Rev. Valerie's Reveille

This week we are focusing on prayer.   I thank Deacon Cathy for her talk at the Way of Love Quite Day held last Saturday, March 23 rd at St. Alban’s in New Brunswick.   She reminded the attendees that our very own Book of Common Prayer  (1979) does an excellent job of defining and explaining the various types of prayer that Christians practice.   If you are not familiar with the Catechism, it is set up in a Socratic style of question and answer that flows very easily from one inquisition to the next. From “An Outline of the Faith (commonly called the Catechism)” on pp. 856-7 of BCP Prayer and Worship (we’ll get to Worship next week!) Q.           What is prayer? A.           Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words. Q.           What is Christian Prayer? A.    ...

I love our Anglican sensibility of not “checking our brains at the door” of the Church.  We are called to bring all of ourselves, including our minds, into our relationship with God.  In fact, God gave humans the ability to reason and learn, which makes us different and special among all of God’s creatures.  We have used the knowledge we have gained since Creation began to bring us to where we are today, with all the modern conveniences of technology, health care and lots of other things that Jesus never talked about! Human’s ability to learn is innate – we start from the moment we are born interacting with our environment and learning how to get our needs meet.   We cry and someone takes cares of us – awesome!   We learn to use our physical bodies and develop language – all forms of learning.   But how to do we learn about God and develop a relationship with our Creator?   The Church’s hope is that parents will bring their children up in t...

I hope you are familiar with our Presiding Bishop’s, The Most Rev. Michael Curry, theme of “The Way of Love.”  Following up on his message at the royal wedding last May, Bishop Curry and his staff created a detailed, yet easy to follow program about how to live our day-to-day lives as Jesus did – by living into daily practices that inform and shape our faith and relationship to God and each other.  This work has been adapted into a Lenten program, which the New Brunswick clergy will be offering during a one-day Quite Day on Saturday, March 23 rd from 8:30 am – 3:15 pm at St. Alban’s.   You can take a look at that information here if you would like.   You can sign up for the Quite Day in Hubbard Hall.   This is a great way to meet some other Episcopalians in the area and make some time during Lent to reflect on your spiritual journey. For my blog during Lent, I will be focusing on each of the seven actions mentioned in the “Walk of Love” Cross, ...

A Blessed Ash Wednesday to you!   Lent – the Church season of repentance and renewal – started so early in 2018 that it seems late this year!   Many people connect these 40 days (or 46, if you include Sundays) with giving something up, like sweets, or alcohol, or Facebook.   However, I like to engage Lent as a time for spiritual renewal – getting my inner temple cleaned up in order to welcome the Risen Christ at Easter.   There are several ways to do that, and I will list some below, but please note that I am not suggesting anyone does ALL of these things.   Select one or two that you want to do and do well, to nurture your relationship with God. Lent shouldn’t be about feeling bad about yourself.   Yes, we need to be aware of how our lives fall short of doing God’s will, but in God’s mercy, we are offered the benefit of rededicating ourselves to loving our neighbor as ourselves and as God love’s us.   Confession and repentance are about new life...