“Seek the Lord while God may be found, call upon God while God is near.”
Isaiah 55:6,8-9 NRSV
God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Jessica and I will be married 9 years this coming June, however we have been together for 13. After 13 years I feel like I have only just skimmed the surface of knowing all of who she is. Talking with her high school friends, listening to stories at family gatherings, hearing her share memories, all reveal new pieces or different perspectives of who she really is. Not to mention she is growing and changing individually as a teacher, mother, spouse, child of God.
When we think about our ongoing relationship with God, there never comes a point where we can say “Yes, I know God completely!” Although we have all met Christians adamant that they do. I always feel bad for someone that thinks they know it all especially other pastors, because they have lost the mystery, the relationship, the spark of discovering a moving and living God. If we can spend an entire lifetime with someone and not know them fully, how can we expect to know God fully in our lifetime?
This Lent our theme is Seeking: Honest Questions for Deeper Faith. Provided by the group Sanctified Arts, our worship, bible studies, and focus will be on asking questions. Here is a sample of what you can expect…
Who will you listen to?
How do we begin again?
Can these bones live?
Where are you headed?
Will you wash my feet?
Why have you forsaken me?
Who are you looking for?
Our questions won’t necessarily lead to answers, but they can help us find clarity and a new perspective. Ultimately, we pray they lead to a new beginning, a restoration, a wider grace. We hope this focus will help us unpack some of those big questions in ways that are honest and faithful. Throughout this season, we hope you will continually ask yourself: what am I seeking? What is God seeking?
Stay curious, open, and nimble. Seek! I pray our questions will create a safe space to explore—to be drawn more deeply into the fullness of life, into the heart of God.
Blessings for the journey,
Rev. Keith McDevitt