Seeking Authentic Voice

As I mentioned in a previous post, I threw out my Ash Wednesday sermon and decided to preach extemporaneously. I've continued that practice on the first and second Sundays in Lent - praying, pondering, thinking about what the readings are saying to me and what I want to lift up in my reflection. It actually takes a lot of work and takes a lot out of me to do this. However, almost everyone is telling me how much they appreciate what I'm saying. What am I saying? I don't actually remember a lot of what I say. I remember the broad themes but not the word for word. Lent 1: I reflected on what it means to "observe a Holy Lent' through the lens of "fasting." I don't remember how I started the sermons, which were slightly different between 8am and 10am. I only remember that I considered the various ways one might fast: from food or drink, from being busy, from social media...and then also, from being angry, hostile, reactive....how fasting is intended to...

Reflection for Lent 1B I have a confession. I am not very good at praying. More specifically, I am not very good at praying in “typical ways.” Particularly, I do not kneel on my knees at my bedside and pour out a series of confessions and petitions to God. Although I did do that when I was child. Then I remember praying for each person in my grammar school classroom, beginning with the child in the first chair of the first row and going chair by chair to the last person. When I found the Episcopal Church, I prayed on Sunday mornings, I prayed when I came to church. With my young family we prayed before meals saying a simple prayer that Dan remembered from his childhood, “Bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts”…. I also prayed with our children before bedtime, a little prayer that looked back over the day, at what had gone well and what had not.  For a long time I prayed the daily office from the Book of Common Prayer. I’d rise early in the morning and move through mornin...