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“Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt the Lord’s name together.”  Psalm 34:3

This Wednesday, Feb. 25, is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent spans 40 days (corresponding to the 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert in preparation for his ministry and the 40 years Israel journeyed through the wilderness towards the land) ending with the celebration of Easter.

Lent is a time when we become more deliberate in how we express our faith. The practice of giving something up for Lent was meant to be an extension of deliberate fasting: certain days were fast days and other days required avoiding specific foods (such as no red meat on Fridays). In the colonial period, some Congregational ministers called for their church members to “take up something for Lent” as a way to differentiate themselves from Catholicism and other European Protestants.

For many years, I have followed the practice of taking something up for Lent that would help strengthen my walk of faith. Through the years I have added things to my life during the season of Lent like more specific time in daily prayer, spending more time in scripture, studying old testament theology books, more time walking (it is warmer in Florida in Feb. and March), writing encouraging notes and cards to friends, and journaling. Some of the things I took up during Lent became part of a larger commitment of change in my life.

There are many things you could take up this Lent. You could start your Lenten journey with the Ash Wednesday worship this Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30. Lenten devotional materials will be available in the narthex and garden room for you to use in personal family devotion times. The women’s Tuesday morning Bible study will begin a Lenten study on Tuesday, March 3. There is the Women’s Tea on Saturday, Feb. 28 and Lenten Soup and Seminars on Wednesdays, March 11 and 18. The final week of Lent, Holy Week will have opportunities to continue the journey of Lent with a Maundy Thursday meal on April 9 and a Good Friday Tenebrae service on April 10 at the Lutheran church

My mother was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. As a result, our family observed various religious practices from her tradition: fish on Fridays, Rosary prayers and, of course, “giving up something for Lent.” I can’t remember many of the things I promised God and my mother I would try do without for those six weeks, only that our individual Lenten self denial was a regular component of dinner time conversation. “How are you doing with your Lenten vow?” my mother would ask her three children.  She seemed content to hear that we were going along on the right trajectory. “Fine, mom,” we would say. And that was that.

One year I decided to go six weeks without candy which, apparently, is beyond my capability. The interesting thing about making a promise is that once it has been broken, it becomes easier and easier to break.  Soon, one resigns oneself to the promise not being all that important in the first place. Our wants and needs supersede the relevance of the promise or how realistic such an expectation was in the first place. That particular Lent, I fell off the wagon and I fell hard. It was only a matter of time before my mother found out.  After all, candy wrappers and boys’ pockets have a long standing relationship.

I tried to defend myself. “Why does God care if I have candy?” I said. My mother, in her wisdom, said it wasn’t God who cared as much as that this mattered to me, that our relationship with God is so firm that doing something for God really is doing it for lives. I recall her saying something like, “Trying to keep a promise, to make a small sacrifice, helps us be ready when the time comes that we are called upon to make a greater sacrifice.” So, I finished out the season without candy. Easter Sunday was all the sweeter for it literally.

I’m not sure what, if anything, I’ll give up this Lenten season. I have been thinking lately about worry and complaint. There are plenty of things in this life and in this world to worry about. It is easy to be overwhelmed by news of the latest disaster, crisis or gloomy forecast. And, so as to avoid misunderstanding, I need to acknowledge that there are plenty of people who have good reason to complain. These are difficult times. And while I have little to complain about, it is hard for me to stay out of the gravitational pull of such pervasive anxiety and not to worry about what the future holds. Here is what I have learned of worry and complaining: Worrying about some things can rob me of finding joy in anything. Complaining about great things, those things I cannot control, can cause me to miss the chance to help in small ways, in ways and places where my presence and participation matter.

So, I’m mulling over the idea of giving up worry and complaining for Lent. I can’t guarantee I won’t slip up.  There is bound to be an empty candy wrapper or two along the way. As I’ve said, I’ve been known to break my Lenten vow. Whatever promise I make, I will do my best and will rely on grace to make up the distance between my serious flaws and shortcomings and God’s perfect love which casts out all fear.

Peace, Duayne

After eight months of displacement, my books found a home last week. Much of their time in exile was spent in Harry Potter-like seclusion in a dark stairwell. In November, I stacked them against the walls of my new office figuring that in no time I would have a place to put them. That time arrived last Thursday. Having “culled the herd, ” I have reduced my library to what I think of as the bare minimum, grudging in my acknowledgement of how much easier and accessible the Internet, computer programs and terabyte hard drives have made my study and preparations. Bible references a and concordances are a click away as are archived copies of important theological journals, article s and chapters. We at NCC are also blessed with a pretty fair theological library, so that is close at hand as well. I have given the to mes I can’t live without fifty- six square feet of shelf space and no more. Some of the books were gifts from colleagues, congregants or family members. Some were purchases made back in seminary where we were encouraged to build a strong pastoral library. Brueggeman, Moltman, Barth, Tillich, Buttrick, Willimon are among the authors. Doubtful that many people inside , much less outside, a local congregation would recognize these names. There are a mixture of novels, philosophy and even some science. Alongside the thicker texts are practical materials about church life and leadership. These are mostly new, some read and some I have only thumbed through. There are hymnals, prayer books, devotional guides and liturgical materials for which I reach nearly every day. And then there are the cherished books of poetry to which I turn on those days when life seems to me far too prosaic.

