The Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas

To read the Bishop's first sermon, click here.

March 2011

Lent has begun! With so much going on recently this has suddenly appeared on my calendar. However, as you know the Lenten Season is a time of "self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word" (BCP p. 265).

It has been traditional during Lent to "give something up". Now, we are not talking about creamed spinach or pickled watermelon rind. If you give something up make sure it is something that will cause you to stretch not only physically, but spiritually as well. Why not give up a half-hour of sleep getting up a little earlier to read Morning Prayer in the Prayer Book. How about giving up a half-hour to an hour of television or video games, and then spend that time reading something of a spiritual nature.

If you want to give up some food try a modified fast: toast, coffee or tea for breakfast; clear soup and crackers for lunch; then for dinner eat a normal meal, but without meat. You need not do this every day, but maybe just once or twice a week. And, the money you save from the food you didn't eat place in a container and after Easter donate it to a food bank or soup kitchen.

Sometime during Lent I would encourage you to take a quiet hour or two and do a spiritual inventory, or spiritual examination just to see how your life before God is going. While there are several guides that could be used for this I think that one of the best is the Litany of Penitence found in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy. This will make you think....and pray!

Finally, I would urge you to use the Lenten Season as a time to re-connect with God. If you have wandered away; if you have not been as regular in your prayer and worship, Lent is the time to remedy that situation.

"Dear people of God...I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent..."

The Right Reverend Michael Milliken +