From the Pastor’s Desk – February 2024

A gentleman wrote into Readers’ Digest and told of this real-life encounter.  “While I was sitting in my parked car on the street one day, a young woman in the car ahead came over and asked me if I had a hammer that she could borrow.  When I said no, she got one from the man in the car in front of hers.  She then proceeded to smash out the vent pane on the side of her car.  After returning the hammer, she opened her door, took out the keys and waved them at us with a triumphant grin.  As she drove away, the fellow who lent her the hammer came over to me and said, ”If only she had told me what she wanted the hammer for I think I could have helped her.  I am a locksmith.”  Oh, the brokenness we bring into our lives when we try to do a self-atonement job and fix our fallen nature.

Coming in to this Season of Lent, let’s offer this prayer:

Gracious God, how blessed we are to live and serve as a community of Your people.  Gifted with the beauty of creation surrounding us, lead us into significant relationships that nurture and challenge us, as we experience the promise of life, and are grateful. 

Lead us now, O God, as we seek, in this season of Lent, to journey with our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

Lead us in righteousness, that our journey might be a journey in which we embrace Christ’s ways of compassion and justice, grace and mercy, hope and right living. 

Lead us, God, in peace, as we seek to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Fill us with a peace that passes all human understanding, a peace the world cannot give to us, neither can it take away.

But, holy God, let us never be satisfied with personal peace alone.  Lead us into paths of peacemaking and reconciliation.  And God, we pray that You might soften the hearts of those world leaders who are far more inclined to wage war than to seek peace.

God, where there is brokenness, form us into instruments of forgiveness.

Where there is despair, make of us channels of Your hope.

Where there is division, may we be empowered to bring healing and wholeness.

Where darkness abounds, grant us courage to walk in the light, our eyes fixed on Jesus, the light of the world.

God, make us mindful of those among us this day who silently hold hurts and brokenness within them.  Teach us to look into one another’s eyes and hearts.

We pray for those experiencing pain in their significant relationships, those who are yearning for new beginnings in life.  We pray, O God, for young people facing untold pressures and challenges, and for older persons seeking to come to terms with limitations and losses.  Whatever our life situations, O God, lead us in paths of right living, our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we pray.  Amen.