Introduction

I’m a behind-the-scenes guy.

When I was a little kid, one of my favorite things was to watch documentaries or read articles about “behind-the-scenes at…” … how movies are made, or inside looks at factories, or what happens at major-league baseball practices …

I have very distinct memories of my first “appointment television”: in 1972, a syndicated re-boot was made of the 1950s show “You Asked For It”, in which viewer-requested segments were produced and shown, and the first segment I ever saw was “a look into the vault at Fort Knox”. I was riveted!

On the other hand …

The nineteenth-century American poet John Godfrey Saxe is responsible for the idiom “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.”

True, sometimes it really is better not to see the details of how stuff gets made. But my behind-the-scenes-loving self continues to think that far more often, it’s illuminating in a good way. Por ejamplo:

This year, I got to see how Sudbury UMC’s Lenten Devotions Booklet gets made. Back in the fall, when I suggested to the Worship and Music Commission that I was interested in leading the effort to revive the Booklet (after it had taken a year’s hiatus), they looked at me with a mix of curiosity and concern, and said, “…Really?”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

And then shortly after New Year’s, I mentioned it to them again, and they again tried to peer into my soul, saying, “…You still are willing to take that on?”

“I wouldn’t have brought it up again if I weren’t willing,” I assured them.

Tell you what … I was right. This little peek behind the scenes of the grand old SUMC tradition, which was expertly shepherded by Nancy Sweeney for all those years, has been well worth it. In large part, this is thanks to the remarkable writing which members of our congregation have produced for inclusion in this collection.

In my role as a member of SUMC’s music staff, I insist that what makes our sacred musicmaking so rewarding is that we rarely, if ever, hire outside musicians. It’s all home-grown; it’s all produced in-house.

In the same way, what has always made the Lenten Devotions Booklet special is that it doesn’t come from a publishing house. The devotions aren’t written by people whom we’ve never met, whom we don’t know, whom we may never know – or be able to connect with, to respond to their work. These essays are written by us.

True, this year, there will be a few paper copies produced, but the main location of the Devotions will be this online blog space. Moving the Devotions into the 21st century in this way will save trees (and therefore money), true … but more importantly, it will make them accessible to anyone, anywhere. Do you not have your paper copy with you? Or, alternatively, do you not want one more pile of paper cluttering up your life? Electronic access solves so many problems!

So, each morning in Lent starting tomorrow, a Lenten Devotion will be posted here. It’s a different sort of journey to Easter. Let’s see how it works! … I hope you’ll find it worthwhile.

-Rob Hammerton, 2019 Lenten Devotions Editor and Webmaster!