RED DOOR RECORD

LENT 2010

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the

Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by
self-examination and repentance; by
prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by
reading and meditating on God’s holy
Word. And, to make a right beginning of
repentance, and as a mark of our mortal
nature, let us now kneel before the Lord,
our maker and redeemer.

Almighty God, you have created us out of

the dust of the earth; Grant that these ashes
may be to us a sign of our mortality and
penitence, that we may remember that it
is only by your gracious gift that
we are given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

921 Pleasant St. Worcester, MA
508-756-1990

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 1

 Nourished by God’s Word and Sacraments,
we strive to be a community of faith
where people come to know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.
Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant Street
Worcester, MA 01602
(508) 756-1990
www.stlukesworcester.org

Staff Convention Delegates

The Rev. Warren E. Hicks, Rector Don Groves
The Rev. S. Jane Griesbach, Deacon Donna Hartness
Lisa Antaya, Parish Administrator Robin Van Liew
Beth Letourneau, Sexton Dale Burton, Alternate

Officers
Senior Warden, Dan Arnold
Junior Warden, John Ferriss
Clerk, Alice Valentine
Treasurer, Rick Kimball
Asst. Treasurer, Debra Holmes
Asst. Treasurer, Janet McClure
Vestry
Susan Black
Louise Berendes
Chris Wychorski
Sharon Strzalkowski
Scott Roseen
Kristin Hartness Law


The Red Door Record is published
monthly by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
in both print form and on-line at our web-
site www.stlukesworcester.org
Editor: Mary Hicks


Send news items to:
reddoorrecord@gmail.com
or
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant Street
Worcester, MA 01602

The deadline for submissions is the

third Monday at Midnight of each month.

Page 2 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 MINISTRY NEWS
The Deacon’s Bench
Another calling of a deacon is to stay faithful in prayer.
Know that I pray for St. Luke’s parish every morn-
ing. I also work my way through the parish directory
to pray for individuals by name. My morning devotions
include prayers for the world and in this day Haiti is so
in need of all of our continued prayers. My column is therefore dedi-
cated to Haiti.

Hearts for Haiti – The Episcopal Church has designated the last Sunday of
Epiphany as World Mission Sunday. It also happens to fall on Valentine’s Day
this year. The earthquake in Haiti will be a little more than one month out on
Feb. 14. The media will have moved on to new stories. Understandably, our
thoughts and prayers may have also turned to other things. But the need in Haiti
will still be enormous. So, to celebrate World Mission Sunday, our diocese is
sponsoring “Hearts for Haiti” on Feb. 14. There will be several ways for our
parish to participate. Come and see!

The Episcopal Church began its work in Haiti in 1861, with the arrival of
the African-American priest, James Theodore Holly and his company of 100
emigrants from New Haven, CT. They were seeking a country where people of
color were not only legally but truly free. The bible was translated into Creole,
the language of the people.

The Episcopal Church of Haiti is the largest diocese of the U.S. Episcopal
Church (one of the 12 overseas dioceses.) It has more than 100,000 baptized
members in 109 congregations with only 40 ordained priests.

The Sisters of St. Margaret are an Episcopal Religious Order of women called
to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through their worship

Continued on Page 4

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 3

 MINISTRY NEWS
(Continued from Page 3)

and work, prayer and common life. Yes, there are orders of religious in the
Episcopal Church! Their commitment to God and to one another is expressed
through vows of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience. St. Margaret’s has a
convent in the Roxbury section of Boston, a presence in New York City and
until the earthquake, a convent in Port au Prince, Haiti. There are presently
twenty-seven Sisters, two dogs and five cats in the community. The ages range
from thirty to ninety-four! Members come from all walks of life. Among them
are former schoolteachers, nurses, musicians, and administrators. The commu-
nity is also multi-cultural. Five sisters are from Haiti, two are from Canada, and
one is from Tortola. Two sisters are ordained priests in the Episcopal Church,
and one is currently in the ordination process in the Diocese of Massachusetts.

The Sisters of St. Margaret established their convent in Port-au-Prince in 1927,

and have worked tirelessly for the people of Haiti ever since.

Before the earthquake, the Sisters directed a scholarship program for children
who otherwise would be left out of school for lack of ability to pay even mini-
mal fees. They did this from their Convent in Port-au-Prince which has been
destroyed. The Sisters directed the making of hand-embroidered church linens.
They also directed Foyer Notre Dame, a home for elderly, indigent persons that
includes terminal care and burial. This work has been in continuous service
since 1962, and is supported entirely by donations. The Foyer is partially de-
stroyed.

