Friends of Eastport United Methodist,
While we just tucked away the Christmas decorations, Lent is just around the corner! Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the holy season starting in the first week of March, and it’s a time for reflection, growth, and deepening our connection with God. This year, we'll be embarking on a Lenten journey through the Gospel of Luke, exploring the stories that have shaped our faith and continue to resonate with us today.
Our Lenten series, "Everything In Between," takes its cue from Luke 9:51, where Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. This pivotal moment marks a turning point, and the journey that follows is filled with familiar parables and teachings – the Good Samaritan, Mary and Martha, the fruitless fig tree, the Lost Sheep, Zacchaeus, and so many more. These stories aren't just biblical tales; they've permeated our culture, influencing art, literature, and even political discourse.
As we delve into these scriptures, we'll discover how Jesus' ministry challenged the social, political, and religious norms of his time. He deliberately highlighted the extremes of his culture to reveal the radical, inclusive, and utterly surprising love of God. When we examine these stories within their historical and cultural context, we begin to see striking parallels to the divisions we experience in our own families, churches, and communities today.
"Everything In Between" invites us to navigate the polarities in our lives with greater faith, intention, and a willingness to be transformed. Each week, we’ll explore supposed binaries – concepts we often see as opposites, like "faith & works," "rest & growth," or "grief & hope." We tend to think of these ideas as mutually exclusive, but as we journey through Luke's Gospel, we’ll discover nuance and complexity. We’ll begin to see that these dichotomies are often false, that there's a full spectrum of possibilities instead of simply black and white. We'll discover that God is present in between these perceived opposites.
This Lent, we invite you to look beyond easy answers and the comfort of black-and-white thinking. We encourage you to examine the dichotomies that define your life and to imagine where God might be meeting you beyond the categories we create. This Lent, we trust that God shows up not just in stark contrasts, but in shades of gray, vibrant rainbow hues, and everywhere in between. Join us as we explore the richness of God's presence in the spaces between, and discover what it means to live a life of faith, hope, and love in all its complexity.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Chris
Opmerkingen