The purple book was very old had yielded to age and was in two pieces when it reached me. Its title was W.H. Seward's Travels Around the World. It has been published in 1873 and had no author. Further investigation yielded the fact that the scribe was Seward's adopted daughter, Olive, one of his traveling companions. In the manner of Victorian women, she did not put herself forward.

I briefly checked Seward's bio, learning that he was twice elected governor of New York before becoming Lincoln's Secretary of State. That role is the one he is best remembered for, including his purchase of Alaska, an act not universally appreciated at the time he negotiated it. I had totally forgotten that he too was wounded in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. He recovered and went on to serve as Secretary of State under Lincoln's successor.

All that aside, the yellowing volume on my desk is an incredible reflection on what the group of people who traveled with Seward saw and noted during a 14 month trip around the world, a trip that began in his hometown of Auburn, New York, and which headed west to board a steamship in San Francisco.

One of my favorite descriptions of Lent was from a pastor. She said, shrewdly, “Lent is about the mess.”

I think this statement covers it all: the messes we have made in our relationships, our lives… the messes within us—the feelings, hurts, resentments, stuck places. In asking us to look at our “mess” and to bring it before God, Lent asks us to embrace our full humanity, not to make us wrong, but make us seen—not hidden—in our own eyes and in God’s.

It can be quite an inventory! But the purpose of this honest examination is repentance, which literally means “to turn around.” To pivot. To make a new step.

As told by Elise Hanley

First off - How ever did I get here?

A couple of months ago, I was summoned up to Gayle Robinson’s office, Chief Financial Officer of Marble Collegiate Church. My immediate thought: I am so about to be laid off.

I ascended to the 7th floor of our office building with my heart pounding, trying to think of if or what severance package I may receive, and how long I could live off unemployment. Gayle was on the phone, but motioned me to sit down in her office and close the door. While she was probably only on the phone for 2 minutes tops, it felt like an hour. My face must have showed my shock and fear, for Gayle finally cupped her hand over the receiver and mouthed to me, “It’s OK!”

When she got off the phone, she informed me that I, along with Miriam Chaudoir, had been selected from the staff to go on the March 2010 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They had almost 80 people going, and thought that Sr. Carol and Dr. Brown could use assistance on the trip. I am still in as much disbelief now, as I write this from Tel Aviv, as I was that day. For a girl who has barely traveled, this is the greatest journey on which I have ever been, and I feel incredibly blessed to be here. And to go with Sr. Carol. And what better time to walk in Jesus’ footsteps towards Jerusalem than during Lent?

We have a wonderful group of attendees from the Marble Community and beyond. We’ve all come by different means – many have skimped and saved and sacrificed to come on this trip, purported to be Sr. Carol’s last. And now we’re here!

This blog is in two sections. First I want to talk about something important that is on my mind and heart, and following that is a discussion of this week’s music.

Marble’s Applause Addiction

It’s a slippery slope from a worship service with occasional applause to a performance with occasional worship. The amount of applause in the worship service has steadily risen since I arrived here 14 years ago. Very few parts of our service have been immune to it. Even the scripture reading received applause one summer Sunday a few years ago!

Furthermore, I believe we are unintentionally teaching our children to expect applause each time they sing in the sanctuary. Recently the children’s choir sang something from the rear choir loft for the first time, and because they did not receive applause we felt it necessary to assure them they had done nothing wrong and that, in fact, they had inspired a spirit of prayerfulness in the congregation. The lack of applause was an aberration to be explained and interpreted lest they feel like they had failed.

Who was Jesus?

The carpenter Joseph's son? An itinerant preacher? An executed political revolutionary? The Son of God?

The books of the Bible give Jesus many names:

Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13)
Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:2)
Bread of Life (John 6:35; 6:48)
Bridegroom (Mt. 9:15)
Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20)
Christ (1 John 2:22)
Firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15)
Gate (John 10:9)
Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)

My eye caught half a line of a book review recently. Apropos of something, the reviewer wrote: "We live in an age of too much information."

I thought about that, and I believe there is a level on which I agree. We are saturated with words, bits of very personal data we put out on the electronic waves, private conversations that are shared with everyone lucky enough to be on the same bus or street corner. I have several times thought that if I only knew more about the stock market and had more money, I have just heard some great inside info.

If we add to that the vast array of opinions on everything from medical issues to what kind of skis someone should have used on Mount Whistler, we are all on the road to overload. We reach it when we stir in all those tidbits about celebrities, half of which are sheer invention. We can absorb no more.

Today I am growing older. I write this on my birthday, a square on the calendar that reminds us in poignant fashion that time marches on.

I don’t feel older. I can’t even see it when I look in the mirror. Honestly, I can’t. But, when I look at photographs of “then and now,” I see it. I’m getting older.

And so, I ask myself today: Does that mean I’m getting wiser? Have I learned any lessons along the way that help me make more sense of life here and now? Have I assessed and absorbed, or do I settle for just numbly sleepwalking my way through it all?

We are blessed to hear such well-crafted and well-executed sermons each week. I was both challenged and inspired by Dr. Brown’s sermon this past Sunday, The Road to Jerusalem. He talked about the road we all must travel with Jesus during Lent. It’s not a trouble-free road but one we must walk if we are to grow spiritually.

Just as Jesus’ own journey to Jerusalem wasn’t an easy one, we too will face challenges and bumps along our own Lenten roads. This often happens as the Spirit woos us to embrace our weaknesses. As scary as this sounds, we are not to despair. This forty-day pilgrimage of self-discovery provides us with the time and space to become more vulnerable with, and thus closer to, an ever-loving and all-embracing God.