Invitation to Lent

God knows the way that I take;

When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

My feet have closely followed his steps;

I have kept to his way without turning aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

— Job 23: 10-12

Job’s story just doesn’t make sense.  He is a good man who insists he has done no wrong, and yet every conceivable bad thing has happened to him.  His property destroyed, family members killed, and finally cursed by a dreadful disease, he leaves town and camps out at the local dump where he goes to be alone in his misery.  When his friends come out to cheer him up, they just end up criticizing him and making his pain worse than before by insisting that God must have had a good reason to do what He did to Job.  Assuming that God is punishing Job, they sit and speculate what kind of awful things Job must have done to deserve it.

There are those people think of Lent as a time when we’re supposed to “take our punishment” and  dig down deep into our souls to dwell upon the sin that we know is in there.  But we will seek a more profound, positive and productive way to live the season.  Lent is an invitation — our launching pad into the renovated lifestyle of the “God Movement.”  We who have been called by Jesus to live his love deeply in the world are invited to discover new ways of being.  We who are awakened to the awareness of our sin are invited into the circle of confession, repentance, and forgiveness that characterizes the life of the Spirit.  We who are baptized and claimed for God’s kingdom are invited to share our stories and embrace those who are hurting.  Lent helps us do all that. In it’s call to live a life shaped and disciplined by the cross, God’s presence is revealed in pain and suffering and we learn how to love those with the deepest need God’s blessing in their lives.

At the 10am services this Lent, I will present INVITED TO LIFE — a series of messages about the ways God invites us to live our faith.  We will hear stories such as —

• February 26    Fresh out of the ark, God invites Noah to live as God’s friend
• March 4         Abraham and Peter are invited to widen the scope of their faith
• March 11      Moses and the Israelites are invited to turn their beliefs into a lifestyle
• March 18      Jesus invites the world to walk the path of healing and eternal life
• March 25     The disciples invite visitors from a far country to come see the Lord

In addition to regular Sunday services and Ash Wednesday worship on February 22 followed by mid-week worship and soup suppers, Marcia Weil will lead a short Bible study each Sunday morning before the 10am service. 

Palm Sunday, which falls on April 1 this year, we will be turning April Fools day on its head.  We’re calling it APRIL FRIENDS DAY, making a special invitation to bring our friends and neighbors to worship at Atonement so that they may hear God’s personal invitation to  join the “God Movement.”  We want to do better than Job’s friends, who just sat around and put him down.  At the end of that story, God shows up and reveals his glory and majesty to Job and his friends.  We pray that our friends and neighbors can have that blessing of knowing God in their lives.  Let’s invite them all to experience the God who invites us all to life!

Peace,

Pastor Scott