This is the Third Sunday in Lent, which means we are almost exactly halfway through this period which the church holds as a holy time of repentance and fasting. Just as a reminder, the Episcopal Church offers the private rite of The Reconciliation of a Penitent to anyone who wants to make an appointment with his or her priest. (See pages 446-452 of The Book of Common Prayer).
Here is what James Keating has to say about reconciliation:
"When we name our sins in truth, they are met with divine mercy. The result of this naming is not condemnation, but reconciliation and salvation.
"Perhaps we are so used to experiencing personal rejection when speaking the truth to others that we cannot trust that Christ will simply heal our sins in his grace and not use them against us. . . . He asks us to stop sinning, to stop living lives that obscure our dignity as the images of God that we are (Genesis 1:26). Instead, we are invited to cooperate with grace, to come to know God and so be morally transfigured."
In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Churdch of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://ousaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: Top half of church at
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery,
Conyers, GA, January 28, 2008
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