This is how love works...

My father taught us about the work of Love.

On Christmas Eve, a night when generosity and gratitude are so dear, my father worked only a half a day. He would have stopped at the Planters Peanut shop to buy a quart of hot peanut butter. We kids would have warm peanut butter sandwiches. My parents would have a glass of sweet Duff Gordon sherry. Then we were off to buy the Christmas tree.

But first, a trip to our local parish church, Saint Joan of Arc, where my family made a Christmas Offering to the Remember the Neediest Fund. He taught me to leave money for the hotel maids, to tip the people who provided the services that made my life easier. He would leave $5.00 on the dresser of our hotel room as we prepared to leave. A woman has cared for us, made our beds and cleaned the room for us to enjoy. That money is intended to thank her. I have never forgotten his lessons. That is how love works. Love is always about the simplest things.

It is our hope that the narratives that are populating this devotional will move your good heart. After all, If your heart wasn't good, you would not be reading this in the first place.

“We invite you in the name of the Church to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self denial; by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

- Book of Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ash Wednesday; p 265

“What we call the beginning is most often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is always our starting point.”

- T. S. Eliot

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been
lives in a dream and waits by the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

Father McKenzie
Writing the words to a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near. Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people…where do they all come from?

- Paul McCartney 1961

“If I only had $1.00 and no debit or credit cards with me, what could I buy for breakfast?” The waitress grinned and answered: “Nothing, really.”

The fact is, I could not buy a cup of coffee at most food counters.

Would you be willing to give $1.00 a day for each of the 40 days of Lent - if I promised that it could and would make a difference? Money invested always makes a difference. Money increases in value when it is joined with other money.

As you pray this devotional and read the narratives, would you give $1.00 for each of the 40 days of Lent - $40.00?

Love multiplies. Money multiplies when it is joined together with other money. Like loaves and fishes. We are simply looking for ways to make a difference. Holy Innocents’ has 225 pledging families/ individuals. If each gave $1.00 dollar a day for 40 days, well that is $9,000. Love is always about the simplest things.

If I find a penny and give it to you. That means we’ll both have a wish come true. A penny is like magic lying on the ground. Like picking up a wish that's waiting to be found. So if I find one, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you my penny. And if we are lucky, we will soon have many.” 

-Jeff Moss Sesame Street