From the Pastor

February 2010

I can’t wait for spring. I know, this hasn’t been a hard winter compared to recent years. There’s still hardly any snow, and the temperature has mostly been hovering around freezing all winter. Still, I’m tired of the winter that we have had – the sunless days, the heavy coats and the winter boots. I’m ready for spring, for sunshine, for t-shirts and my bicycle. All this, and I haven’t even made it to Ash Wednesday, yet!

Ash Wednesday, and the season of Lent that follows it, is a time marked on the calendar. It’s calculated based on the date of Easter, which in turn is calculated as the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. I know that this doesn’t make much sense to people. But it is the tradition that’s been handed down to us for seventeen centuries, so it’s not likely to change any time soon.

It doesn’t really matter, anyway, I guess. Just because Ash Wednesday happens to fall on February 17 this year doesn’t mean that, on that particular date, you or I are going feel particularly penitent. Just because Lent follows for the next forty days doesn’t mean we’re going to feel particularly contemplative or ready to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross on Good Friday.

None-the-less, there are moments and seasons in our lives when we are going to feel that way; when we are going to need to hear the words “from dust you have come, to dust you shall return,” and to receive them. There are times in our lives when pilgrimage and prayer-ful contemplation will fit perfectly into the context of our lives, such as at times of brokenness or illness, or those times when we just feel lost. Observances such as Ash Wednesday and Lent give us templates to follow when we need them. By participating in them we acquire words and symbols and landmarks to see us through those difficult times. That’s what Christian practice is for.

Winter to me is a burden these days, but no matter how bad the weather gets, it won’t be unbearable. I’ve gone through decades of winters. I know the landscape. I will be able to handle it, no matter what comes. Every Wednesday evening, beginning on February 17 and continuing throughout Lent, services with scripture, prayer, and music will be offered to help us get to know the landscape of Lent – the journey to and through the cross. Come on out and learn the way.

Peace,
Pastor Brian