Prairie Wind Parish
 

212 N Eisenhower

Junction City, KS 66441

785-238-6567


Sunday Worship 9:30 am

on Facebook Page

Children's Time during Worship






Marion Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church

1809 B. Ave.

White City, KS 66872


785-482-3830


Sunday Worship 9 am

on Marion Hill's Facebook page






Pray for all 
nations,
leaders and peoples.






ONE WORD frees us of all the weight and pain of life.
That word is LOVE                                            ~Sophocles

 

Mission Statement
We have benefited greatly from the gifts of God's love, peace and joy through Jesus Christ.  In grateful
 response we seek to share these same gifts with others, inviting all people seeking
 meaning, purpose, and community to a new life in Christ. 

See more of our beliefs and practices at www.elca.org


Now we begin the season of Lent in the church year. There are many different images that describe this season. 

It was originally a forty-day period of instruction and discipline for those individuals preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil. It parallels the story of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil.  

It is a time to repent and take on those disciplines that help us to face the temptations in our lives. When I was growing up, there was a lot of emphasis on “giving up something for Lent,” although Sundays, as celebrations of the resurrection, don’t count as part of those 40 days (Sundays in Lent and not of Lent) so technically whatever you gave up for Lent you could have on Sundays! Not sure how that technically was supposed to help!?  

The image I have found the most helpful to understand Lent is one of a journey, an invitation to be intentional about our journey of faith, following the way of Jesus. We know how easy it is to “get off track” with all the things that come at us, the demands and expectations, the challenges and struggles. It is easy to react to things we hear or experience without stopping to think before we speak, not stopping to check out our feelings, not stopping to ask – how does my faith in Jesus impact how I receive and respond to what I am hearing, feeling, and seeing? What is the “treasure” in my life that I am honoring as I journey through this world? How is my heart reflecting the love of God? How is my heart these days?  

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Matthew 6:21) 

We know where God’s heart is – in this world, in us, full of love and grace – desiring to renew “the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30) We are the ones who keep straying from the love of God, who substitute other treasures for the treasure of love.

 

So Lent is an invitation to return, to turn around, to repent, and to journey on God’s path, to travel the way of Jesus where we will experience the true treasure of faith. How will you respond to that invitation? What will be part of your Lenten journey that will bring healing to your heart as well as to the “face of the earth?”

 

My prayer for the synod this Lenten journey is captured in the hymn written by Sylvia Dunstan, Bless Now, O God, the Journey.  (ELW 326)

Bless now of God, the journey that all your people make,
the path through noise and silence, the way of give and take.
The trail is found in desert and winds the mountain round,
then leads beside still waters, the road where faith is found.

Divine eternal lover, you meet us on the road.
We wait for lands of promise where milk and honey flow,
but waiting not for places, you meet us all around.
Our covenant is written on roads as faith is found. 

May this Lenten journey renew your faith as you travel the way of Jesus. Lead us all to still waters of peace and justice, blessed by our Divine Eternal Lover.  Amen 

 


 


        

"PEACE, IF POSSIBLE; TRUTH, AT ALL COSTS."


                       ~~  Martin Luther  1483-1546  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


   

“ A Christian is never in a state of completion, but always in a state of becoming ”      

       

                                - Martin Luther   1483-1546