*Daylight Savings Time Begins this Sunday, March 10. Turn clocks ahead one hour.*
This Lent (February 14-March 30), our worship and Church School curriculum follows A Sanctified Art’s Wandering Heart series, reflecting on the sometimes mercurial discipleship of Peter and the words of a favorite hymn, “Come, O Fount of Every Blessing.”
Withstanding Hard Times
Sometimes the news seems too hard to hear. A challenging medical diagnosis. The end of a relationship. A job layoff. A debilitating accident. A financial setback.
We’d rather turn the other way. We’d do anything to change it. Our response might be “No, no, no!” To put our head under the covers or to run away. Or to channel all of our energy to stave off the inevitable.
Peter had a moment like that (Matthew 16:21-23). Jesus candidly let his disciples know that he would undergo some rough treatment in the days ahead, suffering under the authorities and being executed and then raised on the third day. Shocked and devastated, Peter took hold of him, said “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you,” and wanted to do all he could to prevent it.
Jesus responds pretty harshly, saying “Get behind me, Satan!” After having just called Peter “the rock” on which he would build the church, he now calls him “a stone” that could make him stumble.
Sometimes we have trouble facing the inevitable, accepting those things we cannot change. Sometimes God’s ways, Life’s ways are not our ways. Sometimes we need the wisdom to know this. And in those moments we need the spiritual tools, the deepened faith, the community of faithful friends to withstand what is hard in life.
On Sunday, we’ll lean into this reality together, in person and on YouTube, reflecting on what we can do on a regular basis to strengthen ourselves for hard times.
In faith,
Kent
Image from God’s Blueprint.
