Lent 2026 (Page 2)

ReaD Psalm 55:1-7 I enjoy fried clams—the taste, smell, look, crunch. This plate of hot, crispy clams, however, grated my throat as I sat with my dad in a suburban Chicago restaurant. Haltingly and with low-tones, he conveyed the news that my mom and he had separated and were moving towards termination of their 24-year marriage. Stinging eyes and indirect glances followed  for me as I tried to grapple with the seismic bad news. “But how?  But why? But when?…

ReaD Psalm 22:1-21 God acknowledges the anguish of the human experience.  In Psalm 22 we encounter David during a time of despair. He hid from those who wanted to kill him. David felt rejected by God because his situation was not as expected from God’s promise. In verse 1 he cries out to the Lord,  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” David felt as if God had rejected him. Through his anguish, David continued to trust God.…

ReAD Hebrews 5:7 and Luke 22:39-46 My husband Nick and I buy a lot of olive oil. I love it for cooking, putting on salads, even slathering on my cauliflower crust pizza. Think of how olive oil is made. To harvest olives, the olive trees have to be shaken so that olives, leaves and twigs all fall to the ground on a catcher. The olives have to be separated from leaves and twigs, go through a major cleaning, get crushed…

Each Saturday during Lent, we will take some time as a church family to practice a different spiritual exercise together. Today, we are practicing Prayer Walking. About Prayer Walking Put simply, prayer walking is talking with God while you walk and walking while you talk with God. Let’s Walk! For this Lenten prayer walk, here are three areas of your spiritual life to consider, framed by three journey stories.

ReaD Ezekiel 34 In Ezekiel 34 we see God’s anger brought against the shepherds that have taken advantage of the sheep. They have not helped the weak, the sick, or the injured, nor have they brought back the strays or sought the lost. But with force and violence, they have ruled over the flocks. They have used the flock to satisfy their own appetites and interests, abandoning the sheep in the process. In response the Lord says that He is…

ReaD Amos 5:21-24 There are times when a verse is so disorienting that we clearly remember the first time we read it. As a college student, I based my relationship with God on performing religious activities: having a quiet time, going to small group, and attending church on Sunday mornings. I thought that was what God wanted from me. And then I read Amos 5. This passage is the beating heart of the book. Our pious participation in religious services…

ReaD Deuteronomy 6:15 & Matthew 23:23-28 Imagine if you had been invited to a tea by somebody really important. The table is set with a silver tea service and beautiful cups. Your expectation is high. The hostess pours the steaming tea into your cup. You lift it to your mouth and sip. The taste is terrible. You look at the inside of the cup and it is smeared with greasy black residue. Yuck!  When Jesus looks at the Pharisees, the…

ReaD Deuteronomy 6:15 “For the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.” (Deuteronomy 6:15) Is it safe to say that jealousy has been recurrent in my life recently? It’s like that mark on the wall that catches your eye, distracting you until eventually you forget all about it. Then something causes you to look in that direction and…

ReaD Jeremiah 30:23-24 & Mark 3:1-5 This Lent we have been exploring the tears of Jesus. It’s beautiful to me that Jesus cried (and hopefully this gives us permission to live into our humanity through emotional expression) and we also get to discover what made Jesus cry, what made Him angry.  God’s anger in Scripture often makes us uncomfortable. Maybe this is because an angry Jesus doesn’t fit with the image we’ve built up, or we are quick to assume…

ReAD Luke 19:28-42 and Matthew 23:37-39 Being overcome by evil and injustice is a normal human experience. It is also a response that Jesus, our Lord, has experienced. Jesus wept tears of anger upon seeing Jerusalem’s choice to live into inequalities and injustices. He displayed anger at the religious “elite” who gate-kept the mercy and goodness of God. And He shunned the use of the Temple as a marketplace, monetizing forgiveness and reconciliation.  We may view people who are moved…

Each Saturday during Lent, we will take some time as a church family to practice a different spiritual exercise together. Today, we are practicing Confession. About Confession Self-examination is a process whereby the Holy Spirit opens your heart to what is true about you. It is a way of opening yourself to God within the safety of divine love so that you can authentically seek transformation. Confession embraces Christ’s gift of forgiveness and restoration while setting us on the path…

ReaD Micah 7:18-19 I have recently found myself reflecting more and more on humanity from Elohim’s (Creator God) point of view; allowing outrospective space to view the world as if I had created it. I wonder to myself, if I had given my creation all it needed to be in a right relationship with me and with others, why are they acting the way they do? Why do they choose the way of frustration, noise, and conflict? Don’t they see…