March 1, 2019

Seek the Lord while he may be found,

Call upon him while he is near;

Let the wicked forsake their way,

And the unrighteous their thoughts;

Let them return to the Lord, that he may have

mercy on them,

And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

These verses are a familiar call to worship or a call to repentance, not a bad accent for Lent, which begins next week with Ash Wednesday. The passage focuses on four verbs, “seek, call, forsake, return,” good Lenten verbs. Lent is the time in the church calendar when we consider again the ways we have compromised or failed to “live a life worthy of our calling.” And when we are drawn again into the goodness and mercy of God.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Psalm 23:6

 As Walter Brueggemann says, “Lent is a time to quit running, to let ourselves be caught and embraced in love, like a sheep with a safe pasture, like a traveler offered rich and unexpected food.”

Join us on Wednesday evening for a light supper of soup and bread and for fellowship and the imposition of ashes.