This year is moving so
quickly. February is ˝ over and Lent is beginning with Ash Wednesday as we move
toward the cross and Christ’s resurrection.
Today is Ash Wednesday, when many of us are marked again with the
sign of the cross, now representing our mortality, death, endings, and
enslavement. Ashes bring home the reality of death – we are mortal, we will
die. “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” But that is not
the end of the story. Easter tells us that there is not just death and endings.
Easter comes to tell us that we are also to “remember that we are love and to
love we will return.”
Let us consider Lent as a journey from today – Ash Wednesday,
recognizing our finite time here on earth, journeying to Easter and coming back
to the awareness of the fullness of life as granted in our creation in the
image of God.
We routinely consider some form of fasting during Lent. This year I
suggest that we move beyond chocolate to declare our own fast…
Fast from judgment Feast
on compassion
Fast from greed Feast
on sharing
Fast from scarcity Feast
on abundance
Fast from fear Feast
on peace
Fast from lies Feast
on truth
Fast from gossip Feast
on praise
Fast from anxiety Feast
on patience
Fast from evil Feast
on kindness
Fast from apathy Feast
on engagement
Fast from discontent Feast
on gratitude
Fast from noise Feast
on silence
Fast from discouragement Feast
on hope
Fast from hatred Feast
on love
What will be your fast? What will be your feast?
(from sermon notes of Ann right after 9/11)
We invite you to come and join us – experience this season of
expectation and preparation – come and join in the vibrant ministry of outreach
to others in the world – come and worship and praise God at either our earlier
Praise and Worship Service (8:30 – 9:15 am), or our later Traditional Service
(10:30 – 11:30), with time to study and learn more about God’s work in-between.
We look forward to the chance to meet you and greet you as the Lord leads you.
Steve Moulton
Interim Pastor
02/17/2010