The Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give me 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.

(written in 1943 or whereabouts)

The Season of Lent - Resources

Taking the journey of Lent seriously: we are all called 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.

These resources available at St. Peter’s:

• Lenten Prayers
• Season of Prayer: 40 Days in the Desert
• Meditations for the Five Sundays in Lent & Palm Sunday
• Various Pamphlets

Online Resources:
www.episcopalrelief.org/church-in-action/church-campaigns/lent
www.lentmadness.org
www.greenanglicans.org/carbon-fast-lent-2015

Wednesday Mornings
We gather in the Memorial Room at 10:30 AM for a Lenten Bible Study. The study lasts one hour and will take place March 8 – April 5.

Wednesday Evenings
Wednesday nights during Lent, you are invited to a light Supper and Lenten Study at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 466 Elm Street, Monroe and St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 175 Old Tannery Road, Monroe. We begin at 6:30 pm with supper, the program begins around 7 pm.

We alternate locations each week. So on March 8 it is at St. Peter’s, March 15 at Good Shepherd, etc. Our theme is Forty Days: A Journey through the Desert of Lent

At the Presentation of the Bread & the Cup

In conjunction with our work on the Discipleship Project, we will be using words I first heard at the Monastery at SSJE during the season of Lent:

Behold what you are.  May we become what we receive.   

The words used at the presentation of the Bread and Cup derive from St. Augustine’s Sermon 57, On the Holy Eucharist, a sustained teaching pointing to one of the deep truths of Christian faith:  through our participation in the sacraments (particularly baptism and Eucharist), we are transformed into the Body of Christ, given for the world.  St. Augustine (354 – 430 c.e.), together with St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas, is one of the most influential voices in the Christian tradition, and the clerestory windows of the monastery feature a window in his honor. (from SSJE)

Ash Wednesday: Sermon

O God of grace and glory, you challenge us to reclaim our baptismal identity as those whose lives are built on your call and your promises—not on the easy, seductive forces around us. Stir our hearts that we may engage your transforming word anew and rediscover its power to save. Amen. (W. Bruggerman)

“Rend your hearts and not your clothing” – the prophet Joel tells us. It’s not about the outward appearance, it’s about our hearts, how we open them up to our God.

“Return to me with all your heart.” Our God seeks us out, wanting to restore our relationship with the one who created us. This is grace. But there is an expectation that we will also need to act – “with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”

Our God of mercy and love awaits us. This time of Lent is our time to ponder anew our baptismal faith, to consider again all the easy, conventional compromises that we make with our faith and how discipline, respect, and gladness for God’s grace and mercy is turned to the ones who return to their faith, who make use of this holy season.

Likewise Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew cautions us about how we live out our faith. It is not for show. It is not for others. It’s for ourselves and our relationship with God.

In Matthew, Jesus wants us to place our heart and mind with God so that what we do is good for others and ourselves. Jesus tells us not to outwardly show our piety because we can lose the intention that unites us together with God. For if we pray, fast and give alms out of a heart that is love, than we are living as God intended, loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. So that what we give to others is from God’s grace and necessity in our lives.

For Jesus, it was not outward displays of faith that he wanted his followers to do but instead to have a change of heart when they give alms, when they pray and when they fast. For with the right heart, giving alms, praying and fasting can help us live faithfully. Let me give you an example of such faithful living and giving…

Those who knew Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers & Red Wings owner who died a few weeks ago, have spent the time fondly remembering his impact on friends, on Detroit residents, and on the sports community. Ilitch also had an impact on the daily life of one of the most iconic figures from the civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks, who after her famed defiance of segregation sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, moved to Detroit and became an important presence in the city for years afterward. But in 1994, Parks was robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81.

Ilitch read the story in the newspaper and called Damon Keith, a Detroit native and federal judge, who was finding a new and safer home for her, offering to pay for Parks' housing indefinitely. With no fanfare, Ilitch continued paying for the apartment until Parks died in 2005, Keith said. (CNN)

Such faithful living is what we are called to do. Without fanfare but with much love. May this season of Lent, be an opportunity for us to rediscover our faith through the practices we use, to rend our hearts, break them open, and to seek out our God who stands ready in our very midst and calls us each by name. Amen.

Ash Wednesday: Prayer

Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
give us your creation [miserable ones?]
the grace to do for You alone
what we know you want us to do
and always to desire what pleases You.
Inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints of Your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
and, by Your grace alone,
may we make our way to You,
Most High,
Who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified
God almighty,
forever and ever.
Amen.

Francis of Assisi, circa 1225. Text taken from Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume 1. Edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann, and William J. Short (New York: New City Press, 2001).

http://www.buildfaith.org/ash-wednesday-st-francis/

Ash Wednesday: Psalm 51

 
1     Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *
           in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
  2     Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
           and cleanse me from my sin.
  3     For I know my transgressions, *
           and my sin is ever before me.
  4     Against you only have I sinned *
           and done what is evil in your sight.
  5     And so you are justified when you speak *
           and upright in your judgment
  6     Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
           a sinner from my mother's womb.
  7     For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
           and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
  8     Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
           wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
  9     Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
           that the body you have broken may rejoice.
10     Hide your face from my sins *
           and blot out all my iniquities.
11     Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
           and renew a right spirit within me.
12     Cast me not away from your presence *
           and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13     Give me the joy of your saving help again *
           and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
14     I shall teach your ways to the wicked, *
           and sinners shall return to you.
15     Deliver me from death, O God, *
           and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
           O God of my salvation.
16     Open my lips, O Lord, *
           and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
17     Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice; *
           but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
18     The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; *
           a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Ash Wednesday: Poem

Receive this cross of ash upon your brow,
Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross.
The forests of the world are burning now
And you make late repentance for the loss.
But all the trees of God would clap their hands
The very stones themselves would shout and sing
If you could covenant to love these lands
And recognize in Christ their Lord and king.
He sees the slow destruction of those trees,
He weeps to see the ancient places burn,
And still you make what purchases you please,
And still to dust and ashes you return.
But Hope could rise from ashes even now
Beginning with this sign upon your brow.

Ash Wednesday by Malcolm Guite