Lent 2022 - Coming Home

Dear friends,

On the north wall of my living room hangs my guitar and mandolin. You’ve probably seen it; that’s where I usually sit at my computer, so for two years it has been the backdrop when I’m with you in online worship or on Zoom. I have seen some of your homes too – attending worship while you wash the dishes, joining bible study while folding laundry, or sharing a pastoral check-in from your kitchen table.

Many of us have spent more time at home during the pandemic than ever before. And yet during this same period, many of us have felt ourselves wandering, out of place, or lost. Home is not only a physical address, it is also a spiritual reality. 

Home is also complicated. When our childhood homes, families of origin, or current relationships are broken, home can bring up feelings of grief, longing, and pain. 

Lent is a season in which God calls us, along with the whole church, to come home: to God, to one another, and to creation. On Ash Wednesday, our liturgy puts it this way:

We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation. But the sin around us takes root within us, and separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, so that we do not enjoy the life our creator intended.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to an active process of turning and returning towards home. Some of us will take on new disciplines: reflection, prayer, service. Others will try out different patterns: giving, resting, reducing, simplifying. Maybe the most valuable practice for you this Lent will be reclaiming “home” as a reality that you can experience with God, even when your own home is complicated.

However God is calling you to keep the season of Lent this year, I encourage you to keep it not alone but as a community. Here at St. Luke’s we will be worshiping on Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m., and on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. during Lent.

Sundays in Lent at 11:00 a.m.
March 6 | coming home to who we are
March 13 | coming home to a mothering God
March 20 | coming home to justice
March 27 | coming home to belonging
April 3 | coming home to the earth
April 10 | Palm / Passion Sunday

Wednesdays in Lent at 7:00 p.m.
Prayer Around the Cross – Contemplative prayer, song and silence
March 9, 16, 23, 30, April 6

Let’s talk (pastorerin@stlukesls.org) if you want to get connected or to explore together what coming home looks like for you this Lent.

In hope,

Pastor Erin