We are getting closer to a change of season. Soon, we will move from winter into spring. And on the Church Calendar, we will move from Epiphany (the season of manifestation) to Lent (the season of suffering). During Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17, and continues to Easter Eve, April 3, we explore those scriptures which tell of Jesus’ persecution at the hands of the religious leadership and eventually His suffering and death. It is during Lent, the 40 days – excluding Sundays – before Easter, that the church prepares itself to celebrate the Resurrection.  We do this through self-examination.  Lent is a time for us to consider how we are in conflict with Jesus and the way that He modeled for us.  It is a time for us to think about how our sins, our failures, our brokenness, became the reason for His suffering and death.  This realization should lead us to cleansing through confession and repentance. Perhaps you’ve heard about the young lad who came to the supper table without washing his hands first.  As he reached for a piece of chicken, mom caught sight of the dirt.  She slapped his hand and said: “Young man, you march yourself right into that bathroom and wash those hands.  And don’t you ever bring those germs to my table again.”  He jumped up from the table, chin bowed to his chest, and slowly walked toward the bathroom and under his breath, he said: “Jesus and germs!  Jesus and germs!  That’s all I ever hear about and I haven’t ever seen either one.”

Friends, as we come before the Lord in worship, prayer and praise, as we seek to love others and serve them in the Name of Jesus, it is important that we have “clean hands,” that we come to the Lord for cleansing.  The great hymn says: “There is a foundation filled with blood … and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”  So, come!  Let’s celebrate a holy Lent with this prayer on our lips: “Give us clean hands; give us pure hearts; let us not lift our souls to another.”

Pastor Tucker