Rev. Ron Robinson

In the season of Lent, we turn to walk toward Jerusalem with Jesus. This year, who will our companions be? I hope that actually you will look for others to be present with during this special time, and to be open to spending time with some you might not otherwise normally take the time to be with, people in different neighborhoods, different churches and faith communities. You may walk with Jesus and experience Jesus in surprisingly meaningful ways this Lent as you do so, enriching your contemplation of the inconvenient, risky road upon which you walk toward the Passion and Resurrection in your life and community.

Even as you seek out new companions to walk with, I want to acknowledge the companions we still walk with who have come before us, who have handed to us this special tradition and community of the UUCF. Their voices of witness and enlightenment continue to guide us. So as we turn toward the center of our faith, the Jerusalem of our faith, as we begin the walk up the hill toward the Temple and the heart of the Empire's occupation of our land, may we take time to recognize some of the hearts that have prepared our way, especially during this season of the church year.

The very first UUCF "Occasional Papers" to be published was a "Lent For Liberal Christians". It is part of our Lenten/Easter packet of resources available for sale; see below. From this publication, these words: "It is a sad fact of human nature that we often put our lives together in such a way that others--both our God and our neighbor--become a pale second-best. Our love of God collapses into mere favor-seeking, our love of people into mere gratification. The slippage into self-centered living can be subtle, and it is not easily reversed. Jesus spent forty days pursuing and over-turning this perverting element close to the center of his humanity. The forty days of Lent calls us to do the same...So we observe Lent annually in hopes of disciplining ourselves and turning our lives around once again."

Among the suggestions for observing Lent included in that publication: walking to church, observing your neighborhod, pray silently for your minister as he/she begins to preach, say grace before meals, read devotionally more and watch TV less, write to a relative, read the story of Jesus in the wilderness from Luke 4, do a physical act of service for someone with whom you live or a neighbor, take in a sunrise, spend ten to fifteen minutes a day reading from the resources of the UUCF, read the story of the Passion in Matthew perhaps while listening to Bach's St. Matthew Passion, write a note of welcome to someone new in your church, give your child or yourself a small lilac branch or forsythia that looks lifeless but put it in water and watch it come alive during Lent....

Select a social concern you are not familiar with to become knowledgeable, read three or four Psalms each day, think of someone who doesn't like what you believe and tell them something you admire about what they believe, recruit a new UUCF member, eliminate cocktails or wine with dinner and each time you abstain offer a prayer for an alcoholic friend, go hug each member of your family right now, read Channing's Unitarian Christianity sermon devotionally, decorate your home for example as you do for Advent and Christmas but this time with a purse with silver coins, basin and water pitcher, some nails, a goblet and broken bread, carry a masonry nail in your pocket, pray each time you get in your car to be shown God's love and offer yourself in service, invite friends to church, visit one other church than your own, select one thing from your diet or lifestyle that could or should do without and contribute the money collected from not doing it to a significant charity.

We have an abundance of voices that have enriched our lives of faith, and aided our struggles, throughout the 66 years of the UUCF. We hope to continue getting more and more of these witnesses out of our archives and into the minds and hearts of people today, both through online publications such as this which we will continue to do, but also we have them for sale or for lending through our website. Explore our online bookstore and pick out a work of faith and understanding that you have not read before, and this Lent let us help you connect with those who have walked this road to Calvary and the empty tomb and Galilee before us.

See more Ash Wednesday and Lenten Resources below. And follow along weekly as our biblical reflections during Lent are posted by contemporary members on our website's Virtual Monastery. We have deep wonderful surprising takes on the weekly lectionary biblical passages.