Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Hello everyone:
Last night we had an excellent meeting with Lauren Wasyluk leading the Operational Council through a Communication Strategy going forward. Did you know that we have 11 different communication channels here at St. Andrew’s and that some of those channels have 2 or even 3 different variations? For example, this email called ‘Marty’s Musings’ is one of three weekly emails. The other two are the Friday E Blast and the Tuesday Family Ministry Email. Those three make up one channel – our Email Channel. There are 10 other channels all the way from the “Aspire” to “In Person Announcements”, “Social Media (which has five variations) and Digital signs just to name a few more. Communicating effectively means prioritizing these channels and making sure a yearly calendar is in place that covers at least 90% of all we do so the necessary information is shared in a timely and succinct manner. To make this easier, again through Lauren’s guidance, Operational Council has reviewed an audit of our communication channels. OC is working through this – meeting again in two weeks time to plan effectively for the year (and years) ahead. Kudos to Lauren!
At the same time, the Worship Team is busy preparing for the Lent and Easter Season ahead. This coming Sunday is Pancake Sunday, followed by Ash Wednesday or February 14 and the first Sunday in Lent is February 18.
A few words about Lent. Lent is a time of reflection; its about the pain and suffering in the world. During Lent, we take time to prepare ourselves to walk with Jesus in his suffering towards that fateful day in which he was crucified. We walk with Him as He teaches His disciples, knowing they can’t understand what He is doing and saying. We walk with Him in His loneliness. We walk with Him as he takes on the suffering of others, offering love, compassion and inclusion – calling people to a new Commandment of loving one another as He loved. Its not an easy task to love. It requires sharing in the suffering of another human being. It requires strength, discipline, humility and a deep spirituality – a profound connection to each other and to God.
Maybe that’s why during Lent, the church has often encouraged people to give something up – chocolate is a popular thing to give up for example. Giving something up is a way of embracing suffering to some degree – to feel what Jesus felt.
For the 40 days of Lent, I am not going to ask you to give up chocolate. Been there, done that. Its not something helpful for me. But each day in Lent, I am going to ask you to give up something. Over the next few weeks, starting on Ash Wednesday, I will give you suggestions on things to give up, prayerfully and carefully. The 40 days of Lent do not include Sundays. So, each Tuesday or Wednesday for the next 6 weeks, I will give you 6 suggestions of things to give up and then on the 7th week, I will give you 4 suggestions – total is 40. As best I can, I will try to tie in the suggestions of things to give up with the service theme the following Sunday. For example, on the First Sunday in Lent, the theme is ‘practice’. Lent is about practice. It takes practice to hold on to joy and sorrow at the same time. So, starting on Ash Wednesday, I will ask you to give up the tendency we all have at times to be the victim. On Thursday, the suggestion will be to give up the fear of failure. And so on. I hope this makes sense.
On a different note, Barb came across a list of things to do during Lent – 40 Acts of Kindness. It is geared towards children, perhaps your children or grandchildren. It could be used to have a wonderful conversation with your kids or grandkids about Lent.
Take good care and have a beautiful week – enjoy the sunshine.
Marty