“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 6:1

Missing in-person worship?  Missing us?  Missing Communion together in the same room, and now Ash Wednesday?  We’ve got you covered!  We are working out the details to offer you “Ash and Dash” – a COVID safe, drive through option for our church members, friends and neighbors who love Ash Wednesday like we do, and want to start out Lent with a bang.  Wear a mask and stay in your car, and we’ll do the rest, with genuine ashes burned from last year’s palms, and a Lenten take away bag to begin your Lenten journey. 

We miss you too, and let’s do something positive about it!

Here’s why.  What Barbara Streisand sang is true, that, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world….”  Children instinctively know it, and we should remember it, too.  We need each other, and how.  Even in a pandemic; especially in a pandemic.  That’s what relationships are all about!  As Jesus says, “Children are at the very center of life in the kingdom.”  (Mark 10:15)  Oh, to have the perspective of a kid again.  We could learn a lot.     

In answer to the question, “When was our nation founded?”  One little boy wrote: “I didn’t even know it was losted!”  (James W. Moore)  Asked to describe the famous painting of Whistler’s mother, one student explained: “It shows a nice little lady sitting in a chair, waiting for the repairman to bring back her TV set!”  And then how about these interesting answers: “A horse divided against itself can’t stand”!  Or this one: “The death of Thomas Jefferson was a big turning point in his life!”

But here is my favorite: A little girl was asked to define the word “People,” and this is what she wrote: “People are composed of girls and boys and men and women.  Girls are nice.  Boys are no good until they are grown up and married.  My mother is a woman, which is a grown-up girl with children.  My father is so nice that I think he must have been a girl when he was a boy!”

Can I get an amen?!

People need people.  I need you and we need each other, at least, that’s one of the many reasons I belong to this church.  How appropriate that Ash Wednesday this February 17 marks the first step in our 40 day (plus Sundays) spiritual walk to Easter.  The question is, where do we find hope?  It’s all about strong, healthy relationships, beginning with Jesus of course, and on from there.  Believers like us know that being a Christian is a group effort. 

The forty plus days called Lent have changed over the centuries.  Traditionally, the experts tell us that Lent began as a time of purification and preparation.  Most people figure it’s a time to give something up and feel miserable, but we United Methodists don’t approach it quite that way.  Surprisingly, the word “Lent” originally meant “springtime,” and if you think about it, that implies a whole heap of possibilities: new perspectives, opportunities for growth, even change.  All good!

The only question is how to get there!  Won’t you join us in the journey? 

Shalom,

Pastora Robin