Lent is meant to be a season to prepare us for Easter...

Beloved of God,
If you have any interest in joining our Lenten book study, it isn’t too late. You can join our class at this link. We will be meeting online together beginning next Wednesday.

We have a congregational meeting a week from Sunday (2/28). As we continue to evaluate proposed changes to our bylaws, I hope you will spend some time reviewing the proposed changes and engaging with the church council’s basis for these proposals. Please review these documents prayerfully and carefully.

I wanted to speak a little bit about the Lenten season we have entered as of yesterday. The background of traditions within this church is broad enough that we all have likely had different levels of exposure to Lenten practice.

Lent is meant to be a season in which we prepare our hearts for Easter by learning to rely more fully on God’s provision. The forty days of Lent are modeled on Christ’s forty days in the wilderness during which he was tempted. It is meant to be an exercise in taking an honest measure of anything that might be keeping us from trusting God fully, and finding a way to leave it behind. Perhaps there is something, likely even a good thing, that you have come to rely on. Would the absence of it remind you to pray, to turn to God, to be grateful or thankful? Perhaps you recognize that you might be able to grow in discipleship if you adopted a habit or a practice for these forty days. Maybe journaling your prayers, or reading through Amos, or memorizing some of the Psalms would serve to ground you more deeply in Christ. 
    But whatever you might choose to do, I hope you remember that Lent is about redirecting our own attention and intention. It is about clearing enough space in our hearts and minds so that when Christ goes to the cross on Good Friday, and rises from the grave on Easter Sunday, that we can receive that truth and celebrate it as fully as we may. You don’t have to pick up any extra Lenten practice at all. We’re free church people who claim priesthood for all believers, and you have enough wisdom to know if such a practice will help you. But if you do, I hope that you are blessed, that you learn, and that you grow. 

Please join me this week in praying for:

• An end to this pandemic.
  
• Those who are needing medical care and attention in such a hectic time.
  
• Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level.
  
• Those locally and elsewhere for whom winter weather is far more dangerous than just inconvenience or discomfort.
  
• Doctors, nurses, PA’s and paramedics as they continue to work to keep us all well.
  
• Our congregation as we consider multiple changes to our bylaws in the coming weeks
  
• Those among us who are traveling in the coming days.
  
• Students, teachers, school staff and administration as they jointly pursue education for those in our community.
  
• Moments of joy, peace, and comfort as we seek after our Savior and learn to listen for His voice.
  
• Each other ( please email [email protected] if you’d like to  be added to our prayer list). 
  

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall