February 17, 2021
My Allen Temple Family and Friends,
Please forgive my evening interruption. I hope this note finds you safe and well. But I just had to ask...is it just me or do you sense it too? Things are moving. The pace of life is quickening. Rush hour traffic has returned to freeways. Our streets, stores and restaurants are overflowing as well. There is much more movement than even this time a month ago. It almost feels, dare I say it, like things are returning to "normal". The rush to return to normal is afoot and it is all around us.
I know, I know. Our one-year anniversary of being Sheltered-in-Place is fast approaching. We have been separated for so long. Surely, there is nothing wrong with desiring a bit of normalcy. What's wrong with increasing the pace a bit? I remember rushing home from school as a child; hurriedly completing my homework so I could get permission to "go outside and play". Perhaps some you have that feeling even now. We all just want to go outside and play. Get back to it. But that is what makes this day and this particular season so crucial.
With this increased pace and rush to return along with the realities of daily life and ministry, I confess. I almost missed it. Today, is Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of Lent, our yearly journey to the cross. Ritually and pre-pandemic, it would be marked by placing ashes on the forehead. The ashes symbolize repentance. The day is meant to be marked by humility, broken and contrite hearts. It's hard. It feels like all of 2020 was just a slow breaking that intensified every month with each loss of the pandemic. And yet, TODAY is Ash Wednesday. It comes every year but this year, I challenge you to lean in and see it differently.
Perhaps don't look at all, you may get distracted by all the hustle. Rather, Listen. Do you hear it? It is a cry and a call. David captures it like this: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10, 12) The cry of David's heart was not just a return but a renewal. I believe his cry is God's call to us, if we choose to listen and answer.
During this Lenten season, what needs to be renewed in you? Is it hope, joy, love, faith, passion, service? If so, I invite you to join me once again on a journey to the cross. Take this week from Wednesday to Wednesday and reflect on Psalm 51. Identify for yourself what you need God to renew and restore. You can share your area or not. This journey is about you and God.
With all my frenzy in trying to bring access to vaccinations to Allen Temple, I almost missed it. But I am grateful tonight for the God who calls and keeps calling. God is calling. Will you answer? Let me know. Even if you see this days later. You can reply and say: I'm in! As I have said, please don't waste a good pandemic!
The journey has begun. Let's Go: Together!
Blessings to you!
