The beginning of the New Year is usually a time of celebration and reflection.  Celebration because we are thankful that God continues to bless us with the gift of life; reflection because we have experienced the end of yet another year and we contemplate whether we have completed the goals set at the beginning of the year.   We consider such questions as, “Am I better off than I was a year ago?”, “Did I do what I said I was going to do?”, “How much have I grown?”, “Am I making progress toward my goal?”

In a few weeks we will begin the season of Lent.  Lent is also a time for reflection-reflection on our spiritual journey.  While some persons practice the discipline of prayer and reflection throughout the year, the season of Lent on the church’s calendar affords us the opportunity to join hearts and hand in the practice of this holy discipline.

The Forty-days of Lent mirrors the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness in prayer and fasting after his baptism at the Jordan.  Let us ponder the thought that if he, our Lord and Savior found it necessary to spend time in prayer (whether for personal need or to set the example for us), discerning God’s call and purpose for his life, so too you and I ought to spend time seeking God’s purpose.  We ought to spend time reflecting of who God is, remembering what God has done, celebrating what God is doing and moveing forward with hope in what God can and will do.

This year when the world around us seems to be filled with gloom and doom, when people fear what each day brings and wonder what the future holds, we pause to remember that God loves and cares for us and for all of God’s creation.  We pause to remember Jesus’ life of making a difference in his context, reaching out to the lost and the least, we pause to remember his teachings: “that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12, NRSV), “if you are at the altar offering your gifts and remember that a brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift, first go and be reconciled to that brother or sister, then come and offer your gift at the altar” (Matthew 5:24, NRSV). 

We pause to remember Christ’s sacrificial death for you and for me; showing us that the road of righteous living is not easy and the cost is high.  However, this road is also the journey towards Easter morning.  We are an Easter people, who during the time of Lent pause to seek God’s grace and God’s strength so that our lives may be examples of Jesus’ teachings- bearing witness to God’s love.

Easter people are not born on Easter morning, Easter people have come on a long journey, they have borne their burdens in the heat of the day, they have come through trials and tribulations (Rev. 7:14 NIV), they have been to the valley and they have been baptized by water and by fire.  The disciples’ journey to Easter Sunday morning- to becoming Easter people was a long, slow and often difficult process.  The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to reflect on this process, through remembering and journeying with Jesus as the disciples did, until we too awake on Easter morning, behold the empty tomb and hear the good news that “He Lives” .

May God grant you grace during this Lenten season that you may earnestly seek God’s purpose for you, answer yes to God’s call, follow where God leads you, go where God sends you and love and care for all of God’s creation as God loves and cares for you.

God is doing a new thing here at Norwalk United Methodist Church and it is awesome. 

Come, see and expereince for yourself!

Pastor Janet G. Hodge