OK, Back to Lent. Today's theme is Almsgiving.
Some of us had a little holiday yesterday with the celebration of the Feast of St Patrick. St Patrick's Day always falls in Lent, since Easter can never come before March 22, and many of us take the opportunity to lighten it up a bit and have a glass of green beer (or green wine in the case of my book club last night) or listen to/dance to some rousing jigs and reels. The Lenten journey is a long one and sometimes it's hard to sustain the focus on added spiritual practices and devotional reading throughout the season. And so we take a little break now and then.
But now it's Friday and time to get back to Lent.
Time to get back to the work of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Spending extra time in prayer today; perhaps fasting today as it is the custom for many to fast in some way on Fridays, especially during Lent (I remember how our school cafeteria served fish sticks on Fridays in the Spring, which I totally didn't "get" at the time); and sort of slurring over "almsgiving" since so many of us have trouble with that "old fashioned" word and how to translate it into something concrete in our world. And also thinking about temptation, this week's "theme" because of the First Sunday in Lent's reading about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.
Well, put them all together and you get .... this clever and really well-done video from St Paul and The Redeemer Episcopal Church in Chicago about almsgiving. I admit to giving in to the temptation to post it here instead of writing a more "serious" post and I'm even going to tag it "fun" ...
Why? Because I am quite serious about Lent, and I remember the reading from Matthew on Ash Wednesday about now screwing up our faces in misery to show our piety but to anoint our faces with oil (the oil of gladness!). Almsgiving is a tough subject. There are many ways to get the message about almsgiving across. This one is memorable. Watch especially for the part about how it says in Acts that there was not a needy person among the early Christian community and wonder if that describes you and your community.
Lent Video Series: #2 Almsgiving from Dan Puchalla on Vimeo.
But now it's Friday and time to get back to Lent.
Time to get back to the work of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Spending extra time in prayer today; perhaps fasting today as it is the custom for many to fast in some way on Fridays, especially during Lent (I remember how our school cafeteria served fish sticks on Fridays in the Spring, which I totally didn't "get" at the time); and sort of slurring over "almsgiving" since so many of us have trouble with that "old fashioned" word and how to translate it into something concrete in our world. And also thinking about temptation, this week's "theme" because of the First Sunday in Lent's reading about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.
Well, put them all together and you get .... this clever and really well-done video from St Paul and The Redeemer Episcopal Church in Chicago about almsgiving. I admit to giving in to the temptation to post it here instead of writing a more "serious" post and I'm even going to tag it "fun" ...
Why? Because I am quite serious about Lent, and I remember the reading from Matthew on Ash Wednesday about now screwing up our faces in misery to show our piety but to anoint our faces with oil (the oil of gladness!). Almsgiving is a tough subject. There are many ways to get the message about almsgiving across. This one is memorable. Watch especially for the part about how it says in Acts that there was not a needy person among the early Christian community and wonder if that describes you and your community.
Lent Video Series: #2 Almsgiving from Dan Puchalla on Vimeo.
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