish1 fumes,

Sowre exhalations, and dishonest rheumes,2

Revenging the delight.

Then those same pendant profits, which the spring

And Easter intimate, enlarge the thing,

And goodnesse of the deed.

Neither ought other mens abuse of Lent

Spoil the good use; lest by that argument

We forfeit all our Creed.

It ‘s true, we cannot reach Christ’s fortieth day;

Yet to go part of that religious way,

Is better than to rest:

We cannot reach our Savior’s purity;

Yet are bid, Be holy ev’n as he.

In both let’s do our best.

Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone,

Is much more sure to meet with him, than one

That travelleth by-ways:

Perhaps my God, though he be far before,

May turn, and take me by the hand, and more

May strengthen my decays.

Yet Lord instruct us to improve our fast

By starving sin and taking such repast

As may our faults control:

That ev’ry man may revel at his door,

Not in his parlor; banqueting the poor,

And among those his soul.

~George Herbert

On Fasting, by Richard Rohr

In Isaiah 58:1-9a, Isaiah explicitly says that God prefers a kind of fasting which changes our actual lifestyle and not just punishes our body.  (The poor body is always the available scapegoat to avoid touching our purse, our calendar, or our prejudices.)  Isaiah makes a very upfront demand for social justice, non-aggression, taking our feet off the necks of the oppressed, sharing our bread with the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, letting go of our sense of entitlement, and not speaking maliciously.  He says very clearly this is the real fast God wants! In Matthew 9:14-15, Jesus is asked why he and his disciples do not fast.  In effect, he says “because it is the wrong kind of fasting!”  Then he introduces a favorite theme and metaphor that he gradually develops:  life as a wedding banquet, with himself as the bridegroom and humanity as the bride.  It will soon become clear that Jesus is not interested in an elite who do their rituals properly yet refuse to join in the wedding feast that God is preparing for all, both insiders and outsiders. Richard Rohr, from Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent, pp. 18-19

Lent, by George Herbert

Lent

Welcome deare feast of Lent: who loves not thee,

He loves not Temperance, or Authoritie,

But is compos’d of passion.

The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church sayes, now:

Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow

To ev’ry Corporation.

The humble soul compos’d of love and fear

Begins at home, and layes the burden there,

When doctrines disagree.

He sayes, in things which use hath justly got,

I am a scandall to the Church, and not

The Church is so to me.

True Christians should be glad of an occasion

To use their temperance, seeking no evasion,

When good is seasonable;

Unlesse Authoritie, which should increase

The obligation in us, make it lesse,

And Power it self disable.

Besides the cleannesse of sweet abstinence,

Quick thoughts and motions at a small expense,

A face not fearing light:

Whereas in fulnesse there are sluttish1 fumes,

Sowre exhalations, and dishonest rheumes,2

Revenging the delight.

Then those same pendant profits, which the spring

And Easter intimate, enlarge the thing,

And goodnesse of the deed.

Neither ought other mens abuse of Lent

Spoil the good use; lest by that argument

We forfeit all our Creed.

It ‘s true, we cannot reach Christ’s fortieth day;

Yet to go part of that religious way,

Is better than to rest:

We cannot reach our Savior’s purity;

Yet are bid, Be holy ev’n as he.

In both let’s do our best.

Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone,

Is much more sure to meet with him, than one

That travelleth by-ways:

Perhaps my God, though he be far before,

May turn, and take me by the hand, and more

May strengthen my decays.

Yet Lord instruct us to improve our fast

By starving sin and taking such repast

As may our faults control:

That ev’ry man may revel at his door,

Not in his parlor; banqueting the poor,

And among those his soul.

~George Herbert

Ash Wednesday Sermon - 9 March 2011 - Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Ash Wednesday Sermon

9 March 2011 – Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA

In the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Sin is a word that brings up a lot of emotion, a lot of baggage.

For some of us, the experience of church over the years has involved weekly reminders of our own sinfulness, our own wretchedness, our own little-ness.  We have been reminded of the many ways that we are not worthy.  We have been reminded all too often of the mistakes that we have made.  We have been reminded of the ways that even though we see the good, we cannot seem to be good. 

So, for many of us the word Sin brings up the ways that the church, and preachers and Sunday school teachers have been a reminder of our little-ness, of our mistakes, of our wretchedness.  Often, what emerges from this kind of teaching on Sin is that people are triggered into feeling guilty, guilty for “things done and left undone,” and just guilty in general.

As a priest, I come into contact with many people who “used to” go to church.  People who see me in the grocery store or at my kids’ schools or about town who express how guilty they feel that they haven’t been coming to church more often.  It can be strange to encounter these deep feelings of guilt.  I tell them that I don’t really care about that, that we’d love to see you, but that guilt shouldn’t be wasted on a thing so small as that.  I tell them that if the reason they are coming to church is because they feel guilty about it, I’d rather they didn’t come.

