Spring is Sap time.

This is a picture of my uncle working in the sap house that he has spent years tending.  

As a child, spring meant mud and time at the sap house.  I remember my mothers homemade donuts dipped in warm, fresh maple syrup.  I also remember the big rubber boots that we called, mud boots, that were traditional wear for that time of year.  

We would head across the road from my grandmothers house.  The road was moist and very muddy.  Sometimes, we would take a step and our feet would go far into the mud . When we went to take the next step only our stocking covered foot came to the surface.  As kids, we thought this was the most fun.  

Spring is a time that is fresh with new beginnings.  The buds really will start to come out on the tress, and crocus will  eventually feel sure enough of the weather to poke through the soil.  

Lent begins when the days are still short and the snow covers the ground.  Most years, the hope is that by Easter we can see green.  The days are longer and the air will change.  

This has been a long winter, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  The days are longer and there is more light.  We have two weeks of lent and Holy Week ahead of us.  Jesus journey to the cross is approaching.  How are we going to prepare?  What are we preparing for? 

In the picture above, my uncle is carrying wood for the stove.  No new fangled gadgets there.  Preparation.  

Wood provides the heat necessary for the sap to boil.  Someone must gather the wood, someone must feed the fire.  Someone must prepare the cook top.  Preparation.  

Buckets hang from trees.  Each one has a spicket that is hammered into the tree and a clear substance flows out, when the weather corporates.  It must be cold at night and warm during the day.  The buckets need to be hung.  Preparation.  

Holy Week and Easter are times in our tradition when we are invited into the life of Jesus.  We are invited into the story that is foundational to how we make meaning of our lives.   Jesus has spent time and attention trying to prepare the disciples, trying to prepare us for the truth of this story.  

When the preparation is done, the work begins.  On a regular basis, someone must go around and gather all the sap from the buckets.  Someone must hope and pray that all has gone well and there will be something to gather.  Each bucket is dumped into a large container.  

When one small person stands alone, sometimes life can feel overwhelming, but when we gather together, when we come together, we remember we are far more together than we are alone.  

Daily gathering of the sap, driving from tree to tree, somedays getting more than others is the patient discipline required to make maple syrup.  Patient, daily discipline of showing up to each tree, each day, for whatever it has to offer that day.  

Lent is a time of reflection and prayer.  A time to push back some of the cob webs and dirt that may have gotten in our way.  A time when we can reflect on the light that is God's grace within us.  It is a time to remember the gift that Jesus gave us.  It is a time to remember Jesus life, death and resurrection.  

The smell inside the sap house is sweet and special.  The air outside is still chilly and when you enter, the heat and smell of the wood stove, welcomes you in.  

Outside the building there is a big container that holds the sap that is collected.  The operation is set up so that it comes in and runs into the boiler.  I do not remember the way it all worked, I just remember seeing the sap go from clear to that beautiful golden brown.  I remember the smell, and the donuts.  

A life of faith calls us to prepare room for God to be present in our lives.  We pay particular attention to that during Advent.  Lent is the time when we open up the doors to the space and wonder where we've been.  Lent is the time we remember how important the cross, those hard and painful times are.  Lent is the time we remember that God is always with us.  How can we prepare yet again to do the work God is calling us to do?  

Spring is coming.  The buckets are up and some people are boiling.  You will be hearing about Holy Week and opportunities to worship. Preparation continues in whatever lenten practices you have taken on.  Remember that preparation, time and attention are all ingredients for a rich life of faith.

Remember just as the trees need to be visited every day, and the bucket emptied of whatever it has to offer that day, so must we spend time with God each day.  God welcomes whatever we can offer that day, with praise and thanksgiving.  

Pilgrimage

 " A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in the light of a story.  A great event has happened; the pilgrim hears the reports and goes in search of the evidence, aspiring to be an eyewitness.  The pilgrim seeks not only to confirm the experience of others first hand but to be changed by the experience." 

Paul Elie, 

The Life you Save May Be Your Own.  

Years ago I received a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble Bookstores.  One of my favorite things in the world are books.  Books that tells stories, either real or imagined.  Books that take me to someplace I have yet to visit.  Books that help me attach language to my experience in life.  Books of any kind.  

The most wonderful thing about this gift was that I was able to walk into this favorite store and pick out the book of my choice and take it home.  As I write this, it sounds like a very young child is speaking.  But, I was not a young child.  I was a grown woman, yet this really was how it felt.  

This was a time in my life when my children were young, my life was in the midst of much change and money was sparse.  The freedom to choose a special book felt very luxurious.  What would I choose?  

"A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in the light of a story." 

As I wandered into this familiar store, I can see in my minds eye the setting.  My daughter who also loves books and did from a very young age, was with me.  We had a long standing pattern.  She would go off to the children's section, I would wander to the religion or spirituality section.  Each looking forward to the time to explore the books, the worlds that awaited us.  I had promised her that we would both be able to take a book home.  What would we choose? 

Lent is a time when we are asked to be self reflective.  We are asked to look at our story and honestly share with God what we know. We are also invited to ask God for help in those places that feel hard.  

