by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Time and again this year, I’m reminded of the wisdom of John Lennon’s old expression:

“Life is what happens, when you’re making other plans.”

Several weeks ago, your Church staff made a creative plan for Ash Wednesday. Our plan was to have a “drive-in” service on the parking lot. That was before the forecast included freezing temperatures and possible snow.

So, we have again made “other plans,” and will once more simply livestream our worship. But, we will also invite families to pick up small bags of ashes so that you can still participate in our worship.

It somehow seems appropriate that we’re still having to “make other plans,” even as we hope we are drawing near to the end of our pandemic time.

That gets us to our Lenten theme for this year: “We, Not Me.”

The pandemic has forced all of us into a period of self-reflection and self-care. Meanwhile, our national politics continues to show us the too common instinct toward narcissism. For very understandable reasons, we have been focused on ourselves and, in some cases, simple survival.

But Lent is a time when we are invited to “turn a new way” (that’s the literal meaning of the word “Repent”). So this year, our hope is that we will begin to turn again to “We, Not Me.”

We’ll invite you to come to our labyrinth and walk, while meditating on a brief video message from each of our staff members. (More on this elsewhere in the newsletter…)

We’ll also hope that sometime during the season, it will be warm enough again to have outdoor worship on our lawn. Soon after this —if vaccinations continue, and Covid case numbers continue to fall— it’s reasonable to assume we might soon then gather for in-person worship again.

All of this speaks to what seems like a reasonable plan. But—as John Lennon taught us— we remain ready for plans to change if circumstances do.

So, we will turn our hearts back toward “We.”

What will “We” be, as a Church, once this pandemic ends?

What will “We” be, as a neighborhood?

What will you be, among your family and friends?

Now is the time for a Lenten season where we begin to vision the answers to just these questions.

So, while we always stand ready to “make other plans,” we also are starting to plan for the collective “We” that will be our church’s future.

Join us for this holy time.

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth

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