You see, I am one of them.  In college, I rarely went to church.  Sometimes I went to the interfaith service at the chapel, but there was no Eucharist, and it somehow felt too different than my own church.  I went a few times to the Episcopal Church in town, but for whatever reason it did not become a habit.  Other times I went to the Folk Mass offered by the Newman Center, but the Roman Catholic tradition did not feel like home.  However, one Tuesday afternoon, I decided that I would go up to the Eucharist that was being offered in a Lounge in the Student Center.  Along with my friend Adam, I walked up to the Lounge where an older man was sitting at a circular table in a brown jacket, with a Bible and a few Books of Common Prayer on the table.

He welcomed us, and asked if we should begin.  We looked at each other a bit puzzlingly, was this everyone?  The priest asked if one of us wanted to read the Old Testament lesson and the other to read the Epistle.  He said we’d do the sermon together.

He reached down into his bag and brought out a pottery chalice and plate, a small bottle of wine and a container of bread.  And we began.

We moved our way through the beginning of the service, and when we got to the sermon, he asked us about ourselves.  Adam and I introduced ourselves and told him where we were from, both in terms of our hometown (we were both from Middlebury, Vermont) and in terms of our own spiritual journeys.

I found myself saying that I felt so bad for not coming to church more while in college.  I felt guilty for not coming to church.

It was at this point that the priest, named Bill, said,  “You know, guilt is something that should not be wasted on whether or not you’re going to church.  Actually, if the reason that you are going to church is that you are motivated by guilt, I would rather you didn’t go to church.”

And so, there it is.  We have been given the message by the church that we are sinners but then all too often we have not been given the other side of the coin.  We have not been offered the other side of the pillow, the cool and sustaining grace of God.

And so, today, we begin the season of Lent, and there are those who are motivated by guilt to “give something up,” to try to fast, to give up chocolate, or Facebook, or grumbling or alcohol.  And others “take something on,” perhaps a new prayer regimen or reading the scriptures.  These are good and worthy things to do.  However, what is the motivation?  There needs to be an intention that is deeper and richer than guilt.  There needs to be an intention that is not merely based on the assumption that we are sinners.

Keeping a holy lent, then, would include keeping a whole lent.  Wholeness, holistic.  Considering both the sinner that I am, and also the grace-filled child of God that I am.  On one side, we can affirm that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return,” but on the other side is the notion that we are each made in the image and likeness of God, and are blessed and given the gift of God’s love.

There is a Hasidic Jewish story that recounts a master who recommended having two cards in your pockets.  On one card it would say, “you are but dust,” and on the other side it says, “the universe was made for you!”  Both are true, there is no dichotomy here, there is not inconsistency.  We are but dust, and the universe was made for us.  God does not want us to wallow in a sense of our sinfulness that makes us lesser beings, God does not want us to be so “lowered” that we are not human, that we are bound up by guilt or fear.  But God also does not want us to think that the world is really all about us.  God does not want us to be self-centered narcissists.  God wants us to be whole, whole children of God who recognize our sinfulness and our blessedness.

You are but dust, and the universe was made for you.

Archbishop of Canterbury Lent Books

If you were looking for a book to read in Lent, why not go to the Archbishop of Canterbury and see what the occupant of that office has recommended over the last several years?  This year, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made "Barefoot Disciple:  Walking the Way of Passionate Humility," by Stephen Cherry his "Lent Book of 2011."  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and am now working my way through sections of it for a second time.  


One of the central questions of the book is whether we can develop our humility?  There is an implicit problem with the idea of developing one's humility, which is, as soon as we might recognize, "hey I'm building up my humility, I am doing a great job," we actually are probably not embodying humility as much as before.  We can fall into the trap of being proud about our humility...


Stephen Cherry works the reader through this potential pitfall, and also develops his concept of the "Barefoot disciple" who embraces what he calls "passionate humility."  


It is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it.  Also, below are several of the Archbishop of Canterbury Lent books from the last several years.  I have read several of them, and highly recommend them.


Praying that we may keep a holy Lent,


Peace and Blessings,


~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Books

1983 The Truce of God by Rowan Williams

1988 Looking Before and After by Helen Oppenheimer

1992 Tested by the Cross - Wesley Carr

1993 Mary's Story, Mary's Song by Elaine Storkey

1997 Pilgrims by Stephen Platten

1998 The Shape of Living by David Ford

1999 Living Well by Robert Warren

2001 Christ on Trial by Rowan Williams

2002 The Meaning in the Miracles by Jeffrey John

2004  I Thirst by Stephen Cottrell

2005 Other Temptations of Jesus by John Henson

2006 Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf

2007 Power and Passion by Sam Wells

2009 Why go to church? by Timothy Radcliffe

2010 Our Sound is Our Wound: Contemplative Listening to a Noisy World by Lucy Winkett

Lent 5 - Sermon - in process

Lent 5 - Sermon - in process - here's how it looks so far, courtesy of wordle.net . . .

I guess I'm preaching about Jesus, this is good!

