From the Pastor

One of the disciplines that is a regular part of my life, is to stop and remember that you as the parishioners of this church to not live and breathe the church all the time in the fashion I am called to by you and by God.  If I am lax about this discipline, our life together suffers because our expectations of each other get out of whack and the real focus of being the church, God and God’s mission, gets seriously blurred!  That isn’t to say I have no other parts of my life, but the truth is just about everything about my life revolves around service to God and the church in some fashion.  Even Scamp seems to feel this way as she surveys her territory out the living window of the house right next door.  It was only recently that I realized that the hardest part of living in this parsonage is that it is right next door—I think that happened on a day I was yelling at her to stop barking and realized she was just doing her job telling me that someone was in “her” parking lot!

I was contemplating this reality as I was thinking about Lenten disciplines.  It may be that Lent is a time that calls all church people to “live and breathe” church a little more than normal.  Lent is not all about sackcloth and ashes.  It is about paying attention, closer attention, to the spiritual nature of our lives and seeing the things that need to change.  It is about acknowledging our sin, but not stopping there.  It is about sounding the alarm in our very being that we might turn to God and seek a better way for our own lives and the life of the institution we cherish.

When we reach the Day of Resurrection we should be able to celebrate the eternal promise of new life that has grown larger in every Lenten season of our lives. When we have made a commitment to pay just a little more attention to what is important about our own spirits and the spirit of North Church, we discover ourselves blessed.  And remembering that we are blessed keeps us focused on God’s purpose for our mutual ministry.  May these Lenten days help us to have good expectations of ourselves, each other, and God’s intention for us.                Blessings,   Dawn