Today, we begin the holy season of Lent. These 40 days plus 6 Sundays have long been seen as a season of preparation leading us up to the celebration of Easter. It is indeed a time of reflection, a time to listen for God’s voice, and a time to renew our faith by returning to God’s path.  

In her book, “Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons”, Jan Richardson writes about the rich symbolism of Ash Wednesday. 

“All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the four corners or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial— did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust?”

She continues:

“ So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame. Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are, but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made and the stars that blaze in our bones and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear.”

On this holy day, may you remember what God can do with the dust. May you pause to ask God again to be about his renewing work - even within us.

Let us pray: Creating and loving God, in this holy season, heal us, renew us, and draw us closer to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the very beginning of his ministry, Mark tells us, “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near…’”

We don’t use the word kingdom much these days… unless you are into Disney Princess movies - which we were in our family for many years. However, it would have been a very familiar concept for those of Jesus' day… The Greek word is “Basileia,” meaning the personal rule and presence of the king. 

Israel had been longing for this kingdom. It was expected that God would send a Messiah (or King) who would usher in a new, unprecedented age of blessing, peace, and joy. We might think of it as a place and time when there will be no more hungry children in our communities; no more violence; no more destructive addictions; no more broken relationships, no more war.

Jesus says this kingdom, this new age, this realm is at hand…

The word Jesus uses for “at hand,” or “is near,” can mean both “already at hand” and “not yet at hand”. So what did Jesus mean? Well, he doesn’t resolve it for us. But there are instances in the Bible, and in life, where we get the sense that it’s already begun. We get glimpses… 

Several years ago, I attended a dedication ceremony for a Habitat home. I remember looking at the house, thinking about what a labor of love it had been for both the community and the young woman who was to move in (Hours and hours of work). We learned that she would be the first in her family for generations to own her own home. I was right up front. In fact, I was so close that I could see the tears running down her face as they handed her the keys… 

It was a glimpse of this kingdom.

This makes me wonder where you have seen glimpses yourself… While the kingdom is not yet here in its fullness, I pray that you would pay attention to where you see it breaking in, here and now. May these glimpses give you hope. And, may they ever be an invitation to join in.

Let us pray: Holy God, draw us closer. Renew us and heal us. And then grant us eyes to see, and hearts to follow. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

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Jesus' first recorded words in the gospel of Mark are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

The word repent can be kind of a scary word. It makes me think of an experience I had as a young teenager. I remember going to the beach one Sunday, seeing a group of angry people holding signs which read, “Turn or Burn! Repent!” This made me reflect: if repent means that I have to be like you, angry and judgmental, I really want no part of it!

But Jesus says, “Repent.” And it does imply a turn. However, the actual Greek word first used in Mark’s Gospel is Metanoia - which literally means: change your mind. Meta: to change. Noia: thinking… Change your thinking.

Change your mind… 

I remember my pastor, Herb Meza, teaching on this. He said Jesus was saying, “Get a new heart and a new mind for this new kingdom - a new mind for this new world that Jesus is ushering in.”  

Change your mind… Change your perspective. Change your thinking… and your actions will follow…

All of this makes me think about the times my mind and heart have been changed, especially those times when my perspective has shifted more towards what I know to be true about God’s kingdom.

However, for all the times when my heart has been changed, there have been many other times when I’ve not wanted to change. I think about how so often stubborn pride kept me stuck in old narratives…when wanting to be right has kept me from doing what is right; when wanting to be right kept me from building bridges to those who believe differently; when inconvenience or discomfort have kept me from jumping in; times when I felt apathy even though I knew courage and action were called for… 

Jesus says, “Repent.”

I hope… and actually truly believe, that this is less about judgment and more an ongoing invitation. An invitation that, when we answer, brings us closer to him.

I hope I will always stay open to God changing my heart and mind. And I hope you do too. 

Let us pray: Thank you, God, for your grace, mercy, and love. We offer you our hearts and minds again this day. Heal us, renew us, and transform us more and more into the image of your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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"God so loved the world that he gave..." begins the most familiar statement in Scripture. Giving is how love expresses itself. Giving is to love what eating is to hunger. The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return. Ann Lamott wrote of an eight-year-old boy who had a younger sister dying of leukemia. He was told that without a blood transfusion, she would die. His parents asked if they could test his blood to see if it was compatible with his sister's. He said sure. They tested, and it was a match. 

Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his own blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he told his parents he was willing to donate the blood. They took him to the hospital; he was put on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both were hooked up to IVs. A nurse took a pint of blood from the boy, which was given to his sister. The boy lay in silence as the blood that would save his sister dripped from the IV until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked, "How soon until I start to die?" Love is never so fully love as when it gives — even when there is no expectation of a return. 

Let us pray: Loving How Great Thou Art! Your love to us in Jesus Christ is beyond our wildest imagination. Thank you for the rainbow covenant of your unconditional love and for walking with us each step of life's way. Now hear our myopia, our hesitation, our pride that we may learn to love with no expectation of return... like the little boy who thought he was going to die when he gave a pint of blood to his sister. May the gentle breath of your spirit renew every part of our being that we may become more like Jesus, in whose spirit we pray. Amen.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

We don’t know a lot about the actual Saint Valentine. We only know that he was a priest, or perhaps a bishop, who was known to have cared for persecuted Christians. He was eventually martyred somewhere around the year 250.

We also know that from the late Middle Ages, his Feast Day, which is today, has been associated with love. He also happens to be the patron saint of epilepsy. Not real sure about the connection there… 

But if it’s true about Saint Valentine, his love of Christ, which led him to serve selflessly and ultimately to give his life for his faith, then the focus is appropriate. And it is especially appropriate for us, as this is a type of love that has long defined the Christian life.

The Apostle Paul, writing to a very contentious church, put it this way:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

And then, Paul adds these beautiful words:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The great pastor and author William Sloane Coffin once wrote, “While Abraham lived to be a ripe old age, Jesus died young. “But didn’t both show us that it is by its content rather than by its duration that a lifetime is measured? Love, and you are a success, whether or not the world thinks so. The highest purpose of Christianity… is to love.”

Let us pray: Holy God, we remember today that you so loved the world that you gave your only son. We rejoice in your love for us - a love that walked this earth, that touched and felt human pain, that finally shattered the power of sin and death. We respond by loving you and by loving our neighbors, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 

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