A Quote to ponder -- I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.  --  Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Following is from the sermon of the Rev. Deacon Stephen Lane on February 21^st.

Welcome to Lent.

In the early church, Lent was a period of time set aside for initiates to prepare to enter fully into the Christian community, through the rite of Baptism. It began 40 days before Easter reflecting Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness.

Somewhere along the line, Lent became a time of penitence, of sad and remorseful reflection on past misdeeds and resolution to do better in the future. Today I'd like to invite you to enter into Lent as a time of encounter with the Holy, as a time of preparation for the resurrection.

My father was here a few months ago. As you may remember, he didn't preach on the Gospel of the day; instead he talked about the death of Christendom.

He saw, in your struggles, the struggles of the whole church. He felt that what is happening here at Saint James is about the death of Christendom…the change from living in a society that was rooted in faith to a society that barely tolerates those who profess strong religious beliefs. We no longer live in a Christian society. We are a cult within a secular society.

When St. James was built, we believed that man, becoming civilized, would end poverty in our time. We believed that God had given us the tools we needed to bring about heaven on earth. Then we saw that mankind still had the beast within them, that we were still capable of terrible sin. We lost faith in the leaders, started to question everything, including our faith.

Society was going through a cataclysmic shift. We had begun to look at the world using the scientific method as our lens to question everything until it is scientifically proven.

 Where does the church fit in that?  People question how Moses could have parted the Red Sea.  The bible is examined under the light of fact and fiction.  Well, faith isn't about facts.

        The bible hasn't changed, our perceptions have.   Mankind still has the same desires.  We are still looking for the answers.  Society is looking elsewhere for those answers, through science and technology.  Scientific Truth is seen as the ultimate authority. 

        Our faith tells us something different.  Our truth comes not from science, but from the realm of the spiritual.  Most of the people with whom we interact do not have a sense of God in their lives.  They do not feel connected to others.  People are searching for a way to connect.  We have here, an answer, a Truth that tells us to serve the Lord first.  That is how we get security, get our needs met.

        My father saw the change from the modern era to the post modern era.  He lived through the time when we gave up our sense of destiny and started asking for proof.  The pews might have been filled (them), but today those that are here are here because they want to be, not because they should be.  People are looking for community, we have that.  People are looking for meaning in their lives, we can offer that.

        Lent is a good time to look forward to Easter, a dawning of a new time.  It's not the time for remorse but a time to reclaim our life in Christ, to stand up and reach out to others with our faith, to speak using language and terms that they can hear.

        The answer is in worshiping God and serving only Him.  Science does not, cannot, help us explore the realm of the spirit.  Our faith can if we keep our priorities in order.  If we remember to give back to God the fruit of the crops that were given to us.  If we, in this time in the wilderness, keep our faith, then we to shall arrive at the Easter Day.

        This is a faith filled community.  There are struggles here but the sense of faith is strong.  I encourage you to rely on that faith, trust God to lead you. 

        Take that spirit that is here and share it.  Do not spend Lent in remorse and penitence, learn from the past and use this time to move forward towards the light of Christ in our lives.

St. James Episcopal Church

405 E. Main St.

Batavia NY 14020

585-343-6802

stjamesepiscopal1@verizon.net