WHO ARE WE?
Forward Day by Day letter

February 2, 2010

My Sisters and Brothers at Trinity,

            I am sure that you have heard the phrase “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” or “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  As we struggle with new year resolutions or look toward the season of Lent to take on new spiritual disciplines, we are making choices that we hope will effect long term changes in our lives.  Sometime these new disciplines open up worlds of possibilities where we discover new truths about ourselves that transforms the way we perceive the world and act within it.   The energy and imagination that comes from such experiences catapults us into a new creation, a world that looks very much different and we respond to it very differently.

            Often though, we find the change that we had hoped would trigger such a transformation to be simply an additional task that does not lead to transformative change, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  I once had a friend who was a terrible cook.  He decided to change his cooking so he painted his kitchen with no change to his skills, he bought new pots and pans with not change to his skills, he started buying organic produce with no change to his skill, he went into Williams and Sonoma purchased the best of all the kitchen machinery and gadgets with no change in his skills, and he had the best cookbook library I had ever seen yet no change to his skills.  As we talked I picked out a no-fail recipe that I had used. He looked at it and said he couldn’t possibly do that one, it required an hour of prep time.  All the changes he endured and probably continues to make did not change his view that prep-time is a waste of time.  In fact all the changes he made supported his belief because it even took longer to prepare a meal.  The availability of local fast food restaurants also contribute to the lack of any real change in his cooking habits.  And I also supported his belief by agreeing to meet him for lunch at a local restaurant (after all I have survival needs as well).

            Change does not always have to be earth shattering and life transforming.  It may simply be experimental and temporary such as experimenting with a Lenten discipline of daily prayers or scripture reading.  Yet if you are beginning to feel that you have been there before or have expectations of different results, perhaps the change you have chosen is like painting the kitchen walls to become a better cook and does not address the real question.  We are supported in maintaining patterns that seem always to remain the same by a collection of internal beliefs (prep time is a waste of time) and by external support (friends who rather dine out than risk the kitchen).  These are incredibly strong controls upon us.  Yet knowing that we are part of these complex systems and controls is the first step in freeing ourselves to make the changes we truly desire.  Instead of feeling guilty or inadequate because the changes did not last or have the transformative effect we were hoping for, we know that perhaps there is something else holding us in place.  Our responses to the change we desire become clues and revelations to our true self.  It is in knowing our true shelf that we become truly free to make choices that bring about change from within.

            I invite you to keep a holy Lent, to receive this gift of the ‘Forward Day by Day” and the invitation to a discipline of daily reading and prayer, or any other discipline you might take on or give up during Lent that will lead you to freedom, self-discovery and a deeper relationship with God.

            Please hold the community of Trinity, its people and ministries in your daily prayers as well, and ask that we as a community may continue to be strengthened in gifts, people and resources.             

God’s Peace,

Fr. David Robinson +