Today another Lenten journey begins.

Pray, pray, pray.

Let the prayers, fasting, sacrifice, repentance and penance begin.  Hardly a something to look forward to?  or is it?

In today’s gospel, in both the Revised Common Lectionary and the Roman Missal, we heard these words from the Gospel of Matthew:

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them.  Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” — Matthew 6:5-6

That call to prayer is what jumps out to me this Lenten season.  That image of going to an inner room and closing the door and praying to God in secret so resonates with where I am at this Ash Wednesday.  Rather than seeing this Lent as yet another 40 days of focusing on falling from grace, sinfulness, fasting, penance, and repentance, the idea of being called to return to a closer walk with God through prayer is so appealing.  The Anglican Bishop Tom Wright in his book New Testament Prayer for Everyone, describes prayer in this way:

Prayer, you see, is all about the mysterious reality that our world and God’s world are not far apart.  Our life and God’s life are not separated by vast distance… Our sphere of reality and God’s sphere of reality — earth and heaven in biblical language — were made to fit together.  Prayer is one of the key places where that happens. — Tom Wright

I am looking forward to focusing on prayer this Lent and experiencing this reality of earth and heaven, my life and God’s life, fitting together more closely.  Hope you will too.

Originally published Feb. 18th, 2015