the beginning of the Lenten season

Dear First Pres SLO Family,

Grace and peace to you in the name of the one who brings forgiveness and restoration to each one of us and to the world, Jesus the Messiah.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. For centuries the calendar of the Christian church was a way to tell the story of Jesus—it was a rhythm of life that went from Advent and Christmas and Epiphany, to Lent and Easter and Pentecost…and back again. Through it all, Christian people celebrated Jesus’ life by remembering the milestones in his ministry.

It's not a bad way to live.

Lent is the 40 non-Sundays that come before the celebration of Easter. It’s the most somber of the fasting seasons—you’ve probably heard someone talk about “giving something up for Lent”—that’s been a traditional practice. The point is to notice the absence of whatever it is you’re depriving yourself of—to cultivate a sense of missing it—and to use that feeling as a prompt to prayer.

Today I’m inviting you to do something like that.

However you choose to experience this Lenten journey, make it something that draws you to prayer and confession and reflection. Lent is the most introspective season of the year for us—it’s a time of spiritual housecleaning and reordering so that Jesus—either once again or for the first time—becomes the focus of our busy lives. If you’re looking for a spiritual practice to use for the season, try saying the Lord’s Prayer five times each day. Once when you get up, once before each meal, and once before you go to sleep. Let the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples remind you of what Jesus did, and what Jesus means, for all of us.

As you begin your own Lenten journey, here’s a prayer you can say to get started, from the 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer:

O God, your glory is always to have mercy.

Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways,

and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith

to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word,

Jesus Christ your Son,

who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Welcome to Lent. May it be a blessing to you as we walk it together.

Pastor John