I first want to begin with words of gratitude for how wonderfully I have been welcomed and how supportive and patient everyone has been as I settle into both the manse and my role as your Interim Minister. My heart is filled with joy, and I am excited to see where this journey will take us all.
We are just days away from entering the most sacred season of Lent. We enter Lent as a community in transition – a community that has committed itself to doing the difficult work of discerning where and to what God is calling you to. Over the coming months we will be gathering regularly to begin the discernment process. You will be asked to reflect upon your history (who you have been) – doing an honest assessment who you are in this current moment and what brought you to this place of transition – identifying what of the past needs to be released to create space for God to do something new – all in preparation for creating a vision and plan for who you will be in the future.
The season of Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and self-examination in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord at Easter. “The liturgies throughout Lent try to pry loose our fingers, one by one, from presumed securities and plunge us into unknown baptismal waters, waters that turn out to be not only our death tomb but surprisingly our womb of life.”*
While the work of Intentional Ministry is focused on the community – the process is benefitted when we, as individuals, engage in personal self-assessment and self-reflection. How wonderful that our work as a community begins during Lent – a season of self-reflection and transformation.
This Lenten season I encourage you to consider engaging in the spiritual practice of stillness and silence. The world is a noisy and distracting place. And yet, God speaks to us through the silence of our hearts. Create time each day to reflect and listen for what God is calling each of us to– as individuals and as a faith community.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19 NRSV
As we enter Lent, let us fully immerse ourselves in silence – allowing the power and possibility of the paschal mystery to transform us.
Blessings,
Pastor Lynda
* Companion to the Book of Common Worship
