TASTE & SEE: The Rector's Musings

One of my latest favourite sacred time is the Friday Contemplative Eucharist at 12:30 pm following Centreing Prayer and Lectio Divina in the sanctuary.  Since this experimental offering started two months ago, it has gathered a growing circle of friends feeding on silence, meditative chants, and Holy Communion.  If you have half an hour to spare on a Friday, come by and experience it yourself or come earlier at 11:30 am for the "full meal deal".

During the Contmeplative Eucharist two weeks ago, I introduced a beloved chant by Darlene Franz "Speak Through the Earthquake" (CLICK HERE to listen to a sample online):

Speak through the earthquake, the wind, and the fire,
Oh, still small voice of love.

The chant, inspired by the story of God making herself known to Elijah in the cave of Mount Horeb in a gentle whisper, spoke to me these days as I have been yearning for the small loving voice of the Divine in the midst of thunderous dehumanizing threats and rhetorics in the daily news since Trump's inauguration in January.  I have to cling onto every spiritual practice to centre myself and quiet the noises so that I can carry on this privileged vocation of serving as your priest in this new community where I am called to.  This weekly sacred space have become my place of solace and renewal with others dwelling in the shelter of the Most High, and abiding in the shadow of the Almighty (words from another chant!).

What was absolutely extraordinary and unexpected was the 4.7 magnitude earthquake less than an hour later with its epicenter in none other place but Sechelt, where I just recently moved from!  There is a reason why this blog is named the Rector's Musings.  

I wonder what other members of the St. Dunstan's family turn to in silencing the deafening noises around you these days.  Feel free to share in the comment section or drop me a note by email.  

Lent is a period of 40 days (parallel to Jesus' forty-day retreat/vision quest in the Judean desert) that the Church invites us to set apart for unsheltering our hearts, borrowing a phrase from Fr. Ron Raab, C.S.C., a dear friend of mine.  It is a time when human certainties are unsettled by the fierce and unrelenting love of our Creator revealed through Christ Jesus' journey towards the cross, his self-sacrifice offered on the cross and the Creator's redemptive love through Jesus' resurrection.

The liturgies throughout Lent, including the rearrangement of our liturgical space will help unshelter our hearts and make room to be filled with the centering and transformative love of God this season. 

Re-quoting the words of the Ash Wednesday liturgy this year:

I invite you therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ,
to observe a holy Lent
by self-examination, penitence, prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving,
and by reading and meditating on the word of God.
I particularly invite you to pray and study Scripture and to be present at Eucharist on Sunday mornings.
I also invite you to set aside Holy Week to journey with Jesus in his last week before he is betrayed, arrested and crucified.

Be gentle with yourself on this journey together.