Slideshow image

Good morning, James Bay United Church,

 
Ahhh, a blue sky morning!  Maybe you can see it too – trees ever closer to bursting out in dazzling pink!  Kudos to our Thrift Shop crew who have weathered the cold, wind and rain ever since re-opening in February ... and in such good heart. 
In the way of seasons in the Christian calendar, we’ve just stepped into Lent ...  a season of 40 weekdays before Easter.  Mary Luti offers a most beautiful way to enter the season.  Here’s what she writes:
“Christians sometimes treat Lent as an opportunity to become better persons, a time to give something up or take on a new practice.  And if Lent serves as a spur to a self-improvement project, go for it.  It’s always good when someone tries to be better.
But what if this year your hopes were greater, your prayers more daring?  What if you didn’t ask for help in becoming a better person and prayed instead for the grace to stop being the subject of your own little life project?  What if this year you gave yourself up, not just chocolate, beer or Facebook?  What if this Lent you invited God to speak not so much to your behaviours as to your heart?
And what if in that conversation you discovered that God wants you not to be better so much as to be enraptured, not to be good so much as to be lost?  Lost in the beauty of God’s mercy, God’s justice, God’s passions.  Lost as the great hymn says, ‘in wonder, love and praise.’”  [1]
Looking through this lens for Lent, what do you see taking shape for yourself over these 40 days.  I encourage you to take some time this weekend to wonder about that, and then to begin. 
 
It is in this same spirit that we are offering our Choosing Life! movie series this Lent ... with stories of purpose and passion, meaning and joy.  For the next 5 weeks, we’ll gather Thursday evenings in the downstairs hall.  Enjoy a simple supper together at 5:30 before the movie begins at 6:30 or shortly after.  This week’s movie is The Eagle Huntress.
 
Beginning March 15, and for the following 3 Wednesdays, you are invited to share in a small group, personal reflection series, “Opening to Abundant Life – negotiating a life well lived.”  Note the themes of each session our website.  If you have not already registered, please contact me by this Wednesday ... indicating your preference for afternoon or evening sessions. 
 
Tomorrow’s service will further orient us for the season.  As part of our liturgy, there will be an opportunity to receive an ashen cross on your hand or forehead, a reminder of our mortality and our common humanity, our essential connection with earth and the Creator of all life, that we might reaffirm our commitment to life.
Check out this thank you note from Nola, our outgoing Board Chair.
And if you are looking to give up President Trump for Lent, you may wish to read this article by Diana Butler Bass.
Grace and Peace,
Karen

[1] Mary Luti, "Introduction," in Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength - 2016 Lent Devotional; Stillspeaking Writers' Group, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH 

 

 

 

 

Get Connected
Worship and Music