St John's Rector's Rambling: Lent 2010

Rector’s Rambling March 2010

A good snow storm is a great time for dreaming. Surrounded by the warm glow of finished pine and hickory, I sit at the study end of the chapel with a size 16 Mustad fine wire hook in the vise, trying to decide whether to reach for the hare’s mask, the turkey bots, or the back feathers of a ring necked pheasant. I don’t know that it will make much difference to the fish I hope to catch this spring, but right now, here in the grips of winter, it seems an interesting, if unimportant question. I daresay that most of the things we think about fall into the same category as my dilemma over which dressing to use for the body of a trout fly. They are interests of the moment which may have some utility, but hardly classify as significant in the grand scheme of things. And yet how often do we imagine them to be of supreme importance? How often have we all been so attached to our own ideas or opinions on any given question that our defense of them has led to interrupted friendships, regularized bickering, or generalized dissatisfaction with life? Lent calls me to think about such things, because it is a time when I am called by our Holy Mother the Church to examine my own motives and to confess my own sins. It is a time for honesty with God and with myself. It is a time for transformation from what I have been into what God calls me to be.
At its best, a parish is like a family. We live together well much of the time, but our necessary vocations demand so much of our time that we fail to know each other as well as we should. We make assumptions about each other, and about each other’s motives on a regular basis. We do care for each other after a fashion, but often take one another for granted. Our interests and concerns develop and wander with predictable irregularity. As a result, we often neglect those opportunities afforded us to know one another more completely, to understand one another, and to truly appreciate the pressures and issues that so often dominate our lives. We are committed to each other and to this place, but often we are strangers- strangers who assume so very much about each other without adequate data- strangers who attempt to protect ourselves from each other by erecting walls of control or by blaming others for our own attitudes and negative responses. Since we fail to take the time to know each other, we miss out on the opportunity God gives us to bear one another’s burdens, and to create a place where any one of us can feel safe and secure in the worst of times. Every parish, and every family, struggles with these issues to a greater or lesser degree because we are so very, very human.
As we continue through this holy season, we have a wonderful opportunity to address those patterns of human behaviour which are outlined above. Our Evangelism and Renewal Committee has worked very hard to afford us all several opportunities to eat and fellowship together, to worship together, and to consider the implications of that worship as it relates to us being the family of God. I hope you will be sure to attend the Lenten programs if you are in town. Be sure to sit at table with someone you don’t know, and even better, if there is someone that you don’t particularly like, strike up a conversation with them about something that is important to them, their children, their work, or their hobbies. We have been blessed with a wonderful parish family here at St. John’s, but like every family, there is always work to be done as we learn to love and respect each other to the glory of God, and to the edification of our souls.
At the beginning of this ramble, I wrote that days like this are good for dreaming, and so I think I’ll tie three flies instead of one, but I promise before God that I will never let these gentle reveries of rushing water and flashing fish obscure my true calling to love those around me more perfectly. I hope you will join me in this determination.

Pax Vobiscum,
Bill+