A Clarification

A Clarification.  The last post I wrote was a lot of information processing in my head and I think I may have not ordered it properly while attempting to write.  My lent was not all that great, and at one point I lamented in my previous post all the wasted time spent in lenten preparations and services, a time that I now see as not spent well.  Let me clarify.

When I was a part of the clergy, I read scripture daily, a lot of scripture daily.  I must confess that I now read the daily readings, but the bulk of my day is earning a secular living.  I pray the hours, but again, that is small time in between worrying about the current job.  I go to rosary, but that is lunch break, and though the benefits are there, it did not place me with Christ as I had once been.  It is only through being emerged in Christ’s journey to the cross that lent really comes to life.  Without that emersion, all the services, event, and programs are just that, services, events and programs.  When I sat in the darkness at the vigil, as a clergyman, I had to fight back the tears, as Christ was not present, He was crucified and died.

As a layman, all that simply does not enter as deeply.  And I now see why lenten series are not attended as well as I thought they should be.  I participated in lent, I did not walk the path to the cross with Christ; there is a huge difference.

So now you are ready for the answer to this issue, laid out in 3-7 easy steps!

I don’t have it.

What I do have is the motivation to find a way in which the laity can walk that path with Christ, all the while tend to their obligations to their family.

I have long said that “Sunday School” was a form of religious education that needed to be drastically changed, as I saw the attendance numbers, people vote with their feet.  I now see that this issue is much more wide spread.  The theology, the liturgy, the tradition is all there and as meaningful as it was that first Easter in the synagogue, but all that surrounds it in church life needs a good overhaul.  I remember saying as much as a rector only to get back the “ you must be mad” look.  As a layman, I can say it all I want, as I know until I come up with a viable plan, this blog is as far as it will go.  Theology, liturgy and tradition cannot and should not be touched except by the hierarchy of the Church, but how we otherwise conduct church life should be constantly modified so that we provide the most effective evangelism to an increasingly pagan world.  We need to provide ourselves as laity, and the clergy, better tools to make God’s work more effective, producing better results.

Well thats it, a clarification that both clarifies, and at the end, offers no solution.  I was never an English major, or (as many will attest) spent much time in the building labeled “English” at Texas Tech, but I assume there is a word for clarification with no answer, I’m thinking conundrum.  I like a good puzzle, so here is one that I hope we can all work on together.