Welcome, Lenten sojourners.
The Season of Lent is a time of self-reflection, of spiritual examination. While that is a healthy and necessary exercise, we don’t examine ourselves in isolation. Instead, we are invited to lay our lives alongside the life of Jesus. It is a sobering exercise to say the least.
And yet, what we discover in this examination of his life and ours, is not condemnation or blame. Instead, we are overwhelmed, the farther we go on this journey with him, by the depths of love Jesus has for all of us.
Lent is a time for getting our spiritual house in order, that is true. But above all, it is an invitation to commit to love once again like Christ’s love.
If Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday in Lent set us off on our Lenten journey, this week we find out just what this journey will require of us. While Jesus is the one we follow on this path, today’s texts ought to make us curious about our traveling companions: those who sit with us in the pew or online for worship; about our pastor; about ourselves.
You’re invited to place a rock at the foot of the cross during worship as an act of surrendering your expectations for who Jesus should be so that you are released to follow Jesus as the true Messiah—even when following leads to the cross.
To the glory of God,
Pastor Clarissa
Gratitude is Key to Living a Spirituality of Stewardship
Over the past weeks, I have invited our members and friends to give to our annual stewardship ministry. The main criterion for these invitations is that they live their lives as Christian stewards. These are folks who are “all in” at the church and who have been generous in sharing their gifts, time, talents, and tithes through the missions and ministry of Fifth Ave. United Methodist Church. Your commitment of financial support, no matter how small or how large, will be a great help to our church as we seek to balance our budget and live into to the plans God has for the life and purpose of our church. Each of you have been instrumental in helping the church grow and become the vibrant beloved community of faith that we are today.
The common thread that has run through all your committed and various giving: GRATITUDE! Without exception, persons who live Christian stewardship are also people who are grateful for what God has given them. STEWARDSHIP and GRATITUDE go hand in hand.
Open our hearts and minds to your abundance grace so that we might be good stewards of Your gifts!
As faithful stewards teach us to receive Your gifts gratefully, nurture them responsibly, share them selflessly, and return them to You with increase, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gratefully in Christ.