SPIRITUALITY | UNUSUAL PERSPECTIVES | EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Ash Wednesday and Lent Are a Gift

This season is what brought me to the Church in the first place

Photo by author.

This morning in my small Episcopal parish, we chanted the Great Litany, and it was beautiful. We also used the Rite I liturgy, which is the older version.

My parish as well as most others predominantly use the new, updated language, but the Old English is used by my parish once a year. Normally, we are a church that uses modern, even experimental, liturgies, but the First Sunday in Lent is an exception.

The supply priest who was filling in was not a fan of the Great Litany, or the lectionary readings, but that happens sometimes. The Great Litany and Rite I for the First Sunday in Lent is a St. Patrick’s tradition.

The first Lent I spent at St. Pat’s, I didn’t go to church because Rite I was triggering to me, but every year since I’ve really loved it. The Great Litany, however, has always been something I loved.

There is something beautiful about chanting in unison with a room full of people about our communal relationships with God and each other. It reminds us that we can all be arseholes, but that we desire to worship together in harmony.