It is always amazing to me how two weeks away can feel like ages and
the blink of an eye at the same time. After two weeks together in NYC,
delegates from the different faith based NGOs that make up our coalition
called Ecumenical Women had developed a daily routine involving
worship, attending events, participating in negotiations and advocating
for our platform. Now that we are all back home, we have been tossed
right back into our usual routines with little time to pause and reflect
on what we just accomplished together.
Later in the year, I
will be presenting on my time in New York with Evie Byrne, our youth
delegate, but for now I will share a few things that might start to tell
the story of our time at CSW58. (Since I was working on communications
for CSW58 I happen to know where all the best stuff has been posted).
The first is our Canadian Anglican blog
where delegates from this group have been sharing their own experiences
from this year's Commission. Soon there should be posts from even more
of the delegates as they complete their reports and send them in.
The second are links to Ecumenical Women's website and facebook page where you can find pictures, videos, articles and all kinds of other updates if you are so inclined.
Finally, here is a great article from the Guardian
that really does a good job of capturing the highs and lows of
participating in CSW, especially the process of negotiating on the
outcome document known as the Agreed Conclusions.
I look forward
to sharing my experience with St Philip's and I hope we can continue to
think about the ways in which we are called to work towards gender
justice.
This past week at St Philip's has been full of events and opportunities
to help us get ready for the season of Lent which begins this week with
Ash Wednesday.
Friday evening we welcomed children, youth and their families from the various Churches that make up 
Constellation
Ministry to St Philip's for a Mardi Gras Party and Open Gym. The party
included a bountiful potluck dinner, with special Mardi Gras treats
provided by the families.
Festive face painti
ng
and mask making were also options for those wanting to enjoy the
masquerade side of Mardi Gras.As usual for Open Gym, there were lots of
games to be played, led by Cameron.
After the games and
activities were done, Cameron and I led the group through a short
introduction to Mardi Gras and the season of Lent. Cameron helped us to
get out all of our Alleluias before we put them away for Lent and we
gave out booklets to ea
ch
family with different prayers and spiritual practices for the season of
Lent. These booklets were also given out as a part of our Youth Led
service on Sunday. Together, we went through the ideas for prayer,
fasting, reading Scripture and almsgiving found in the booklet and each
person was asked to write down one spiritual practice to which they
commit for the season of Lent.
Then we brought up palm crosses from last year's palm Sunday service and placed them with an Alleluia banner (decorated b
y
those who were at the Mardi Gras Party) into a container at the front
of the Church as a sign of our commitment to this spiritual practice.
At
the end of the service, after we together said goodbye to Alleluia for
Lent with a prayer, the paper banner and palm crosses were taken outside
and burned to make the Ashes for this year's Ash Wednesday Services.
For anyone who wasn't able to make it to the service on Sunday, here is a link to a pdf of the booklet we
gave out at the service. You can spend some time with your family at
home looking it over and deciding on a spiritual practice that you will
commit to for Lent this year. I hope this preparation and these
resources will help you to make a Lent a holy season for you and your
families.
As is the case with many feasts and holy days, the various
traditions of pre-Lent celebration such as Mardi Gras, have become
largely separated from their origins as part of the liturgical year.
Mardi
Gras now conjures colourful images of New Orleans, elaborate
masquerades and parades. Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Carnival all derive
their names from the same moment in the liturgical year. In the days
and weeks leading up to the solemn fasting season of Lent, the faithful
would use up all those foods from which they would then abstain. Sugar,
butter, cheese, meat, all these things were given up as a part of the
Lenten fast. (All these things thus become a part of a complete pancake
supper).
The tradition of making merry and having elaborate
parties during Mardi Gras was also an effort to have one last gasp of
celebration before turning to solemn self-examination and the
contemplation of the trials of Jesus' life and ministry.
Before
we dive head first into Lent, we take the time to say goodbye to the
things that we give up in order to look more closely and deeply into our
own hearts and souls. We put away certain things, not because they are
inherently bad or sinful, but because they are not for now. In
Ecclesiastes we read that there is a season and a time for everything.
If Lent is a time for solemnity and self-examination,; for almsgiving
and for fasting, for prayer and for turning towards God; then Mardi Gras
is a time for dancing and celebration; for feasting and laughter.
This
week we are invited to dwell fully in that time of feast before the
fast. On Friday at our Mardi Gras party, with friends and families from
St Philip's and beyond; this Saturday at the consecration of our new
Bishop; on Sunday when we commit ourselves to keeping a holy Lent, bury
our Alleluia and then eat pancakes together.
All these steps lead
us towards Ash Wednesday next week, when we will lay down all our
luxuries and worldly cares and burdens; then during the season of Lent,
we are called by Jesus to take his yoke, which is light and leads us to
freedom, but together with him we will carry it through the darkness of
Gethsemane and the cross, before we will feast again with the Risen
Christ at Easter.
