A Holy Lent--Various Unrelated Threads

Sitting here watching horrendous coverage of the earthquake in Japan today, or rather yesterday for them. On the one hand filled with horror at the devastation, and on the other actually suppressing a great overwhelming desire to laugh at the ridiculous wall sized touch screen monitors that every male news anchor seems to have whereon he can circle the names of cities and draw little arrows and generally give no particularly relevant  information about what's going on other than that Not Enough People Have Died....yet. There's always a note of lingering hope in the voice of such an anchor.

Matt, who long ago in his far off youth got to visit Japan, has had both the tv and internet going all afternoon.

I've wandered my way through the day trying to ignore the fact that my mother is leaving tomorrow (Pretty Sure We Will Not Survive) and trying to get weepy little kids to take naps after being up sick all night. So Grateful that this bug made it through all of us in a week. Pretty sure, actually, we had two different illnesses cycling through at the same time. Just so so glad that everyone actually got it in a timely fashion and I'm not facing the weekend worrying about one or two "healthy" kids possibly throwing up suddenly at an unhelpful moment.

Realized, as I missed all the Ash Wednesday services, that the reason I LOVE Lent is because I love church so much. And when I say church, I mean the actual Church Service, although all the other stuff is nice too. I love Holy Week particularly for all the different types of services there are and the fact that there's at least one every day. Miss the long years past when we had a mid week service. Miss being able to go to Morning Prayer every day. Wish I had the time and energy to get Evening Prayer a couple of times a week (with music).

Battled down real envy this week when I popped into the sacristy to bother our Lovely Church Secretary about the bulletin for the altar guild ladies who were rearranging the linens and fussing with last year's palms and washing up the tiny little chalice in the traveling communion set. Matt likes theology and teaching and preaching. I'd rather fuss over the liturgy and whether the altar flowers and set precisely in the right place on the altar. It's like we're MFEO.

So I'm not aiming very high, this lent. I've given up complaining because I've noticed that my clever laser-like "analysis" of every tiny situation is trending pretty negative lately. Not taking up any kind of food fast because its enough to sustain the life of this Massive Baby. And I'm going to read carefully through Hebrews.

And hopefully we'll all give up being sick and just be healthy. And maybe we'll start collecting pennies for Japan as we pray for them. What a luxury to even have a church, or a standing house, and one's whole family safe and sound. From the BCP: Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake.  Amen.