The Sisters interact and collaborate with local clergy and parishes throughout
the Diocese of Haiti. The diocese lost their beautiful cathedral with many mu-
rals and original art work. The home of the bishop and his wife was destroyed
and they are now among the homeless. Many Episcopal churches were de-
stroyed. The Sisters and diocesan staff are all safe. After three days without
hearing directly from the Sisters we heard they were safely camped out on a
soccer field with several hundred other Haitians. Once security can be insured,
(Continued on Page 7)

Page 4 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 MEET YOUR NEW VESTRY
Senior Warden, Dan Arnold
First I'd like to thanks Barbara Groves for her service as Senior Warden this
past year, 2009. I hope I can fill her shoes even a little.

Hello, my name is Dan Arnold and I'm looking

forward to my next year on the Vestry as Senior
Warden. For those who don't know me let me
tell you a bit about myself. My family and I
have been at St. Luke's since Easter 2006. I'm
38 years old. I'm married to Brooke Arnold
(6/23/02 -Christ Episcopal Church - Roch-
dale). We have 3 children - Olivia, 6, Daniel, 4,
and Eleanor, 19 months. I was born in Ware,
MA but grew up in Monson, MA. I graduated
Monson Jr.-Sr. High School 1989 and
then UMass Amherst in 1993. I currently work
as the Business Manager for the Mass Dept. of
Children and Families (DCF) Worcester West
Area Office - you might know it as DSS. In the
past I've been a Social Worker for children in an intensive foster care program
in Springfield. I like camping and hiking, reading and crossword puzzles, as
well as home improvement and landscape projects. Baseball is my favorite
sport and of course I'm a Red Sox fan.

In my life at St. Luke's I'm involved with the Hope for Housing ministry. I'm
also looking forward to seeing what the Partnership for Missional Church
PMC) process will yield. I don't know what the future holds for the St. Luke's
community but I do know that it is a community that I will enjoy traveling with
down God's pathway. What is God calling us to do? Let's listen and find out
together.

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 5

 MEET YOUR NEW VESTRY
John Ferris, Junior Warden
Hello,

I'm Dr. John Ferriss, the new junior warden. I

joined St. Luke's 9 years ago, after moving
back to New England from Hershey, PA.

I previously served on the Vestry from 2005-

2008. I work as an arthritis specialist at
Wing Hospital in Palmer. I'm married to Dr.
Mary Maloney, with 3 children (youngest is 22). We enjoy going to our sum-
mer cottage in VT, biking, and traveling.

I'm a military history and train buff. My handyman skills are limited, so I will
need God's help and the help of many of you, as I serve St. Luke's in this new
role.

Rick Kimball, Treasurer

Richard Kimball, a 25 year member of St.
Luke's, having held every possible post in
Vestry, so enjoyed his last stint as Treasurer
that he was delighted to take up the position
again in 2010.

Rick, a professor of psychology at Worcester

State College is also a docent
at Tower Hill Botanical Gardens, a long-time member of Worcester Chorus as
well as its librarian and occasional narrator, an active faculty member of the
WISE program, and a legendary expert on Hostas. He has been an initiating
participant in DOCC, and a past leader of evening Bible studies.

St. Luke's is very lucky that Rick was willing to take up the tough and thankless
task of Treasurer.

