Connecting with God!

I don’t know about you, but this year Lent seems to have gone by rather quickly. Even though Lent seems to have gone by quicker than I expected it to, I have been able to enjoy a Lenten practice.  For me, Lent is a time for self-reflection and time to connect with God as we journey with Jesus to the cross and the grave.  It’s a time where we can engage in a Lenten practice, new or old.

This year my Lenten practice is carrying prayer beads in my pocket.  Despite the fact that I have had prayer beads for a few years now, I have not regularly carried them in my pocket.  I have only forgotten them one day and I felt lost without them.  I often find myself reaching in my pocket throughout the day just to touch the prayer beads. I am reminded each time I reach in my pocket about my connection to God.  They are a tangible reminder of God’s presence in my life.  

This Sunday is the 5^th Sunday of Lent, we will soon enter Holy Week with the excitement of Palm Sunday.  We will wave palms and we will proclaim “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the Highest.”  Shortly after we wave the palms, we will humble ourselves with a foot washing and then face Jesus as he is crucified.  And not long after Jesus is laid in the tomb, we will celebrate with great excitement the Easter proclamation.

I have enjoyed spiritual practices for several years now, more than I ever thought I would. Even though Lent is quickly coming to an end, I plan to continue to carry my prayer beads as a spiritual practice beyond Lent and Easter.  I have found an inner peace and a deeper connection with God with each spiritual practice.  Some of the spiritual practices I have enjoyed are prayer beads, reading devotionals, being outside in God’s beautiful creation, and just taking a moment to stop and take a deep breath in the midst of a busy day.  Have you enjoyed a spiritual practice?  If so, how has the spiritual practice connected you to God? 

Yours in Christ, 

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber

Three Years of Healing

For the better part of a year, an old bulletin sat on the table in my office. At first, it stayed because I wasn’t using that table, or my office for that matter. When I moved down the hall, though, I brought it with me to help me remember the past as we moved into an unknown future. The date on the front was March 8, 2020. It was the last bulletin we used in worship before the world changed three years ago.

Like many mainline churches, the scripture we read on Sunday mornings are on a three-year rotation called the Revised Common Lectionary. It sets the church calendar and keeps congregations across denominations in sync with one another. It also tends to shape the way some of us organize our memories of the past. For instance, this past Sunday’s readings and theme were identical to March 8th, 2020. The bulletin that sat on my desk for so long had the exact same image on it as the one we just used — a serpent wrapped around the cross. 

By the way, that image is a reference to Jesus’ words in John 3, when he tells Nicodemus, “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Thanks to this verse, and the story in Numbers 21, a serpent wrapped around a pole has become a universal symbol of healing for medical professionals— a group of people we have relied on heavily for the better part of three years now.

We have now made our way through the entire lectionary in the midst of a pandemic. This Sunday, we will witness the lessons we didn’t get to experience three years ago. For some of us, that doesn’t mean much. For others, though, it’s a stark reminder that we still have a lot of healing to do. We have trauma that needs to be both recognized and processed. Our outlook for the future is still very much filtered through a post-pandemic lens. If we want to make it another three years and be even stronger than we are now, it will take commitment to God and to one another, and it will take a whole lot more healing. May we look to Jesus and the cross for guidance, trusting in the salvation that comes when we rely fully on God’s steadfast love.

Peace,

Pastor Chad McKenna