Pastor’s Pen | March 2023

What is Lent, exactly? 

Well, Lent marks a forty-day period leading up to Easter, and mirrors Jesus’ forty-day wilderness stay. Observing the season of Lent became a practice during the 4th century as a way for Christians to prepare for the holiest days in the church calendar. 

Fast forward to the 21st century, and Christians continue to observe Lent in a variety of ways—strange as it might be in an increasingly non-religious and spiritually ambivalent culture—Lent, is a time when we ask God to show us the world as it really is. We begin with the reality of our mortality and finitude rubbed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday—remembering that we are dust and to dust we will return. Then we journey on a dusty downward slope to God. To suffering. To the cross. 

I will admit: Lent is my favorite part of the church year because it is a time when the whole church is on the losing team. Our journey looks like it will end in certain defeat. And along this journey, we get to tell the truth about our human lives: life is so beautiful and life is hard. For everyone. 

Of course, the cross isn’t the end of the story, but the season of Lent is carved out for us to acknowledge the reality of Christ’s sacrifice. And the reality of suffering that so many of our circumstances reflect, too. Lent is a time where we sit in the ashes of our broken dreams and broken hearts, knowing that God sits with us here and blesses us. 

This season, in the context of New Journey’s midweek Lenten worship, we will explore the strange birth places of God’s blessing: imperfection, curiosity, suffering, loneliness, and mourning. Our time together will be centered around Scripture, conversation, and spiritual honesty. Together, we will receive God’s blessing upon the days we have even while we long for the future God promised where there will be no tears, no pain, no church meetings.  

God’s richest blessings upon your downward descent. Upon your journey to the cross. 

In Christ, 

Pastor Beth