Ash Wednesday is the gateway to Lent, a season set aside for our use. The outward signs and services are in place to guide us. The color of hangings and stoles in the church has changed from green to dark purple. It is as though we have turned down the liturgical lights. The dark stillness is encouragement to become more still within our lives. The language and the sound of the liturgies have shifted. It is a subtle suggestion that we have permission to shift and re-order our lives.

All of Lent the retable will have no sweet smelling flowers, just simple greens. Perhaps our Lenten dinner tables may also have more greens and less sweets. The crosses in the church are all veiled. Now we see them dimly but later we will see them face to face. Easter is in the shrouded distance but even so we will be walking toward Jerusalem as we walk through the lessons each Sunday in Lent.

The hallway of the meditation chapel has been hung with purple curtains to create a linear labyrinth - those who enter must slow down to navigate its turns. As the body slows, the spirit calms. There are books placed in the chapel's niche as starters for your reflection. Part of the opportunity of Lent is to immerse oneself in prayer and Scripture. Two priests, two lay teachers and a bishop are dedicating themselves to providing the Saint James Lenten Study series on prayer. It begins next Wednesday, February 16th at 6:30 in Macdonald hall with a simple pot luck supper and continues in the Meditation Chapel at 7PM. The Lenten series meets each Wednesday at 6:30 until March 16th. Many people have been at work to point to a path that leads to the heart of Lent but we must choose whether to walk it with intention.

In the reading from the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus makes a distinction between going through the motions and truly living into the intention of religious practices. The Pharisees who blew trumpets announcing their alms giving were drawing attention to themselves. Jesus pointed out that the purpose of giving alms is to benefit others and to turn one's attention to God.

We too are encouraged to give for the benefit of others, without fanfare. Such quiet faithfulness is a way of giving thanks to God and acknowledging our interdependence. We are stewards of the bounty that God has given us. God desires that we participate in the building up of faith communities and in caring for those in need. All that we have is a gift from a gracious God. What we do with this gift is up to us. The choices we make will either help us grow in thankfulness and an increased sense of connection or they will distract us and turn us inward. May we open our hearts, our hands and our wallets so that we can allow God to work more widely in our lives. It is God's nature to be gracious and generous. We are invited to do likewise. Lent is a time to expand our compassion and our awareness of others.

There are many ways to get outside of our own concerns and ourselves. Lent is a time when many speak of giving up chocolate, or taking on a discipline of some kind. But the things we take on, or give up, are not important in themselves. Comparing the spiritual disciplines of others and attempting to decide who's doing it best is like comparing different people's medications and trying to pick the best one. The best high blood pressure medicine in the world would not be good for me. My Lenten disciplines may not be what you need to pay closer attention to God. Prayer and fasting are not a competitive sport. These practices are simply ways to redirect our attention so that we might pay greater attention to God and less to ourselves. Each of us can probably identify something we would like to do, or stop doing. Forty days is not that long. It is possible to try on new behavior for a few weeks. Forty days is not that long, but it is long enough to experience the difference that some changes might make.

We need some way to dislodge ourselves from our current positions because we tend to become the center of our own universe. All year long we stand and profess our faith, Sunday by Sunday. We promise this thing and that, but then we wander away into distraction. It is a long slow process of accretion. Most of us are more likely to take on new activities than to remove old ones. As time goes by our calendars fill up like coffee cups filled by an over attentive waiter. We speed up as one thing after another captures our attention. As we accelerate, good and healthy practices fall away. We forget to exercise our bodies, our spirits and our minds. The prayers we had intended to say each morning grew farther apart and finally stopped. The bible study we meant to do never happened. We grew lethargic and spiritual listless. Lent is a chance to turn in a new direction and begin again. Lent is a chance to lift up our eyes and look towards God.

This entire liturgy is intended to give weight to the invitation to a Holy Lent. By gathering together tonight and stating a common intention we are encouraging each other to persevere. What will it be like if we walk with intention this Lent? How will our community be changed if each of us remains disciplined in our practices? There is refreshment in the stillness that is offered by this season. There is depth in the prayer that waits for us to enter. The path has been prepared, let us walk in it. AMEN.