Dear friends,
Happy Lunar New Year! i hope you that it has been a joyful time reconnecting with friends and family.
Today is Ash Wednesday – and it falls on the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, just as we feast and celebrate, and it seems to clash with the season of Lent’s invitation to fasting, reflection and repentance.
But as i shared in last Sunday’s prayer – perhaps we are invited to hold these contradictions and embrace the fact that life is always mixed – it is not either joy or grief, but both. In the midst of joy, there is grief, and in the midst of grief, there is joy.
So this Sunday, i want to kick off the Lenten sermon series “Rooted in Hope” talking about something taboo during the New Year – death.
As we journey in this overlapping season of celebration and reflection, may we hold both joy and grief, grateful for both. and learn to release what no longer gives us life, so that we may truly live as we journey into Lent, rooted in a hope that defies despair and darkness – a hope anchored in the abiding presence of God.
Shalom,
miak