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Ash Wednesday

 kid with ashes

Sharing the message from the Lent Madness website Lent Madness 2025 | Lent Madness and suggesting again that Lent Madness is a great activity to add to the observance of Lent.


Today we begin our forty-day journey to Easter. The Lenten season invites us to rend our hearts, to take an unflinching look at the ways in which we have fallen short of our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. Difficult? Certainly. Necessary? Absolutely. Joyful? Yes, eventually.

As our Book of Common Prayer reminds us, during Lent we "prepare with joy for the Paschal feast." How can this be? It is always joyful when someone finds Jesus or returns to him. And returning to Jesus is something we all need to do again and again.

The world can look hopeless. Chaos and violence fill the news. Greed and fear seem endemic. It appears that evil has won the day. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers a hope-filled truth.

In the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, we see the deep reality of the world. Death, evil, and sin do not, in fact, define us. Instead, our world is defined by grace, mercy, and hope. The resurrection of Jesus shows us that God's love is stronger than the worst the world can muster: stronger than the mightiest empire, able to defeat even death.

Still, hope can seem impossible. And that's where the saints come in. Generation after generation has witnessed to the power of God's love. Saints of all times, cultures, sorts, and conditions have shown the brightness of Christ's light. We can be inspired by their example, and we can be assured of their prayer for us even amidst the challenges of our world.

So Lent Madness might seem like just a silly distraction from important things. And sometimes it is just that! But on a good day, our annual Lenten tournament of saints can remind us that God has transformed all kinds of people, and that maybe God can transform us, too. The saints who went before us didn't give up in the face of evil, and neither should we.

We hope you find your way to a church today -- and many times throughout Lent. Pray, read the Bible, and ponder your need to repent. And perhaps laugh a little at the silliness of the race for the Golden Halo. But always, in all things, remember that our hope is always in Jesus Christ. And he is always with us.

Have a holy Lent.

We wish you every blessing in this Lenten season.

Tim+         Scott+

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