Trevin Wax: A Prayer for Transfiguration Sunday

Today’s lectionary includes the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration.

Trevin Wax, a baptist pastor who has a wonderful appreciation of Liturgy (I discovered his blog, Kingdom People, during Advent and it’s become a favorite), has a wonderful prayer / poem about the Transfiguration.

Here’s the beginning half of the prayer:

O God,
We open our eyes and we see Jesus,
the months of ministry transfigured to a beam of light,
the light of the world,
your light.
May your light shine upon us.

We open our eyes and we see Moses and Elijah,
your word restoring us, showing us the way,
telling a story,
your story, his story, our story.
May your word speak to us.

We open our eyes and we see mist,
the cloud of your presence
which assures us of all we do not know
and that we do not need to fear that.
Teach us to trust.

Go read it all

While you’re thinking about the Transfiguration and the light of Christ’s glory, go read Fr. Tim Fountain’s reflections/sermon on today’s lessons. It’s a great preparation for Lent. Here’s Fr. Tim’s “teaser” — a brief summary of his sermon to tie it all together. I’d never made the connection between today’s remembrance of the Transfiguration as very vital preparation for Lent:

Collect of the Day: “Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross…”

Mark 9:2-9, “The Transfiguration.” Jesus shows his glory to three apostles, just before they follow him to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die. This Gospel lesson comes up at the end of Epiphany, in order to strengthen us to do battle with the shadows during Lent.

(Beginning this Wednesday, we enter a season where we are asked to identify the shadows of the world, the flesh and the devil in our lives, and to seek the light of Christ to disperse them.)

Thanks Pastor Trevin & Father Tim for these excellent resources to appreciate and reflect on today’s lectionary!

Anglican Relief & Development, Lenten Appeal

The latest press release from Anglican Relief & Development encourages us to consider sacrificial giving to those in need in the Global South as part of our Lenten disciplines. We at Lent & Beyond highly commend ARDF’s work and this appeal:

The Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) is asking Anglican Christians in North America to engage in the discipline of giving during the season of Lent.

According to Canon Nancy Norton, ARDF’s executive director, gifts marked “Lenten Appeal” will be used to help fund seven projects that have already received approval from ARDF’s board.

Those projects include work in the Democratic Republic of Congo to repair and expand the Lwanwa Primary school, reaching out to the poor and marginalized in North Bangalore, India, helping pregnant women in Brazil, enabling displaced Kenyans to return home, and rescuing Nepalese sex-trafficking victims. (full descriptions of all of the approved projects are available here.

Full details here.

Deuteronomy 6:3-7

“Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you–’a land flowing with milk and honey.’” (Deuteronomy 6:3)
      LORD, you have marked out the path for us clearly: help us in this diocese fear you and keep your commandments so that we can increase and multiply.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
      Holy Spirit, help us hear and know the unity you have with Jesus and his father.

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
      Father, please help us love you and make your love known to all we meet.

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.” (Deuteronomy 6:6)
      Jesus, please give us softened hearts — melt our stony hearts with the fire of your Holy Spirit.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)
      Holy Spirit, give us hearts that are diligent in teaching the youth of our diocese and the youth of our parish the way they are to walk in. Thank you.

      A word received: Tell my people, proclaim to my people that I AM LORD, there is no other. Command my people to put away all other gods.

Sunday: 148, 149, 150; Deut. 6:1-9; Hebrews 12:18-29; John 12:24-32
Monday: 25; Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Hebrews 1:1-14; John 1:1-18

      Notes from the Front Line

A great resource to check out is http://www.hymntime.com/tch/ where you can look up and hear many great hymns.

Albany Intercessor

Good news about Lent posts & resources

To our friends who read Lent & Beyond,

Even though our old blog site is no longer online, we’ve been able to use an archive site to retrieve ALL of our Lent entries from 2007, and should be able to retrieve 2006 and maybe 2005 Lenten entries as well.

That means that in addition to whatever new materials we may post this year, we should be able to bring back online a wealth of Lenten quotes, Lenten prayers, devotionals, and resource suggestions from our archives.

Keep checking back over the next 2-3 days as we  start to bring some of the treasures of our Lenten archives online.  We’ll likely post a number of links to excellent Lenten resources first, and then move on to Lenten devotionals, quotes and prayers once we hit Ash Wednesday (Feb. 25th).

The Cyber Hymnal has a new Address

Doing some blog housekeeping,  I discovered a comment from a few weeks ago by the administrators of the Cyber Hymnal website – one of our favorite resources on the internet.

Due to some kind of domain name conflict, they’ve got a new address:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/

Bookmark it and spread the word!  It is a fantastic site.  We’ve updated our sidebar links.

Dr. Peter Toon reflects on Lent and justification by faith

I found this reminder by the Rev’d Dr. Peter Toon very helpful. Lent should not be focused on our works, our efforts, our spiritual disciplines, but on how any such disciplines strengthen our faith and trust in Christ:

The English Prayer Book of 1549, which replaced the medieval Latin books, retained the Christian Year, and with it the season of Lent, the period of forty days immediately before Easter Day. At one level this could be seen as opening the possibility of falling back into the acceptance of salvation by works—by making fasting, extra devotions, pilgrimages, and the like into the very essence of the Christian religion. However, a careful reading of the rubrics in the Prayer Book, along with the required Collects for Lent provided in the same Book, shows that the Christian life remains primarily of repentance for sin, faith and trust in God, and using external means like fasting to strengthen and intensify that relation of penitence, faith and obedience to God the Father through Jesus the Son in the power of the Holy Ghost—and in the life of the church. (emphasis added)

Here is the prayer used throughout Lent in the Anglican Way:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Here there is no salvation by good works: there is the love of God the Creator of man, there is the call to repentance by God’s creatures, there is the offer of full and free forgiveness; there is the recognition of the sinfulness of man’s heart and its need for cleansing and renewal, and there is the recognition that all this is possible through the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The authentic Anglican or Reformed Catholic keeping of Lent is one of profound and deep devotion which is based on trust in God the Father, believing in the promises of his Son, and living in the power of the Holy Ghost, even as the Church identifies with the same Son of God in his humanity as that was attacked by Satan both in the wilderness and at Mount Calvary.

Dr. Toon’s full text is here.