Note from Pastor Jana Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. It is one of my favorite seasons of the church. There have been times in my life when I have felt a flurry of emotions over things happening. Lent is a grounding season. It allows us to experience our human emotions without shame. We are able to feel and be openly vulnerable with God. It is a powerful season. In Lent, we’re reminded that, again and again, suffering and brokenness find us. We doubt again, we lament again, we mess up again. Again and again, the story of Jesus on the cross repeats—every time lives are taken unjustly, every time the powerful choose corruption and violence, every time individuals forget how to love. With exasperation we exclaim, “Again?! How long, O God?” And yet, in the midst of the motion blur chaos of our lives, God offers a sacred refrain: “I choose you, I love you, I will lead you to repair.” Again and again, God breaks the cycle and offers us a new way forward. This theme provides a clear invitation in a time when much is unclear. We come to God again and again with our prayers, our dreams, our hopes, and our doubts. We will continue to love God with the same persistence God chooses and claims us. Our sub-title, A Lenten Refrain, speaks to the ways God can make music of our lives. “Refrain” also reminds us that Lent is a season of abstaining from certain practices in order to take on new rhythms and habits. In this season, we need rituals—both old and new—to remember and be transformed. Embodied practice builds muscle memory. Repetition helps retrain our neural pathways. We need the 46 days of Lent because this season shapes us into more faithful disciples. Join us this Lent as again and again, we bring all of who we are to God and trust that God will meet us, time and again, along the way. In Christ, Pastor Jana
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