Originally published in the Trinity, Nampa Epistle/Newsletter.

Dear Friends in Christ,

            This Epistle will be posted/printed around Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the church season of Lent. There are two threads that you can trace through Lent at Trinity this year. The first is the Sunday morning readings, which all tell us something about this God we trust and follow. Taking a cue from the early church, which used Lent as a time for baptismal preparation, Sunday worship and the sermons will hopefully help us consider what it means to “walk wet,” as Dan Erlander writes, to live as baptized children of God in the world today. What good news and what instruction can be found in the old, old stories of Jesus in the wilderness, God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well, Jesus healing the man blind from birth, and the Dry Bones? Another, surely related, thread this Lent will be woven through our Midweek Night Prayer, sometimes called Compline, services. Each Wednesday in Lent we will remember and celebrate saints the church recognizes, people who have followed Jesus faithfully and whose lives can both instruct and inspire us. You will be familiar with a few of these individuals, people like Harriet Tubman, Patrick, and Jesus’ father Joseph, but others will likely be new: George Herbert, Perpetua, Hans Nielsen Hauge. If even reading this piques your interest, be sure to check out the faith formation playlist on our website (nampatrinity.org) for more. Lent is a time to go just a little deeper in the life of faith—deeper in prayer, reading scripture, serving our neighbors, and pondering what it means to faithfully follow Jesus. Blessed Lent everyone!

Pastor Meggan