What We’re Waiting For

“ O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

I am on record stating that this prayer is the single most important prayer in the Episcopal Church. It’s not about the most prominent day. Rather, it comes up on important days pointing forward. It is the last solemn collect in the liturgy for Good Friday. It is the last collect in the Great Vigil of Easter. Finally, it is the prayer for every ordination. Now, not everyone would agree with me, I suppose, but I think you can see why I would think this prayer is a statement of the Episcopal churches perspective on God acting in the world.


I can only say this has been a very interesting Lent. Years ago, a young man joked in my presence about giving up sex for Lent. He was not happy when I suggested that he couldn’t get credit for abstaining from something that wasn’t happening anyway. I have wondered whether I get credit for abstaining this lent, when so much of my abstention, my restriction, has been a matter of medical need and not of will. To the best of my ability, I added some discipline, but my sense of restriction was based on physical limitation more than spiritual motivation.


So we are coming to the end of Lent. I suppose I could imagine that I have some abstention left to undergo. My surgery has gone well, but it is going to be a while before I’m up to what I would call light duty, much less full strength. I still deal with my physical limits, my humanity and my mortality, hour by hour.


And there in lies my attention to this prayer. I still live, believing that God‘s purpose is to make things new. There seem to be so many who are convinced that God is about taking us back, returning to some “golden age.“ To do that they seem to need to tear down and to build, not for all, but for themselves. I don’t think that’s right. I think God is about moving out of the old and into the new, about restoring things, not like they were before, but as they might be.


Looking at the last few years, this is not the first time Lent has been hard, and not the first time that I looked for some sense of resurrection that was not just metaphorical, but tangible. And I trust that is out there. I still believe that things can be brought to their perfection by the one through whom all things were made, and that we can best experience it when we begin to actively participate in it.


I hope everyone has had a meaningful Holy Week. I wish everyone a blessed Easter.

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