By Rev. Anders Nelson
Mabel-Henrytown Tri-Point Parish – Mabel First Lutheran Church, Scheie Lutheran Church and Henrytown Lutheran Church
For many Christians around the world, these weeks are the beginning of the Lenten season, a season that might be most recognized by the cross of ash many people wear on Ash Wednesday to start the season and, for many people, a Lenten fast of some sort. While those are helpful ways to frame the season, I want to equip you with one more: the idea of Lent as a journey.
In the same way that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as described in the first books of the Bible, and Jesus wandered in the wilderness for 40 days as we hear described in Luke 4:1-13, communities of faith also journey through these 40 days by gathering in ways they normally don’t during the rest of the year (think soup suppers and midweek worship), all the while waiting for the exciting culmination of the Season at Easter. The thing about a journey is that it’s easier to take on alongside others.
When communities of faith gather, it creates opportunities for us to practice what it means to lean on one another. In the same way that some people might need additional support or care when taking a long journey, so too might people require additional support from their communities when they’re experiencing difficulties in their life. The same is true for moments of celebration! When a good thing happens to one, that goodness should be shared by all! Too often, we’re trained to keep those needs to ourselves so as to avoid inconveniencing those around us, or avoid sharing celebrations so as to not sound boastful. This should not be so in our communities of faith, and maybe we should lean into the opportunities to share with one another.
As a new pastor to this area and to the three communities I serve, I look forward to this season so that I might lean into getting to know the people around me even better. Together, we’ll have a chance over meals and in worship to learn more about one another, the joys we share as well as the fears we might be bearing along the way. Even beyond the spaces where I gather with these communities of faith, I want to be intentional to create space for sojourning together; striking up the folks at the post office in conversation, sharing a brief word of care with the person ringing up my groceries, giving thanks for the expertise of the professionals I interact with when I’m in need.
Together, we’re making this journey. Together, we’re supporting each other along the way. Together, as we’re reminded in a line from the hymn “Bless Now, O God, the Journey,” “we are seeking the road where faith is found.” As the coming days and weeks of Lent bear with them your own observance of the season, may you also know that you don’t take the journey alone.
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