Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
The Exhortation therefore does not stand between the Christian and the Table. It prepares the way to it, teaching us to come neither carelessly nor fearfully, neither presumptuously nor despairingly, but with what the Prayer Book asks of Christ’s people: a truly penitent heart and lively faith.
Friday fasting gives the Christian week a regular rhythm of repentance, prayer, self-examination, and mercy. The BCP 2019 encourages Fridays outside Christmastide and Eastertide as days of fasting, returning the Church again and again to the Cross of Christ.
The penitent names sin honestly; the priest ministers the Gospel through counsel, direction, and absolution; and the sinner is directed away from confidence in the adequacy of his own repentance and toward the sufficiency of Christ.
This season of Lent, so deeply woven into the fabric of Christian worship, carries with it centuries of history, theological development, and spiritual wisdom.
Ash Wednesday: In Matthew 6, Jesus addresses three core spiritual disciplines: giving, praying, and fasting. But his concern is not whether we practice these disciplines. His concern is why.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent: a time of repentance, fasting, and prayer, in preparation for the great feast of the resurrection.