"The Sacred Meal" -- An Online Lenten Study Group

So Lent is duly Launched.

Both Ash Wednesday and Lent I have come and gone -- at All Saints Church with three Ash Wednesday services (one bilingual), with The Great Litany sung in procession (with incense AND an incense-free zone in the Guild Room) on Lent I at 9 & 11:15 and a Lenten Evensong at 5pm with music by Orlando Gibbons and a wonderful meditation by the Reverend Amy Cox in her preaching debut at All Saints.

And now we settle into the rhythm of the 40 Day Journey to Jerusalem -- marked by prayer, reflection and study ... and including about a dozen Lenten small groups led by staff and parish members.

This year, our offerings include something new: two online study groups. My colleague Sharalyn Hamilton is facilitating a discussion of the Borg/Crossan book "The Last Week." And I'm facilitating study of Nora Gallagher's "The Sacred Meal" -- a book that provides the perfect jumping off place to explore "the meaning behind the meal" of Holy Communion.

It is a book that connects the three foundational values of All Saints Church -- Spirituality, Community and Peace & Justice -- through history, theology and story telling.

Author Nora Gallagher writes, "The sacred meal that is part of our faith does more than just connect us to the holy. It connects us to each other."

This Lenten Study Blogspot is an experiment in exploring how we can both claim and deepen those connections -- using Gallagher's book to inform us and the internet to connect us.

Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith, you are welcome here.

Come and check it out.