Pastor’s Message

Do you fast during Lent? Can you feast during Lent? Do you have to choose?

My birthday always falls in Lent, and I sometimes feel vaguely guilty about celebrating, as though Lent must be a piously somber and relentless trudge toward the cross, pretending we don’t know the sunrise of Easter morning will rend the shroud of grief  cast over Good Friday. “Christians live in the beautiful tension of and. We are simultaneously sinner and saint. We need the law that tells us the truth about our sinfulness and the gospel that tells us we are a new creation in Christ, freed and forgiven by God’s grace.” (Worship Matters)

What if we fast and feast during Lent? When we focus on fasting – giving up coffee or chocolate or a social media app for Lent – we shouldn’t lose sight of feasting on the love and promises of our faithful God, revealed in Christ. After all, what is the point of the fast but to consider the mystery of grace?
This Lenten season, we will be “Looking for Love…” through the stories of Jesus and how He shows love. Join our online Lenten Study “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”. We will encounter the Visio Divina Practice through a series of vignettes and time for reflection every Wednesday beginning March 1st @  6pm via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81548637611.

On Friday April 7th  5:30p, we will feast together during a potluck Community Meal in the Fellowship Hall followed by our Good Friday Service, “Journey to the Cross”.
May we approach Lent with prayer, with service to those in need, and with supporting one another in fasting from what draws us away from God and one another while feasting on the mercy of the One who has given us love and the gospel.

Lent blessings,
~ Pastor Kim