By Gordon Wiersma
The wisdom found in Ecclesiastes 3 that begins with “For everything there is a season” is familiar to and meaningful for many. It poetically weaves the interplay of experiencing gain and loss, abundance and need, pain and healing, and in doing so we see our own lives. Together with the writer, we look for meaning and God’s presence in all of those seasons.
So what do we look for in this particular season of Lent in 2021? As the Worship Ministry met in January to reflect on that together, we could plainly feel and see within us and around us that the past year has been a season of much loss and pain, of challenge and disorientation and weariness. In some ways, those are themes that could be suitable for Lent, as there is a well-worn place for repentance and lament in the Lenten season. But given what we have all been journeying through individually and corporately, we sensed that something different is needed for this Lenten season. What we felt the Spirit surface in us were calls to germination and growth, to grace and renewal, to awakening and emerging. These are themes that belong in Lent as well, as it is the time in our part of the world of light increasing and days lengthening, of the dormant earth stirring, connecting us in our spirits to threads of discipleship and growth.
In this Lenten season at Hope Church, the themes we trust you will hear in the worship and life of Hope Church are not so much that of joy, but rather as one person so beautifully put it at the Worship Ministry gathering, “the energy that comes before joy.” It is the energy reflected in the beautiful title and text of the song, “Light Dawns in a Weary World,” and that is the energy we look to the Spirit for together in this particular time and season.
Lenten blessings to all,
~Pastor Gordon