Dear Friends,

     March is such an interesting month. It is the bridge month between the frigid hardness of winter and the soft, warming hope of springtime. It is also the month of Lent, the season of preparation in which the Christian church looks forward to the warming hope of new life symbolized by Easter. But we don’t get there before an institutionalized season of somber thoughts and penance. 

     So, a few years ago, after a particularly harsh winter, I was planning my preaching themes for the Lenten season and having a difficult time of it. Lent is traditionally a time of sacrifice and self denial, a time to reflect on your sins. Fasting is a Lenten activity as is the contemplation of your mortality. (On Ash Wednesday we in the clergy remind people that they are dust, and will become dust again as we place ashes on their foreheads.) And there I was, staring out the window of my office at the barren winter landscape, my mind filled with all these bleak themes I was supposed to talk about, when I made a decision. I decided to cancel Lent. 

     In the 15^th chapter of John, Jesus says, “I have said these things that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”  With this wonderful thought in mind, I was wondering why the church should have a special season for suffering just as we are picking ourselves up from winter. There are certainly moments in life where self denial and penance are profoundly valuable experiences. But when I saw so many people carrying such a heavy load not just for forty days, but all year through, I thought that maybe our tired and frightened world could use a season of JOY for a change.

     So this Lent you may notice that my sermon themes will be a bit brighter than the season usually requires. I won’t be canceling Lent, just softening it a little. And I will be hoping as we walk toward springtime and Easter, that joy will gather strength in your soul.

                                                                                       

JOHN