Pastor’s Pen: April 2025

This Lent, we’ve been steeped in dichotomies—

Stranger and neighbor. Faith and works. Rest and growth. Lost and found. Mercy and righteousness.

Our journey these forty days has asked us to consider these dichotomous ideas and wonder how they overlap, intersect, interact. Where is the tension? Where is the agreement? Is there a reason we plant these categories on either end of theological spectrums?

I’m noticing rich engagement with these questions in our community. Perhaps because many of us are longing for some guidance and direction in navigating the cultural and political polarities many of us are experiencing in our families, churches and communities. Something about this series is reaching into our questions and longings, and speaking to us.

“I had never considered that ‘neighbor’ includes more people than those who simply live next door. My neighbor includes those who live across the world,’” one person reported during Wednesday night Soup and Study after reading the Good Samaritan.

Another person shared following the parable of the lost sheep: “I am unsettled in my thinking. Jesus is challenging me, and that is a good thing, because it means I’m growing in faith.”

“Do you identify as lost little Fluffy or one of the 99 left in the wilderness?” “It depends…” one person boldly shared in worship.

I think this Lenten series has brought value beyond the intellectual excersize in comparing and constrasting these categories. I’ve been struck by how this series is expanding our faith to recognize there are no easy answers or clear categories. This Lenten series proposes that a life of faith calls us into nuance, faith celebrates complexity, and seeks out layers of meaning. I’m wondering if our insights about faith will support us in resisting tribalism and division. Maybe what we are learning about nuance and complexity will be helpful for our families, friends, churches, and communities who are also struggling with the polarities of today. Maybe being rooted in relationship that honors complexity and nuance is one way we will resist self-righteousness and hostility—hallmarks of division.

As we turn towards Holy Week and journey through the sacred stories of Jesus’ final meal, arrest, betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection, we’re going to encounter more polarities: shouting and silence on Palm/Passion Sunday, power and humility on Maundy Thursday, acceptance and resistance on Good Friday, grief and hope on Easter Sunday. As we prepare for the turn towards Easter, I pray you come to know God’s enduring presence in messy middles, in complexities, and in every space in between.

In hope,

Pastor Beth