Happy Friday, Glen Mar!

Lent is right around the corner. While the penitential season officially begins next Wednesday on Ash Wednesday, February 18th, we will be starting our Lenten sermon series, The Desert Mothers and Fathers, this coming Sunday.

Throughout the series, we will be drawing on resources from Lectio365. You can find more information about the series here. I also commend to you the Lectio365 app, which is available in both the Apple App Store and Google Play stores. Lectio365 offers a simple, three-times-a-day rhythm of prayer, and the community founded by Pete Greig will be engaging this theme throughout Lent. As I mentioned on Sunday, this is not required, but it can be a helpful supplement and a steady prayer companion during the season and beyond. I hope you will check it out.

Now, you may be wondering who the Desert Mothers and Fathers were, and what these ancient monastics could possibly have to say to the modern church in the suburbs of the United States. These early Christians lived during the third through sixth centuries, during a time when faith was becoming closely tied to power and politics. They sensed that something essential was being lost as the church surrendered to empire, and so they withdrew to the desert in search of silence, simplicity, and holiness, longing to live lives that looked more like Jesus and less like the world. Their ancient wisdom speaks clearly into our own busy, noisy, and distracted modern world.  This Sunday, we will learn about Anthony of the Desert.

This Lent, we’ll walk a forty-day journey into the wilderness with Christ, guided by Scripture and these ancient spiritual teachers. I’m looking forward to this set-apart season with you and pray that, as we move toward Easter, we will find ourselves more deeply rooted in Christ and more ready to continue walking in His Way.

I hope to see you on Sunday!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Chris