Glen Avon Presbyterian Church

FROM THE

PASTOR

We find ourselves staying close to home and work these days as we slog through this cold winter of 2013. With mixed feelings we enter the Lenten season of the church calendar. We still have stars and Christmas banners in the sanctuary so how can it be time for Lent? Yes, with February's arrival comes Ash Wednesday and the beginning of our pilgrimage to the cross. With the light of Epiphany to guide our way we step onward to the inner reflections that the Lenten story leads us to. At the center of this story is the Passion of the Christ. A passion that he was willing to go to a cross for our sake. A winter love story which has the power to capture our hearts again.

In the book A Hidden Wholeness Parker Palmer writes, "As we look out upon the winter landscape of our lives, it seems clear that whatever was seeded in the fall is now buried deep in the snow, frozen over, winter-killed. Many demoralized people recognize this "dead of winter" metaphor as an all-too-apt description of their bleak inner lives"

What words would you currently use to describe the tale of your inner life? Would bleak-as-winter" work? Do the words frozen-in-place speak to you? On the other hand one might choose to say they are fired-up and warmed by the Spirit!

Dormancy is the word used for the seeds planted in soil in the fall that now rest in the cold earth. The seeds lay waiting, hibernation, "wintering through", till spring warms the ground.

In the book of Philippians, chapter 2, verse 13, Paul writes: "For it is God who works in you to will and to work according to God's good purpose." Psalm 91 relays, "The one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

Could it be that winter and Lent invite us to name what is brewing in our inner walk with ourselves and God? If God is at work in us then we are not alone in our journey of discovery. What is dormant within, waiting to be realize, is the seed for new life in Christ. It is the possibility of knowing grace and love deep within if we dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. As winter darkness moves to the increased light of spring our hearts can also know the hope of life from death due to the wonder of the Resurrection of Christ.

His resurrection is our new life. The risen Light is our light. His passion and love for all the world is a passion we can live into. A story of love that just may keep us more than warm this season. It might light a deep fire within!

Pastor Robyn