Quest

The Lenten season is a time for self-examination, repentance, and confession. It is also a time to take stock of our relationships: our relationship with God and with others. As sinful human beings, we feel the weight of broken relationships with God and with others and long to restore them to wholeness. As we walk together toward the cross, we discover ways to restore our relationships through justice, faithfulness, trust, limits, love and forgiveness.

February 22, 6:30pm: ASH WEDNESDAY- RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH JUSTICE

A brief, simple service with the imposition of ashes

ISAIAH 58:1-12, PSALM 51:1-17, MARK 6:1-6, 16-21

Lent begins with a call to fasting, prayer and repentance as we begin our journey to the cross. Through the prophet Isaiah, God reminds the Israelites, and us, that the outward observance of faith is no substitute for genuine fasting that results in acts of justice, such as feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked. Sincere repentance will lead to restored relationships through justice.

February 26: RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH FAITHFULNESS

GENESIS 9:8-17, PSALM 25:1-10, MARK 1:9-5

Because of human sin, the Lord destroys the earth by flood, yet divine destruction gives way to divine commitment and faithfulness to his people and all of creation. The Spirit that comes upon Jesus at his baptism sustains him when he is tested by Satan. Our baptism sustains us to restore our relationships through faithfulness to God and to others.

March 4: RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH TRUST

GENESIS 17:1-7, 15-16, PSALM 22:23-31, ROMANS 4:13-25

God promises to make Abraham and Sarah the ancestors of nations. Though Abraham and Sarah are far too old to bear children, they trust that God will accomplish what God has promised. Their trust catalyzes their transformation as they receive new names and identities. Paul says God’s promise comes to all who share Abraham and Sarah’s faith and trust in God. We, too, get new identities in baptism, as we put on Christ.

March 11: RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH LIMITS

EXODUS 20:1-17, PSALM 19, JOHN 2:13-22

After escaping from slavery, the Israelites come to Mount Sinai, where God teaches them how to live in relationship with one another. In order to live in healthy relationship, God sets loving limits in the Ten Commandments. Jesus also sets loving limits in the temple as he defends the worship of God alone and rejects the ways commerce can become our gods.

March 18: RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH LOVE

NUMBERS 21:4-9, PSALM 107:1-3, 17-22, JOHN 3:14-21

In the wilderness, the people become impatient and begin to lose their faith and trust in God. After God sends poisonous serpents among the people, his love for them prompts him to make a promise to Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live. Just as those who look upon the bronze serpent were healed, so we will be restored when we behold Christ lifted up on the cross, God’s ultimate gift of love.

March 25: RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH FORGIVENESS

JEREMIAH 31:31-34, PSALM 119:9-16, JOHN 12:20-33

God promises Jeremiah that a “new covenant” will be made in the future: a covenant that will allow all the people to know God by heart. God promises to “forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” We see these promises fulfilled in Christ, who dies on a cross to forgive our sin so that we may have life. Because of this act of love, we are empowered to forgive ourselves and other