We’re off to a great start! We are just a few weeks into our goal for the year of having 52 different people share during worship how they are “feeding more sheep” and already the effect has been remarkable. Many people have mentioned how meaningful it is to hear someone else share so honestly about how they are living as disciples in their daily life. The stories have already been moving, well-crafted, and at times very funny. If the impact has been so great just a few weeks in, I am confident that we have a great year ahead of us.

There is room for you! One of the blessings about being just a few weeks into our new goal is that most of it is still ahead of us. That means that there is still room to sign up! The catch, of course, is that if we are going to share about feeding more sheep, we first have to actually feed more sheep. This won’t look the same for any two people in our congregation, but it doesn’t have to. We don’t have to feed more sheep in the same way (though we can), we just have to listen together to how God is calling us to use our gifts to that end.

We’re here to help. The good news about this goal is that we don’t have to do it alone. We each have been given gifts by God that can be used for the service of God in the world, but it can sometimes be hard to recognize them on our own. It often takes hearing other people reflect on those gifts in our lives in order to be aware of them ourselves. With that in mind, we have decided to spend this season of Lent helping one another think about our spiritual gifts and practicing some spiritual disciplines that can help us to discern those gifts. We will do this by focusing on particular spiritual disciplines as a part of our worship service as well as reading together our new Lenten devotional booklet graciously created by Grace Turner and dedicated to spiritual gifts.

Gifts are meant to be opened. There is nothing worse than feeling like you have a gift to share and not quite knowing how to use it. Part of the hope of this Lenten season is that as we prepare our hearts and minds for the promise of Easter, we might also prepare our lives for what it would mean to use the gifts we have been given. The leadership of this church is committed to helping you find a way to use the gifts you believe would help us “feed more sheep.” It might take some time to prayerfully discern together the right way to utilize that gift, and some trial and error to figure out how to implement it, but we want to help you use it.

Let’s do this together! Lent was traditionally a time in which the catechumens of the ancient church would prepare their bodies, minds, and souls for baptism. The practice of giving something up during this time came out of the need to let go of the things of this world and focus on the gift of new life that lies ahead. It is just as valid, however, to add something to your Lenten preparations. And so, this year, we would ask that you add one thing to your daily routines during this important season. We would ask that you would pray for the people of this congregation that they might both see the gifts that God has given them and hear how God is calling them to use them. If we can do that, we will all be able to share how we answered God’s call to “feed more sheep.”

Grace and Peace,
Stephen