Dear Friends,

I can see it in your faces. That was my thought as I greeted people both on Tuesday evening for our pancakes and on Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday services. I could see it in your faces – the weariness, the frustration, even the bewilderment of dealing with all of the snow and all of the cold. It was so clear to me that none of us has been immune to the challenges that the weather has presented. And unlike a quick and large storm that comes and goes, this winter has not really given us a chance to react, respond, and “mop up” after the worst of the destruction.

We are all in this together. Each one of us has been affected in any number of ways. And that makes it a bit easier – we trade stories, we listen with understanding about ice dams, leaks, and too much shoveling to do, and we find ways to support one another as we journey through the winter together.

How like the journey of Lent. On  Ash Wednesday, those who were here for the services had a cross of ashes placed on their foreheads. And one could have said, “I can see it on your faces.” I can see that which we all have in common – an awareness of our own mortality, and an awareness that all of us are imperfect and fallible human beings, subject to being sinful and to being harmed by the sins of others.

We are all in this together. Each one of us has been affected by the changes and circumstances of life. Here, in living our our lives as Christians with one another, we can trade stories of heartbreak and  healing, of fears and failings, of loves and labors. As we do we listen with understanding,  finding  ways to support one another as we journey through Lent.

We are all in this together. And for that, I thank God.

Faithfully,

Tom