Lent is an invitation to enter into a story. And this year, we are looking at this story through the lens of places we might not normally travel. The more we are part of the dominant culture - straight, white, middle-class - the more we can miss what stories like Lent have to tell us. So this year, we are learning to hear this story in a new way, a way that just might help us see the love and justice of God break into our world. Join us!
Lent 2021 ScheduleAsh Wednesday - February 17th: 5 pm
First Sunday of Lent - February 21st: 10 am Second Sunday of Lent - February 28th: 10 am Third Sunday of Lent - March 7th: 10 am Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 14th: 10 am Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 21st: 10 am Palm Sunday - March 28th: 10 am Good Friday - April 2nd: 5 pm Easter Sunday - April 4th: 10 am |
Guide For Our Lenten JourneyTo help guide us on this journey, we have created this booklet to help us along the way. Feel free to download it, follow along, take notes, and use the readings to engage this idea of looking at Lent from the margins.
Lent Zoom Worship LinkHere is the information for joining our Lenten Zoom worship. The link will remain the same throughout the entirety of Lent, unless we share otherwise.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/779827458?pwd=SVlabUk0MWcwVzBTd2tDRk5UdWNlUT09 Password: 1316 |
Invitation To Lent
Lent is an invitation to enter into a story.
This story is the grand story God has been writing since the world began, a story of love and loss and ultimately redemption. But more specifically, it is a story of the events that happened during a small window of time in a small corner of the world, with a carpenter named Jesus. There are many ways this story can be told. Indeed, our own bible has four different versions, telling it in four unique ways. That the bible contains this diversity is the story of Jesus only adds to our understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus.
In the same way, there are numerous ways one can read this story. One can read this story as God doing something wondrous in the world, powerfully coming down and enacting this story of salvation. One can read this as a story of a humble carpenter, coming to terms with what he believes God is calling him to do as a simple human being.
Lastly, there are various ways to hear and understand this story. For those of us in America, whether we like it or not, how we read stories is formed by our culture, how we were raised, our religious tradition, and numerous other things that shape our worldview. These things are often subtle, and we don’t even notice the lenses that we read stories through. If we are middle class, we read stories through that lens. If we are LGBTQ, we read through that lens. And many other lenses. In many cases, these lenses are not good or bad, but rather helpful to know so we can understand our own bias and perspective
However, there are instances where the lens one reads a story through is formed by oppression, marginalization, and trauma. People who have experienced these things - or are part of a community that has experienced these things - reads the world through these lenses.
It is important for all of us to understand these lenses when we read the bible. The narrative of the bible constantly tells us that God has a unique relationship with the poor and oppressed. There are many interpretations of what exactly this means, but one reason I think this theme is so prevalent is that when you have experienced poverty or oppression, that experience forms your understanding of God in a unique way. You see God in a way that is vastly different than someone who has not experienced that. And if we can believe the bible, these experiences in many ways give us a clearer picture and understanding of God. This doesn’t mean these things are good, but rather this acknowledges that experience suffering, oppression, and marginalization gives one unique and powerful lens through which to read the story of Jesus.
As someone who works among people who live outside, I often refer to “street culture” or reference the streets as the location of those experiencing homelessness. The lens that people have from living on the street gives them an important perspective on our world. One of the most important things I have learned is that too often, we try to serve people living outside without listening to them or gleaning from their wisdom.
This Lent, I invite us on a journey on learning to read the bible from a different perspective. From the perspective of those on the margins. While we can never fully know how to see the world as they do, there are some ways that we can learn to better recognize our lenses and read the bible from someone else's perspective.
As we begin this journey, I invite you to a few simple practices. First, I invite you to practice curious. Curiosity is a vital part of learning to read a story from a different perspective. Second, I invite you to practice honesty. Part of this journey is being honest about how we have been formed by our culture, in both good and more harmful ways. Lastly, I invite you to practice exploration. A spirit of exploration - of seeing news things, and seeing familiar things in new ways - is vital to learning to understand a story in a new way. May we all learn to sew things anew as we journey through the season of Lent.
- Rev. Luke Sumner
This story is the grand story God has been writing since the world began, a story of love and loss and ultimately redemption. But more specifically, it is a story of the events that happened during a small window of time in a small corner of the world, with a carpenter named Jesus. There are many ways this story can be told. Indeed, our own bible has four different versions, telling it in four unique ways. That the bible contains this diversity is the story of Jesus only adds to our understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus.
In the same way, there are numerous ways one can read this story. One can read this story as God doing something wondrous in the world, powerfully coming down and enacting this story of salvation. One can read this as a story of a humble carpenter, coming to terms with what he believes God is calling him to do as a simple human being.
Lastly, there are various ways to hear and understand this story. For those of us in America, whether we like it or not, how we read stories is formed by our culture, how we were raised, our religious tradition, and numerous other things that shape our worldview. These things are often subtle, and we don’t even notice the lenses that we read stories through. If we are middle class, we read stories through that lens. If we are LGBTQ, we read through that lens. And many other lenses. In many cases, these lenses are not good or bad, but rather helpful to know so we can understand our own bias and perspective
However, there are instances where the lens one reads a story through is formed by oppression, marginalization, and trauma. People who have experienced these things - or are part of a community that has experienced these things - reads the world through these lenses.
It is important for all of us to understand these lenses when we read the bible. The narrative of the bible constantly tells us that God has a unique relationship with the poor and oppressed. There are many interpretations of what exactly this means, but one reason I think this theme is so prevalent is that when you have experienced poverty or oppression, that experience forms your understanding of God in a unique way. You see God in a way that is vastly different than someone who has not experienced that. And if we can believe the bible, these experiences in many ways give us a clearer picture and understanding of God. This doesn’t mean these things are good, but rather this acknowledges that experience suffering, oppression, and marginalization gives one unique and powerful lens through which to read the story of Jesus.
As someone who works among people who live outside, I often refer to “street culture” or reference the streets as the location of those experiencing homelessness. The lens that people have from living on the street gives them an important perspective on our world. One of the most important things I have learned is that too often, we try to serve people living outside without listening to them or gleaning from their wisdom.
This Lent, I invite us on a journey on learning to read the bible from a different perspective. From the perspective of those on the margins. While we can never fully know how to see the world as they do, there are some ways that we can learn to better recognize our lenses and read the bible from someone else's perspective.
As we begin this journey, I invite you to a few simple practices. First, I invite you to practice curious. Curiosity is a vital part of learning to read a story from a different perspective. Second, I invite you to practice honesty. Part of this journey is being honest about how we have been formed by our culture, in both good and more harmful ways. Lastly, I invite you to practice exploration. A spirit of exploration - of seeing news things, and seeing familiar things in new ways - is vital to learning to understand a story in a new way. May we all learn to sew things anew as we journey through the season of Lent.
- Rev. Luke Sumner