Observing a Holy Lent

by the Right Reverend Thomas Clarke Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, March 2003

Dear people of God:

The Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer invites us "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" (BCP, pp. 264-265). This Lenten invitation draws us ever more deeply into the heart of the Church's reconciling mission as we "Pray the Prayer of Christ, Learn the Mind of Christ and Do the Deeds of Christ."

One of the consequences of my recent colon surgery (see note below) was the opportunity to begin this Lenten discipline a bit earlier this year. The weeks leading up to the surgery were good times of inner reflection and self-examination, which for me always leads to repentance as well as to thanksgiving. Waiting those three days for the final word on the pathology, I found myself thinking and praying a whole lot. Sure, I was praying for good news from the laboratory, but mostly I was praying for that continuing sense of God's grace and presence that had accompanied me on this medical journey.

My prayers were also for my roommate and the other patients I met during my hospital stay. I knew that there were prayers being offered all over the diocese and beyond for me, my health and my family and the knowledge of that filled me with an abiding sense of peacefulness and gratitude. Recuperating at home brought additional time for prayer, reflection and self-examination, as well as the opportunity to practice that all-important spiritual discipline of patience.

The fasting and self-denial that I experienced before and after surgery was not really a spiritual discipline, but it was indeed an integral part of the discipline needed to help prepare me for surgery and then begin the recovery process. During Lent, my spiritual discipline of fasting takes place on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, a spiritual exercise that frames the rest of my Lenten practice. It helps me prepare to enter Lent and it helps me prepare to leave Lent. I like the rhythm of that discipline.

Except when I was a child, I've never been one to "give something up" during Lent, but instead to "take something on." Sometimes that has been adding a bit more quiet time for meditation, or adding more physical exercise in my life, or studying an issue that I don't know very much about. Last year, I did extra reading about the environment. I think this year it will be the physical exercise! Taking something on causes me to look more closely at my time, how I use it, and how I need to adjust some of those more self-centered, lazy habits I fall into from time to time.

Reading and meditating on God's holy Word was an important part of my recent "pre-Lenten" discipline. I was reading the lessons from the Daily Office one morning in the hospital when my roommate's medical team came in the room. As one of the doctors pulled the curtain for privacy he looked over at my Bible and me and said, "that's good reading, you know?" He had no idea who I was or of my life-long encounter with that book, but I was pleased that he thought it was good reading. My response to him was a simple, "yes, I know."

If we want to know our story as people of faith, and if we want that story to connect to our lives, then reading and meditating on it must be part of our daily life. Lent is such a good time to deepen our encounter with that story. My own experience is that reading the Bible and meditating on the Word of God I encounter there is like a relationship with a good friend. The more I explore, the deeper I make my commitment, the longer I stay at it, the more I put into it, the more the relationship deepens and grows and the greater my joy and sense of connection. It is, after all, "good reading, you know?"

Finally, I know that peace will be the focus of my prayer and self-examination this Lent. We may have invaded Iraq by the time you read this, or we may have found a way out of the current crisis. I have no way of knowing as I write. What I do know is that whether or not we are at war when you read this, our prayers, words and actions in the pursuit of peace will still be needed. They will be needed until that day "when we study war no more." I think there is no greater self-examination and repentance that we need to undertake than to explore the hatred and violence that infects our own hearts and the root causes of hatred and violence that infect all hearts and influence our decisions, as individuals, as nations and as citizens of the world. It is difficult work, but it is important work.

Prayer, self-examination, study, reading, meditating, taking something on, or giving something up, whatever your Lenten discipline, my prayer for you is that it will help draw you deeper into the heart of God where you will know how much you are loved by God. Through joyous times and difficult times remember yourself to be part of a community of faith, a community of love and mercy with God at the center, a community of hope and action with a reconciling mission given to us by Christ, a community of justice and peace with the Holy Spirit as our companion along the way.

A blessed Lent,
+Thomas

 

Bishop Ely undergoes successful surgery

On January 25, 2003, Bishop Ely underwent laparoscopic surgery for the removal of a small portion of his colon, which contained a mass that the doctors were not able to diagnose fully during an earlier colonoscopy. The surgery went smoothly and the bishop was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, January 29th. The day before his discharge, he received the final pathology report from his doctor indicating that there was no sign of cancer, either in the mass or in the nearby lymph nodes. After a week or so of "home recuperation," the bishop resumed his normal schedule.

Bishop Ely notified clergy and parish wardens by letter prior to the surgery, and many people offered prayers and expressions of concern, support and encouragement. In a follow-up letter to those same people after he returned home, he said, “All the prayers, all the cards, all the messages have meant so much, not only to me but also to Ann and all our family. I thank you for being a diocesan community of prayer, not only for me but also for all those for whom you pray without ceasing. There is something wonderfully grace-filled and calming to know one’s self to be in the midst of such a loving and caring people.”

Links to previous Mountain Echo Letters