RECONCILIATION
The Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer is highlighted by an Exhortation (page 264, an address conveying urgent advice or recommendation) which encourages us to prepare for Easter in a “season of penitence and fasting.” It goes on to say that if we have been separated from God, it is a time when we can be “reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church.” Thus, the exhortation continues, we are all challenged to receive “the message of pardon and absolution” and are reminded of the need which all Christians continually have, to renew our repentance and faith.
In the First Letter of John we are encouraged to strengthen our fellowship with God. One of the major components of that fellowship is the ongoing process of reconciliation called for in the Lenten Exhortation and described so well in these brief verses from that letter.
I John 1:8 & 9: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, God will keep his promise and do what is right, he will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So the Lenten task of reconciliation is not just God’s job but ours. We are asked “to observe a holy Lent, by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditation on God’s holy Word,” hence, this effort by our All Saints community to share our own sense of the disciplines of Lent.
Hopefully, these brief meditations will be a means of sharing our common faith, and as we are strengthened in our personal relationship with God, so will our All Saints’ family become a stronger fellowship in Christ.
The Rev. David Feyrer
Retired Episcopal Priest
The Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer is highlighted by an Exhortation (page 264, an address conveying urgent advice or recommendation) which encourages us to prepare for Easter in a “season of penitence and fasting.” It goes on to say that if we have been separated from God, it is a time when we can be “reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church.” Thus, the exhortation continues, we are all challenged to receive “the message of pardon and absolution” and are reminded of the need which all Christians continually have, to renew our repentance and faith.
In the First Letter of John we are encouraged to strengthen our fellowship with God. One of the major components of that fellowship is the ongoing process of reconciliation called for in the Lenten Exhortation and described so well in these brief verses from that letter.
I John 1:8 & 9: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, God will keep his promise and do what is right, he will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So the Lenten task of reconciliation is not just God’s job but ours. We are asked “to observe a holy Lent, by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditation on God’s holy Word,” hence, this effort by our All Saints community to share our own sense of the disciplines of Lent.
Hopefully, these brief meditations will be a means of sharing our common faith, and as we are strengthened in our personal relationship with God, so will our All Saints’ family become a stronger fellowship in Christ.
The Rev. David Feyrer
Retired Episcopal Priest
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