First Sunday in Lent
	Year A RCL

Sermon Audio-The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 32

	Ash Wednesday
	All Years

Sermon Audio for Ash Wednesday-March 9, 2011

Isaiah 58:1-12
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
Psalm 103 or 103:8-14

Sermon Audio: March 7, 2010-The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

Sermon Audio-February 28, 2010 The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

First Sunday in Lent
Year C RCL

Sermon Audio-8 am Service February 21, 2010

Sermon Audio-Children’s Sermon 10 am February 21, 2010

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

6As we work together with him,^* we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ²For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!–2 Corinthians 6:1-2

This reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is part of every Ash Wednesday in our Episcopal tradition.  When read as the bridge between either of the Old Testament readings and Matthew’s Jesus call to a quiet piety during Lent, we have a link between action and contemplation.  It is this link that I’m coming to believe that helps us live into the call in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy to the ‘keeping of a Holy Lent’

Isaiah 58:1-12 strikes a great counterbalance to Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 in calling us to pay attention to the needs of others and the world in Isaiah and a commitment to personal piety, sanctification and dare I say, divinization.  What is before us is the invitation to live a life of action and contemplation in the present.

When I was younger and would say that, “I ought to do x” or “I want to do y”, I’d often hear, “now’s as good a time as any.”  Sometimes Lent can become an excuse to postpone ministry and response to the world and its needs in favor of a commitment to personal reflection and piety.  These Ash Wednesday texts seem to say that we are not living in a time of either/or, but rather that the keeping of a Holy Lent is a both/and proposition.

We go to our Lord in private and He hears the laments of our souls and the desires of our hearts and then we are equipped by that exercise to act in the name of God by the Power of the Spirit in the ways that are ours to do. And now’s as good a time as any to start!!!

On this Ash Wednesday, may we all learn to accept, embrace and celebrate and actively contemplative discipleship of Jesus, the Holy One of God. And now’s as good a time as any to start!

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, 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. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer. (BCP p. 265 from The Ash Wednesday Liturgy)

For me and for a long time I’ve had some very particular ideas about what Lent was all about.  I always seemed to wind up in a conversaton that talked about what we were going to ‘give up’ for Lent.  I still think in terms of what sacrifice I’ll make for Lent but the fruits of that sacrifice have changed significantly for me over time.

This is no more true than maybe it is this year.  Recovering from physical ailments has afforded me what I seldom take enough of and that is time to reflect and limit my commitments.

In November I attended a seminar on David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology of getting to be more organized and productive.  I had no idea what sort of impact those two days would have on my spiritual life.  I went to the seminar just two weeks after going away to the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) in Boston for an extended silent retreat that was long overdue.  I came back from retreat feeling like I was sufficiently calm and centered to make better choices about the balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ as a part of living my vocation as priest, father, husband and friend.

Two weeks later, I found myself sitting with a bunch of other clergy and their administrators and admitting that I was as overwhelmed as when I’d left.

Then our presenter for the day quoted one of David Allen’s guiding principles in Getting Things Done namely that ‘whatever has your attention, has your attention.’  At first it seemed obvious but then I realized what terrific wisdom was there.

If I am preoccupied with many things, I neglect other things and some of those things neglected are not only important, they are critical.  Thoughts of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) swept into my mind and the words of Jesus convicted me, “you are worried and distracted by many things.” (Luke 10:41).

This long introduction leads me to what I hope is the point for me and may be of some use to you for this Lenten season of reflection, repentance and preparation to live anew in the light of the Resurrection.  I need to get back to the basics of being present to Jesus and what is most important and all the rest will fall into place.

In the Getting Things Done world, we are called to take all that comes into our minds and take them and put them in a trusted place where we can return to them and process them based on our values.  Isn’t it the same with our lives in Christ?

What has my attention has my attention and some of it’s not so very important as I’d like to think.  Maybe I’d all do well to find a trusted place to park my worries until I get some clarity on things and then, and only then, return and pick them up again.  I’m convinced Jesus’ is that place. If I am willing to do that, I suspect I’ll have gained some holy perspective, be clearer and more centered and find myself saying no to the many things and engaging more faithfully in the One Thing of most importance, namely my relationship to God and my part in God’s Mission.

That’s my Lenten story, and I pray, by the grace of God I’ll be sticking to it.  Pay attention to what and who has your attention and live your life accordingly. May we all keep a Holy Lent, in God’s name.

Last Sunday after Epiphany
Year C RCL

Sermon Audio-February 14, 2010; The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]

With thanks to the good folks over at the Theophiliacs Blog, I offer you Archbishop Rowan Willams’ reflections on Lent, its origins, purpose and meaning for Christians, especially Anglican Christians.Enjoy!

What do ice storms, snow upon snow and Lent have in common?  Well, let me see if I can connect these dots.

On December 11, 2008 a devastating ice storm hit Worcester, MA and the surrounding communities.  Schools were out for the duration of the calendar year.  Many were without power for extended periods.  Simply put, it was a mess!

What a Mess!

Combine the storm with the natural anxiety and busy-ness of the Holiday Season, it’s easy to understand why folks might have been in a collective daze.

Add to this the fact that December, January and February were among the snowiest on record in New England, it’s easy to have allowed the remaining debris from the Ice Storm to fade into distant memory….for a time.

As Spring approaches and the weather grows warmer, the snow (predictably)  recedes and the reminders of the destruction and mess that the ice storm wrought have been thrust into the forefront of our lives (not to mention our front yards!).

Someone stopped by the office at the Church yesterday and wondered how all the pine boughs had come down.  “Was there a wind storm that I missed?”  Nope, these were the boughs that were buried by the snow.  Out of sight, out of mind.  It’s very clear with all who have eyes to see that there’s still lots of work to be done.  It seems to me that recognizing what needs to be done and setting about clearing the yard is at the heart of what a Lenten discipline is all about.

Make no mistake, we’d dearly love to have all the debris of our lives completely cleared by Easter morning so that we can set about an orderly celebration of the miracle of resurrection.  I’d like to suggest that to do so can rob the central event of the Christian story of much of its power.  I think it’s important to remember that the surprise and unexpected reality of Jesus’ resurrection was a powerful part of the experience of the disciples at the first Easter.

And it fell Weekly it Seemed

Regardless of how well we’ve kept our Lenten disciplines to date, we must remember that it’s never too late to keep a Holy Lent.  If we’re doing well in our movement toward holiness, Easter will not come sooner.  If we’ve stumbled (even repeatedly) in keeping our Lenten discipline, the resurrection is still going to happen.  At the risk of mixing metaphors, whether all the debris is out of the yard come the thaw or not, the thaw will come and we can revel in that.  There’s not one thing wrong with continuing to clear the debris of our lives in a post-resurrection reality.

In fact, I see that as the fruit of keeping Lent and living into the challenge of the resurrected life of Jesus Christ in the world.

Easter—Ready or Not…here it comes!!!!!