Preparing for Lent: Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

-Reinhold Niebuhr, Theologian, 1892-1971

Preparing for Lent: The Judean Desert

40 years in the wilderness for Moses and the Israelites

40 days in the desert for Jesus

40 days of Lent...time of fasting, abstinence, prayer, penitence...time to remember God in our daily lives...

Preparing for Lent: Parties and Penitence

I found this wonderful gem of a reflection at the St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC website, where a good friend of mine is the assistant to the Rector.

Take a read, I think that the Rev. Joseph Hensley is really onto something in his reflection on Parties and Penitence!

I've posted an excerpt, you can read it all HERE...

Getting ready,...almost Lent!!

~ The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Parties and Penitence

February is a short and shifty month. February sees the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent. The glorious revelation of Christ, transfigured on the mountaintop, erodes quickly to the humble dust of Ash Wednesday. The revelry of Mardi Gras and Carnivale yields to a call for fasting, self-examination, and repentance.

Is it possible to prepare for parties AND penitence? Many of us will tend to focus on one aspect or the other. Some folks really enjoy the celebration. Others look forward to the days of discipline and self-denial. As Christians, we can be good at both. Keep in mind that Jesus seemed to enjoy a good party (after all he did change water into wine). He also fasted in the wilderness and went off to lonely places to pray.

The contradiction may be difficult to figure. If I am at a party, I want to enjoy myself, not think about what sins I will have to confess later. If I have actually gotten myself to a place where I can quiet down and pray honestly with myself and God, it might be distracting to think about the next celebration. As Christians we are constantly living in this tension, though. Every Sunday we confess our sins so that we might fully embrace the presence of Christ in the Eucharistic feast. Then, instead of trying to prolong our bliss, we go immediately out into the world where we run right back into sin. We feed our faces with pancakes on Fat Tuesday only to smear our foreheads with ashes on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a relatively short liturgical season, lasting only 40 days. We hardly bury the Alleluia before the choir has to begin practicing the Easter anthems. Parties and penitence may seem at odds, but the Christian calendar keeps them close....

Read it all HERE

Preparing for Lent: Cool Lenten Video

This is a repost from last year, but I thought it was good enough to give it a re-run!