Just a month ago we gathered together on Ash Wednesday to observe the beginning of the Lenten season, that forty day (less Sundays) period of preparation in anticipation of the joyous celebration of Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
We followed a traditional United Methodist Ash Wednesday liturgy, with part of the service including an invitation "on behalf of the church" to choose a Lenten discipline. A Lenten discipline includes either subtracting or adding something to our lives for a period of time.
Some people choose to subtract ("give up") a favorite substance (chocolate, alcohol, soda), or perhaps a favored entertainment (television viewing, online screen time), even a bad habit (cursing, overeating, and the like). You get the picture.
Sometimes it is even more meaningful to add something to our lives during the Lenten season. It could be writing a note each day to someone who has blessed your life, or more time in Bible reading or prayer, or connecting with a social justice or social services ministry to do something good in the world.
Some of us made decisions that night as to what we would seek to change, with God's help, in our lives. My prayer as your pastor is that you have found your subtraction(s) or addition(s) meaningful in your life, and that you are seeing signs (even if limited) of transformation.
One of most unusual Lenten observances, however, was foisted upon all us without our choice. Because of the spread of the deadly Corona virus, we have all been asked to give up church for an indeterminate period of time, which has included most of the Lenten season. For the first time in my life -- whether I chose to give up or add during Lent -- I, like you, have had to give up church, Bible study, face-to-face visits, and church meetings.
What a very strange time we are living in!
And yet, this can be a time for God to give birth to something new in our lives, individually and as a congregation. Rather than see this period of time (however long it turns out to be) as only a tedious, monotonous waiting game, I'd like you to consider these important questions:
(1) What do you most miss right now in your life?
(2) What about your church experience do you miss most in your life?
(3) What do we as a congregation need to change in order to give new life to ourselves and those around us?
Please keep asking yourself these (and other related) questions. This is a good period of time to check out other worshiping communities via their websites or their Facebook pages. See what they're doing to make a difference in the world ... ask yourself why what they are doing may be more effective than what we are doing ... identify ways that you feel our way of life may be superior to what you experience online.
Let's use this as a time of exploration. As you reflect, consider the biblical account of God's people preparing to enter the land of Canaan. Read Number 13, where Moses sends a group to "spy out" the land. What do they find? How do they interpret their findings? What might this scripture help us to see in our next days a a congregation?
During this most unusual time of Lenten observance, let's discern as a faith community the "new land" that God is leading us toward.
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