March 2023

Dear Friends of First,

Lenten Greetings to you, in the name of our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Our Lenten theme this year is called, Full to the Brim. Full to the Brim is an invitation into a radically different Lent, into a full life. It’s an invitation to be authentically who you are and loved with God’s lavish overflowing love. And so, this Lent, let us trust -fully- that we belong to God.

Is your cup full to the brim? Maybe you are feeling like your cup is filled exactly as it should be – you are getting enough sleep, you are having meaningful interactions with friends and family, and your relationship with God feels strong and secure. Or maybe you’re feeling like your cup could use some filling – your health isn’t great, your relationships are strained, and you’re wondering about God’s presence and work in your life.

Our “cups” fill and empty and fill again as we experience joy, fulfillment, challenge, and weariness throughout our days. There is no judgment for how full or empty your cup may be right now. The ebb and flow are simply the reality of our lives!

During Lent this year, we’ll also begin focusing on health and wholeness in all aspects of our lives. Using the Wellness Wheel as our guide and trusting that our baptism is at the core of all healing, we will pursue health of body, mind, and spirit in various areas of life. A wellness wheel looks at wellness as an entity containing interconnected aspects of our lives. Rather than just a list of the different ways we can achieve a sense of well-being, picturing the issue as a wheel helps us see how these eight dimensions all touch on each other at some point. Achieving wellness is not a linear
step-by-step progression: instead, it is a rotating process where we tend to different dimensions of our lives as it spins, and to keep it spinning smoothly, we cannot put all our efforts into just one dimension.

Join us this Lenten season as we hear familiar stories in new ways – we will hear about God as a mothering hen, a prodigal son welcomed home, a fig tree nurtured, precious oil poured out freely, and stones shouting with praise. Along the way, we will hear a gospel message of grace – grace that we could never earn or deserve – but grace that fills our cups to the point of overflowing.

May this Lenten season remind us that we are full of God’s love, God’s grace, God’s light – full to the brim.

In Christ,
Pastor Jim