Pastors March Letter

Grace and Peace to you, We are a few weeks into Lent and I have had a few people ask me, “what was the point of Lent, and why should I give something up?” These are great questions that many people ask. Lent is supposed to be a time of reflection and repentance. These weeks and days before Easter are supposed to be a time when you and I reflect on our relationship with God. This is the period when we intentionally make time to draw closer to God. Many people will give something up during these forty days of Lent, but why? The idea of giving something up is supposed to help you in this reflection time. If you do decide to give something up, then every time you think of that “thing,” let that serve as a reminder to work on your relationship with God. Lent is about an inward movement, an inward journey to get right with God, but that’s not always an easy thing to do. There are many things along our journey that cause us to stumble, to fall further off track in our relationship with God. I see these stumbling blocks as rocks. Some of us have rocks on our journey that are pebbles and others have rocks that are boulders. We will try to avoid these rocks, and sometimes toss these rocks out of our way. There are also times when we will pick them up and carry them on our journey. Too often we continue to pick up these rocks and try to carry them on our faith journey. These rocks in our lives weigh us down and make our walk of faith hard to travel. This Lenten season, get rid of your rocks; give up those things that are causing you to walk away from God. Lighten your load and walk the journey God has intended for you. May this season be a time of excitement for you as you renew, and in some cases restore, your relationship with the one who created you. Blessings, Andy