A Message from Our Pastor…
The Season of Lent
February 20, 2023
This special season of our liturgical year begins in two days. Tomorrow is known in many Christian denominations as Shrove Tuesday—the last day before Lent. Traditionally, many Christian cultures over-eat on this day, just before beginning their observance of a season of fasting, self-denial, repentance of sin, and penance. Here at Boiling Springs UMC, we will hold a Pancake Supper with all the trimmings, as you are already aware. We hope many of you will be participating tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM. Eat-in and take-out plates are $10 each and will benefit our Girl Scout Troop #2404 here at Boiling Springs.
Lent begins in two days, on Ash Wednesday. At our special Service of Worship (at 7:00 PM), we will center on what “repentance” really, REALLY means. If we are called upon to repent of our sins, as admonished by both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ Himself, we must personally and privately enumerate some of them to no one else but Jesus. We will have the opportunity to leave our sins at the foot of the Cross—for Jesus to take them upon Himself. Following the evening Message, we shall receive the imposition of ashes—symbolizing our knowledge and belief that we are indeed mere mortals, both coming from and returning one day to ashes and dust. If we are successful, when our Service is over, we shall leave our Sanctuary feeling cleansed, while surely remembering the Savior who took those sins upon Himself for our sake.
Each and every day of our lives, we are tested. We are tested by the Evil One, to see if we will succumb to the darkness of evil and sin, or if we will gravitate to, and be one with, the Savior of the world! Even Jesus was sorely tested, as we all know (we’ve read The Book). The Season of Lent, of course, commemorates the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert—the proving ground for prophets—and how he overcame the Evil One and the easy way out. We can, and must, do the same. As Christians, we are called to be and do no less.
May this season of Lent, and the power of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ that follows it, give us the opportunity to renew our commitment to Jesus and to the Church. May this holy time bring us closer to the God who created us, and to the Savior who redeemed us! The choice is ours. Do we just speak our faith, or do we truly live it?
We hope to see all of you at our Ash Wednesday service, and at Sunday morning Worship during this Lenten season. May God’s precious Holy Spirit guard and guide you in all that you say, and do, and are!
Pastor Ken
