Greetings and a warm welcome to all.
Today is Valentines Day, and the Last Sunday of the Epiphany. This coming Wednesday is a very special and holy day for u as Christians. February 17 is Ash Wednesday. We will mark this day with two services of the Imposition of Ashes and the Holy Eucharist. The first liturgy will be at 12 noon and the second will follow at 6 PM. The evening before Ash Wednesday we will gather in the Parish Hall for our annual pancake supper. This event is also known as Shrove Tuesday, and coincides with the celebration of Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday. Historically this is a time to clear the pantry, consume all the food, cleanse and make way for the fasting of Ash Wednesday and the penitential season of Lent. The season of Lent is a holy and prayerful time for self-examination and reflection to prepare ourselves for what is to follow. As you know, during Lent I emphasize these 40 days as a time to take on something new which will offer the opportunity to “grow in grace” and move us to a closer relationship with God in our lives, and with others.
With that said on Mondays we will gather in the morning to read and study the psalms of Lent, and on Wednesdays at 5 for Evening Prayer. There will be no sermon or music. We will say the Office together with the assigned readings and prayers for that particular day. Because there will be the Wednesday 12 noon Ecumenical services, we will not have the 12 noon Healing and Holy Eucharist. This liturgy will be rescheduled for another time. I will meet with the Liturgy and Worship Committee this week, so please stay tuned for additional announcements concerning the liturgy during the Lenten season. We want to remember that this season of Lent is a holy and sacred time which we mark by special intention in our worship and our common life together. Thanks be to God!!
Our lessons today are always the same for the Last Epiphany. We hear in our readings a theological theme which equates with a “mountain top experience”. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the mountain with him to pray. The three disciples are overwhelmed by what they alone witness on the mountain. We call this particular event in the life of Jesus the Transfiguration. It reminds us that with God our lives and the events and people around us are always in movement, never staying the same, but in the blink of an eye are changing. We will experience this later this week as we come down off the mountain with the disciples and make the transition to Ash Wednesday and Lent. Beginning with Palm Sunday, we will continue this journey into Holy Week and the suffering and death our Lord in Jerusalem. There we will climb another mountain with Jesus to the cross.
I invite you to begin your preparation for a holy Lent with me, the people of this parish, and any others whom God may guide to be with us here at Ascension.
At Sewanee, my alma mater, we have a school motto, Ecce quam bonum and comes from Psalm 133:1. It means . “Behold How Good!” The full motto is Ecce quam bonum et quam icunundum habitare fraters in unum, or, “Behold how good and joyful thing it is for brethren to dwell together for unity.”
Deedie+