Dear Friends,

This Sunday is the “Shrove Sunday” pancake breakfast just after church. And that means that Lent is just around the corner. It is, in fact, less than a week away. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is February 18th this year.

We will have two services that day – at noon and 7:00 pm.

A significant part of that service each year is a reading, from the priest to the congregation, that is an “Invitation to a Holy Lent”. It tells a little bit of the history of the season and invites us all to turn ourselves over to this tradition for a time – to let it guide our lives a little.

Today, I invite you to consider that. Consider the ways that you might intentionally deepen your sense of faith as we lead ourselves down this holy pathway that points the way for us between the finality of death and the eternity of life in Christ.

Lent is a time to take our lives as faithful people a little more seriously. For some that means “giving something up”, though not always. Sometimes people like to take on a new spiritual discipline. Either way – or if you have something else entirely – the real point is to focus on faith with greater intentionality. It’s not like a “New Year’s Resolution” – it’s a refocus. And we need that time to refocus, because each of our lives will get disrupted sometimes. We all get pushed off our ideal paths every now and then.

But Lent is about remembering – not just at this time of year, but any time of year – that even when the path is rocky and treacherous, even when we think we’ve lost our way entirely, Easter is always waiting on the other side. Renewal is always coming.

The story of God is always a story of hope, joy, and love. Lent helps us to remember that the tough times are never the end, and they’re never the point. New life through God’s grace is always just ahead. Even when we can’t see it. Especially when we can’t see it.

I invite you to walk with your church family on this journey of discovery. The more you’re willing to give yourself over to the process, the more rewarding the other side will be.

Blessings,
Jon+