January 26, 2007

Dear St. Matthew's,

It is with great joy that I join you as your rector. My first Sunday may have been cold and icy but the welcome my family received was warm and generous. Thank-you very much for that. There are several dates that are fast approaching that are important in our life together that I hope you will get on your calendars.

Sunday, February 11 we will gather for worship at 10:00 a.m. and immediately afterward gather in the lounge for the annual meeting. Not only will new vestry members and wardens be chosen but I will give the Rector's address which will begin to look forward at our life together as Christ's body the Church.

Lent comes very early this year. On Wednesday, February 21 there will be two opportunities to observe Ash Wednesday, at noon and seven p.m. Both services will be Holy Communion with the Imposition of Ashes. Lent is one of my favorite times of the Church year. Not only are we reminded of our mortality but of our creation and the gracious God who fashioned us. It is the time when we begin the walk to Jerusalem with Jesus.

Rather than give something up I would urge you to take up something new. Perhaps taking 10 minutes in the morning or evening to say the daily office or ending your day with Compline would be a discipline that would help to meaningfully prepare yourself for that journey to Jerusalem. One of the spiritual disciplines that I observe is to read spiritual writers such as C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, or other "classic" writings every day during Lent. I usually choose one writer and read him or her exclusively. This Lent I will be reading the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I especially recommend his book "The Cost of Discipleship" and "Letters from Prison." If anyone would like some recommendations for reading please feel free to contact me.

Another Lenten offering will be starting Tuesday, February 27. A midweek, informal Eucharist will be offered at 10:15 every Tuesday morning and I would be interested in how much interest there would be in starting a Wednesday evening Eucharist for those who work during the day but would like another service other than Sunday.

Let me close with the invitation from the Book of Common Prayer that is read every Ash Wednesday: "I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word." May our observance of Lent, both individually and communally, be a holy one.

I wish you blessings always,

Doris+

Rev. Doris C. Westfall

"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else." C.S. Lewis