Diocese of New Jersey | Bishop Councell

Years ago I read a story about a woman who signed up to run in a 10K race. On the appointed day she started off running the 10K, but at some point she became separated from that group and found herself running another route. She asked another runner, “Is this the 10K?” “No,” was the answer. “This is the marathon.”

“I felt so stupid,” the woman reflected. Just then, someone ran past her, wearing a t-shirt that read, “Just do it.” She read those words and she kept on running. She, who showed up that day expecting to run 10K (a little over six miles), ended up running a 26-mile marathon.

Lent is like the Christian life, in that it is a marathon. It is a long-distance run; not a sprint. It takes perseverance. This is evident from one of the first action verbs among the promises in our Baptismal Covenant: “Will you continue in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers?”

We continue. We persevere. We carry on. Along the way, we pray. I think that every Christian has a voice for prayer, in his or her own words. We also have a vast library of prayers, gathered over the ages, from those who have gone before us, who have persevered in prayer and discipleship.

One of my favorite prayers is the prayer of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (1821–1867).

Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.
Help me in all things to rely on your holy will.
In every hour of the day reveal your will to me.
Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day
with peace of soul and with firm conviction that your will governs everything.
In all my deeds and words, guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by you.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely,
without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me the strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will. Teach me to pray. Pray yourself in me.

With tools for prayer such as this, we carry on.

+GEC

Day 5 of Lent: Monday, 2 March 2009

People in Twelve-Step Recovery programs talk about HALT, which stands for “hungry, angry, lonely and tired. The wisdom is that people are more vulnerable to a slip when they are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. HALT is a reminder to stop, to remember to work the program and to put first things first.

I thought of HALT when I heard the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness yesterday, as we always do on the first Sunday in Lent. (The story is read from Matthew or Mark or Luke, following the three-year Eucharistic Lectionary.) It seems clear from those three accounts that Jesus himself was hungry, lonely and tired, at the very least. And angry? Well, I would think so. Look who he had buzzing around him, annoying him, distracting him and tempting him! Jesus, fully human, was tempted in every way, as we are, yet did not sin.

The nature of temptation — no matter what the particular temptation might be — seems always to be the same: to dumb down our baptism and try to find an easier way to live; a way that skips over the blessing given to Jesus at his baptism and (through our baptism and incorporation into him) to us: “You are my son / You are my daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).

As many have pointed out, two of the Tempter’s offers begin with the attempt to introduce doubt as to who Jesus is; i.e., “If you are the Son of God” (see Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13). The other offer invites Jesus to engage in worship of a false god: “If you will fall down and worship me. . . ” (Matt. 4:9).

Are there any more life-destroying lies than these two? On the one hand, a lie about who we are (anything but a child of God and beloved); and on the other hand, a lie about who God is (one who trades kingdoms and power and glory for a grovel). Jesus shows us the truth about God and the truth about ourselves. As someone has said, he is what we mean by God; he is what God means by human. He is the way, the truth, and the life, but none of these are received by us from Jesus without struggle and temptation.

Lent takes us into wilderness places where we will experience hunger, anger, loneliness and tiredness — barren places where we shall be tempted, if only to look for a way to avoid the wilderness. Temptation is not an unlikely event. It is a certainty. But Lent also reminds us of our baptism. We are baptized into Christ and beloved of the Lord. We are not alone. Let’s keep first things first and work our program, i.e., our Baptismal Covenant, to our soul’s heath in this holy season.

+GEC

Day 3 and 4: Bishop Councell was presiding at the 225th Convention of the Diocese of New Jersey

Day 2 of Lent: Thursday, 26 February 2009

God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important — the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. Deuteronomy 7:7, in 'The Message'

Here, at the very beginning of our Lenten pilgrimage, we are disabused of any notion that we earn or deserve our place in God’s affections. No. We are not self-made. We have been chosen out of God’s gracious heart of love.

The mystery of the chosen-ness of the chosen people is good to ponder as we seek to observe a holy Lent. It was not their size or their significance. It was not about them. It was God’s “sheer love” that made God call the people of Israel into a special relationship.

So our Lenten discipline or rule ought not to be the means of pumping up our spiritual egos in order to get God’s attention. We have God’s attention and more — in Christ, we are assured that we, too, are beloved. But that is God’s affection, not our achievement.

My Old Testament professor and seminary dean, reflecting on this passage, said that God was like a boyfriend or girlfriend who said about the beloved, “He’s the one for me!” “She’s the one for me!”

Sheer love. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Christians who had a personal experience of spiritual renewal didn’t speak of being “born again.” Rather, they said that they had been “seized by the power of a great affection.”

God has such great affection for you.

+GEC

Ash Wednesday 2009: 25 February 2009

I invite you to the observance of a Holy Lent. This year I have decided to write a daily Blog for these 40 days. My hope is that it will not only keep me on track during this holy season, but that it may also be helpful to others as we ask the Lord to “Revive Us Again.” May our Lenten journey, from ashes to Easter, be a means of grace to help us all to be renewed in the Holy Spirit and to rededicate all of our lives to following Christ.

On my recent sabbatical I decided that, since I had all that time and opportunity, I would set about the task of fixing all the things that are wrong with me. I would correct all of my failings and shortcomings as a bishop and as a person. Through intensive prayer and study and reflection, I would acquire a commanding knowledge of all things that bishops should know and display astonishing skill in all things that bishops must do. Overall, I would become amazingly impressive in all aspects of my life and vocation, and yet be an incredibly humble soul. That was my goal. And then I figured out that fixing everything that is wrong with me is one of the things that is wrong with me.

Don’t engage Lent in that fashion. Don’t try to fix everything that’s wrong with you. Adopt one discipline and do it with love. Do it for God, with love for God. Just do it, without a thought for trying to impress yourself or others with your piety.

The passage appointed for the Gospel at the Eucharist today is a cautionary one:

Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. Matthew 6:1, in 'The Message'.

Whenever our younger daughter, Martha, a flutist, prepares for an audition or a performance, I always try to remember to tell her, “Let them know you love it.” That is, whatever technical precision she is able to bring to her performance (playing all the notes accurately, etc.), I remind her that she will play with her heart as well, showing her great love for the music itself. Let them know you love it.

Except that Lent is not for “them.” It’s not even for us. It’s what we offer to God. It’s an attempt to re-direct our lives — or some small portion of them, anyway – to God. Our goal is not to observe Lent perfectly — just keeping our rule(s). We can play all the right notes and completely miss the music. Keeping rules or resolutions or promises of reform without love is as empty and about as musical as clanging gongs and clashing cymbals. We are called to a more excellent way — the way of love, responding to God’s love.

Let us observe this holy season with a love that, by grace, answers the great love of the greatest Lover, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him know you love Him.

GE Councell
The Right Reverend George E. Councell
XI Bishop of New Jersey

Later blogs
Day 7 through Day 11 of Lent
Day 12 through Day 17 of Lent
Current blogs

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