There are also the cases of old sermons. For the past ten years, I have stored them on a computer. For the first fifteen kept manuscripts in file cabinets. My dilemma this week is what to do with a decade and half worth of old sermons. I started the day trying to toss them into the recycle bin. “ After all,” I told myself, “most sermons are like newspaper articles once the time has passed, so has much of the strength of the message.” I can’t say I read all 600 manuscripts carefully; give most of them at least a cursory look. As I dropped a manuscript into the recycle bin, a page fell out onto the floor. On it was this quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out r where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

I have decided to hang onto some of the old sermons and have found an out-of-the- way place to put the several file boxes in which they are stored. I can’t say when the next time will be that I will o pen them up for a look. I can only say that it surprises me a little that they seem to have become a kind of symbol of ministry, of life in the church. It isn’t so much that words on the pages are important as much as the life – and lives have come to represent, and the stories that are told an d celebrated in our life together as the church.

By the way, I did throw away a fair number of those old manuscripts. One of you walked in to my office, saw me discarding old files and said, “Destroying the evidence?” “Of course not,” I said, “ You are the evidence.”

So it would seem,

Duayne

“Informed prayer leads to powerul action.”--World Day of Prayer Motto

On Friday, March 6 at 10:00 a.m., five area churches will host a World Day of Prayer Service at St. James the Less, 550 Sunset Ridge Road, Northfield. participating churches are Episcopal Church of St James the Less, Lutheran Church of the Acension, St. Philip the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, Willow Creek North Shore, and Northfield Community Church. After the service there will be coffee and cookies, and a slide show of life in Papua New Guinea.

World Day of Prayer began many years ago. The first organized day of prayer held nationally was in Canada on January 9, 1920. In the United States, the first organized day of prayer held nationally was on February 20, 1920. Now, people representing the 170 countries who celebrate World Day of Prayer gather to worship on the first Friday in March, showing unity through the body of Christ with many cultures , races and faith traditions.

When I am asked what my favorite Bible verse from scripture immediately pop into my mind. One is my confirmation verse – Isaiah 40:31, “Those who hope in the Lord renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not is Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 is the focus for our children’s Sunday school lesson this coming Sunday, and as I began reading through the lesson materials, I was filled with comfort and peace. Psalm 139 is a poetic meditation on God’s intimate presence with us. God knows us through and through. Our bodies are wonderfully made by God and God is deeply involved and always present in our lives. Verses 8 say, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast….For you created my knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Take a few minutes this week and read through Psalm 139. I hope that the words of the psalm that speak of our God, who is good and wants what is best for us, who knows our faults and our gifts and continues to love and care for us, fill you with the joy, comfort, and peace that I feel when I read these.

Reading time three minutes….

… With a flurry of predictions about “blizzard conditions” this week, it seems a little odd to mention planting trees and shrubs,but that is what the Memorial’s Committee talked about at length at its meeting last Saturday.  There isn’t room here to go into detail other than to let you know NCC is working with Landscape Architect and good friend Barbara Berend to solicit ideas to replace the Hawthorn trees and Buckthorn along the sanctuary walls and to tidy up the areas around the parking lot. Stay tuned.

 
… This edition of the Courier has information about the upcoming Talent Show on January 24th. Let me just say that I hope we will have a lively crowd of participants, both as performers and spectators.  This should be a lot of fun.

… There will be small groups meeting for five weeks in February and March. The focus is the book “One Month to Live” by Kerry and Chris Shook.  Please watch for more information in the next Courier and for places to sign up online and here at church.

 
… By now, most all of our members and friends are aware that our much beloved organist and choir director, George Williams, is in the hospital. George has been through the proverbial ringer” and, I am delighted to say, is on the mend. He is undergoing treatment for a reoccurrence of lymphoma, his infamous appetite has returned, and he soon will be getting into a rehabilitation program to gain back his strength and endurance. His wife Barbara has been a firm and loving supporter throughout. Please hold both George and Barbara in your prayers.

 
… I want to offer a word of thanks to all of volunteers for your dedication and faithfulness. Each day I watch you come and go, taking care of things great and small, and without any recognition or fanfare. Miraculously, when the church convenes for worship, fellowship, study or service everything, and everyone, is in good working order. Daily you demonstrate what scripture means when it says we are “the body of Christ.”

…. This coming Sunday, January 18th, at both 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., we will receive new members at Northfield Community Church. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about church membership, please contact me at dmeyer@northfielducc.org or by calling the church at 847.446.3070.

 
… I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that these are anxious times.  Know this dear members and friends: the church continues to be as a city set on a hill as a place of light, warmth, welcome and compassion. Certainly we are not immune or indifferent challenges of this world but our perspective is unchanging: it is still God’s world, we still belong to God and God’s are at work in us, among us and beyond us.   

Peace, Duayne