A Year Later

Welcome to our Lenten reflections for the weary and tired. We are embracing the Lenten Season after a challenging Pandemic Year.

FEBRUARY 17
ASH WEDNESDAY

A Year Later

Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. —Joel 2:12-13

During Lent, many people decide to give something up that they love – perhaps chocolate, sweets or even using social media. Others might decide to take up something, like helping out more at home or making an effort to be nicer to their brother or sister. This may not sound at all appealing to us this year. Since the coronavirus began sweeping across our country almost exactly a year ago, haven’t we done enough of that?
Perhaps never in our lives have we fasted so much from hugging family members and physically touching our friends, from gathering together in book clubs, choirs, sports arenas, restaurants, and churches. Maybe you have lost a loved one, and you still cannot stop weeping. Even if you have not lost someone you know, our country and world are collectively mourning the pandemic’s death toll, the economic devastation it has created, and the political divisiveness it has spawned. Our hearts have been broken in so many ways this past year that perhaps God is not calling us to mourn and weep this Lent. Maybe instead the invitation is to merely return to God with our entire hurting, weary selves.

FOR PRAYER:

Take a few minutes today to imagine yourself simply being in God’s presence in whatever state you find yourself in. Allow God to be with you no matter what you are feeling.