Dear Ones:

We’ve hardly finished with Christmas, it seems, and now we are only a few days away from the start of Lent. This is the earliest Lent can be, and Easter will fall on April Fools’ Day! I have been waiting my whole life to preach resurrection on April Fools’ Day…

Lent is the period of preparation for Easter in the Christian year. It lasts for 40 days (not counting Sundays, which are always celebrations of the resurrection), and is focused on self-examination and repentance (re-thinking) in order to prepare for a new way of living and a new start when we proclaim “Risen, indeed!”

For our congregation, it’s a bit tricky to think about a season of the church year that does not include Sundays, because we do most of our “spiritual stuff” in or around Sunday worship.

We will begin, on Ash Wednesday, with ashes and dust—realizing the limits of human life, and our need for each other and for God’s grace because we cannot do or be or manage everything. We will offer a worship service and a chance for reflection at 12:30pm and at 6:00pm, both in the sanctuary. Whether you come for anointing or ashes or reflect privately at home, we invite you to prayerfully remember the grief and the promise of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust. All of us go down to the dust, yet even at the grave we make our song…”

During Lenten worship this year, we’re going to be focusing on stories of covenants and communities in the Hebrew Bible, to better understand what Jesus meant to his first followers, and to think differently about how we are to live out our calling today. So we’ll tell again the stories of Noah and Abram, Moses and David, and look at God’s faithfulness and human response through the ages.

We will also invite some of our partners in ministry to share stories about their work in the world as we consider our own, both as individuals and as a community of Christ. We cannot do it all, and we don’t have to—by God’s grace each person, each congregation, each community group is called to do particular work. Our task this year is to understand and support each other, reflecting on how we fit into the plan and the promise of the reign of God.

Some of us are activist, and have a hard time asking others for help. Some of us are quietist, and find our center in praying and studying for the good of all. Some of us find our meaning in being together with others, offering a listening ear or a helping hand when needed. All of us are taught by our culture not to reach out, not to admit need, not to depend on each other.

During the weeks of the season, we invite you to pray and consider both your strengths and your weaknesses (they are often exactly the same thing). What are the gifts you bring to our covenant community, and what are the limits you have? As members of the body of Christ we are called to help each other, but also to rely on each other—to reach out beyond ourselves to offer grace, but also to receive it. Can we see ourselves with others’ eyes? Can we show each other what we see in them?

I am looking forward to walking this new path with you during Lent, as we think and pray together!

Blessings, Pastor Kimberly