St. Peter's Anglican Church, Akaroa, New Zealand
My wife and I returned from New Zealand yesterday. Other than being able to attend an Ash Wednesday service at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Akaroa, NZ (above photo), my Lent is off to a late start. So, I've decided to enter into the season now that we're back in the States with this poem from an Anglican priest, which I shared last year and which I may share every year going forward, since it captures the true spirit of the season. (In a tip of the hat to the Orthodox, I don't know how many times the Lenten spirit of Herrick's poem was stressed in the Lenten seasons of my 13-year stint in the Orthodox Church, regardless of the austerity of the Orthodox Lenten fast. I even heard one story about an Orthodox priest who, in confession, counseled a man to drink copious amounts of beer during Lent to counter his judgmental spirit.):
TO KEEP THY LENT
BY Robert Herrick (1591-1647)
Is this a Fast, to keep
The larder lean?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg'd to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?
No: 'tis a Fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat
And meat
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife
From old debate,
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that's to keep thy Lent.