Across the Pastor’s Desk: Lent a time for growth, new life
Published 9:35 am Friday, March 17, 2017
Across the Pastor’s Desk by Sean Forde
Sean Forde is a pastor at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.
Lent is a time for growth and new life.
Sean Forde
In past years, I have written Lenten devotions that focused on the cross of Christ. This year’s focus is through the cross of Christ to new life.
There’s a reason why Lent is in springtime. The ground is thawing out, the trees are budding, the flowers are blooming, the actual birds and the “snowbirds” are returning from their southerly stay, and the Christian is awakening to new life.
The good news is that new life is found on our journey. New life is all around us, and the Lord is calling us to experience new life as we journey to the cross and through the cross.
Take time to notice all the ways new life is happening.
Do you know a couple planning for their wedding day and their new life together as husband and wife? Have you shed the hibernation mentality and engaged in more outdoor activities that bring new life and vitality? Do you know any graduates entering a new life going from middle to high school, from high school to college or technical school, or from college into the work place? Is God calling you to new life through a new adventure in your life?
When you take time to see and notice, you can be sure that new life is all around us.
Our Lenten journey takes us to the cross and then through the cross, calling each of us to new life where the former things have passed away, the old has become new and there we stand as new creations. May you be encouraged, uplifted and strengthened as we journey to new life.
