Faith | Cats | Hope | Grace

Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany or the last Sunday before Lent begins on Wednesday. In the cycle of the church year, things will change a bit. Vestment colors change, the words of our liturgy adapt a bit. But I think the thing that catches us the most, is that during the penitential season of Lent, we don’t say Alleluia. Different parishes have various ways through the children’s programs to note that Lent has no alleluias in it. Sometimes every child writes the word on a piece of paper that then gets put in a box and tucked away in the Sunday school room. Others put those alleluias in a box and bury it and then dig it up for Easter. An alleluia resurrection if you will. That first week in Lent, a few of us will be shaken out of our habit when the expected alleluias aren’t there.

But that is all coming. Today we are still in the season after Epiphany, and still saying, singing, shouting our alleluias. Still vocalizing our praise to God.

The world is feeling extra hard right now. And even with our numerous gifts it can feel hard to sing praises to God. Maybe we are more in the complaining to God seasons of our lives. And God is strong enough, wise enough, and patient enough to take our complaints. To sit with us in our grief. Not every moment is or has to be filled with alleluias.

But we shouldn’t let ourselves get too out of the habit of raising our alleluias to God, even in the hard moments. In those hard moments, we have to lean more into being intentional with our praise. To be intentional with our gratitude. There are many ways to be more intentional in our praise and gratitude and fortunately, no one right way. One method that has spoken to me comes from the book Reimagining the Ignatian Examen. As you might guess from the name, the book has over 30 “variations” on the traditional Ignatian prayer exercise. One of the variations is on gratitude. It’s walks you through a series of reflections and meditations, but it starts with an important question, “What am I most grateful for today? What is it that fills me with joy and gratitude?” Some days those points of gratitude are at the tips of our tongues. Other times, we will sit for what feels like ages as we try to think of something, anything to be grateful for. The author of this book is wise and in the notes for when this variation of the examen might be the most helpful he writes, “Any time is a good time to praise and thank God, but I especially recommend this Examen when you are feeling down, having a bad day, or being unusually self-critical.” Again, wise words.

And praise and gratitude don’t just need to be for the big things—food, shelter, or the ability to meet our materials needs. We should also develop the practice and intention of praise and gratitude for the seemingly small. Let me demonstrate what this might look like. The sun was out a few times this week, and at some point I realized my west-facing office was flooded with afternoon sunshine and I turned from my computer for 10 minutes and just let the sun warm my face. There is a cute, fuzzy dog I often see on my way into the office who makes me smile. We each must have had a schedule change, because I saw him as I was leaving work. An opportunity for an unexpected smile. An old college friend came across my LinkedIn profile and sent me a message to reconnect. Absolutely, nothing life changing. But every single one life giving.

So, while our alleluias may not be present in church for the next few weeks, let’s still be intentional observing and then in taking the moments to praise God for the multitude and various sizes of the gifts we have been given. Of the love that we are shown. Of the created world in which we can delight.

Alleluia.