It’s February, and you know what that means? Okay, yes—the Super Bowl: that great secular high holy day, or what a friend of mine terms the Feast of St. Vincent (the championship trophy is named for the legendary Green Bay Packers’ coach, Vince Lombardi).
But it means a couple of other events as well, here at All Saints’: our Annual Meeting on February 12 (the week after the Super Bowl), and Ash Wednesday on February 21, which marks the beginning of Lent.
Now, you might not imagine that these have much in common. The Annual Meeting is, in the minds of many, about the business of the church – electing vestry members and diocesan convention delegates and looking at the budget for the coming year; while Ash Wednesday is about repentance — ashes on the forehead, fasting, and other acts of self-discipline. One might see them almost as opposites, an example of the supposed “religious vs. spiritual” dichotomy that we hear so often.
Making that distinction would be a mistake. These are not opposites, but rather sides of the same coin. Both are expressions of the life and reality of our relationships with God and one another; both are times of reflection and renewal. Socrates said that “the unreflected life is not worth living;” and I believe this is true for the common life we share as a church, as well as the life each of us lives individually. It is not an either/or proposition; the work of religion and spirituality are one and the same, simply expressed in different ways at different times.
So I hope both days are marked on your calendar. Spend time looking back and looking forward. Consider the good and bad, the joys and challenges, the sins and blessings. Celebrate the successes, and correct the mistakes. Be part of it all, and rejoice in the doing!

God’s peace,
Jane+

 

“O Lord, your compassions never fail, and your mercies are new every morning …” This is the way of Jesus Christ, the way that leads to life.