tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746683755067841448.post7199779267183651904..comments2023-09-28T07:28:03.904-07:00Comments on Hinc Videndum: Serious Doubt is FaithWeb Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08555991664318191365noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1746683755067841448.post-11582714063633586182008-04-02T13:06:00.000-07:002008-04-02T13:06:00.000-07:00Every year I get a little more involved in the Len...Every year I get a little more involved in the Lenten journey. Maybe it is because Advent/Christmas often is too much of everything to focus on anything. <BR/><BR/>Lent/Easter flies below the radar of commercialization both inside and outside the church walls. Perhaps with good reason, it has all seemed rather depressing, a lot of minor key singing, denial, death followed by a spring to renewal in the midst of muddy snow banks.<BR/><BR/>This year several things totally changed my take on Lent. First a big banner in the parish hall mapping in a maze like fashion the proposed path to Easter. Being in the choir I was privileged to get a guided tour by Lynn explaining the path or perhaps ‘stream’ of her thinking in creating this route. The second thing was a winter storm that cancelled the yearly Messiah concert and placed it firmly in Lent, exactly where it was intended to be performed. Next were the weekly Lenten services and Tuesday talks. All these things created a brand new vision of all this for me.<BR/><BR/>The final thing that happened during lent was a podcast of A Prairie Home Companion that I regularly enjoy, being a self-deprecating confirmed Lutheran. In the February 23rd edition Garrison Keillor tells the story of the Lutheran minister’s visit to the local Roman Catholic priest who was have a crisis in faith. When asked to share a drink of scotch the pastor was faced with the decision to abandon his lenten vows or support his friend. He chose the latter, perhaps I little too eagerly. However it reaffirmed his understanding of Lent as not what we give up but what we do, that matters.<BR/><BR/>This taught me that Lent could be (should be) more about reflecting on how we move forward as Christians both in understanding and action, not just about the sorrow of the cross and penance for past sins. In this I agree totally with your title that doubt is faith. If we are not open to the ideas around us, our faith is not being challenged or allowed to strengthen and grow. <BR/><BR/>I wonder if all this could have been realized outside of the structure of the Lenten/Easter observance. Incense and sung creeds aside, I believe that the structure of church tradition allows for, not hinders this personal growth. Yes some may just hide in it. That is their prerogative. In a world where old assumptions of the bible specifically the Christ story are being constantly challenged, working out from a familiar structure is essential. It is this working from the known to the new that was the basis of many of Tuesday talks at St James not to mention the basis for the Messiah story as told by Jennens and Handel and perhaps the gospels themselves.mackie100https://www.blogger.com/profile/12273074806550853996noreply@blogger.com