From the Pastor,

This is a month full of exciting things. First we have that day of all days for romance, Valentines day named after the patron saint of love. So take a little time and think about your valentine. Give them something special, a little bit of yourself.

Then we move to Ash Wednesday (February 9^th) and the beginning of Lent. The Lenten season has been seen by so many as a time of suffering and depriving oneself of things we think are important. Well this may be okay but I am beginning to think that leaves us feeling depressed and sometimes complaining about God like a child complaining about a parent who is disciplining them. We are just like the child and need to be disciplined but Lent is about something else.

Lent is about sacrifice, glorifying, and above all else focus. The reason you might fast or give up something is to focus on God at a deeper level. I would hope there would be a study to join, and there will be some, and that you might find personal time for reflection. That personal time might need to be scheduled, planned to happen on a daily basis.

There is another thing in our time that is of great importance and is in short supply. We are a society of people who have so much to do and so little time to do it in that often, time is more important to us than anything else. For Lent you might set aside a little time just for God. Try it and see what changes occur in you, how your day changes and how one day changing leads to two and so on.

The next part of what I would like to share with you is that we are going to focus on ministry and mission this month. Remember all of the icons we had that represented different ministries the church was involved in? Well we need those to come back and more to be added. Throughout this month I will be preaching about our mission, about our fulfilling the ministry work God puts before us. I will be sharing the importance of reaching out and of participating. We are seeking to discover a deeper commitment to God and his work right here in our community and then how we take that and reach out to a struggling world.

We need to look at becoming more welcoming, more inviting, more accepting, more in tune to what people are searching for. Remember though that the first step is the one coming next. We need to work on our personal lives, move back to the Lenten theme of looking deep into ourselves, sacrificing our indulgences for focus on God.

I invite you to step up to the plate and join with believers everywhere who will be deepening their faith this season. Find a new you, a stronger you, and a more committed you. Then we will join in an exciting journey of service to God, empowered by the Holy Spirit doing things we never thought possible. Come on and join in the journey and do something you never thought you could. The ride will be exciting, thrilling and leave us with a feeling of fulfillment.

Pastor WaynO