St. Christopher\u2019s Church offers the Key Biscayne community to enter the Christian season of Lent through contemplative Sunday evening services.<\/p>\n
\u201cLent is the 40-day season before Easter, when Christians focus their attention on God by being in prayer, ‘giving something up (such as chocolate, alcohol or social media) or taking something on like extra acts of charity or such,\u201d explained Reverend Willie Allen-Faiella, priest-in-Charge.<\/p>\n
In addition to St. Christopher\u2019s weekly 10 a.m., Sunday services, beginning on February 22, we will gather together each Sunday of Lent at 6 p.m., as the sun begins to set, to pray following a meditative form of worship that was begun by the ecumenical community in Taiz\u00e9, France, and has now spread throughout the world.<\/p>\n
Taize is an ecumenical community of which many people, especially young people, make pilgrimages to encounter God through prayer, simple music and community. The Saint Christopher\u2019s choir is pleased to once again participate in these hauntingly, beautiful and deeply spiritual Taize services during this penitential season of Lent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chanting, which the choir leads, is a signature aspect of the service, but no more important than the scripture readings and the meditative silence, which is perhaps the key component,\u201d reflected Clint Bush, longtime choir member.<\/p>\n
These services will be led by church member Silvia Gosnell, who holds a master\u2019s degree in Liturgy from Yale Divinity School.<\/p>\n
\u201cLent is a season of stillness \u2014 a quiet turning inward and outward,\u201d Gosnell said. \u201cIt invites honest self-reflection, simplicity and a deeper awareness of the sacred in ordinary life all around. To live a contemplative Lent is to slow down enough to notice: the breath, the silence, the ache, the grace all around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lent is not only about giving something up, but about making space \u2013 for presence, for prayer, for transformation. The contemplative path asks us to listen more than we speak, to see beyond the surface, to let go of what distracts us from love.<\/p>\n
It is a daily pilgrimage formed by the small things:<\/p>\n
\u2022 A pause at the beginning and the end of the day \u2014 to breathe and to be.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0A moment of gratitude before a meal.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0A whispered prayer for those who suffer.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0A quiet walk without awareness of the destination.<\/p>\n
In the silence, Lent becomes less about deprivation and more about awakening – a gentle preparation for resurrection, both within and around us.<\/p>\n
Key Biscayne residents are invited to join St. Christopher\u2019s in these coming Sundays of Lent at 6 p.m., as we become re-centered: more deeply aware that we are, in every moment, in the presence of a loving God.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to experiencing this deeper, contemplative Lenten offering. I hope you will join us, and I hope you will invite your friends who might be looking for an alternative form of worship,\u201d added Gosnell.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taize service at St. Christopher\u2019s is offered to the wider Key Biscayne Community as a way to slow down and deepen our spiritual lives before we reenter the hubbub of our daily lives,\u201d summed up Reverend Allen-Faiella.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Christopher\u2019s Church offers the Key Biscayne community to enter the Christian season of Lent through contemplative Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[75103,126,58205,123,125,124,73566,77179,61329,77180],"class_list":["post-161202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-easter","tag-key-biscayne","tag-lent","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-priest","tag-st-christophers","tag-st-christophers-by-the-sea","tag-willie-allen-faiella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}