It is already beginning. As I drove home last night around 5 o’clock,
I noticed that it was lighter at that hour than it had been even just last week. The days are getting longer.

That must mean it is time for Lent to begin! In English our word "Lent" comes from the same root word as "length". The word referred to the late winter days when the hours of daylight begin to lengthen noticeably, holding the promise of Spring. It is during these "lengthening" days that we observe the season of preparation for Easter.

We often speak of the core Lenten disciplines as prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We tend to forget, however, that the goal of these disciplines is repentance: turning away from the powers of darkness and death and toward the light of God’s liberating love. How do we name those powers that hold us in their grip and keep us from living as God’s people?

From its earliest days, the church used the list of "the seven deadly sins" to name the forces at work in the world that keep God’s creation bound to the powers of death. Though some Protestants may consider this list something only for Catholics, there has actually been a renewed interest throughout the Church in what this ancient list can teach us about confronting evil in the world.

Our sermon series during Lent this year will focus on this list of The Seven Deadly Sins. We will begin on Ash Wednesday, February 22 with worship in the Sanctuary at 7:00 p.m. The series will continue through the Sundays of Lent. There will be small group opportunities to explore these topics as well.

Stay tuned for more details in the Sunday bulletins and on the Church website.

Pastor Karen Sapio

Do any of these quotes sound familiar?

"We should get together for lunch soon!" "Yes – let’s do that sometime after the holidays."

"We’ve got to resolve these issues with the Fergerson project." "Absolutely. That’s what we’ll focus on once everyone is back from the holidays."

"Our tax records for this year are a real mess." "Once the holidays are over, I’ll have time to get all that sorted out."

I know I do that every year. Starting sometime in mid-November I start putting things into a mental file folder marked "Deal with this after Christmas". Sometimes I’m almost afraid to walk into my office after January 1, knowing the large backlog of post-holiday chores that await me.

But Howard Thurman, American philosopher, Civil Rights leader and poet, saw our "after the holidays" project differently. In a poem that has been set to music by several composers Thurman wrote:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

May that truly be our "after the holidays" project.

Pastor Karen Sapio

Do you have a favorite Christmas Carol?

In our Advent and Christmas worship services this year we will explore how the sacred scripture texts of the season are interpreted in both traditional Christmas Carols – and other sacred music that we do not necessarily think of as "Christmasy". Our children’s pageant will center on stories members of the congregation have shared about times that they experienced Christ’s presence in a profound way through singing or hearing a particular piece of Christmas music.

Christmas Carols have an interesting history. Christians have always explored and expressed their faith through music, and the mystery of Christ’s incarnation was no different. However, for most of church history there has been a separation between officially sanctioned church music for the seasons of Advent and Christmas and the popular songs people sang in their villages and homes. Carols fell into the latter category. They were exuberant, sentimental, and often wove together local winter traditions with the familiar gospels stories of Jesus’ birth. Church officials were often a bit queasy about this off-the-cuff theologizing by the masses!

Today we experience something of a similar divide between sacred Christmas music and the secular music of the season. Most of us enjoy both: we happily sing Silent Night in church and hum along with White Christmas when we hear it on the radio.

Sometimes Pastors feel an obligation to emphasize this distinction between sacred and secular holiday music. However, I would argue that Christians who are serious about communicating the good news of Jesus’ birth need to listen carefully to popular holiday music. Listen carefully to songs like White Christmas, Chesnuts Roasting . . ., Happy Christmas/War is Over, or Do They Know It’s Christmas and we can learn a great deal about the world’s deepest hungers and yearnings – For family, for peace, for caring community, for the return of joy and wonder. For the very things Christ came to bring.

If we listen carefully to these songs, we hear again the prophet Isaiah’s words:

Comfort, Comfort ye my people . . .