A Lenten Thanksgiving

T

Well, I didn’t choose a Lutheran hymn and this may not be a tune you’re familiar with. So why am I including this song again this year?  Second time round is a charm?  No, not really. This is not a trick question, yet I’m going to leave the response to you.  I do hope you'll listen to the song and maybe even reflect on the words. What do you hear?  For me, the lyrics speak in a way to what it means to live my faith.

I loved Pastor Melinda’s message this past Sunday about living the Christian life with Joy! Yes, Lent is a more somber time of personal and communal reflection and prayer. Yet I also think it’s a season of thanksgiving. Not the typical American November Thanksgiving. But more like I am thankful for God’s grace, for God’s sacrifice, for God’s passionate, enduring love. 

I could say I think about this sometimes when I see a sun rise or set, or spring buds come into sight, or the ground barren once again during the winter months, resting between seasons of harvest and planting.  Yet these reflections also come alive in the presence of another's  forgiveness, of an ‘aha’ moment, when I see a person reach out to help someone else, or another prayer is uttered to a God who whispers “I am here”.

It is this which moves me to say “I will do this which You have called me to do”. Thank you God for a love which runs deeper than human understanding; for your Grace which strengthens me to walk in the blessing of my human-ness. 

      

Regarding this video version of  “I then shall live”; you can find a more professional rendition sung by the Gaithers or a church choir.  I chose this version because it was performed by a single person, sung well and imperfectly, yet with a full heart…reminds me of you and me.

In your Lenten journey, amidst the joys and challenges of life, may you sense the depth of  passionate love God holds for you now; and as a dear friend once told me, ‘forever and a day’.

Shalom,

Susan M.