A Note from Peter (March 2019)
The Church has the ability to transform the world. This fact is patently obvious if one looks at the last 2,000 or so years of world history. What may be less obvious is that the Church has been at its most influential when it has been committed to and sustained by regular spiritual practices.
The Church has the ability to transform the world. This fact is patently obvious if one looks at the last 2,000 or so years of world history. What may be less obvious is that the Church has been at its most influential when it has been committed to and sustained by regular spiritual practices. Christians taking on habits of retreat, study, and service have transformed the world in the past and can continue to do so in the present.
As I’ve prepared for sabbatical, I’ve been immersing myself in a great deal of early church history. As I’ve read about 1st-3rd century Rome, 5th-8th century Ireland, 6th-8th century Britain, and 13th century Assisi, a very clear pattern has emerged. That is, a small group of committed Christians, bound together by shared spiritual practices, can turn the world on its head. A few examples:
In the year 500, Britain was in chaos. Rome had long since left the island and with it had gone both literacy and most of the Church. Then, in 563 a group of a dozen Irish monks, led by a fellow named Columba, arrived at the tiny island of Iona in western Scotland. There they established a place of prayer, learning, and outreach to the local population. Sustained by common worship and common work, Iona soon began spreading the faith across Scotland and into northern England while also serving as a center of art, study, and diplomacy.
In 597, the year Columba died, a fellow named Augustine arrived in Canterbury, England. He had been sent to spread the faith in that region by Pope Gregory the Great. Both Gregory and Augustine were monks as well; they followed the rule of St. Benedict. Both men were sustained by regular practices of prayer, work, rest, and study – all done in community. When he arrived in England with his fellow monks, the first thing Augustine did was build an Abbey where these practices could find a home. Within 75 years, the Christian faith would have spread across Britain and the learning of British monks would help transform the educational systems of the rest of Europe.
In 1205, a war veteran named Francis enlisted for the second time, still bearing the scars of his last enlistment. While on the way to battle, a vision stopped him in his tracks and he returned home. Thereafter, he began ordering his days around receiving the Eucharist, contemplation, caring for the sick, and living simply. Others quickly flocked to Francis’ company and habits, and before long, these Friars (or brothers) and their female counterparts, the Poor Clares, were turning the Church and the world on their heads, calling them away from their excesses and back to the heart of the Gospel.
Like our ancestors in the faith, we are at our best as Christians when our lives are ordered around worship, study, and charity. We are most effective at transforming the world, when we have devoted our- selves to the habits that transform us.
Next Wednesday, I will stand in front of the congregation and read those familiar words of the Ash Wednesday liturgy: “I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, 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.” Truly, this season of forty days before Easter is our opportunity to recommit to a rule of life – to spiritual habits and practices – that will empower us for ministry just as they did for our ancestors for centuries.
What practices will you take on this Lent? Maybe you’ll recommit to making Sunday worship a priority – both here in Greenwood and wherever you find yourself on Sunday morning. Maybe you’ll recommit to the Bible Challenge, giving up on the idea of catching up, and instead joining us where we are. Maybe you’ll commit to volunteering in a ministry whose mission you believe in. Maybe you’ll join other church members in a discipline of weekday Morning Prayer.
Who knows, perhaps the spiritual practices we take on this Lent can become our way of life far beyond Easter! And with these habits of worship, study, and service sustaining us, who knows? We just might transform the world!
Peace, Peter+
A Note from Peter (February 2018)
Very often as we look toward Lent, we begin having conversations about our fast, that is, what it is we are going to give up during this period. This year, I invite you to prepare for Lent by focusing on what it is you’d like to gain.
The Rev. Peter Gray
“A season of penitence and fasting...self-examination and repentance...of reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” These are the words the Book of Common Prayer uses to describe the season of Lent, the six and a half weeks Christians spend in preparation before Easter. Very often as we look toward Lent, we begin having conversations about our fast, that is, what it is we are going to give up during this period. This year, I invite you to prepare for Lent by focusing on what it is you’d like to gain.
On February 4, I’m going to try something new. Rather than announcing what I think we should study on Sundays as we move toward Easter, I’m going to let you all set the agenda. How do you want to grow as a Christian? What parts of scripture are most intriguing or interesting to you? Is there some part of the Church’s history that you’d like to hear more about? Or maybe you’ve been looking for new ways to nourish your personal life of prayer? I want to know what you want to learn about, and on February 4 Nativity will make a decision on how we spend our Lent.
Whether you attend 8am or 10:30 worship, come ready to rip a corner off your bulletin and scribble down your idea. Drop that scrap of paper in the offering plate as it comes by. I’ll sort the ideas by topic, and the top vote-getter will be our topic for adult forum during Lent. The Nativity Facebook account will announce what we’ll be studying that Sunday afternoon, and on Monday morning, I’ll get to work learning, studying, and exploring what it is Nativity wants to learn about.
One of the gifts of having a church family is that we are constantly reminded that the spiritual life is not an individual sport, but a team one. As we enter Lent, the prayer book invites us to a season of self-reflection and learning. Some of that will happen in the silence of our own prayers, but some of it will take place here at Nativity surrounded by sisters and brothers who, like each of us, are looking to grow in the knowledge and love of God. So, what do y’all want to learn?
Peter+