"You Go, Pastor!"

Good Morning Loved Ones,

Welcome to the Lenten adventure. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The Lenten season is a 40 day time of preparation, of evaluation, of allowing God's grace to find us in the most unlikely of places. Many people decide to give up things like chocolate and TV. But Isaiah is clear that what we decide to give up in our lives should be those things that lead us away from God's justice and that we should begin to adopt practices that lead us toward God's justice.

Isaiah 58:9-12 (The Message)

^9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

Quit blame and gossip. Restore, rebuild and renovate. Difficult practices in difficult times. But who doesn't want to be like a "well-watered garden?"

My Gimme Cinco:

1) Thank you, God, for 15 young men on a soccer team who graciously call me "Coach" and in so doing remind me of my responsibilities to them. I give thanks for their energy, joy and teamwork.

2) Thank you, God, for the opportunities you give us at Grandview Park to "restore the old ruins" of neighborhood, community and church. Thank you for the assurance you give us that we can be called "those who can fix anything."

3) Thank you, God, that in the emptiest of places and times you give us resources to share with the spiritually and physically hungry and hope and joy to share with the down-and-out.

4) Thank you, God, for the words of scripture that you have given that feed us and sustain us in the desert and wilderness places.

5) Thank you, God, for my new friend, Thomas, a young man at the YMCA who, during the excruciating pain of my abdominal workout on Monday, several times gave me the admonition, "You go, Pastor!" I give thanks for the community of folks who do the same with Pastor Alfonso and myself on Sundays and throughout the week. It is a privilege and a blessing to have been called "Pastor" and we need you to remind us of our call and to encourage us to go forward. I give thanks for those who make a point of doing so.

So, let's make the community livable again. Let's glow in the darkness and bathe in the light!

There is no fasting from gratitude. Your gratitude is "like a gurgling spring that never runs dry."

Gimme Cinco!

Pastor Rick