The Flash! March 1, 2012

Dear Hanover Saints,

God loves a good U turn.  From God’s perspective, when our road trip is leading us away from God and we hang a good U-ee it leads to a homecoming.

Lent is about repentance, and repentance is about turning.  The Hebrew word for repentance – shuve – means “to turn around” or “to return”.  The Lenten invitation to repent is our call to return to God; to turn from the paths that lead away from God in favor of the ones that return us to our Creator.

As we approach the second Sunday in Lent with our theme of healing, we will explore how repentance leads to healing.  With Jesus we will look Satan in the eye and ask ourselves to whom we turn when we are seduced by the powers of the world.  Yet even as we wander in the wilderness we will rejoice in the blessings found in the bread and cup of Jesus’ last meal.

Lent is also a sacrificial season – a time to think about giving for the betterment of ourselves and others.  Again this year, we will receive the One Great Hour of Sharing offering on Palm Sunday.  The offering supports the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and the Self Development of People program.  Disasters are generated by both nature and humans: the devastation of a political or social tidal wave is no less than that produced by the sea.  Currently the PDA is holding an appeal for aid to the people of Syria who are suffering deadly retribution for their demands for freedom. Click here for information and instructions on how to give.

Finally, in the season of Lent we are called to deep and ongoing prayer.  As much as God loves a good U turn, how much more God must relish a continual conversation with us.  So may this season be for us one in which we have the discipline to express our need for healing, and then the patience to wait for its completion.

Peace,