Dear Friends,
A friend of mine posted the following quote on his "blog"
"Growth is a
law of life. When growth ceases, death is beginning. God counts our
age, not by our birthdays--but by the advances which His eye sees in
our inner life. Growth, too, is not marked by height or weight or by
accumulations of money or property or earthly honor--but by an increase
in godly character." - J. R. ...Miller, "The Beauty of Every Day" 1910Lent is an intentional time where through self-denial, reflection, acts of obedience and piety, we focus ourselves and our attention on our spiritual lives. It is an opportunity for growth, to plow the hardened winter ground and begin to think about a new season of life and vitality in Christ.
Feeling stagnate in your walk? Have you hit the pause button on your spiritual life? I would liken it a guitar being "out of tune". Let Lent be a time when you stretch the strings and bring them into perfect pitch. Your "tuning" maybe a major undertaking with new strings and polish or maybe just a couple turns of the "tuning knobs". Regardless, bring some intentionality to the season of Lent, participate in the offerings at Incarnation (see below) as a means of jump-starting your spiritual battery. May for all of us it be a season of increasing in godly character, growing in grace and our knowledge of Christ Jesus as we journey through the passion of Jesus into glorious resurrection!
There is a new feature on the front page of our website that will help you with preparation for worship on Sundays. Preparing for Sundays is review of the readings with some short commentary. You have to link to it from the website www.incarnationoviedo.com - take a look and let me know if this is helpful.
in the mission,
Father Jon
A FEW THINGS...
Mardi Gras Party on Shrove Tuesday February 16th 6-8pm at Canterbury. This is a family fun event with great "cajun food" activities and crafts, Burying the Alleluias and more. Make your reservation by emailing Sherise Nelson.
Vestry Retreat - Saturday February 20, 9-2pm. Please pray for the vestry at Incarnation as we gather to listen to God about our future and the next portion of our journey, that we would be faithful stewards and walk in all the things God want us be and do.
We begin the season of Lent on ASH WEDNESDAY, (February 17th with 2 services 7am / 11:30am and 7pm
in the St. Augustine Chapel at Canterbury)
Two things to consider for your Lenten Discipline...
We will be showing the video series The Centrality of the Cross on Wednesday Evenings 7pm (starting February 24th) in the Chapel. This is a dynamic and would say from personal experience life-changing series by our good friend Mike Atkins. I hope you will make an effort to engage with it over the next few weeks.
Bishop Howe will be leading a Lenten retreat at Canterbury on March 5 & 6. You can register on line at the Canterbury Website.
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