Today is Ash Wednesday, and our Lenten journey begins in earnest. Please join us this evening for our “Breakfast for Dinner Potluck” at 5:30 PM, followed by our Ash Wednesday service at 6:30 PM, as we remember our deep need for Jesus.
Lent is a sacred season that invites us to reflect, repent, and find renewal in Christ. During Lent, God invites us to remember Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, just after his baptism and before his public ministry began. As we walk with Jesus in the wilderness, we bring our own wilderness places with us, the places where life feels heavy, uncertain, or unfinished, and we trust that God is with us even there.
Our theme for Lent is “This is My Story.” In worship, we’ll explore the story of the people Jesus meets on his journey to the cross. Some were changed by his mercy. Some turned away. Some asked hard questions. Some betrayed him. Some believed. For our Lenten Soup and Study, beginning February 25, at 5:30 PM, we will also explore the stories and scripture passages that inspired many of the great hymns. As we explore the theme “This is My Story” during Lent, we will also reflect on our own stories, marked by both failure and forgiveness, while trusting that our lives are connected to God’s greater story of love and redemption through Jesus, our Lord.
Lent can sometimes feel heavy, but it is also a season of growth that arrives as the days grow longer. In fact, the word Lent comes from the Old English word “lencten” which means “to lengthen.” And God often does some of his deepest work in us during Lent, shaping and stretching us in ways that lead to new life.
Each week during Lent, we’ll be invited to ask a simple but honest question: What part of my story is God rewriting during this season?
As we ask that question together, we do so with hope because we can trust that God wants to shape us and lead us toward resurrection life. This is our story, held in God’s grace, carried by Christ’s love, and moving at the impulse of the Holy Spirit toward growth and new beginnings in every chapter of life.
Jesus loves you, Union Family, and I do, too!