The LINK: 3/01
Family and friends of Congo-Pres,
Happy March!
If you haven’t heard, Julia and I welcomed baby Aubrey Jane Ogg into our family on the evening of Thursday, February 6th. Julia and Aubrey are doing just fine, and we have had lots of support from visiting members of our families. We are excited to introduce Aubrey to the church! We’ll let you know when that happens.
On Wednesday, March 5th, we’ll be having our Ash Wednesday service that marks the beginning of the season of Lent. “Lent” is an old word that means “springtime”. Lent is the season of forty days (not counting Sundays!) leading up to Easter. Lent is a “springtime” of the soul , or our hearts, or that immaterial place within us where our desires, our joys, our fears, our memories interact with the Spirit of God.
Often we cultivate the soul for Spring during this season of Lent by doing something different than the rest of the time. Maybe we give something up that we rely on for a season, like a hobby or a pleasure. Last year we talked about taking on a spiritual practice, as a way of opening ourselves to God. Whether it’s to clear out the weeds to let God’s grace bloom, or to open ourselves like a sail to catch onto the grace of God, Lent can be a time of preparation when we prepare to follow Jesus to the Cross, celebrate His Resurrection as Easter, and then keep going out into the world to spread God’s love and healing to this world that God loves.
This year during Lent, we’re going to be looking inward, as we hear a series of sermons on the theme of “hearts” in the Bible. Hearts in the Hebrew and early church imagination were the places where our feelings, decisions, compulsions, and discipline live within us. It’s not an exact science, but a way of discussing the human condition. Throughout the Bible, and in the teachings of Jesus, we hear about the conditions of hearts, and how to care for them. For this Lenten journey this season, we’ll be doing more of an inward journey, looking into the ways we might do some spring cleaning, or the ways we can open ourselves up to the Spirit of God to move in us and transform us. Maybe instead of giving up chocolate this Lent, you might feel called to give up resentment, or conflict-avoidance, or ambition, or anything else within us that might be getting in the way of the Kingdom of God among us. What does that mean, or how do you do that? Come join us in the Lenten season to hear about it.
And during this Lenten season, as the days are warming up, I’d like to invite you to meet with me. We can go for a walk, go for a cup of coffee, or even just a phone call, and let me know: how is it with your soul? There’s a lot going on in our world, our country, and within your household. I’d love to bear witness and be even a listening ear for those who want to share about how it is with your soul.
Grace & Peace
Pastor Adam