The season of Lent is a season of reflection and renewal. During Lent, we journey with Jesus toward Holy Week and the cross – and beyond the cross into Resurrection. Lent gives us time to think about who Jesus is. It offers us the opportunity to look inward and outward at the life we live in Christ. And, it connects us to our roots and opens up space to recommit and begin our spiritual life over again. Lent invites us to seek and to ask questions as we journey together.
That adventure of seeking lies at the heart of our Lenten theme this year – Seeking: Honest Questions for a Deeper Faith. This theme is the creation of the artists’ collective, A Sanctified Art. They notice that the scriptures for Lent this year offer stories of folks who come seeking –
"They come seeking a new beginning, a different life, a deeper faith. What unfolds is an exchange filled with questions and exploration... Like the characters in our Lenten scriptures, we are also seeking many things: clarity, connection, wonder, justice, balance. Throughout the turbulence of the past few years, many of us are asking big questions about our lives, our faith, and our world.”
And so, the invitation this Lent is to enter into the season in a spirit of seeking. What questions are rising up in you? In your life? In our world? What are you seeking? What is God seeking? Over the course of Lent, we’ll ask and share those questions, delve back into the sacred stories of our faith, reflect honestly on who we in this moment (including the questions we carry), and look for the new possibilities that may be coming to life even now.
We’ll begin our Lenten journey with our Ash Wednesday Worship Service this Wednesday, February 22, at 7pm (in-person and online on our regular worship Zoom link). Our worship will include the ancient tradition of imposition of ashes and will feature sung prayer in the tradition of the Taizé community. During our worship, we’ll also gather our questions – so as we move toward Ash Wednesday maybe give some thought to the questions – What are you seeking? What questions do you bring?
Along the Lenten journey, we’ll share the thematic resources created by A Sanctified Art, including a weekly Lenten devotional (emailed each Wednesday) that offers both a prayer and a question for reflection.
And, looking ahead, you may want to mark your calendars with the schedule of our Holy Week services:
· Maundy Thursday Service (with communion), April 6, 6pm
· Good Friday, April 7
· Sanctuary open for silent prayer, 12-3pm
· Tenebrae Worship at 7pm
· Easter Sunday Worship, April 9, 10am
Bringing our questions and all of who we are, let’s journey together into this season of Lent.
Blessings,
Scott Clark
he/him/his
Pastor, First Presbyterian Church San Anselmo