A Letter from the Rector - Lent 2008

My dear friends,

At the centre of our Christian faith is a very strange anomaly. We insist that the cross is the way to obtain the fullest life. That claim is the exact reverse of common sense, and our culture believes it is preposterous to take such an idea seriously. Our normal priorities as individuals, and the public priorities of our society, are to avoid pain and so to ensure comfort and safety as the sure path to a satisfying life.

Not so, say we of the Christian faith. No wonder we can expect to be misunderstood, no wonder the wider society doesn't take us seriously. It's not easy to stand for something that the rest of the world thinks is ridiculous. But everybody who at some time has stood up against society to claim the truth of who they really are, at great cost to themselves, has discovered a fullness of life that can never be taken away.

We Christians need support in order to continue making our bizarre claim that full life comes through the cross. And so every year the church participates in a six-week immersion in the experience of the cross and its meaning so that we can renew our first-hand knowledge of the life it gives, and be strengthened in our ability to share that knowledge. The six weeks of Lent is our opportunity to go against what the world believes makes sense, and to enter into the depth of life promised through the cross of Christ.

When we deny ourselves those little rages, when we deny ourselves the luxury of being the centre of every interaction, when we give up that comforting illusion of our being so wonderful (hard isn't it!), we find ourselves being given a security and depth in our most important relationships because we find ourselves loved, and being able to love, more than we could have imagined. This is the fullest life imaginable. And it comes through the cross of leaving behind our immaturity and taking on the full stature of our true self.

It's just as true in the outer, physical, world. The only way for us to obtain that wonderful life for which God created our planet is for us to accept the cross of using less. Less goods, less energy, less luxury. But we hear all around us the promise that through some ingenious invention or some clever policy, we can keep our glorious planet and not have to make any difficult changes. Thank goodness Christians already know that it is normal to find the joyful cross to be the way of love and life. When climate-change leaders say there has to be very significant change in our life-styles, we Christians say, “Yes, we already knew that – this is another form in which the joyful cross of Christ will give us life!”

Lent is the time to discover that the cross is not pain but joy. If you have a child, a grandchild, a godchild or an acquaintance-child, you know it is joy to give up something important to yourself if it ends up giving joy to the child. If there is some cause in which you deeply believe, if there is a project which absorbs your whole attention, if there is a creative act in which you are profoundly engaged, you know that the sacrifice of time, energy and resources is a joy, and never a pain.

So it is with loving those to whom we are close. So it is with constructing a new way of living together on this, God's planet. It is a joy to embrace the kinds of sacrifice, the types of cross, which are needed to put that love and life into practice.

The season of Lent supports us as we move more deeply into the journey to fullness of life through the cross of Christ. We may give up something as simple as marmalade so that daily we can experience the joy of being free from the slavery of having to satisfy every need. And what fulfilling freedom we receive! We may give up something as important as carbon, making a daily change in our life style, to free ourselves from slavery to our culture’s norms so that we can begin the journey to security on the planet. And what a sense of confidence and hope we receive in return!

In Lent we are not alone in flexing those spiritual muscles. When the whole congregation around us is doing the same thing, we are given the support and encouragement we need. So make good use of the Lenten resources to deepen your own life – both inner in your most important relationships, and outer in your participation in God's world.

This year's Lenten Noon Forum Church and State – where are they going now? will draw our attention to the ways in which the Christian community can give leadership in the wider society – a leadership which is so urgently needed. Seven significant speakers will share their experiences of how we can give such leadership.

Archdeacon Christopher Page and his wife Heather will present a Saturday workshop on March 1st in which anyone can learn the art of Centring Prayer. This is an ancient method of fostering one's awareness of the immediacy of God. Christopher and Heather will teach us how to give up, for a few minutes, the shrill demands of thoughts and feelings so that we can be touched by the immediate presence of God. This is another way of finding profoundly fulfilling life through giving up, even for a few moments, that which so easily dominates us.

Finally, please plan now to immerse yourself in the special liturgies of Holy Week – and especially the Thursday, Friday and Saturday March 24-26. Those liturgies have been developed over many centuries and are an invaluable resource for deepening our experience of passing through the cross of Christ into the fullest life imaginable. The Holy Week services use drama, music, meditation, silence and surprise to deepen our experience of the new and wonderful life in Christ which is available to all.

May your Lent be a time of blessed deepening in all that God offers you.

Sincerely yours,

Harold Munn

The Rev. Canon Dr. Harold Munn

Rector