"The Season of Lent"

March 5, 2019

Beloved:

​

        As Jesus once made up his mind to go to Jerusalem, the church once made up her mind to proceed intentionally to Easter, in our worship, prayer, and devotion.  “The season of Lent” we call it, beginning tomorrow with Ash Wednesday.  Last year’s Palm Sunday palms burned down to ash, mixed with oil, and smeared on our skin as a sign of our longing – for obedience and faith we well know is beyond us.  Longing for it is all we can manage, and barely that.  Still, we gather.  Still, we pray.  Still, we sing and wear the ashes once again.  These gatherings and prayers are the activity of our longing, the revelation of our broken hearts.  If only to ourselves that surely counts for something.  We come away knowing to move gently – against ourselves and one another, seeing as how everyone is cut and broken, headed for Jerusalem.

        Cut and broken as we may be, we are not without hope.  Spring is pushing through the snow.  Easter won’t be stopped by any faithlessness of ours.  It is done, and all our made-up seasons are but a play of the grace already given.

        I hope you’ll find an Ash Wednesday service tomorrow.  Ours begins at 7 PM, and I’d love to see you there.