Every year in the days leading up to Lent, I debate what great spiritual discipline I’m going to take on and/or what herculean feat of fasting I’m going to undertake. By Ash Wednesday, I generally default to giving up cream and sugar in my coffee and downloading a new meditation app.
It’s not that these small sacrifices or attempts at self-improvement are bad. But in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control—where every headline seems designed to provoke anxiety, outrage, or despair—choosing what to give up for Lent can feel almost trivial. As if cutting out chocolate or caffeine could somehow save the world.
But here’s the thing: saving the world isn’t our job. That’s God’s work. Our work as Christians is to bear witness to the hope that God has not and will not abandon the world. That’s the promise of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And for centuries, Christians have practiced everyday habits that shape our lives around that hope—habits that remind us who we are and whose we are.
These practices don’t promise to fix the world or even fix us, but they do help us live as people of hope in a world desperate for it. And hope takes practice.
This Lent, we invite you to join us for Practice, Not Perfect: Life-giving Spiritual Practices, a five-week class meeting on Sundays from March 9 through April 6, from 9:15 to 10:15 AM in the Houston Library. Together, we’ll explore foundational Christian practices: reading scripture, prayer, fasting, self-examination, and silence. Each week, we’ll introduce one of these practices and provide a simple guide for you to try it out during the week. Think of it as a spiritual exercise plan—not for self-improvement but for grounding ourselves in God’s presence and purpose.
Even if you can’t join the class, consider how you might use this season of Lent to connect with hopeful people and participate in acts of hope, however small. There are plenty of ways to do that right here at St. Paul’s—through worship, formation, and outreach, or simply sharing life with others in fellowship. And, of course, opportunities to foster hope reach far beyond our parish walls.
This Lent, challenge yourself to commit to small, daily acts that build hope—whether it’s offering encouragement to someone who needs it, volunteering your time, deepening a relationship, or simply practicing kindness in ordinary moments. These daily choices not only shape who we are but ripple outward, nurturing hope in the communities around us.
Because hope isn’t a one-time gesture or grand achievement—it’s something we cultivate over time, through faithful, consistent acts that remind us and others that God is still at work in the world.
-Andrew
View profile for The Rev’d Andrew Cannan
The Rev’d Andrew Cannan
Rector
View profile
for The Rev’d Andrew Cannan
The Rev’d Andrew Cannan
The Rev’d Andrew Cannan
Rector
Andrew appreciates the diversity of the journeys that bring people to find a home at St. Paul’s. He was baptized a Methodist, majored in religious studies at a Baptist university, married a Presbyterian, received a Master of Divinity as a Devil (the blue, basketball-crazed variety), and was ordained in a congregationalist church prior to finding his way as an Episcopal priest. “I was drawn to this strange Church that accepted the messiness of life and embraced it with grace and dignity. That sounded like a place where I could learn to live with God. That and I was always wanted to dress like Johny Cash.” In their downtime, Andrew and his wife, Ashley, enjoy East Carolina evenings in the backyard with their sons. On days off, he likely won’t be found fishing a remote section of the Eastern Pamlico that he is reluctant to disclose.
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