"A great event has happened; the pilgrim hears the reports and goes in search of the evidence, aspiring to be an eyewitness. "

This day was a day like so many, the story of my life was unfolding and I had no idea where it was taking me.  My call to ministry had been affirmed by my congregation and my Bishop.  I was in seminary and  had two small children.  This pilgrim knew that God was calling, knew that the longing for God would not let up.  But what on earth was I supposed to do?  I have always looked for answers, confirmation or direction in the written word.  On this day I wander, yet again, into the religion section of this familiar place.  

The title of the book jumped out at me very quickly.  The Life You Save May Be Your Own, by Paul Elie.  I pulled it out of the stacks and as was my practice sat down near by.  As I opened the pages I was transported into the lives of four very different people.  This book weaves the lives of Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy and Flannery O'Conner together.  Each of these people were faithful pilgrims and became devote catholics.  Each suffered much and found their faith and meaning in God and the written word.  

We are each pilgrims and we are each exploring  our relationship with God from the place of our own specific story.  But the most wonderful thing about God is that each of our individual stories intersect, each of our lives are part of the larger story that is of God.  

Many years have passed since my daughter and I left that store, each with a new treasure.  I read the first quarter of the book and it is adorned with many highlights and words in the margins.  But never finished.  At the beginning of Lent this year, I decided that I wanted to read the book again and finish it this time. 

Listening to books in some form has become something I really love.  I can listen in my car, on walks or anytime.  I decided that I would listen to these stories being told.  What a blessing.  I am already far passed my stopping point the last time.  But, as I write this, I smile and think, I am much further down the path of my own journey than I was when I first picked up the book.  

  

"The pilgrim seeks not only to confirm the experience of others first hand but to be changed by the experience." 

I invite you to think of yourself as a pilgrim.  What has been your story and how have others helped you along the way?  People we know and people we will never meet change our lives.  We are changed when we enter into the practice of paying attention, of listening to the lives around us.  We are changed when we experience our lives as one individual, yet part of a larger story.  

"Pilgrims often make the journey in company, but each must be changed individually; they must see for themselves, each with his or her own eyes.  And as they return to ordinary life the pilgrims must tell others what they saw, recasting the story in their own terms."

As christians our faith is formed in response to the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection.  As this time of year, we are called to remember that story in very real and personal ways.  Jesus came and taught, lived and died so that we could enter into that story and make it our own.  

It is powerful to reflect on all the changes and blessings that have been significant to my faith in the time since I first picked up this book. God continues to tell the story through each of us.  

As we enter the second week of Lent, what is your story?  Is there someone's life that has been a particular inspiration to you?  

Hello pilgrim, we are on this journey together, you are not alone.  But your story, your life, is yours, its special.  

Your invited.

"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."

BCP pg. 265

The snow yesterday was blowing here and there.  It really did not accumulate very much, but just as we thought it might stop, it began again.  A dusting of white fluffy snow covered the way ahead.  People gathered at noon and in the evening to pray, receive the imposition of ashes and the Eucharist.  During this service we were invited into a Holy Lent.  We were invited to a time of self- reflection and action.  

It is often very helpful for me to remember that Jesus repeatedly went off by himself to pray.  In the midst of what seemed like crisis or stress, he turned to prayer.  In times of celebration and blessing, he turned to prayer.  

"Lent is a pilgrimage which Christ personally invites us to make.  The journey is not an adventure for tourists who wish to capture snapshots of spiritual insight, but rather an invitation which comes from Christ and draws us to Christ.  What is unique about this personal invitation is that Christ invites us to make a journey that he himself has already made.  It is the nature of his grace not merely to call us from outside, but actually to draw us from within."    

Steve  Purcell

Let us remember that the forty days of Lent is fashioned after Jesus forty days in the wilderness.  He took himself into the desert for forty days and forty nights to prepare himself emotionally and spiritually for his ministry and for all that his life would hold.  How are we prepared emotionally and spiritually for our ministry?  How are we prepared for our path ahead? 

Our Lenten practice could be approached from 3 different perspectives.  We turn to look at ourselves and our life; at our relationship with God; and at our relationships with others.  If we only focus on one of these areas we fall short of the full experience God is calling us to.  

We are invited into this time, not just to watch and stand at the sidelines, but to  actively participate.  We are not called to take "snapshots" of others, as that is not our story.  We are called to pull away, find those places in our lives that are empty or worn and pray for God's help and guidance.  We may also pull away and find the many blessings that can get lost in day to day life.  Allow time to slow down and be.  

Secondly, we are invited to look at our life with God.  What is our prayer life like?  What are the many things that compete for God's attention in our lives?  Are we able to remember those things that are prayerful?  Writing, reading, walking, yoga, painting or taking photographs, are all forms of prayer.  

Lastly, we are invited to look outward.  If we only engage this time as one of self-reflection it can easily become one of self- absorption.  We are created in God's image, we are created to be the instruments in the world God most needs us to be.  To do that we need to take precious care of who we are, and the instrument God has given us.  We then need to go out in the world and follow Jesus's example.  How are we able to see our neighbor, how do we see those in need?  How are we responding to Jesus's message of love and service?  

The sun is out this day and it is very cold.  The snow has stopped blowing and a new day has begun. Welcome to this new day.  Give thanks and blessings for the invitation.  No need to RSVP, just come as you are.