Page 6 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 MEET YOUR NEW VESTRY
Susan Black, Vestry Class of 2012

~~~~~~~~~
The Deacon’s Bench, Continued from Page 4

they will go to stay at the home of one of their Associates. They wish to stay in
country to help wherever they are able.

Living close to the people they love, the Sisters share the undying belief of the
Haitian people that God is good, “Bon-Die-Bon”, and that the words of the 46th
Psalm are for them: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble... It is he who makes war to cease in all the world.”

Our own Sharon Strzalowski is an Associate of St. Margaret’s. I visit the Bos-
ton Convent for my annual retreat. So St. Luke’s is connected to the Sisters.
Visit their web site at www.ssmbos.com to learn more about the Society of
Saint Margaret.

Deacon Jane

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 7

 P.M.C. UPDATE
"The mystery of Pentecost is that the gift of discernment is breathed into the
world, enabling us to see the presence of the divine in the midst of the human --
not as an aside or an afterthought, but as the main event of our lives" Jay Ro-
chelle, in *Christian Century*, 22 May 1985, p. 535

All Vestry PMC Retreat

Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hosted at Church of the Good Shepherd in Clinton, MA
Facilitator: Father Will Bergmann

The vestry will review the reports presented at the Corporate Spiritual Discern-
ment event in November as well as the results of that session. Our task is to
then discern through Dwelling in the
Word, prayer and guided facilitation
one Missional challenge to undertake
this year. Where is God already at
work here in Worcester, in our
neighborhood, in our parish, amongst
the parishioners? How do we tap into
what God is doing and follow God's
lead at this time?

This Missional Challenge will be shared

with the congregation and a Missional Engagement Team will be assembled to
"do the work that we have been given to do".

Chris Wychorski
PMC Team Member

Page 8 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 P.O.W.E.R.
I wrote “Grace for the Earth” 9 years ago, in the middle of a snowstorm,
when Anna was a baby and we were living on top of a beautiful hill in
western Massachusetts. Our recent snow reminded me to share it:

Grace for the Earth

“What plants did you eat for lunch today?” I ask an eager group of girl scouts
circled around me at the wildlife sanctuary where I teach nature programs to
urban young people.

They look at each other and then me, quizzically. “None!” they shout. “We
don’t eat plants.”

“How about animals? What animals did you eat for lunch today?” I continue.
Now they think I’m playing a game. They giggle and answer me like I’m a
silly two-year-old. “Yuck! We don’t eat animals for lunch.”

When I ask who ate a hamburger today, several hands go up. “Did you know
that hamburger meat comes from a cow? That a hamburger bun is made from
wheat, a plant that grows on farms? And that ketchup is made from tomatoes?”

Now the young girls are taken aback. They consider this information. I ask
again who has eaten plants for lunch and this time all hands go up. They have
made the connection.

I love working with these young people because I’m able to teach lessons that I
am still learning. I, too, was an urban child and I didn’t understand that the
food I ate, the clothes I wore, the water I drank, the toys I enjoyed came from
the earth. In my child’s mind, “things” belonged to the human world, and na-
ture, somewhere way out West, belonged to the earth. In short, I did not under-
stand that I lived upon the earth and that everything, absolutely everything I
used, came from the earth.

(Continued on Page 10)

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 9

 P.O.W.E.R.
(Continued from Page 9)

My absolute dependence upon the earth is enough to give me pause, but as a

Christian, my dependence upon the earth points to an even deeper dependence.
The first chapter of Genesis describes the hard work God did to create the earth.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen1: 1, RSV).
When I use some “thing,” it is not only a gift from the earth, it is a gift from
God. Everything in my world is part of the sacred creation of God.

Since the birth of my daughter five months ago, I’ve begun to imagine the earth
as God’s womb, which nourishes us, grows us, and sustains us. God is, of
course, greater than the earth, but we live within this beautiful earth which lives
within God. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and
those who dwell therein” (Ps24: 1, RSV). Nothing belongs to us. Everything
we have belongs first to the earth and finally to the God who created the earth.

This truth – that everything we have comes from the earth which comes from
God – is so basic, and yet our behavior, my behavior, suggests that it is a truth
we do not understand and do not live. The word “consume” comes from a
Latin root meaning, “to take.” When we consume things, and almost all of us in
America consume more than we need, we literally waste the earth. Why would
we want to squander the living creation of God? When we manufacture the
things we consume, we leave behind garbage and pollution. Why would we
want to destroy the sacred creation that sustains us? When we take more than
we need, we literally steal from God who intended the creation for all who
dwell there.

Sometimes, I feel frustrated that there is so little in Christian ritual and practice
to remind us of our connection to God’s earth, but usually, if I look hard
enough, I find something right there under my nose. In this case, I discovered
