Dear Friends,
As I sit here on another cold, rainy day I can honestly say that I am ready for winter to come to an end. This is typically how I feel by the time that Holy Week comes around as well. I will be more than ready for Lent to come to conclude and for Easter and spring to arrive. Until then, we must endure the season and all that it has to offer.
We have had a successful start to our Lenten dinner and program series. During the first week we saw that walking in the desert is not an easy task. As we know, it is steeped with danger that can zap the soul of its very will to live. The Spirit led Jesus into the desert for forty days and nights to face temptations and to persevere. In all his human vulnerability, Jesus was no different to the temptations than the rest of us. The season of Lent is representative of this time of trial and a time for us, in our suffering, to discover our dependence on God and the gift of grace to sustain us.
You will notice during the season of Lent that our worship has changed a bit. The liturgical color has changed to purple. No silver is being used. We will not have flowers on the altar but rather a beautiful dried, parched arrangement, parched arrangement. The music will be slower and more contemplative. The baptismal font will be void of water, just as the desert. We will long during this time for what sustains us, knowing that it is God who provides.
We will give up things during Lent that we enjoy, but as The Rev. David Teschner said, “Lent is less about what we give up than what we become.” The paradox in this is that suffering can lead us to a place far greater in Christ. As we observe a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditation on God’s holy Word (pg. 265, BCP) may we rejoice in what we will become. God’s grace will be our guide through the perils of winter, the desert and beyond.
Blessings,
Gini+