From the Pastor

March 2014

Recently someone said to me, “It must have been good to have more time to get ready for Lent.”

That can be a blessing…and a curse. I have appreciated the time to work with you on preparing for Lent. That sure is a blessing. But having this amount of time can be detrimental because we run the  possibility of becoming lazy when it comes time to put our plans into practice.

And if there is one thing we do not want to be during Lent, it is lazy. Lent is an extremely significant season of reflection, confession, prayer, fasting, and engaging in acts of charity. All these helpful disciplines center our spiritual life on the great gift of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is a season where we alter our schedules to engage God in these disciplines so that we can love and celebrate the gift of salvation we acknowledge on Easter.

Yes, during Lent we need to change some of our patterns. Our monthly parish meetings need to be shorter and fewer. We need to use that time to be in prayer and worship as one community on both Sunday, and on Wednesday. When you turn to the next page of this newsletter you will see our worship schedule for Lent. Remember it. Participate. Often. Remember we also have a time of learning following worship on Sunday and on Thursday nights. That is another precious resource. And there is also the new daily devotional booklet that your brothers and sisters at Holy Spirit have written for our use.

These times of worship and learning directs our words and our deeds into future Christian service. I commend to you both the disciplines and the opportunities of this season.

 

CLIFTON D. ESHBACH

Pastor