Taking Risks

Dear Friends in Christ,

There is a risk in trying to understand yourself a bit better.

I think this is one reason we love distractions. It’s why so many of us are drawn to filling up various silences with different kinds of noise—the tv, the radio, a phone call to a friend. There’s nothing wrong with any of those things, but they do prove to be a great way to get us out of our thoughts, out of dealing with the internal things we sometimes need to deal with, out of that risky attempt to know ourselves. 

It’s risky because getting to know ourselves is likely to remind us both of the things we love about who we are—those gifts and talents we treasure as part of what makes us—but it also is likely to show us those parts of us that are cracked, broken, and in need of mending. And sometimes it’s just easier to ignore that stuff. 

I think that’s part of why the church in its wisdom sets aside the season of Lent. We need that time when we’re forced to reckon with all of who we are. In the liturgy for Ash Wednesday, clergy everywhere invite the people of God to “the observance of a holy Lent.” And “self-examination,” the willingness to risk seeing ourselves for who we really are, is the first way we’re given that will lead us to that holy Lent. 

So I encourage you, this Lent, to spend some honest time with yourself. Get to know who you are. Get to know the gifts that God has given you, the beauty of the way God’s image is reflected in your life. And take the risk of seeking to understand that the brokenness the church calls sin also resides in each of us, because it’s only in confronting our brokenness that healing can begin. 

As a parish, we’ll be using our Sunday evening activities to help us on this path. Specifically, we’ll be looking at the Enneagram as a tool for a deeper knowledge of ourselves, and a pathway to proper repentance. We’ll gather every Sunday in Lent from 5-7 for food, fellowship, and programming for all ages. I hope you’ll join us.

God bless,

Fr. Quinn Parman+