Lent is for Coming Home

"I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son." ​Luke 15:18-19
This may be a familiar story to you: the parable of the Prodigal Son. It's a story of a young man who proudly wandered away from home to follow his own path. 
This story is not at all unlike our own. In fact, one of the greatest figures in the history and life of the Church, Saint Augustine, saw in the "Prodigal Son" the life of ever single human being under the sun.  
Because what the young son learned, what Augustine himself learned, and what we all must learn, is that "going our own way" is not exactly what God has in store. Instead, and especially in the season of Lent, we learn that God knows us much better than we know ourselves, and has so much more​ in store for us than we could plan for ourselves. 
Lent is a time set apart in the year of our Church for turning inward, and for recognizing our true home. Lent is for seeing in ourselves a hope and a desire for something we could never fulfill on our own. Lent is for recognizing that we are creatures in need of our Creator. 
Most of all, Lent is for recognizing that Creator in the arms of Jesus Christ, who, like the father who welcomes his prodigal son home with open arms, waits for us with his own arms stretched wide and ready to receive us. Lent is about recognizing our need for God, and our need to continually come home to the arms and heart of the God who loves us.
While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ... "This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" And they began to celebrate. Luke 15:20,24

The Season of Lent at Saint Peter's

Here's an overview of the Season of Lent at Saint Peter's. Stay tuned for specific information on Holy Week. 
Bible Study on the day's readings continues each Sunday following our service. 
Lent is also the perfect time to start up our weekly service of Evening Prayer.
​Evening Prayer will be offered on Wednesdays throughout Lent and beyond. 
Ash Wednesday (Feb. 26): Lent begins with an invitation—an invitation to draw nearer to God and to know his will and love for us better in Christ. In doing so, God asks us to look within ourselves and to recognize that at the very center of our lives is our need for God, our dependence on him, and on his abundant grace.​
The First Sunday in Lent (Mar. 1): We move forward through Lent by walking into the wilderness with Jesus, revisiting his own trial and temptation. At the same time, we recognize that Jesus has walked there before us—through every trial and temptation we face has already been faced by Christ. He does not leave us in the wilderness, but guides us through to the other side—to wholeness and a deeper capacity to serve him and one another. 
The Second Sunday in Lent (Mar. 8): John records the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus. He asks him questions and tries to understand: “Who is this?” He knows that God must be at work in someone like Jesus, but can’t completely grasp how. Lent invites us to ask the same questions and take the same journey. We are invited to come close to Jesus, to know him and to learn from him—and to be reborn to newness of life in him. 
The Third Sunday in Lent (Mar. 15): Jesus defies taboos of his time in order to reach out to others. Jesus speaks with the Samartian Woman and with his disciples about the need we all have to eat and drink, and offers food and water that does not grow old or stale—instead it is ever-refreshing for those who come to him in faith, and continue to walk with him through all their lives. 
The Fourth Sunday in Lent (Mar. 22): Jesus continues to surprise and reframe our expectations of him and of God. He reaches out to those who have been cast out and welcomes them into a new family. He shows that growing closer to God has to do with what God is doing in us, and opening ourselves to the life and love he offers—if only we would follow.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Mar. 29): At a climactic point in John’s Gospel, Jesus travels to the home of his friend Lazarus. Lazarus has died, and Jesus weeps at his tomb. We see Jesus affected by the troubles and tragedies of this world, and his power to overcome them. We are invited to welcome that power into our own lives, a power to grow and to change—to be recreated and reborn as children of God.