February 23, 2021
Hello, members and friends of Epworth UMC!
So there I was, in a Methodist Facebook discussion group, when a person expressed surprise that Methodists mark the season of Lent. It’s not Biblical, she said. And she’s right, sort of...but of course, Advent and Christmas aren’t technically Biblical either. Neither is Sunday worship for that matter, nor a whole lot of essential Christian tradition that came into being after the time of Peter and Paul and the early church. She didn’t say so, but I suspect that underneath her concern was a familiar Protestant suspicion of things that feel Catholic, which I can understand. There was a reason for the Reformation, after all, and anti-Catholic sentiment lingers still in some ways. But Methodists have marked the season of Lent since the very beginning.
Personally, I find it a beautiful, restful season. It’s similar to Advent with the sense of preparation and anticipation, but it is so much more slow and easy, personal and prayerful. From our Ash Wednesday service:
“Tonight marks the beginning of Lent: a season of self-examination. Though the colors are muted and dry to remind us of all of the ways that we need God, it is a beautiful, and hopeful, and holy thing. This is a time to ponder the depth of God’s love, and the lengths to which God has gone to bring awareness of that transforming love into the world. It is a time to ponder what God wants for us and for the world, which the Israelites called “shalom”, the prophets called “justice”, and Jesus called “life abundant.” And it is a time to ponder what God’s love calls us to do: to discover where God’s love leads us to forgive, and seek forgiveness. Lent is a time to let life in again, a time to get rid of whatever might be blocking the fullness of life within us. Let us open ourselves to God’s wisdom and guidance, trusting that God will lead us, love us, fill us, renew us.
So let us embark together on a journey of the heart. In these days the church is dressed in natural fabrics and earthy tones, purple colors that remind us of blessed dark and quietness, and barren branches that remind us of death that leads to new life. In this time, we look deep into our own humanness, our own hunger, our own flawed incompleteness. We must go there, because we cannot celebrate the glorious gift of New Life that God offers us until we know why we need it. It is a journey to take slowly, with great honesty, but also compassion and gentleness, knowing that we are held by a God of endless mercy and compassion. With gratitude and wonder, let us receive God’s gift of Love in our minds, hearts, and souls, allowing God to remold and remake us once again.”
There are a lot of different ways to mark the season, by giving up things or committing to new things. However you choose to spend these important days, I pray that they bring you more and more in love with God, one another, and yourself.
In faith, hope, and love,
Worship Any and Everywhere
John: The Gospel of Life
This season of Lent, we are moving together through the gospel of John. You might like to make it a Lenten practice to add a reading of John’s gospel to your day, moving through it slowly, a bit at a time. We so often read the gospels in chunks and disconnected pieces that it can be really enlightening and wonderful to read it slowly, in order, not skipping the difficult parts or favoring the familiar ones.
It has been said that Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us who Jesus is, while John tells us what Jesus means. John’s gospel is full of poetry and metaphor and mystery that will be wonderful to explore. This week in worship, we’ll focus on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry through chapter 5, what we know about who John was, and what John feels is especially important for us to know about the lifegiving meaning of Jesus Christ.
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