From the Pastor's Desk

I’m Not Ready for Lent!

I’m not ready for Lent. I'm not ready for Spring and I’m not ready for Summer either. These days I feel less and less ready for everything.

Lent came early this year. But even if it was late, it would still feel too close to Christmas. I wasn't ready for Christmas because it seemed like All Saints Day was just a few weeks before. Chances are very good that I will not be ready for Easter.

I’m playing catch up and I don’t think I am alone. But I do think that I am in good company.

When we read the Psalms, we get a refreshing reminder that it's not that unusual for God’s people to be ill-prepared to embrace the blessings, deliverance, the challenges and obstacles that life dishes out and God has ordained.

Lent is that sacred annual opportunity to get back to where one needs and deep down inside, wants to be. Easter is the powerful proclamation that God has saved us where we are. Lent is our message to God that we very much want to be saved and that we are willing to seek to get back in sync with the Spirit. God meets us much more than half way, ready or not.

Sunday sermons in Lent center on four readings from the Psalms. Are you behind in confessing your sins and celebrating God’s grace? Have you been negligent in claiming the promises that are yours in Christ? Have you been delinquent in your participation in worship? Have you felt impatient lately? Maybe the daily weight of persistent hardship has come at the expense of your joy.

If you're behind, come join the rest of us that are with God’s grace and by faith, are striving to catch up.

Pastor Pat