From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

Somehow the snow last night seems appropriate given that Ash Wednesday is tomorrow which marks the beginning of the Lenten season.  In the great confessional psalm of the Old Testament the Psalmist writes:

Have mercy on me, O God,

    according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

    blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

    and cleanse me from my sin.

You desire truth in the inward being;

    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  (Psalm 51: 1-2, 6-7)

There is something wonderful about the Lenten season.  For me it always a time of figuratively getting my house in order.  It is a time set apart to focus on being more focused on my life with God.  Some of that has to do with ridding myself of bad habits like bad eating practices I often adopt in the winter months.  Some of it has to do with renewing my spiritual life with new practices or new concentration on the old practices that work for me.  It feels a little like airing out the stale air of winter and giving everything a good scrub.  I want to learn wisdom in this season.  I want to be washed whiter than snow.

So somehow it seems appropriate that it snowed last night.  God is calling us into Lent, into renewal, into new life.

Peace,

Pr. Sally