season of reflection and repentance
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus, the one who invites us each Lenten season to join him in his journey to the Cross. We can bear this not because of our strength and courage, but because we know that the Cross isn’t the end of the story. Praise God for that!
In this season of reflection and repentance, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus—what it means to grow in understanding, and what it means to grow in service.
The quest to understand comes more naturally to me, how about you? Alongside whatever else I’ve done in my working life, I’ve always tried to devote some of my time and energy to reading and listening and learning—growing in what I can know (or think I know) about who God is. This is an important part of what it means to follow Christ—he wants us to struggle and wrestle with what his life meant and means.
It's the service part that is more of a discipline for me, but it creates such a sense of joy when I allow it the space it deserves. In Henri Nouwen’s Lent reader, Show Me The Way, he says this:
Joy and gratitude are the qualities of the heart by which we recognize those who are committed to a life of service in the path of Jesus Christ…Wherever we see real service we also see joy, because in the midst of service a divine presence becomes visible and a gift is offered.
Isn’t that beautiful and challenging all at once?
When we commit ourselves to serving others, which is another way of loving our neighbors and doing things, our lives are transformed and we experience true joy and gratitude. That’s a worthy life goal if ever there was one!
During this season of Lent, as we do some interior cleaning and restoration, let me encourage you to find a way to commit yourself to service—to your loved ones, to the community, and to Jesus. My guess is that if we do, then by the time Easter rolls around we’ll be able to experience and celebrate that miracle in ways we never imagined.
In the meantime, find some way this season to prepare your heart for the resurrection of Jesus.
Blessings to you,
Pastor John