From the Pastors Desk - February 29, 2024
As I write this it is Sunday, February 25th, but my head is already in Holy Week at the end of March. I have found life to be very challenging living that far into the future. In fact, I usually have no clue what the date is. With every emergency room visit with my mom recently, somebody would come in and ask her “Do you know today’s date?” My mom would usually attempt to answer, but the majority of the time I couldn’t prove her right or wrong since I didn’t know it either.
I do know that we are currently in the season of Lent. Lent is absolutely my favorite season of the church year. Lent is passionate. Lent is powerful. The hymns in all their minor key glory expressing Christ’s sacrifice for humanity. Stories of disciples who act much like we would even though we emphatically state that we wouldn’t have fallen asleep or betrayed our Savior or been that seemingly thick headed.
Living so far into the future has me already planning for Holy Week. Hymns and liturgy for Maundy Thursday, meetings with Zion for Good Friday, and with my head so far in the future, potentially missing (ignoring) the rest of Lent.
Lent is a time to ponder, a time to reflect, a time to think of our own mortality. Yeah, I know, that’s something we really would prefer not to do. We want to live in the moment and enjoy every second. Play while we can and eat more ice cream. We don’t want to focus on the Ash Wednesday words of “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Thanks to Lent, though, we can live in the future, because in the future we will live. Returning to dust is not the end. As a close friend and coworker once told me, “Lei, I believe that death will be as much of an adventure as life.” I have to say that I agree with her. The end of our earthly life is the beginning of our new life with Christ, and that promise is certain thanks to Lent and its dramatic and sorrowful end.
Death, though, does not, and never will, have the final say thanks to Easter. The empty tomb assures us that the future of everlasting life is a beautiful gift. Death has lost its sting! The future is ours, and we will live! Thanks be to God!
Faithfully, Lei Fahrner
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