St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Lent, Holy Week and EasterAsh Wednesday services | Lenten retreat | Br. Kevin Hackett, SSJE, in Rector's Forum | Lenten Study group | Additional Lenten resources
 One of the greatest theologians the world has ever known, St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), wrote about his prolonged, drawn-out search for God and the revelation he finally had that God had been with him all along:I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new! I have learnt to love you late! You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself. I searched for you outside myself…. You were with me, but I was not with you.
Confessions, Book X.27 Waking to the reality of this very present Eternal Life, this “Beauty ever ancient, ever new,” is a transforming experience. This life-giving Presence is always with us and within us. The problem, of course, is that we are often distracted by many cares and occupations that keep us far away from God and from ourselves. It is as if we spend much of our lives wandering “in a land that is waste,” while God constantly calls to us to return – return to ourselves, to our true life in God.
The forty days of Lent serve as a time for Christians to return to the Sacred Presence, to the God who has never left us, even though at times we have been far away. Lent is a time to renew classic disciplines of prayer and reflection, as well as ancient practices such as fasting and Bible study. All of this is designed to renew a right spirit within us and to prepare us for the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection at Easter.
Lent always begins with a day of special devotion and discipline known as “Ash Wednesday” which this year falls on February 22. The traditional worship for this day is especially powerful and calls for the “imposition of ashes.” Parishioners are invited to come forward to receive the imprint of ashes on their foreheads, as a sign of their mortality. In this stark way, we are put in mind of the difference between those things that are passing away and those things that endure forever.
Following are some opportunities designed to help you in your observance of a holy Lent and prepare you for a return to the Sacred Life and Beauty that is always with you.
Ash Wednesday services: February 22, at 7:30 a.m., noon and 5:30 p.m. There will be no weekday Morning Prayer service nor Wonderful Wednesdays supper that day.
Friday, February 24 & Saturday, February 25
Friday registration | Saturday registration (You may attend either session or both sessions) Friday evening: Practice Makes Perfect?
Focusing on Jesus’ admonition that we be “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect,” Brother Kevin Hackett of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist will offer an alternative way to understand Christian perfection, along with the practices that make it possible. (This session begins with dinner at 6 p.m.) Saturday morning: Lured by Love The forty days of Lent are often thought of in dour, even punitive terms. This morning of reflection and prayer will be an opportunity to re-imagine the Lenten wilderness as an invitation to the larger life that God desires for each of us. Kevin Hackett, SSJE, is a priest and brother in the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, an Episcopal monastic community for men in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is an experienced retreat leader and spiritual director, and presently serves as both the Director of Music of the Monastery, and as the Director of Communications. Under his leadership, the Society began one of their most successful initiatives, “Brother, Give Us a Word,” a daily email offering spiritual guidance in prayer. This is his second visit to St. Stephen’s. Suggested donation: $20 for one session ($10 for students) or $30 for both ($15 for students). Supper is available for an additional $7 donation. Rector's Forum with Br. Kevin Hackett, SSJE: "Transformation"
Sunday, February 26, 10:10 a.m. in the Large Fellowship Hall | No registration required One of the challenges we face with the language of religion is how it has become divorced from everyday experience. The word transformation is a case in point. On the face of it, doesn’t every faithful want to be transformed more fully into the image of Christ? Doesn’t’ every follower of Jesus of Nazareth want to transformed by the renewing of his or her mind? Doesn’t growing into the full stature of Christ hold immediate appeal for us all? Perhaps. Transformation, by its very nature implies change, and change suggests loss, and loss, even in the abstract, is not something I seek out willingly. The Rule of Life of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist reminds us that “many stages of genuine spiritual transformation are marked by the experience of confusion and loss.” I can give glib and easy assent to words like transformation and growth. Confusion and loss? Not so much.
"Sin...On the Light Side" led by Bob Dibble
Wednesdays, February 29-March 28, at 6:30 p.m. | Register here
C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters were originally published weekly in the Anglican periodical The Guardian between May and November 1941, the dark days of World War II. In 1942, the Letters were published in book form in England — dedicated to Lewis’ friend J.R.R. Tolkien. In a series of letters, the infernal senior devil Screwtape instructs his nephew and future successor Wormwood in the arts of temptation. Screwtape presides over a highly organized, high-tech Hell, and he trains Wormwood to lead Christians away from God’s path gradually through mundane temptations, rather than sudden sins. Lewis’s most famous work is outwardly funny as well as provocative, as the devil’s perspective helps us gain insight into our own morality and temptations. In this discussion/study led by Bob Dibble, we will listen to actor John Cleese’s readings which bring The Screwtape Letters to life, conveying all the irony, comedy, and terror of this modern spiritual masterpiece. If you’re looking for a different spiritual discipline for Lent, serious yet fun, then join us for “Sin . . . on the Light Side.” Come for Evening Prayer and supper and stay for this discussion. Available on the table outside Palmer Hall Chapel:
Our weekly Bible study guide is available by email.
A wide array of books for Lenten reading is available for purchase in the parish office during the week, and in the Large Fellowship Hall on Sundays.
The Society of St. John the Evangelist offers a daily email meditation called "Brother, Give us a Word," which is available year-round; Lent could be the perfect time to sign up. SSJE also offers a Lenten discipline linked to the Order's Rule of Life. Read more here.
SSJE has also begun a new Lenten offering called "Give up a word." Read about it here.
The Episcopal Church offers a page of Lenten resources, as well. The Presiding Bishop's Lenten Message is here.
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