I’ve been thinking about past Lents for a couple of weeks now. About when we shared Shrove Tuesday, with the Presbyterians and Temple Bat Yam; will we have a pancake supper this year, how many ashes we’ll distribute for Ashes-to-Go, mostly will you join me, your pastor, in a holy Lent?
After these past 2 years I’m also thinking about the frailty of life, mortality, and what will the ashes that mark our foreheads represent. Will this season find us stronger or in fear of what tomorrow will bring?
Lent is a time of looking inward and the little voice in my head is asking, “What are you giving up for Lent this year?” Truthfully, I have no intention of giving anything up!
The truth is I don’t want to do Lent this year. I know that’s something I shouldn’t be saying, since I’m your pastor, but it’s true, I want a new Lent, I don’t want to just get through Lent, I want Lent to get through to me.
Ash Wednesday’s Gospel, Matthew 6:21, Jesus reminds us that one’s heart and treasure cannot be separated. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
If Lent is about inward reflection, for better or worse, some treasures are of lasting and eternal value, others are not. Some are worth holding on to while others I need to let go of, regardless of how much I think I love or need them.
I pray this Lent season I learn to love and what to love, what to hold on to and what to let go of, that’s the real work of Lent. This is the Lent I want for you too, a Lent that gets through us not us getting through it.
Blessings, Pastor Diana
After these past 2 years I’m also thinking about the frailty of life, mortality, and what will the ashes that mark our foreheads represent. Will this season find us stronger or in fear of what tomorrow will bring?
Lent is a time of looking inward and the little voice in my head is asking, “What are you giving up for Lent this year?” Truthfully, I have no intention of giving anything up!
The truth is I don’t want to do Lent this year. I know that’s something I shouldn’t be saying, since I’m your pastor, but it’s true, I want a new Lent, I don’t want to just get through Lent, I want Lent to get through to me.
Ash Wednesday’s Gospel, Matthew 6:21, Jesus reminds us that one’s heart and treasure cannot be separated. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
If Lent is about inward reflection, for better or worse, some treasures are of lasting and eternal value, others are not. Some are worth holding on to while others I need to let go of, regardless of how much I think I love or need them.
I pray this Lent season I learn to love and what to love, what to hold on to and what to let go of, that’s the real work of Lent. This is the Lent I want for you too, a Lent that gets through us not us getting through it.
Blessings, Pastor Diana
Blessing the Chalk
V. Our help is the name of the Lord:
R. The maker of heaven and earth.
V. The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in:
R. From this time forth for evermore.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.
Let us pray.
Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name all who use it in faith to write upon the doors of their homes the names of your saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in or visit their home; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Instructions for Blessing the Home
Using the blessed chalk mark the lintel of your front door (or front porch step) as follows:
20 + C + M + B + 22 saying:
The three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of
God’s Son who became human two thousand and twenty-two years ago.
May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.
Then say the following prayer:
Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live or visit here with the gift of your love; and grant that we may manifest your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen us in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
“Chalking the door” is a way to celebrate and physically mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of our lives and home. With time the chalk will fade. As it does we let the meaning of the written symbols sink into the depths of our hearts and be manifest in our words and actions.
V. Our help is the name of the Lord:
R. The maker of heaven and earth.
V. The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in:
R. From this time forth for evermore.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.
Let us pray.
Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name all who use it in faith to write upon the doors of their homes the names of your saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in or visit their home; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Instructions for Blessing the Home
Using the blessed chalk mark the lintel of your front door (or front porch step) as follows:
20 + C + M + B + 22 saying:
The three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of
God’s Son who became human two thousand and twenty-two years ago.
May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.
Then say the following prayer:
Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live or visit here with the gift of your love; and grant that we may manifest your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen us in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
“Chalking the door” is a way to celebrate and physically mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of our lives and home. With time the chalk will fade. As it does we let the meaning of the written symbols sink into the depths of our hearts and be manifest in our words and actions.