Lent is here!
The season of preparation for that most important week in the church’s calendar is upon us.
Last night we began our season with the ancient rite of Ash Wednesday, when we remember the frailty of human life with the dust of old palm fronds placed on our foreheads. At the same time, we hold together the remarkable grace of the God who drew us out of the ground, created us with awe-inspired and wonderful hands, called us good, and made us in God’s own image to love and be loved – for our God makes beautiful things out of dust. And we mark ourselves with the symbol of that same God who took on our image, becoming flesh among us, living a life that displayed what love really looks like, even to the ultimate point of giving everything so that all could find the wholeness we were meant to have.
Oh yes, those ashes hold far more than mere death in them.
This weekend, we take our next step in our Lenten journey by going back to the beginning of the story. All the way to Genesis 3.
That’s right, we are going to be looking at the story of “The Fall.” When our original forebears, Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree and fell from grace.
This is an essential story to our Reformed consciousness. We have held onto the belief in the “total depravity” of the human race with a white-knuckled grip since John Calvin died in 1564.
And yet, how we understand what happened in that story, what that first sin truly was, and how it has shaped humanity ever after may not be as simple as some of our brethren would have you believe.
So come to worship as we walk this Lenten journey together and find out what the wonders of God’s redeeming love truly are.
Blessings, Pastor Janie
First Welcoming All 