Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Lent has arrived, and it is so much more than a season of giving up chocolate. Actually, during my lifetime it has seemed that the conversational connection to Lent has always revolved around conversations on “what are you giving up” for Lent. I have rarely if ever overheard conversations with the faithful discussing how they are getting closer to God, which is the actual call to the faithful, beginning with the receiving of ashes.
Our opening slides for worship since Lent began have been chosen as an encouragement for all of you to renew your faith. Martin Luther’s statement, “Faith is a living and daring confidence in God’s grace” is very Wesleyan in thought, but a challenge for all of us to willingly make our faith and God a priority. On the first Sunday of March, I shared a quote from Rev. Timothy Keller, author of ‘The Reason for God,’ which has been very influential in my faith life and personal growth. The quote I shared is reflective of a constant message that I have been sharing with our church on Sunday mornings, “the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual RE-DISCOVERY of the GOSPEL.”
Keller emphasizes our need to focus in on the Gospel. To read and reread the words of Jesus Christ, if … if we want to live lives connected with God. In his writing, he is concerned with individuals who initially find themselves in a setting in which they consider themselves to be Christians, but then they keep the name while succumbing to the world. I share those same concerns.
Keller writes, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching, but whether or not he rose from the dead.” So, if like me you believe in the grace of God verified on Easter morning when Jesus rose from the dead, then you should sense a personal need to read the Gospels over and over again.
In the Lenten season we connect with other churches to offer a Lenten Lunch series to connect us with the Gospels and to enjoy lunch with the faithful from other churches. It is an easy first step for each of us, but we need to be willing to get in our cars on a Wednesday and drive to a church for lunch. On March 4th it will be Woodbury Heights Presbyterian Church, on March 11th it will be First United Methodist Church in Mantua, on March 18th Holy Nativity Lutheran Church in Wenonah, and on March 25th we host our neighbors.
I’d love to have you join me for lunch and discovery of God’s Word each week during Lent. I hope in your private moments that you are rediscovering the teaching of Jesus Christ, not as a Lenten Sacrifice but as a Lenten step of faith because you, like me, truly wants to get closer to God.
One more Keller quote to ponder, “God’s salvation does not come in response to a changed life. A changed life comes in response to the salvation, offered as a free gift.” May this Lenten season change your life because you sacrificed enough of your time to get closer to God, and may God change your life because you chose to get closer.
Pastor Dave