the answer sitting across the table from me. Before each meal, my husband
thanks God for the food he is about to eat and enjoy. Following his example,
I’ve found it helpful to extend the ancient practice of table grace to everything I

(Continued on Page 11)

Page 10 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 P.O.W.E.R.
(Continued from Page 10)

use. I say a short prayer each time I consume. When I flick on a light, I thank
the coal buried deep in the earth, which powers the electrical currents in my
house. When I turn on the computer, I thank the petroleum, millions of years
in the making, which became the plastic
of my machine. When I use a piece of
paper, I thank the tree, which gave its
life for me to write upon it. Especially,
when I drink water or take a shower, I
thank the aquifer under the ground,
which supplies me with this essential
liquid. Each prayer establishes the con-
nection, sometimes obvious, sometimes
hidden, between my consumption and
the earth and between the earth and
God the creator.

When I follow this practice faithfully, I

find myself saying a quick prayer with
each step. Every moment I consume, every moment I give thanks. My con-
tinuous words of gratitude serve as a constant reminder that everything comes
from the earth, which comes from God. With these thoughts constantly in our
minds and hearts, how can we do anything but consume less, consume more
wisely, and share more of what we use?

Kristin Steinmetz
For P.O.W.E.R.
(Parishioners Optimistically
Working toward Environmental
Responsibility)

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 11

 ST. LUKE’S TURNS 100!
We are looking forward to a fun year as we celebrate our 100th!!

Just some of the things coming this year:

Visits from former Rectors and Clergy – They can tell us how they fit into
the history of the St. Luke’s community and what they took with them.

A Weekend Event celebrating the mid point of our 100 year history by
Celebrating the Sixties – DJ, dinner, dancing and fun!!

A community quilting project creating a Altar Frontal and more.

A All Parish Outreach event.

A Big Reunion Celebration in November –

Inviting Current Past and Future parishioners to a reunion.

Page 12 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 OUR REFLECTIONS
Notes on Haiti’s Earthquake

Since Kobe’s Hanshin earthquake of 1995 forced me and my family to prema-

turely end teaching in Japan, I came back to St. Luke’s more than a little inter-
ested in the theology of earthquakes. The issue of God and natural disasters---
God and suffering in the world—or the issue of theodicy still has an immediacy
for me; events recently in Haiti only rekindled those interests. Below are some
of the answers to my fundamental question, how does one reconcile God and
human suffering? The first item merely restates the issue in its most recent for-
mulation—there follows David Hume’s classically brief statement of the prob-
lem, and then responses---all of them inadequate, it seems to me, although I
still admire Reverend Baldwin’s direct answer to me in a letter written at the
time.

From Deborah Sontag’s NYTimes article, January 17, 2010:

“In varying versions, this scene repeated itself throughout the Haitian capital on
Sunday. With many of their churches flattened and their priests and pastors
killed, Haitians desperate for aid and comfort beseeched God to ease their grief.
Carrying Bibles, they traversed the dusty, rubble-filled streets searching for
solace at scattered prayer gatherings. The churches, usually filled with passion-
ate parishioners on a Sunday morning, stood empty if they stood at all.
Not far from the makeshift evangelical church at Champ de Mars, parishioners
gathered outside the ruins of the capital city’s main cathedral to hear an appeal
for forbearance from a bishop." We have to keep hoping,” said Bishop Marie
Eric Toussaint, although he acknowledged that he had no resources to help the
many who were suffering and that he found it hard to state with any confidence
whether the cathedral would ever be rebuilt.

Built in 1750, the cathedral, once an architectural centerpiece of the city, is now
but a giant pile of twisted metal, shattered stained glass and cracked concrete.
Bishop Toussaint said the quake had toppled the residences where priests
stayed, crushing many of them.
(Continued on Page 14)

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 13

 OUR REFLECTIONS
(Continued from Page 13)

The Sacre Coeur cathedral, another grand structure, also lay in ruin, with a
large, perfectly preserved Christ on a cross bearing witness to the destruction
below — and a woman’s body lying across the street atop a mattress, her head
resting on a pillow, sheeting draping over her.
“It may seem like a strange moment to have faith,” said Georges Verrier, 28, an
unemployed computer expert, his eyes moving from the body to the church.
“But you can’t blame God. I blame man. God gave us nature, and we Haitians,
and our governments, abused the land. You cannot get away without conse-
quences.” Sounding a similar note, a self-appointed preacher at Champ de Mars
stood on a crate during the makeshift service and proclaimed the earthquake
punishment for a long list of sins that he enumerated in a singsong. “We have
to kneel down and ask forgiveness from God,” he said.”
David Hume’s formulation, from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able but
not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both willing and able? Whence then is
evil?”

Jesus' answer, from Luke: 13: 4, 5: “…Or those eighteen who were killed
when the tower of Siloam fell on them---do you think that they were worse of-
fenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you
repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

From Bart Erhman’s God’s Problem: …”Moreover, if the Christian God is

the one who suffers, then who is the one who created and sustains this world?
Isn’t it the same God? By saying that God suffers with his creation, we seem to
have sacrificed the view that God is sovereign over his creation. In other words,
once again, God is not really GOD. And we are still left with the problem of
suffering: why is it here?”

…”Some of the biblical authors believed that suffering was ultimately redemp-
tive; and it is true that there can often be a silver lining in the hardships we
Continued on Page 15)

Page 14 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 OUR REFLECTIONS
(Continued from Page 14)

encounter. But I just don’t see anything redemptive when Ethiopian babies die
of malnutrition, or when thousands of people die today (and yesterday, and the
day before) of malaria, or when your entire family is brutalized by a drug-
crazed gang that breaks into your home in the middle of the night.” Or when
300,000 die in a tsunami, or 100,000 perish in a Haitian earthquake.

…”Some authors—such as the one who wrote the powerful poetic dialogues of
Job—maintained that suffering is a mystery. I resonate with this view, but I do
not think highly of its corollary---that we have no right to ask about the answer
to the mystery, since we are, after all, mere peons and God is the ALMIGHTY,
and we have no grounds for calling him to task for what he has done. If God
made us (assuming the theistic view for a moment), then presumably our sense
of right and wrong comes from him. If that’s the case there is no other true
sense of right and wrong but his. If he does something wrong, then he is culpa-
ble by the very standards of judgment that he has given us as sentient human
beings. And murdering babies, starving masses, and allowing—or causing—
genocides are wrong…”

…”In my opinion, this life is all there is. My students have difficulty believing
me when I tell them that that’s a view taught in the Bible—but it is. It is explic-
itly the teaching of Ecclesiastes, and it is a view shared by other great thinkers,
such as the authors of the poetic dialogues of Job. So maybe I’m a biblical
thinker after all. In any event, the idea that this life is all there is should not be
an occasion for despair and despondency, but just the contrary. It should be a
source of joy and dreams—joy of living for the moment and dreams of trying to
make the world a better place, both for ourselves and for others in it.”

From Jurgen Moltmann’s The Crucified God:

“It is necessary to remember the martyrs, so as not to become abstract. Of them

(Continued on Page 16)

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 15

 OUR REFLECTIONS
(Continued from Page 15)

and of the dumb sacrifices it is true in a real, transferred sense, that God him-
self hung on the gallows, as E. Wiesel was able to say. If that is taken seri-
ously, it must also be said that, like the cross of Christ, even Auschwitz is in
God himself. Even Auschwitz is taken up into the grief of the Father, the sur-
render of the Son and the power of the Spirit. That never means that Auschwitz
and other grisly places can be justified, for it is the cross that is the beginning of
the Trinitarian history of God. As Paul says in I Cor. 15, only with the resurrec-
tion of the dead, the murdered and the gassed, only with the healing of those in
despair who bear lifelong wounds, only with the abolition of all rule and au-
thority, only with the annihilation of death will the Son had over the kingdom
to the Father. Then God will turn his sorrow into eternal joy. This will be the
sign of the completion of the Trinitarian history of God and the end of world
history, the overcoming of the history of man’s sorrow and fulfillment of his
history of hope. God in Auschwitz and Auschwitz in the crucified God—that is
the basis for real hope which both embraces and overcomes the world, and the
ground for a love which is stronger than death and can sustain death. It is the
ground for living with the terror of history and the end of history, and never-
theless remaining in love and meeting what comes in openness for God’s fu-
ture. It is the ground for living and bearing guilt and sorrow for the future of
man in God.”

From a letter by Rev. Lang Baldwin, February, 1995:

“A major earthquake brings immense suffering. Non-believers, pagans may try

to help if their contact with the suffering does not cause them too much pain.
But because they devote most of their efforts in life to avoid pain, to find com-
fort, to achieve power that keep at a distance those who threaten their security
and peaceful happiness, they will, much more quickly than true Christians, turn
away in horror from terrible suffering. For one inspired by the spirit of Christ,
suffering is seen in a different light. When life at its best, as seen in Jesus, con-
sists in the exercise of loving service of others, in self-giving, in serving

(Continued on Page 17)

Page 16 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 OUR REFLECTIONS
(Continued from Page 16)

rather than having, then suffering—either one’s own or that of others—ceases

to be a threat. Instead, it becomes the occasion and reason for a close relation-
ship with God and thus to experience genuine life. Without suffering there
would be no creative and fruit-bearing love in the world. The condition of iso-
lation from suffering that is most earnestly desired by pagans is actually a con-
dition of utter sterility and death, a condition where love is lacking. So suffer-
