Grace and Peace Beloved St. Lukers,
It may sound cliché, but I truly cannot believe Lent is already here. Where did the time go? The calendar keeps moving, and yet this sacred season always invites us to slow down.
Last night, as we gathered for Ash Wednesday, we marked our foreheads with ashes and remembered our mortality. We remembered that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. It is a humbling and holy beginning as we turn our hearts toward the Cross. If you were not able to join us, I invite you to watch the service HERE.
This Lent at St. Luke’s, our theme is Crossroads.
At Love University, we are stepping into the hard work of love at life’s intersections. Especially in seasons of change. Especially when competing truths collide and easy answers fail. The crossroads are not places where we are asked to abandon what has been or rush blindly into what is becoming. Rather, they are places where we learn to hold both with trust and faith.
Through the Gospel stories of Lent, we will discover that loving like Jesus requires courage. Humility. Boundary-crossing grace. Trust in God’s transforming power. It is the kind of love that remains faithful when familiar paths are ending and new ones are not yet clear.
Throughout this journey we will practice: Love grounded in humility. Love that resists domination. Love that transforms the self. Love that centers the marginalized. Love that endures grief. Love that chooses faithfulness over acclaim. For us, Love University reminds us that love is not simply a feeling to master, but a way of life to practice. And there is no better season to practice than Lent.
This year, we also want to invite everyone to download and begin using our new St. Luke’s app (click here). This is more than a communication tool. It is a way for us to walk our shared rhythm of discipleship together. The more of us who engage it, the more connected we will be as one body journeying toward Jerusalem, toward the Cross, and ultimately toward the empty tomb of Easter.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jad
