A Letter from Lindy March 1

Pilgrims,
The season of Lent began with our Glitter+Ash Wednesday service last night—a time for Christians to receive the mark of the cross on our foreheads, beginning the 40 days of reflection and repentance in preparation for Easter. Ashes are a statement that death and suffering are real. Glitter is a sign of our hope, which does not despair. Glitter signals our promise to repent, to show up, to witness, to work. Glitter never gives up -- and neither do we.
 
Forty days, plus Sundays, of reflecting on and tending to what is most precarious and precious in our world, in our collective life. “Forty days, plus Sundays, of leaning into the holy and unfolding story of being alive together, when death is a reality, and deadliness infects every register of life: socially, politically, ecologically,” so reminds Rev. Anna Blaesdel, theologian-in-residence for Enfleshed. “What if,” she continues, “we approach Lent as an invitation into the collective practice of building a world, of sharing a life, of imagining a future—even, perhaps especially, when it seems the world is ending?”
 
What if? We build a world. Share a life. Imagine a future. Not just for ourselves, but for our communal and global brothers and sisters. What if, in so doing, we begin creating the tender growth of possibility, without our even seeing the healing that is occurring. Our hope this Lenten journey, by conjoining the invitations of One Great Hour of Sharing and the Crop Hunger Walk, during Lent, we will. Imagine. Share. Build. Through our witness, participation and giving.
 
These two March mission invitations share common themes and partners, thus naturally can be held in communion. OGHS and CWS with whom we, and many of our sister denominations, partner allow us to extend our collective reach into countless lives, both in our present and in our future. The investments we make, through our walking and our giving, help us share our gifts and blessing so others’ needs are met—investing, even, in a future we cannot see.
 
With joy, and pleasure, and delight. Because we are stardust, holy dirt, sacred dust. Let us, this Lenten season, practice enthusiastically consenting to and participating in, open-hearted embrace of patterns and practices that birth life. Create good.
 
And let us do so together.
Pastor Lindy