Lent - The return of the prodigal son

Rembrandt van Rijn The return of the prodigal son c. 1662 Oil on canvas 262 x 206 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So Jesus told them this parable:

"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Lent - show hospitality to strangers

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, 

for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

~Hebrews 13:2

Lent 3C Sermon - "Beyond the wilderness" ~ The Rev. Peter Carey

Lent 3C Sermon

7 March 2010

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA

Exodus 3: 1-15; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

Hindsight is 20/20 they say.  Looking back at history can sometimes make us think that quite remarkable events were not so remarkable.  Looking back at history demands a sense of clearing the decks before entering into the world that came before.  To enter the world of Lewis and Clark, for instance, would demand that we look carefully at the assumptions that they held, the experiences that they had, and the abilities and temperament that they had as they began their journey to the West.  As Lewis and Clark headed West, they probably had no real sense about just how treacherous the journey would be.  They probably had no real sense about how just how high and forbidding the Rocky Mountains would be.  Having climbed the Blue Ridge Mountains and having learned the skills they needed for the wilderness put them in a good position as they headed into the wilderness.  However, their Voyage of Discovery would land them not just in the wilderness, but beyond it. 

Going into the wilderness, into uncharted territory, demands courage, stamina, and a kind of fearlessness that we may not really think we possess.  But, we each have entered wilderness from time to time in our lives. 

The wilderness of loneliness. 

The wilderness of joblessness. 

The wilderness of the necessary losses that come with living. 

The wilderness of experiencing the death of loved ones. 

The wilderness of unrealized dreams. 

The wilderness of facing our own mortality. 

We each have entered the wilderness.  And we each have also gone beyond the wilderness.  When we enter the wilderness of our lives, we may find the urge to return by the same way.  We may look to follow the bread crumbs that we left as we entered the dark cave.  However, for most of us, the only way out is the way through and beyond.  The path “back” takes us through and beyond.  Like the Magi after they visited the infant Jesus, we often “go home by a different way.”  To go into the wilderness demands courage, stamina, and a kind of fearlessness that we may not really think we possess.  And yet, somehow, we do. 

Some things happen to us when we move into, and beyond the wilderness.  In the midst of it, we may feel that we cannot see how we can even go on into the way ahead.  At times, in the midst of it, we may not really feel God’s grace blessing us and supporting us and empowering us.  But God is there, whether or not we turn aside and are able to sense God’s presence makes no difference.  God is there, embracing us, supporting us, enfolding us always, even as we make our way through and beyond the wilderness.

Going beyond the wilderness is sometimes, in retrospect, where we see that God’s hand was upon us.  I know in my own life.  When I look now to at a time when I found myself far from home, feeling alone after a significant relationship ended, I see that God was working to open me up to experience more of the Spirit, to experience greater things than my paltry imagination could dream up on its best day.  When I look now to that time of mourning for the life that I thought I would have, I see that in the midst of that sadness, depression, and loneliness, God was bringing me beyond the wilderness.  Though excruciatingly difficult, it was a soulful time.  The modern writer, Thomas Moore (not “a man for all seasons”) has written several books on the soul.  In “Care of the Soul,” he writes of the surprising gifts that can be given to us even in these difficult times, and the ways that the life of the soul may be deepened as we move beyond the wilderness.  Of course, it helps to have the 20/20 vision of hindsight.  If I were now talking to myself then , my then self would tell my now self to get lost, in far more colorful language. 

This movement to a holy place beyond the wilderness is the movement that Moses was making while he herded his father-in-law’s flock. 

“He led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight. . . God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses.’ . . ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’”

So, we hear the story of God calling Moses to be the catalyst for the next great chapter in the history of God’s people.  There, beyond the wilderness, God appears to Moses.  The life story of Moses to this point included being rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, and then as an adult, Moses killed one of the Egyptians who was beating a Hebrew slave and Moses was on the run.  He had made a life for himself, joining the family of his wife, Zipporah, having a child and working for his father-in-law.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget that Moses had already pretty much settled down.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget that Moses was adamant that he was not gifted in speech, and argued with God about whether he should lead his people.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget just how terrifying it must have been for Moses to return to Pharaoh. 

Hindsight being 20/20, we look at Moses as a prophet, liberator, and gigantic figure, leading his people to freedom and then leading them in the wilderness for 40 years.  However, in today’s story, Moses encountered God beyond the wilderness, and was being called out of the vision and plan that he had for his life.  Out there, beyond the wilderness, Moses’ imagination was broadened, and he encountered the living God, who assured Moses that “I will be with you.”  Out there beyond the wilderness, Moses found a new chapter in his life that he would not have ever imagined.  Out there beyond the wilderness, there may be a new chapter for us as well.  Hindsight being 20/20, we may be able to see that our own times in the wilderness caused us to go beyond the wilderness, to a place that was, “holy ground.”  And so, we continue our journey through life, knowing that there will be times in the wilderness, they come whether we long for them or not.  We continue on our journey through life and we can have some comfort in the fact that not only is God there with us in the wilderness, “thy rod and thy staff they protect me,” and that we are enfolded in God’s loving embrace.  We can also have comfort that as we move beyond the wilderness, there is holy ground for us, there is a place where God has made a home for us, where we will turn aside, remove our sandals, and be empowered and given strength for the journey ahead.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

 HERE.