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Greetings!,
During this season of Lent, we'll be sending out to you various resources for prayer, study and action. Below, you'll find a reflection for today, Ash Wednesday, by Megan McKenna, storyteller, author, theologian and a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace. Megan's booklet, authored for Pax Christi USA, is entitled The Light of Lent Through the Gospels: Reflections for Lent 2013 and is available for purchase by download on the PCUSA website. We have also set up a page for Lent 2013 on the site where we will archive reflections throughout the season and organize additional resources for individuals and groups, including prayers, prayer services, action opportunities, and information on undertaking a Way of the Cross event for Good Friday. You can find the page by clicking here. More resources will be posted in the days to follow. ____________ REFLECTION FOR ASH WEDNESDAY By Megan McKenna, Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace Joel 2:12-18 | 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
We are ambassadors for Christ,
God as it were appealing through us (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Today, again we begin the season of "the springtime of the soul." And it must be our intent to live it light-heartedly, with wisdom's light that is found both in the daylight and the dark of night. Christ is the Light, and in our tradition, the words for light, truth, and peace are almost interchangeable. And so we are ambassadors for the Light, the Truth, and the Peace that are the world's greatest need and deepest longing. And while each of us carries this light in our bodies and souls, this Light is strongest and most clearly seen in conjunction with others. Together we reveal and extend this Light beyond our singular edges and places in the world.
We don't often associate Lent with light, even though it is a season that calls us to concentrate on prayer, fasting, and alms-giving: all things associated with light. We are the children of God-the children of Light-and so prayer for us can be light sitting and standing in the Light and living in the Light. Fasting, hopefully, makes us light-hearted, freer, and graceful, giving us eyes to see others, earth, and what transpires in our world with wisdom, as God sees. And alms-giving lightens our persons and our life-styles and introduces us to sharing our excess with those who need it for survival as well as binding us together more deeply as human beings....
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