ing serves God’s purpose, which is to help humans grow in love. I dare to sug-
gest this as an answer to the original question—An earthquake is a creative act
of our God who loves his whole creation.”

John Zeugner
St. Luke’s Lenten Book Study
Join us on Wednesday evenings in March as we read and study Shusaku Endo’s
A Life of Jesus. The book is “A simple and powerful retelling of the life of
Christ as seen through the eyes of a Japanese novelist.” according to Ama-
zon.com. Books are available numerous places online starting at around $10 on
Amazon.com. Less expensive copies, both new and used, are available
through bookfinder.com. The ISBN for the book is 978-0809123193.

We’ll meet to talk about Endo’s rendering of Jesus and discuss how it informs
our understanding of Jesus life and ministry. Alice Valentine and Fr. Warren
will provide cultural and theological background for the discussion. The eve-
nings will begin with Evening Prayer at 6 followed by a simple soup, bread and
salad supper at about 6:15 with class beginning at 7.

It is not necessary to be able to attend all meetings of the class to contribute and
benefit from a different ‘take’ on Jesus than you may be used to.

If you plan to attend contact Fr. Warren at padrewarren@stlukesworcester.org

or sign up in the narthex. You can also volunteer to provide a part of the eve-
ning meal in either place.

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 17

 RECTOR’S NOTES
The text on the front of this issue of the Red Door Record comes di-
rectly from the Ash Wednesday Liturgy. The invitation of God and the
Church is to the keeping of a Holy Lent. For me and for a long time
I’ve had some very particular ideas about what Lent was all about. We
talked about what we were going to ‘give up’ for Lent. I still think in
terms of what sacrifice I’ll make for Lent but the fruits of that sacrifice
have changed significantly for me over time.

This is no more true than maybe it is this year. Recovering from physi-
cal ailments has afforded me what I seldom take enough of and that is
time to reflect and limit my commitments.

In November I attended a seminar on David Allen’s Getting Things

Done methodology of getting to be more organized and productive. I
had no idea what sort of impact those two days would have on my
spiritual life. I went to the seminar just two weeks after going away to
the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) in Boston for an extended
silent retreat that was long overdue. I came back from retreat feeling
like I was sufficiently calm and centered to make better choices about
the balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ as a part of living my vocation
as priest, father, husband and friend.

Two weeks later, I found myself sitting with a bunch of other clergy
and their administrators and admitting that I was as overwhelmed as
when I’d left.

Then our presenter for the day quoted one of David Allen’s guiding
principles in Getting Things Done, namely that ‘whatever has your
attention, has your attention.’ At first it seemed obvious but then I re-
alized what terrific wisdom was in that statement.

Page 18 Red Door Record Lent 2010

 RECTOR’S NOTES
If I am preoccupied with many things, I neglect other things and some of
those things neglected are not only important, they are critical. Thoughts
of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) swept into my mind and the words
of Jesus convicted me, “you are worried and distracted by many
things.” (Luke 10:41).

This long introduction leads me to what I hope is the point for me and
may be of some use to you for this Lenten season of reflection, repen-
tance and preparation to live anew in the light of the Resurrection. I
need to get back to the basics of being present to Jesus and what is most
important and all the rest will fall into place.

In the Getting Things Done world, we are called to take all that comes
into our minds and take them and put them in a trusted place where we
can return to them and process them based on our values. Isn’t it the
same with our lives in Christ?

What has my attention has my attention and some of it’s not so very im-
portant as I’d like to think. Maybe I’d all do well to find a trusted place
to park my worries until I get some clarity on things and then, and only
then, return and pick them up again. I’m convinced Jesus’ is that place.
If I am willing to do that, I suspect I’ll have gained some holy perspec-
tive, be clearer and more centered and find myself saying no to the many
things and engaging more faithfully in the One Thing of most impor-
tance, namely my relationship to God and my part in God’s Mission.

That’s my Lenten story, and I pray, by the grace of God I’ll be sticking
to it. Pay attention to what and who has your attention and live your life
accordingly. May we all keep a Holy Lent, in God’s name.

—Fr. Warren +

Lent 2010 Red Door Record Page 19

 Lenten Worship and Prayer Opportunities
During the 40 days of Lent there will be numerous opportunities for en-
tering into corporate prayer. The following is a list of worship services
throughout each week.

Monday - Morning Prayer at 9 am

Tuesday - Morning Prayer at 9 am
Wednesday - Eucharist at 7 am and
Wednesday - Evening Prayer at 6 pm
Thursday - Evening Prayer at 6 pm

I hope that you can make one or more of these ser-

vices a part of your Lenten devotion.

Father Warren

The Red Door Record is published monthly.

Editor: Mary Hicks. Send news items to: reddoorrecord@gmail.com
or St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 921 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA 01602

Page 20 Red Door Record Lent 2010