How’s your journey through the wilderness this Lent? How has God’s love been challenging you? As much as we appreciate receiving the affirmation that we are God’s beloved in church, venturing out into the world and being treated as if you are anything but a child of God can take its toll. In addition to the frustrations we have with our political climate and the injustices we are encountering, I know many of us are wrestling with career anxieties, relationship challenges, and financial struggles.
Just as many of you have shared your worries with me, many of you have also shared your celebrations. Being able to hear the news of someone being sober for five years, watching a couple share their marriage vows, experiencing the joy in a community member’s face after God brought their family back together in a most unusual and miraculous way—these moments remind me how God’s grace meets us in the wilderness places, inviting us to be transformed by Divine Love.
Throughout these weeks of Lent, we have been challenged to embody a love that is expansive, courageous, and transformative—a love that allows God to heal us so that we might participate in the healing of the world. Now, as we approach Holy Week and Easter Sunday on April 20, we will celebrate again what love can do. The story of Easter reminds us that resurrection is possible, and love can lift us up.
Are you ready for new life? Are you ready for a new beginning? Just like the love of God raised Jesus, that same love is raising us up to be people of hope in our world. Get ready.
—Pastor Michael