The liberating way: Lent 2022 together
If you’ve spent much time with our community, you know we have tended to be pretty experimental in how we “do” church together. We are not afraid of trying new things, like meeting in nature or gathering on the back patio of a brewery - like not having official membership or deciding to launch a “community space” instead of just having a building of our own.
Letting go of some cultural assumptions of what it means to be the church has been freeing, but it has also given us the opportunity to decide what we still grounds us in the Way of Jesus. Some of those things have been exploring scripture in community, learning spiritual practices, story-telling & sharing communion. Along those lines, something else that has helped to ground us are the seasons of the church year. Moving through various seasons together has helped to give shape & rhythm to our life together and to keep us rooted us in Something Bigger.
It seems like we just finished Advent, a time when we prepared for the coming of Light within the dark, and now it’s time for Lent. But what is the season of Lent & why do we bother to make a big deal about it?
For starters, Lent is linked to the wilderness - and while we don’t always love time spent out in the wilderness, we need it. Lent lasts 40 days (not including Sundays), to mirror the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness clarifying his purpose and dealing with potential derailment. The 40 days of Lent also mirrors the 40 years the Israelite community wandered in the wilderness being formed into a new community. They were invited to be liberated from the deeply ingrained ways of empire & to learn how to trust in just enough for each day.
Wilderness journeys are important. The wilderness may not contain all of the comfort & convenience of home, but it is the place where we can experience liberation from whatever is harming, hindering or holding us back from being fully human - whatever is keeping us from experiencing life to the full.
During our Sunday gatherings, we’ll continue moving through the gospel of John and we’ll explore some significant encounters, conflicts & stories that invite us deeper into the way of liberation. We’ll be asked to practice some kind of letting go & leaning in each week during Lent. And as usual, we’ll be inviting friends from our community to share their stories.
As a community, we will also be setting aside some time to intentionally lean into community over the next 40 days. We’ll be hosting weekly community suppers, starting on Ash Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on Overalls Farm. The rest of the weekly suppers will happen on Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. Hosts & locations will vary - check your weekly update for details. These will be opportunities for us to connect, to grow deeper in our relationships with one another & to reflect on what is stirring in our hearts & minds during this season.
Whoever you are, whether you have any understanding of Lent or not, we welcome you to journey with us as we venture deeper into the liberating, love-centered, life-giving way of Jesus together.