March 2017
St. Mark’s News Volume 21/Issue 3
From the Rector A friend of mine recently asked this question: “How can I keep a particular person from eating up so much real estate in my head?” This question, this phrase, seems particularly apt during the season of Lent: what or whom is eating up real estate in our heads and in our hearts? How can we give that real estate back to God so that we accept the invitation to a holy Lent that is extended to us on Ash Wednesday? On Ash Wednesday we begin the season of Lent by praying one of my favorite prayers from the 51st Psalm: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me…. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” I want the real estate of my heart and head to be occupied by God and to be filled by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. When I was a student at the Yale Divinity School, it was my privilege to have as a professor Henri J.M. Nouwen. Henri was a Dutch Catholic Priest who wrote extensively on the spiritual life. One day in class he shared an experience he had while on a silent retreat. Henri was assigned a job working on the bread assembly line, but he was having trouble keeping In this Issue up bagging the bread on the conveyor belt. A monk gave him a disdainful From the Rector ......................... 1 look, and for the rest of the afternoon Henri fumed internally about that dirty Vestry Highlights ........................ 2 look. At the end of the day Henri met with his spiritual director and told him The Season of Lent ................... 3 about the day. His spiritual director asked Henri why he had given the monk Parish Life .................................. 4 so much power to ruin his day. The monk had occupied too much real estate Outreach .................................... 5 in Henri’s head. To whom or to what are we giving too much power, and Music Notes ............................... 6 how can we spend this Lenten season turning it over to God? Children’s Formation.................. 6 One of the resources that I will use this Lenten season is a collection of meditations: Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen. Let me give you a taste. His meditation for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday certainly fits the theme of Godly real estate.
Parishioner Highlights ................ 9 Celebrations............................. 10 Caffeine Ministry ...................... 10 ROTA ....................................... 11
Discipline: Preparing a Place for God Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God’s guidance. Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God – a time and a place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to. Holy God, give me the discipline it takes to keep my heart open to your word. Do not let the anger of resentment sidetrack me from the priority of seeking my true home with you. Please give me what it takes to recognize that any personal rejections, real or imagined, are only reminders of an imperfect world. Bestow your grace on me so that life’s disappointments will bring out the best in me and not the worst. Amen EZT+
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