Well, my friends, it is good to be able to share a message with you as we prepare for the 3rd Sunday of Lent. You know in the season of Lent—and there are five Sundays—when we approach our 3rd Sunday, we, there is almost a sigh of relief. We recall in Advent, we have ‘rose Sunday,’ right, where in the middle of Advent we pull out the pink and say: “Ah we are almost there, we are almost there A_____.”
So today I am at the food pantry of course. And, we have been serving meals and I have been trying speaking Spanish to people, and I don’t know much Spanish. I feel terrible about it. And yet, I’ve learned, I’ve learned that God gives us the gift to be companions. That is to be lovers of God in other people, regardless of our backgrounds, our ethnic backgrounds our socio-economic backgrounds and our languages, that if we can just follow this ministry of presence, that is just to be with others and to love them, we are doing God’s work.
People of St. Mark’s, we are doing the work. And so, in this season of Lent, we invite you, we invite each other, we invite the world around us to take time just to pause and ask God to open our hearts and minds and turn us. That is, we have lived our lives up to this moment in a certain way, and now prepare us God for the future. Prepare us for tomorrow. Prepare us to receive you in all people. And if we are anxious about something, or nervous, or we are wishing we had lived our life differently before this day, we have the opportunity right here, right now to say: “Lord, transform me.”
So, when you come this Sunday, whether online or in-person, that’s where we gather as Christians, every Sunday morning. And we say “God, I am who I am, thank you for loving me who I am, please forgive me.” And more importantly, now that I am forgiven, I am liberated. I am liberated the same way that Jesus was liberated on the cross through his resurrection, death, and resurrection for us. And I am liberated because through the people around me I know I am not alone on this journey with your son Jesus Christ. And that despite how hard my heart might be, or my mind may be closed, or my eyes may be blind, or my ears may be clogged, you are still going to put me to work. That is what I love about serving here at St. Mark’s, and that is what I love about serving with all of you. All faithful servants doing God’s work.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.
God bless.
Fr. Mark