Here's this week's video chapel message, with transcript below for those of you without speakers on your computer.
Opening Prayer:
Infinite Presence, as expressions and extensions of your love, on this Ash Wednesday and throughout this season of Lent we turn our focus away from believing in a limited view of ourselves and turning it toward believing in the goodness we are. Let us not hate our mistakes. Let us not hate ourselves for making them.
Let us love those places, love ourselves as the Divine loves us
—we love ourselves into healing, we see the beauty, we see the growth,
we see ourselves making usefulness and beauty out of what may have been only pain.
We pray all this with grateful hearts and in all your many precious names, Amen.
Reflection:
“I am different, not less,” said Temple Grandin, who didn't talk until she was three and a half years old and was diagnosed with Autism. Dr. Grandin later developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer. One of very few in the world! Our Ash Wednesday observation is also different - for health and safety reasons, but is no less holy. Know as you apply the ashes to your forehead that the Spirit within does the work. As offspring of the Divine you possess full authority to do so. This is evidenced by the scripture, “To whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians 1:27.
I do ask that before you apply the ashes to your forehead that you wash your hands. If you are unable to do so, clean Q-tips are available for your use, just ask for one.
The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship, and the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful way of expressing in ritual the onward and upward nature of life. This practice is the historic focus of Ash Wednesday and gave the day its name. It is traditional to save the palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday service and burn them ahead of time to produce the ashes for this service, and we will self-impose our ashes at CMMC on Wednesday, February 17.
On Ash Wednesday we recall Genesis 3:19: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return.” Not as some sort of morbid thinking, but simply a reminder that we do not live forever, so it is important to live life to the fullest. This serves the purpose of calling those who practice this sacrament to live their Christian lives more deeply.
These are challenging times. As providers of care we often represent life’s difficulties to some people in the pandemic. We may trust in one source of information, and find those we love trust in another and it is heartbreaking. We take care very sick people in a time where sickness has taken away what most people hold dear; gatherings, social events, games, parties. Some say the government is doing too much, others say too little. It is all very confusing. And I know at more than one point in the past year, I’ve wanted to just thrown in the towel.
Does this mean I freak out, or beat myself up? Not at all.
Let me put it this way. Sin is a term that is laden with a lot of negative connotations. But originally it was an simply an archery term that meant “missing the mark.” So let’s remember that, and not beat ourselves up when we make a mistake.
A friend of mine used to call the process of renunciation, when we let go of a habit that no longer serves us, a Texas turnaround. You see she’s was not from Texas and was directionally challenged often when driving. In other states this can be a costly mistake on interstates and highways where you would have to drive a long time to find an exit and get on the right track again. But here in Texas, you don’t have to drive far to find a turnaround. So when we find ourselves doing things that don’t serve well for our betterment, a simple Texas turnaround is all that is needed. In any situation, we can turnaround in the direction of love. Love is the power that heals all, unifies all, and harmonizes all.
We often “give up” something for the 40 days of Lent as a way of metaphysically “fasting.” Some give up chewing gum, certain foods, or candy.
But there are different ways of fasting and even feasting in this time. We could fast from indifference and feast on love. We could fast from despair and feast on hope. We could fast from thinking in an excessively negative way and feast more on the positive. We could fast from doubt and feast on faith.
That is my intention this year, to feast on faith, because it has never, ever been more needed. So, to feast on faith and express the love of the Infinite even when people may see us as a painful pandemic reminder is a good goal. In essence, it is keeping the faith.
I take inspiration as we consider all that has transpired in the past year with COVID 19 and enter in this season of Lent from Paul in one of his letters to the Corinthians, and I hope you do, too:
The Holy Spirit has been with us, and our love has been real. We have spoken the truth, and God’s power has worked in us. In all our struggles we have said and done only what is right. Whether we were honored or dishonored or praised or cursed, we always told the truth about ourselves. But some people said we did not. We are unknown to others, but well known to you. We seem to be dying, and yet we are still alive. We have been punished, but never killed, and we are always happy, even in times of suffering. Although we are poor, we have made many people rich. And though we may own nothing, everything is ours. - 2 Corinthians 6: 8-10
I thank you for listening and may the God of your understanding bless you this day.
Just because we are not meeting in person does not mean we cannot make prayer requests. You can do so in the chapel on the first floor of the hospital, or by email to jshawker@connallymmc.org Your requests are kept confidential and prayed over for a total of sixty days.
The Prayer for Protection
(Rev. James Dillet Freemen)
The light of God surrounds us.
The love of God enfolds us.
The power of God protects us.
The presence of God watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is.
Amen.
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