Another Journey Through Lent

The Lenten Season begins with Ash Wednesday with the imposition of ashes this week. Once again we are marked with the sign of conversion and the community begins its annual remembrance of our passing over from death to life in Christ Jesus. We are embraced once again within the central mysteries of our faith.

Within this penitential season, Sundays are the significant marking places of the journey of the believing community to the great celebration of Easter itself. The Sunday lectionary with its weekly proclamation and celebration of the Word of God is both guide and nourishment for our emersion into the mystery of Christ’s death to life.

Our Lenten Sundays invite us to read and pray God’s Word. Before coming to Mass, the Word is a word of invitation to the presence of God as he accompanies us through the desert to new life and hope. At Mass, the Word is proclaimed, heard, prayed over within the Assembly, and proclaimed in song and gestures. The Word of God is taken within the heart of the community and transforms the believing hearts of the believers.

In our Sunday liturgies during Lent, the Word is broken and opened for the upbuilding of the Assembly, God’s People gathered as the Body of Christ. It is nourishment for the whole community and for the conversion of the each believer as we travel with Christ from death to life, darkness to light, despair to hope. Our journey transforms us, if we are open to it, and our life is changed. Transformation can be described as conversion of heart.

Conversion at the Lord's Table
The rhythm of this conversion journey through Lent begins with the breaking open of God’s Word for the nurture and upbuilding of both the Assembly as the Body of Christ and of the individual members of that Body. The readings, the psalms, the acclamation before the Gospel, the Gospel itself are occasions of deeper intimacy with the Father who reveals himself to us in the Christ. The Spirit moves within the community with wisdom and understanding of the texts and the dialogue of God with us.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the next step of our Lenten Journey. It is there where in the fourfold

shape of the Eucharist we see and know the taking of the bread, which is broken and over which thanks is pronounced, and then given to the faithful as food for the journey. The cup also is set aside, poured out and blessed before being given to the assembled faithful. As we are so often reminded in the scriptures themselves, in these actions we come to know the Lord among us. In these actions we are invited to be Eucharistic, i.e., food and drink blessed, broken and poured out, and given for the life of all.

Signs and Sounds of Lent
These basic mysteries of the Lenten Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are presented and clothed with our local sights and sounds within the worshipping community here at Christ the Redeemer. Some explanation of our Lenten rituals on Sunday may enrich our shared community experience.

As in years past, we will begin with a meditation period before starting Mass. The community will be invited to center in the Lord before we begin. This prayer time will begin when the community is present and still. An instrumental meditation will involve an echo style of prayerful singing. The musical piece will be “Sacred Silence” by Tom Booth and Jenny Pixler. The refrain explains itself:

“Sacred Silence, holy ocean, gentle water, washing over me; help me listen, Holy Spirit. Come and speak to me.”

The entrance rite will be instrumental music alone which will set us up in God’s Presence for prayer and for the hearing of God’s Word.

After the Liturgy of the Word, the General Intercessions will be a different arrangement than usual. The simple refrain will be “Hear our Prayer”, which will surround the petitions and carry the community into God’s Presence and actions on behalf of our world. The Intercessions will be an overflowing Litany of prayer and intercessions.

The center of all our Lenten Sundays will focus on the Lord’s Table and knowing the mystery of his death and rising. Silence will punctuate the liturgy and God will act in the interaction of silence with sound.

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