Redeemer Review
The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
February, 2007
From the Vicar
Gung Hay Fat Choy! February is a month of many surprises. In addition to
Valentine’s and President’s Days and Ski Week, this is the month that
ushers in the Chinese Year of the Pig. Redeemer is going all out to
celebrate! Beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 17th, we will host a
troupe of Chinese acrobats and the Lion Dancers of the Marin Chinese
Cultural Center along with an Asian Barbecue provided by John Chung and
his amazing complement of Grillers. Invite your friends and neighbors and
come to a party you will long remember!
Lent begins the following Wednesday, February 21, with three services of Imposition of Ashes
and Holy Communion at 6:30 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. Lent is a holy time of prayer, reflection and
companionship and in keeping with Redeemer’s mission as a community church, during the season of
Lent we will reach both into Marin and out to the world as we explore the theme of One Earth: A
Growing Concern. The One Earth Lent began with a question raised by both An Inconvenient Truth and
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals designed to end world poverty. Given the fact that
our species passed earth’s carrying capacity in 1980, and that it would now take anywhere from three to
five earths to support the American lifestyle, what would our life look like if we lived in such a way that
it would only take one earth to support us? What is it about life that has suddenly turned unstable?
The One Earth Lent is about people and nature and faith and community, a single stream with
many branches. We will explore it in worship, conversation, study and action. Our Sunday services will
be geared to themes of Biblical landscapes and the household of faith. Our March movie will have an
environmental theme. We will offer a series of practical, hands on events to help us all live better, and
we are producing a One Earth book of Lenten meditations which consider life in community in light of
the Lectionary readings of the season
.
Jesus came to save the world, and the One
Earth Lent takes that very seriously. But we have also learned from Jesus that
saving the world is less a project than it is an act of love. Thus the One Earth is
about celebrating our neighbors. It’s about looking after our children and our
elders. It’s about honoring the cycles of productivity and dormancy that lead to
abundant, generative growth. It’s about God so loving the world that he gave his
only son.
Blessings,
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