Most of the time when people think about Lent they immediately think about “giving up something for Lent.” You know, you are out to dinner and someone who normally eats steak is ordering fish… “oh, it must be Lent.” Maybe you are at work and your office-mate is lamenting the fact that she hasn’t had coffee for a while…”oh, it must be Lent.”

So, why are these crazy Christians doing this? Let’s start with some basics. Lent, the period of 40 days that preceded the celebration of Easter, goes way back. In the early church (when the Romans could persecute you for being a Christian) people would go through a final period of ‘purification and enlightenment’ for the 40 days before their baptism at Easter. Typically, baptisms were only performed on Easter.

Lent today is supposed to be an opportunity for reflection, introspection, and examination focusing mostly on the ways we have turned away from God in our lives. There are three traditional tools if you will for this process during Lent, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Giving up something for Lent typically is taken as a form of fasting and if you donate the money you would have spent on that luxury you gave up to the church, you can also cover almsgiving. Prayer is something however that has seem to have gone missing here unless you count “dear God, let me get through another day without chocolate” as a real prayer.

So what to do with this for the season of Lent this year? Well, if you want, please go ahead and give up something (and if you are feeling generous, donate the difference to the church). A reminder, when you fast, (ie. give up something), it is between you and God. Don’t make a big deal of it. Keep it as your own personal deal with God. This is about YOU turning back to God after all.

Now we are left with just that nagging thing, prayer. In a recent discussion I was having with some of my new-found ecumenical colleagues from West Springfield, we were all commenting on how prayer has slid out of our lives, seemingly replaced by the incessant urge to keep checking our phones/email for new messages, new Facebook/Instragram/Snapchat postings. I started wearing a watch again, just so I would not look at my phone so often to check the time which always led me to looking at email, messages, etc.

Finding or rather making time for prayer is really, really important. John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) wrote eloquently on prayer:

“God’s command to “pray without ceasing” is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air. Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him.

All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice. Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things. In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer. As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God.

God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.”

Wow! “…being the genuine fruits of love…” I really didn’t used to think about praying as a love note but it really is. God loves us without ceasing and so when we pray, we are really entering into a dialog of love with God. Oh wait, my cellphone just buzzed… BRB

Seriously. Making time for a love prayer with God should be as easy as looking at your phone. Why not? Maybe for Lent you can give up something (fasting), donate more to the church (almsgiving), and pray more simply by putting a message or alarm on your phone. Set an alarm, recurring every day, you pick the time of day, with the simple message ‘send a love note to God.’ When it goes off, and you look at your phone, take that moment, that very precious moment, to give thanks to God for your life and those whom you love. That’s all. Do it. Set the alarm to recur beginning on the first day of Lent (Wednesday, February 14^th also known as Ash Wednesday though Thursday, March 29^th also known as Holy Thursday or you can continue through to Saturday, March 31^st).

Wait, you don’t have a phone? No, well then it is equally simple. Set a time, each day, a time when you will turn towards God and send a love note to God. Go ahead and write it on your paper calendar. “Send Love note to God.” That could be an interesting discussion topic if someone reads your calendar!

Next, come join us in church this Lent as we begin our search for introspection, our review of how we have distanced ourselves from God, and most importantly, how we can find our way back.

Pastor Rick

A new year? Wait, I just got started in 2017 and now, it’s a new year? How is that possible? What happened to the old year?
That’s how it feels sometimes. Like the wind rushing past you, the days flash by and then next thing you know, it’s another year. I’m writing this early Christmas morning, the snow is busting down outside, and like the Night Before Christmas poem, not a creature is stirring (OK, my cat Mojo is but the rest of the family is sound asleep. It’s a good time for quiet reflection before the busy morning that is Christmas begins.
It’s is during these times when I find that time itself slows down. I pray each morning (mostly thanking God that I am here another day and also for my family). It’s the same today and when I pray time slows down. Sometimes, for just a brief moment, the hustle of the world leaves and I have a moment, a moment with God to just be.
I am as surprised by these moments as anyone. When I started my journey, answering the call to ministry, during a session with my mentor I said, “I have no idea how to pray correctly.” He chuckled a bit and then assured me that God doesn’t care about format. Sometimes he even yells at God (as in “What were you thinking?…”) and sometimes he just is thankful. My mentor then told me something important about praying, “it is like any other part of your body, with exercise, it improves.”
I thought that was a crazy thing to say, I mean we ARE talking about praying here but I decided to try it. Sure, he did give me something to help (after all he is my mentor). “Start with thanking God for what you have.” It is that simple. Like I said earlier, I start my prayers in the morning by thanking God for another day and the love of my family (and my cat).
I confess, It was weird at first. I’d start my prayer and then…stop and just do nothing. This went on for a few days and then I added some questions. Yes, it is OK to ask God questions, how else will you get answers? In a couple of months I found myself in a full dialog with God. No, I don’t hear God’s voice answering but I do feel the presence of God.
So, how about you? It’s a new year after all. How about your prayer practice? I’d love to hear your experiences. Don’t have a prayer practice, take mine. Seriously, give it a try, there’s no charge and you just might find yourself watching time slow down a little bit.
Happy New Year!

