HAPPY LENT!

Lent has become my favorite season of the year; but not for the reasons you might think! I am not, for instance, a glutton for punishment, or discipline; and I ain't giving up chocolate for nobody! Often Lent is associated with these kinds of things, and it becomes a season of heaviness, of putting more 'to do's'--be they spiritual or otherwise--on one's plate. And, indeed, I used to look at Lent that way myself--in football terms, Lent was training camp--the brutal time of two-a-days that gets us ready for Easter.

I no longer look at Lent in this way. Lent, now, has become the season of 'laying the burden down' and living more lightly with life. The burden I attempt to lay down (and it is not easy) is not work but my own sense of importance, the self-judgements, the many standards that I have set for myself, and others, but which God has not laid down for me, ot for them. Lent, for me, is the season to enjoy living lightly as God's child rather than as the king of Randy World with all of the responsibility that that entails!

This year, we are encouraging ourselves to think of Lent differently: instead of 'giving something up' we are invited to 'take something on'--to do something to help someone and that will connect us more directly with the poor among us, in keeping with our study of the book A Hole in Our Gospel. At first, as I thought about this, it went against my Lenten grain, and I thought 'Training Camp', and said to myself, 'Well, if I am going to 'take on' something, then that is going to weigh me down, and it means I will need to give an additional something up beyond what I normally give up, so that my plate continues to be appropriately light for Lent.'

But the more I think about it, the more this 'taking on' something is right up the ol' Lenten alley.
For all we are really asked to 'take on', in the end, is our identity as the children of God, and to let all the other ways in which we have come to think about ourselves fall by the wayside. And one of the ways in which we live lightly and joyfully in this world as God's children is to be connected meaninfully with the poor. There will be crosses in the foyers of both campuses this Lent that will have on them opportunities to help others. Consider them as the clothes of the children of God; they are the clothes we were born to live in! I wish us each and all a light and happy Lent!

Randy

The Sphincters!

Several years ago I was a counsellor at a Junior High Summer Camp, in Minden, Louisiana. The theme of the camp was 'Many Parts, One Body', and each cabin got to decide on a part of the body to call itself; so we had 'The Arms', and 'The Feet,' 'The Ears', etc.--basic body part names; except for my cabin: the little nerds in my cabin thought that it would be cool to call themselves 'The Sphincters, the muscle in the body that helps you poop! Well that's just great--all of the other counsellors get to be arms, ears, and feet, while I am stuck all week with 'The Sphincters'.

I decided to run with this however--(no wait, that's a bad pun, sorry, this article is not working out the way I had forseen!) At some point during the week, when it was my turn to address all the cabins together, I talked about the sphincter muscle. I talked about the 'less honorable parts' as the apostle Paul calls them, getting the most honor, etc.

And one thing that they did not know about the sphincter muscle is that it is one of the most important muscles of all for singing! I told them of a phrase I learned from a voice teacher, who said that as you prepare to sing, think 'SINK, CLUTCH, DANGLE.' SINK--bend youre kness and take a comfortable, not a stiff, stance; CLUTCH--tighten your sphincter muscle, as doing that provides kind of a floor against which the diaphram pushes, giving your voice more power; and DANGLE--let you arms hang loose; let them dangle so that you let all the tension out of your torso. 'So you see,' I said to the fairly interested Jr. Highs, 'some of the most beautiful expressions of human beings are due to the tightening of the sphincter muscle!'

Quite a bit of giggling and hardy-har-harring took place, but I noticed that, from that point on, The Sphincters became the life of the camp--in a good way. They were proud now of being the sphincters; they performed the most service, had the most fun, and went home, I think, having learned something important--that sometimes, doing the less-honorable tasks of service is actually the most fun, most appreciated, and most life-giving thing one can do for another. R.

WHO DAT!

While I am normally a Peyton Manning fan, this week I am in solidarity with the WHO DAT nation, as the New Orleans Saints seek a victory in their first-ever appearance in the Super Bowl. Many prayers, all in good spoofing fun, are out there on the internet. I, too, in poor broken cajun, offer up one for the the team:

THE SAINTS PRAYER

Our Who Dats, who beat dem Vikings: you made de good times roll!

Dat snap was down; dem kick was up--we're off to de Super Bowl!

Give us one more, we humbly pray: deliver dat big King Cake

(As we cast spells on all dem Colts and Mannings)

And do not lead us to an early Lent, but kick us off to de Mardi Gras!

For thine is de gumbo, de voodoo, dem po' boy, forever and ever. Cayenne!

GOOOOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOO SAINTS!

Randy