Dear friends,
I am so grateful for this congregation. I am grateful for your tender hearts that feel the pain of our neighbors and our world, and for your toughness in showing up to ease that pain in difficult circumstances. I am grateful for your dedication to the work of healing, justice and compassion, and for your willingness to ask hard questions. I am grateful for your friendship and for the ways you care for one another.
Alongside my gratitude is my awareness that, in order to remain tender-hearted and tough, dedicated and caring, we need nourishment. We need the nourishment of community. We need food to nourish our bodies, wisdom to nourish our minds, inspiration to nourish our spirits.
In early January, more than a dozen people gathered for a soup lunch and Lenten brainstorming session.
We chose the theme, “Nourishing Community: Body, Mind, and Spirit.” It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the double meaning.
During this season, we will reflect on what it means to be a community that nourishes bodies, minds, and spirits. How do we share meals and ensure that our neighbors have enough to eat? How do we think more deeply about our faith in today’s world? How do we refresh our weary spirits?
We will also reflect on how we nourish our community life. How do we strengthen the web of connections that bind us together? What does it mean to extend an extravagant welcome and to value each person’s gifts?
We will live into this theme in a variety of ways:
- Through worship reflections, including dialog sermons with members of our congregation.
- Through music, including new choral anthems and special music.
- Through our Lenten Daily Devotional (see below).
- Through opportunities to eat together, including a community soup dinner to nourish our neighbors (see below).
- Through cooking together, including our soup group and special recipes chosen by Christian Explorers (see below).
- Through collecting another 1000 boxes of pasta for A Place to Turn!
I look forward to the nourishment we will offer one another in this upcoming season.
Before Lent begins, our February theme will be “On Forgiveness and Grace.” The theme is inspired by our Youth Spiritual Exploration group, whose insightful questions and comments have prompted me to take a closer look at my own assumptions about forgiveness and grace. Thank you to our young people!
Peace, Debbie