Pastor Rick

Go Team!
Hi everyone. What a wonderful journey we have started together. Our Exodus series started with Moses (and Us!) getting a new assignment. Then we journeyed through the challenge of the first Passover, and this past Sunday we witnessed the sea change and journey to freedom (along with an amazing congregational singing of the South African song, “Freedom is Coming!”)

Planning
In September your church council met to discuss how we are moving ahead. One of the major decisions is to have a Living Nativity again this year! What a wonderful gift to our community. Watch newsletters, the website, Facebook, and bulletin announcements for more as we approach the season.

Pastor’s Schedule
As your new quarter-time Pastor, I will be spending 3 out of 5 Sundays with you. The schedule is somewhat fluid right now and I’ll be posting a calendar outside my office (and hopefully on the web) as we develop the schedule. I will also plan on being in my office on Tuesday afternoons (until about 6pm) so if you would like to speak, please let me or Caroline know and we will set up an appointment.

Even though I am only quarter time, if you have a need, I want to be there for you. You can reach me on my cell phone (we will begin printing the phone number in the bulletin or you can call the church office and they will give it to you) and you can always reach me via my email pastorrickrabe@gmail.com.

Opportunity!
As a new pastor I am the first to admit, I will need help and one of the areas of help I’ll need is in planning worship. To help, I am forming and asking for volunteers for a ‘Worship Team.’ No, it’s not a committee, this is a team whose sole purpose is to enrich our worship experience. Do you have an eye for colors (I don’t!)? How about a little creativity in making visuals? Perhaps you have some ideas on what sort of prayers we should have each Sunday? Maybe you have no idea but would really like to do something in worship? I have to tell you, I was involved in a worship team helping the pastor and we had a wonderful time! It only takes a few people and we only meet a few times a year as a group. If you are interested, drop me an email or leave me a note at the office (or text me). I’m planning a small worship planning workshop for October and I’d love to have anyone who would like to help enrich our services.

Question from John Wesley….
“How is it with your soul today?” What a great way to ask each other when we come together in Christian fellowship. It is so different from the generic “How are you?” or “How’s it going?” Try asking someone you know when you greet them next week.

Matthew 7:13,14 “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.”

There are a lot of choices we make in our lives. We choose to study in school, or not. We choose to work hard, or not. We choose to open up to love or not. We choose a career we think that will help us find fulfillment, or not. We choose to follow Christ or not. So many choices, only one life.

I was looking for something that would express these choices we make and ended up with Matthew. This passage is buried among a whole bunch of teachings reflected in Jesus’ ministry to the crowds. There is a litany of teaching here, and if you are like me, you could spend a week in just a few paragraphs but this is a newsletter article and I doubt I have that much space!
So, why on Earth did I settle on this passage? Well, it seems to me I just choose the narrow gate with the difficult road, to be honest I have been doing that for a few years now. Probably a sermon in there. Seriously, we as Christians, when we make a decision to commit ourselves to a Christian life often find ourselves choosing the narrow gate and difficult road.

It might be as simple a making a commitment as a congregation during a baptism to help a child grow in Christ or as complex as volunteering to work with the finances of the church. It might also be as difficult as forgiving someone who has hurt you or as simple as being in private prayer for someone who needs God’s help.

So, why do it? Why choose the narrow gate, the rough road? Certainly it would be simpler to not get up and come to church, to not attend another committee meeting, to not bother feeding the poor, or caring for the sick, to not ask a friend to join you Sunday. It’s the same question I asked people when I was working in Africa during the Ebola outbreak, why are you doing this? No one was there to prove a point or out of obligation. No, they were there because of love and compassion. I was moved by their compassion for those in need as I am moved by our Lord’s compassion for all of us.

I know when I chose to pursue becoming a Pastor, it was a very narrow gate and yet over and over again I was reminded I won’t be alone, God will be with me. It’s the same thing when we chose a Christian life, we will not be alone. We know we will be cared for, although not always as we expect, and that we will never travel that difficult narrow road in darkness, as it says John 8:12 “ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk into darkness, but will have the light of life.”

How about you? Have you passed through the narrow gate? Are you on the road? Perhaps you are still standing outside wondering which to choose. When John Wesley lead his small groups they would often start with “How is it with your soul today?” I think I’d ask, “ How’s the road you are on today?” Its a good question. Don’t be surprised if you hear me asking you.

Pastor Rick