• A Preface for Ash Wednesday

    The following preface was written to mark the beginning of Lent and reflects the language and character of the Lenten material in the Scottish Liturgy 1982 and Daily Prayer of the Scottish Episcopal Church

    Dear Friends in Christ, it is the custom of Christian people to prepare to mark the time of Christ’s passion and resurrection by a season of penitence and fasting.

    The church calls each of us during these forty days to repent of all that causes harm to ourselves, harm to our earthly dwelling place and harm to our relationship with God.

    By carefully keeping these days, Christians take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and devotion. In turning our hearts towards God, we discover anew the boundless grace of God.

    For God will help us to create beauty even within the turmoil of this chaotic world and will help us to gather a harvest of joy and gladness from lives of sorrow and care. Today and every day, God calls the wandering exile home.

    We are invited 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.

5 responses to “20111224 Midnight Mass – Sermon”

  1. Christmas Sermons…

    Today’s Church Times has reports of several Christmas Day sermons: ‘Atomised’ Britain is urged to seek God’s forgiveness. The full texts of some are available online. Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of Wales Bishop of Salisbury Bishop of St A…

  2. william Avatar
    william

    “Christ is born and all shall be well” – sounds very like Jeremiah’s “peace, peace”, but there was not peace.
    Substance is all important, whether it’s in the content of sermons or websites.
    Throughout His life, and especially in His communication with the religious Jesus took great care to communicate substantially lest at the end many should come to Him, saying Lord, Lord and He would then have to say – I don’t know you.
    Crowded churches or busy websites in themselves are nothing, as we all know – so let’s not encourage folks to busy themselves with such digressions.
    But there are ways in which we should be busying ourselves – Jesus had a lot to say about that – including our presence for worship and even the content of websites!

    1. kelvin Avatar

      > Jesus had a lot to say about …. even the content of websites!

      Oh no he didn’t!

      1. william Avatar
        william

        Kelvin, your understanding of scripture is amazingly narrow, even literalistic – at times!!

        1. kelvin Avatar

          That may well be so.

          However, I do understand irony.

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