Photos, Evensong, Pancakes, and Ashes

We are now less than two weeks away from a very busy week at St. David’s. On Sunday 3/2 at the 10 am service, we will have a photographer joining us to capture photos for our new website that is currently under construction. Then, on that same Sunday evening all are welcome to a service of Choral Evensong to celebrate the Feast of our very own St. David. The service will take place in the Church at 4:00 pm, and it will be followed with a full reception in the undercroft downstairs.

On Tuesday 3/4 at 6:00 pm all are invited to an evening of food and fellowship for the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, and the following day, Ash Wednesday, we officially begin the Lenten Season. On 3/5 there are two opportunities for worship with imposition of ashes one in the Chapel at Noon, and the other in the Church at 7:00 pm.

I hope that you’ve begun to think about how you might intentionally enter into this coming season of Lent. As I said last week, the Church encourages a three fold approach of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There is no one size fits all when it comes to lenten disciplines. As always, I am happy to talk with you if you would like assistance in discerning what God might be calling you to do this season.

That being said, I’ll make a few suggestions, with the caveat that everyone’s situation is different. I think for many of us, simply reducing the amount of stuff that we consume, would do us all some good. And I mean both food and drink as well as media, TV, Internet, etc. Maybe you give up desserts, alcohol, or pizza. Traditionally all were encouraged to give up meat for the entirety of Lent, and traditionally all were encouraged to fast from food almost entirely on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays in Lent.

Whether or not you give up some sort of physical food, I really want to encourage everyone to give up some sort of media from our “diet.” We live in one of the strangest times to be a human being, with the world’s full knowledge base at our fingertips. And even more unique, the fact that we are constantly on the receiving end of a never ending stream of news. I am as guilty as anyone for too closely following the events going on in the world, and frankly that’s why I’m saying it here, I need this advice too! By and large it doesn’t do any good for the world, and definitely no good for our spirits to be so caught up in the day to day news cycles. Our time and attention would much better be used in reading Scripture and other religious writings, praying, or even simply spending time in silence or listening to music.

And that brings us to what we can do, or take on, once we’ve freed up some time having given something up. Prayer is a rather large category, but spending time, intentionally with God is the most important thing we do in fostering our relationship with God. This coming season of Lent, find a way to spend some additional time in prayer. I know that I’ve mentioned it before, but the following website by Forward Movement, has a whole slew of options for prayer: https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/ Find something that works for you, and stick with it.

Once again, I am happy to help in any way (phone, email, stop by the office) as you plan your lenten observances.

Finally, one last reminder that we’ll be packing birthday bags for the food pantry this Sunday following the 10 am service in the Undercroft.

See you in Church!

Peace,

Fr Adler+