Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen (BCP p. 264)

With this Collect for Ash Wednesday, the observance of a Holy Lent begins. Some of you were with us as we prayed this Collect, some may have heard it in other places, but it signals the start of holy time for all of us. I will admit, Wednesday was a hard day. It was strange enough trying to be in the mindset of Lent while a victory parade was happening a few blocks away, but then what happened after the parade threw all of us completely off. A joyous celebration suddenly turned tragic, and for what? It doesn’t make any sense. I’m grateful to Bishop Diane for joining with me to offer a Prayer Vigil at the Cathedral that evening, and to the clergy and people of St. Paul’s, KC, for offering one as well. I know we are still processing what happened and I ask that we all continue to hold the victims of this event, and all those affected, in our daily prayers. I am already working with the Bishop and other clergy and people in the Diocese to plan another Vigil against gun violence later this year. We will always need prayer, but we need action as well. That is at the heart of our conversations, I assure you.

As we continue through Lent you will notice a few changes to our Sunday services. This Sunday we begin with the Great Litany, and all following Sundays we will start the service with a confession at the beginning. We also switch service music and prayers, as is our custom when the seasons of the year change. We will be using Eucharistic Prayer D this Lent, which may not be familiar, but is fitting for this time of year. Fr. James will begin his class on Anglican Spiritual practices this Sunday, and our Lenten series begins on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. I hope that you will find Lent this year to be a meaningful time of reflection and renewal.

Please continue to pray for one another, for our Cathedral family, for our nation, our city, and the world.

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