Lent 2021 | Feb 5

I heard this statement floated around the office this week, “Six weeks is not enough time between Epiphany and Lent!” Yes, friends, that is how you know you work at a church. For those of us privileged to get paid for our work among God’s people, we love this “church nerdy” stuff. We’ve been dreaming about Lent since November. Pastor Heather came into my office many months ago, fired up about the sermon series which will take us through this holy season. “Imagine with me, Charla! We’ll call it, In the Garden. We’ll follow the cycle of barrenness and hibernation through to life and resurrection. During a pandemic, it is perfect!”

So get ready, my Faith friends. Lent starts early this year. Ash Wednesday is Feb. 17 and Easter is April 4. During the great 40 days (minus Sundays), we’ll take you through Old and New Testament passages on how the earth supports life. Every year during Lent, I notice the natural yearning of God’s creation to burst forth into color and fragrance. This year, we’ll feel that yearning in our worship life together as well.

At the same time, we’ll be experiencing the muscle memory of how the pandemic began. Lent began last year with us gathered for Ash Wednesday; just two Sundays later, we were online. Don’t be surprised by feelings of frustration, futility, and pain that arise as we walk these 40 days together. Your church hopes to plant meaning in these memories during Lent 2021.

Early next week, many households will receive a Lenten letter. In this letter you’ll find some special gifts and reminders. Your Lenten crosses will be in this letter along with instructions for making your own ashes if you plan to observe Ash Wednesday from home. We will livestream our Ash Wednesday service on Feb. 17 at 7:00 pm. If you want to attend in person, be watching next week’s email for the link to save-a-seat. To keep everyone safe, we are limiting in person attendance to 100 people.

After Valentine’s Day, another round of gifts will go out to our families with children and youth. These boxes will be hand-delivered by several amazing servants who find this a safe way to serve and stay connected to our church family. We can all stay connected on the Lent landing page of our website, www.faithtulsa.org/lent.

Your church staff is dreaming and planning for Holy Week and we’ll be sharing those ideas in a few weeks. For now, let us prepare for these days of self-reflection, prayer, repentance and self-denial. We have 12 days until Lent begins and I pray that we will center our hearts and minds toward the garden.

Remembering last year with you,
Pastor Charla