March 3, 2015

Welcome to the Cathedral Church of St. George

in Kingston, Ontario, Canada

 

The Very Reverend Mary Irwin-Gibson,

Dean

Welcome to our website and to our community.
The season of Lent is often associated with fasting and giving up self-indulgent habits or behaviours. Maybe this means giving up using the Ipad or watching Netflix. Maybe it means no new clothes for 40 days, or perhaps you’ve given up chocolate. Maybe you’re even more radical and you’ve given up the car for Lent! These “things” that we hold dear to us and that make us happy are just that: Things. But while they may serve some small purpose in this life, they are, in the end, insignificant. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: We are but dust, and to dust shall we return. When we die, we leave all these things behind. All that we will have left is our faith – our relationship with Christ. 

This year, as we consider our Lenten observance, let’s not focus on what we’re giving up, but instead on what we are striving for. Let’s place our focus on God, centering our efforts on building a stronger connection with Christ: a relationship with the One, True, Risen Lord. Let’s practice exercising our faith, developing our prayer discipline, taking time to connect with God every day, in all that we do, and learning, like Samuel, to hear God’s voice.

A prayer for Ash Wednesday reads:
O God,
you delight not in pomp and show,
but in a humble and contrite heart.
Overturn our love of worldly possessions
and fix our hearts more firmly on you,
so that, having nothing,
we may yet possess everything,
a treasure stored up for us in heaven.  Amen.[1]

May you be blessed in this Lenten season, and be filled with a newfound appreciation for God’s presence in all that you do. May you strengthen your reflex to turn to God for counsel, support, guidance and inspiration. May you know God’s Spirit and power upon you: alive and working in you.

Every blessing,

Mary

[1] Revised Common Lectionary Prayers (2002), alt.