WIC The Good News Letter
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The February Good News Letter Check out our website at www.westindependencechurch.org
FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
This month we will find ourselves beginning the church season of Lent, with the Ash Wednesday observance on February 14. This year, as it so happens, the date also coincides with Valentine’s Day. Interestingly, the last time the two were coupled (pun intended) was only back in 2018, but before that was back in 1945. At first glance this coincidence seems very ironic. A day that emphasizes love with a day that emphasizes death and mortality seems awkward at best, inappropriate and depressing at worst. However, going into the deeper meaning of each observance, we can see that they actually go together quite well. Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are a good match because, ultimately, BOTH are about love. The ashes are meant to remind us of our mortality and the gravity of sin, which we will more thoroughly contemplate at that service. But God does not at all leave us there. The ashes also remind us of the power from Him to repent and turn to Him for forgiveness. God brings new life out of the ashes! The first day of Lent is as much about the meaning of what the season leads to (Easter!) as it is about the journey getting there. Ash Wednesday is such an important day because the ashes are a tangible image of our own brokenness and unworthiness. Coming to terms with these aspects of what it means to be human is so important as it humbles us before the Lord. Our faith is actually strengthened by this admission of and identification with weakness and fragility. Again, not fo the purpose of wallowing there but to know and experience the depth of God’s grace, mercy and redemption. We have just begun our sermon series on Blueprint for Holiness, and looked at how the call to “be holy” as God’s people stems from God’s very nature. So too, the 40-day Lenten season is about God, coming from Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. He showed love for the Father by journeying through the wilderness with reliance on the Scriptures and the Spirit to help when Satan tempted Him. Christ is our model and guide as well in the “wilderness” we may find ourselves in. The very reason he went through such trouble in the world was out of love for the Father, shown by following through on the Father’s will, ultimately to the cross. Friends, let us enter this Lenten season with a spirit of prayer, fasting and giving. Let us embrace spiritual disciplines according to what God lays on our hearts, taking up our cross and following Him, for our growth in love and His glory. Grace and Peace,
Pastor Ben