Disciple: Lent from a Different Point of View

By the Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman

One of the great gifts of The Way of Love, the rule of life we have made a point of focus since its introduction by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at the 79th General Convention, is that it is not just for individuals. Although that often tends to be our focus, as disciples of Jesus, a rule of life comes out of a community and has a collective dimension as well as individual application.

By the time you read this, we will be well into the season of Epiphany and beginning to anticipate Lent. Lent is a season of reflection, self-examination, repentance and amendment of life. We engage in the disciplines of Lent as individual disciples every year. What if, this year, we gave special attention to these principles for our congregations? How might The Way of Love help us in this intention?

This is a perfect opportunity to step back and look not just at our own individual journey of discipleship and faith, but to consider the community of which we are a part and, specifically, our own congregation. The season of Lent is a chance to ask the question: How might The Way of Love be an invitation to us, as a community, to open ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit, to go deeper in our collective journey, to engage with these steps of faithfulness as a congregational body?

BE LOVED

In asking this question, we remember our intention with The Way of Love is for this rule of life to help us in Becoming Beloved Community. At the heart of Becoming Beloved Community is the word “beloved.” If we break this word apart, it becomes two words: be loved.

Presiding Bishop Curry has often said, “love God, love your neighbor, and while you’re at it, love yourself.” Allowing ourselves to be loved, to receive the gift of God’s unconditional, grace-filled love for us, is the foundation of beloved community.

But God does not love us only as individuals; God loves us as a community, as a congregation and as the Body of Christ. That means God doesn’t love just you; he loves the Church of the Good Shepherd, he loves St. Matthew’s, he loves St. Ambrose, he loves St. Bartholomew’s and every other church in this diocese.

As a community of faith, as we receive this love, we can approach The Way of Love as an invitation for our congregations to observe a Holy Lent, to practice reflection, self-examination, repentance and change.

DON’T RESIST CHANGE

There is much conversation in the life of the Church, in general, and in Episcopal churches, in particular, about how much we resist change. We all know the old joke about the number of Episcopalians it takes to change a light bulb. Five: one to change the bulb and four to admire the old one. The reality is we are called to be people and communities of change.

Change is what amendment of life is all about. And though we may resist it or at least want to resist it, change is part of the seasonal cycle the Church celebrates each year. We are a community committed to change and to the ongoing reform of our lives, both individually and as communities.

A NEW LIGHT

Using The Way of Love as guidance, familiar Lenten observances start to illuminate with a new light, showing us how the familiar, seen in a new way, starts to connect so much of what we’re discussing. We can see how those observances support many of the mission priorities we’ve highlighted for the last year, and how those priorities—provided we all make them priorities and apply The Way of Love rules of life—bring us closer to Becoming Beloved Community.

Consider a few familiar observances, and as you do, think about how they connect—as The Way of Love, as areas of diocesan focus and as ways of Becoming Beloved Community:

• Giving something up for Lent is a common practice for many individuals. Looking at it as a community, it might take the shape of your congregation agreeing on some communal sacrifice to reduce your carbon footprint. It could also be an examination of how the building or signage welcomes and making a decision to remove any barriers you find.
  
  
• Conversely, you may decide as a congregation to take something on that would be a sign of your commitment to creation care or to the radical welcome of the beloved community.
  
  
• Together, you could take a deeper look at your congregation’s history and ask the hard questions around racial tension and/or discrimination and determine to account for that history in some visible way. It could take the shape of a renewed or more consistent commitment to Christian formation or a re-examination of what the community is doing to support one another in the journey of discipleship.
  
  
• Lent is a time when we refocus our efforts on the power of prayer and worship to deepen our discipleship. A congregation might focus its prayer and worship this Lenten season on discerning together the next area of mission or community connection the Holy Spirit is prompting you to explore. How will this re-energize your apostolic call as a congregation and inspire you to live more fully into your vocation and identity? Is there a new worship or prayer discipline you want to take on as a community that will help you in your discernment?
  
  
• In our apostolic call, we are often invited to move outside our comfort zone and reach out in a new way to the people and the community around us. Lent can also be an opportunity to take an existing relationship or program and reimagine the way God is calling you to engage. It can be a significant blessing, both to a congregation and its partner(s) to see the season of Lent as an occasion to reflect together on how the effort is working and what could be improved, either for the program or for the relationship the partners share.
  
  
• Rest is not often associated with the season of Lent, but this may be a time when God is calling your congregation to slow down a bit and give greater attention to the invitation of Sabbath. For your congregation, you many find Lent to be a time to recognize that less can be more, that the busyness of activity may be crowding out something of vital importance at this stage of your collective journey. This year the call to your congregation may be to rest in the loving arms of the one who made us and whose deep desire is that we find enjoyment and fulfillment in the work to which we are called. To receive that gift, sometimes we need to slow down.

These are obviously only a few, but hopefully you can see in them how The Way of Love (turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, rest) and our mission focus toward Becoming Beloved Community (engaging in deeper dialogue, support for vulnerable congregations, mission collaboratives, lifelong formation and creation care) are undeniably connected. Whether you use familiar paths or blaze new trails, I encourage you—as congregations—to see if there are ways that, during this holy season of repentance and preparation, God may be inviting and calling you to shift, to change, to grow in a direction that brings new energy, new life and renewed hope.

May this Lent be a time for you and your congregation to experience, in a profound way, the love that God has for you, as an individual and as part of a community of disciples. May the gift of The Way of Love be a catalyst that inspires you to move further along in your journey of discipleship and for your congregation to move further along the path to Becoming Beloved Community.

The Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman is the XII Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina.