March Pastor Letter
Dear Friends,
What are you giving up for Lent?
It’s a question that we ask and are asked in this season of Lent.
How will you respond? Are you giving up Chocolate, soda, meat or beer?
Some people say that they are not giving up anything, but instead taking on something.
What are you taking on? Visiting someone, giving a donation, exercise, or daily prayer?
I don’t have a problem with either way you ask the question.
What I do have a problem with is that the question is always addressed to you (singular).
The question assumes that Lent is a solitary exercise, a lonesome journey, that you have to walk through Lent all alone.
When we look at a Scripture passage read at the beginning of Lent, we hear Jesus instructing his disciples on how to pray. He says, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites...do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles,...but (you) pray in this way, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matthew 6:5-9). While it’s hard to tell from the English, in Greek, it is clear that the you is not singular, but plural. Jesus is talking to a group of people, a community, a church. Jesus knows that following the way of righteousness is too hard to do alone. We need other people to instruct us, inspire us, and at times correct us, and forgive us. Did you also notice that in the prayer, Jesus does not pray to My Father, but Our Father. Jesus invites us to join our voices together to pray to the God of Our salvation.
This Lent, you (plural) are invited to explore the “Grace of Les Miserables.” It is a powerful story. A story of grace, justice, poverty, revolution, love, and hope. Most importantly, it is a story of how people work together to help one another. In small groups, we will reflect on our Christian calling, so as to better understand how we can live it out in the world together.
This Lent, you (plural) are invited to follow the daily devotional called “Becoming a Beloved Community: A Matthew 25 Journey to the Cross.” In the introduction, the author Donna Jackson sets the tone for the devotion, “What if this Lenten season, we looked beyond personal disciplines and committed to creating beloved communities in our own backyards--communities reflecting the inclusive and healing love that Jesus modeled as he made his way to the cross?”
Here is one of the devotions (for March 19, by Emmanuel G. Orendain):
One day a homeless man came and sat in the back pew. His appearance was not offensive, but he was definitely unkempt. He worshiped quietly--almost sleeping--one of our deacons noticed. He came again the next Sunday, and three more Sundays after that. Quietly in and quietly out. He did not bother anyone. When a new members’ class was announced, he signed up. His name was Cliff. To our surprise, he came early to the class and had a notebook. He also trimmed his long beard and had a change of clothes. He finished the four-week class and became a member in December 2010.
He was active, attending Sunday School classes and church events. It was in one such class that the question was asked, “From where you are in the pew, what do you see?”
Cliff answered, “I see myself in the praise team, playing the tuba.”
The problem was that there were no tubas in the praise team. There wasn’t even music available for a tuba. No problem. The church set to work to raise funds to buy a tuba for Cliff and the praise team leader would write the music for that tuba. Sadly, Cliff never got to play his tuba. He said goodbye to us the week we were to buy it. He said he had a permanent address now. His sister asked him to stay with her in Ohio. That was 2013. We have not seen him or heard from him since. We miss Cliff. When he had no permanent address, he made his home in our hearts. More than the church welcoming him, he welcomed us into his life.
What are you (plural) giving up or taking on this Lent?
This Lent, we are all invited by God to take up our communal cross and follow Jesus. The good news is that Jesus walked that lonesome valley all the way to the cross, so that we don’t have to. Lent is not about trying to save yourself. Thank God. Lent is about responding to the gracious mercy of God by working together to create a beloved community where you and me and Cliff are welcome; a place where praise is offered through organ, choir, and even a tuba; a place where no matter who you are, or how you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, you are reminded that you are a beloved child of God, you are a part of the body of Christ, you are not alone, you are we.
The Lent, let us walk together, let us pray together, let us grow in faith together, let us reach out together. Let us be the beloved community God calls us to be. Together.
Lenten blessing for us all,
Pastor Donna