I am composing this article four days before Barb and I head out on a short time of rest and vacation during the first week of February. We enjoy getting away in the wintertime. It is a welcome time to recharge after the Christmas season and before Lent begins.
I’m sure this has happened to you. The week before going away is very busy. You are working ahead so that when you return things are in place, and the daily schedule can proceed with little interruption.
The past six months have felt like one long interruption as we have had to move, pack up, throw away, and wait, and wait and wait for the fire restoration work to be completed. I’m ready for it to end. And by the looks of things, as we enter February, it will soon end (if only we can same the same about the pandemic). To get to this place, attention to detail has been necessary as well as a healthy measure of patience.
As our buildings and the groups who use them return to their accustomed rooms and schedules, here comes Lent. Some might call it another time of interruption. After all we have been on a spiritual and emotional high celebrating the birth of Christ and learning again of his marvelous ministry of the salvation of humanity.
I view Lent as another opportunity to achieve a spiritual and emotional high. It is achieved through our renewal to Christ. It is achieved by using the disciplines of Lent; prayer, fasting and the call to serve, for the raising up the good news of Jesus.
This year our Wednesday sermon series will focus upon a group of people who followed their call to serve in very different, yet faithful ways. Hearing their stories can be a help to us as we strive to follow the great commandment of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
However you participate in our times of worship, prayer, study and service; either live or on-line, through wearing your mask, providing a box of food, a phone call, email or note, know that the risen Christ goes with you to guide as you serve in his name.
Have Lent become your time to recharge and renew. Peace be with you as you journey through this next season of God’s church.
Clifton D. Eshbach,
Pastor