February 2023

You aren’t required to fast for Lent, and fasting doesn’t have to be about giving up food! You could fast from an activity or habit. The whole point is to take time to be intentional about your spiritual growth! If simply removing something isn’t helpful for your growth, try replacing it with a new thing. You could volunteer somewhere once a week, or add intentional time each day for prayer or praise. Think about your daily or weekly routine: what is something that you could add, change, or remove that would help you to grow in faith? —Vicar Sharai

This question is from a Confirmation student.

We all have different ways that we measure how we are doing…sometimes it is easy, like testing knowledge or skills in a sport.  Other times it is harder- like are we doing what God wants us to do.  When we feel we don’t measure up, we may try to hide the parts of ourselves that we feel don’t measure up.  Different people hide things in different ways…some get louder and some get really quiet.  It can be really hard to ‘be yourself’!!—Pastor Trudy

It seems that we have been trained to expect all stories to end ‘happily ever after’.  I’m just not sure why.  I know why we WANT them to end happily ever after, even though we know it is not possible.  However things end, whether it is a beloved sport that you can no longer play, a relationship that is unable to be repaired, or it is death, the knowledge that it WILL end should inspire a different question.  How do I want to live?  What should I do with what is most precious to me?  Pastor Trudy