Dear Friends, 

Let’s just add this to the list.  Whether written or not, we’ve probably all been keeping a list of the many things that haven’t gone as we’d hoped over the past twelve months.  Now here we are, unable to gather once again, not just because of Covid, but also the cold.  So let’s add Ash Wednesday to the list.  

For now, let’s wait a few days before we talk about this being a season of fasting and self-sacrifice. Honestly, I’m not sure what else I’d “give up” for Lent while currently going without power, heat, and water.  

Nonetheless, Lent begins.  And the point of Lent is to return to the Lord, to lay aside everything that has distracted or distanced us from God, and to return, to reinvest, to reimagine how God’s steadfast love might reshape our lives.  Here’s what the prophet Joel writes: 

¹²Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ¹³rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. (Joel 2:12-13).

 

Yet even now…

In the middle of a global pandemic. In the middle of the coldest cold snap in generations.  In the middle of a dark, cold living room trying to stay warm.  In the middle of the exhaustion that comes from cleaning up that busted pipe.  In the middle of all the other things that already made life challenging.  

“Return to the me,” says the Lord.

The past year has interrupted so many of the routines that used to give shape to our lives, and by now, new pandemic patterns of life have taken their place.  But if you’re like me—and if your new pandemic patterns have unintentionally led you away from the community or practices of the faith—now is the time to return, to reinvest, to reimagine how God’s steadfast love might fill your life to overflowing.

“Return to the me,” says the Lord.

There are any number of ways that you might return and recommit to the Lord—serving others, connecting with a small group, making worship a weekly priority. Here’s what I’m going to do these 40-ish days of Lent—maybe you’ll join me.  I’m going to read a psalm (or two) each day, starting with Psalm 51 and working backward so that by Easter morning, I’m reading Psalm 1.  It’s simple enough that I know I can commit, but just complicated enough to keep me interested for the whole season.  (I’ve got a reading guide at the bottom of this post if you’d like to join). 

In the early church, Lent was a season of spiritual preparation.  Converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.  It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church.  In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.  

I invite you, there, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.  So to make a right beginning of this season, let’s read Psalm 51 together:

¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. ²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. ³For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. ⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. ⁵Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. ⁶You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. ⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. ⁹Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. ¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. ¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. ¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴Deliver me from death, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. ¹⁵O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. ¹⁷The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Stay warm. Stay safe. And see you soon.

In Christ, 

Pastor Seann

Reading List for Lent 

February 

17 — Psalm 51

18 — Psalm 50

19 — Psalm 49

20 — Psalm 48

21 — Psalm 47

22 — Psalm 46

23 — Psalm 45

24 — Psalm 44

25 — Psalm 43

26 — Psalm 42

27 — Psalm 41

28 — Psalm 40

March 

1 — Psalm 39

2 — Psalm 38

3 — Psalm 37

4 — Psalm 36

5 — Psalm 35

6 — Psalm 34

7 — Psalm 33

8 — Psalm 32

9 — Psalm 31

10 — Psalm 30

11 — Psalm 29

12 — Psalm 28

13 — Psalm 27

14 — Psalm 26

15 — Psalm 25

16 — Psalm 24

17 — Psalm 23

18 — Psalm 22

19 — Psalm 21

20 — Psalm 20

21 — Psalm 19

22 — Psalm 18

23 — Psalm 17

24 — Psalm 16

25 — Psalm 15

26 — Psalm 14 + 13

27 — Psalm 12

28 — Psalm 11

29 — Psalm 10 + 9

30 — Psalm 8 + 7

31 — Psalm 6

April 

1 — Psalm 5

2 — Psalm 4 + 3

3 — Psalm 2

4 — Psalm 1