It can sound deceptively simple.  Jesus’ teaching on which commandment is the greatest is often summed up like this: Love God, Love others as we love ourselves.  And our sermon series sums it up in a similar way: “Love God, Love People, Live Like Jesus”.  Simple.  To the point.  Uncomplicated.  Until we actually commit to living it.  I’ve been asking people over the past couple of weeks about what makes this “greatest commandment” hard, and the answers have been intriguing.  Some talk about how sometimes it’s hard to know how to love someone else.  Others talk about how hard it is to love someone they disagree with.  Our personal hurts and our personal struggles sometimes make it feel impossible to find the room to love ourselves let alone anyone else.  What about you?  Do you sometimes find it challenging to love God, love people, and live like Jesus?  Our Sundays during Lent are meant to help us with that.  We set aside these six weeks as a season of intentional spiritual growth where we find ways to pay extra attention to God.

"Lent".  It begins on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 26th) and includes the coming six Sundays.  Alex and I have been praying about and discussing what might most help us grow spiritually and be renewed as we share this season which traditionally is all about spiritual preparation for the great celebration of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We felt drawn to come back to the basics of what Jesus stressed by way of his teachings and his example.  Sometimes we call it the "Great Commandment": Love for God, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  So the sermon series that begins this Sunday is "Love God, Love People, Live Like Jesus".  Here's the thing- it sounds so simple.  What could be more clear?  But in the day to day living and loving, somehow it's not always so easy.  Even in our homes and between our very best friends, it's not always easy to live the love we intend.  Once I heard it said that Jesus' teachings were clear, to-the-point, and so doable: Just love God and others.  That's what all four of the gospels show us over and over again.  But after those first four books of the New Testament come all the letters to the various churches that reveal how challenging it proved to be when it comes to doing what Jesus commands us to do.  Fast forward to our modern setting and we might notice the very same dynamics.  No wonder the tradition of Lent came along- a season dedicated to spiritual renewal, repentance, and forgiveness.  I don't know about everybody else, but I know how much I need a season like that in my life!  I hope you choose to "keep Lent".

Transfiguration.  For the past three weeks, we've been talking about connecting our purposes with our passion for life and what could be more transformational?  This Sunday, that is what we find as Jesus and his closest friends experience the spiritual mountain top of transfiguration.  It's an awesome thing.  A mysterious thing.  Once I remember the suggestion that if the eyes of Jesus' disciples were always fully open to who Jesus is, they would have noticed that gleaming light, the transfigured presence that was there all the time.  But for them and for us, sometimes our eyes open in the ways most needed at a special moment.  A mountaintop moment.  Here's the thing.  Something as mysterious as a mountain top moment, is also often what leads to a new clarity and understanding that can make a difference in all the experiences and moments that follow.  I like to think about our worship times on Sundays as those kinds of moments.  And I pray that God will use our hearts of worship turned toward God, as a way to also reach toward us and transform our lives to what glorifies God.  We're about to enter that spiritual-growth season of Lent (the first Sunday of Lent is March 1st).  Ready to be transformed?  

What if our personal connection to Jesus Christ changed everything?  What are the areas of our lives where we'd like for that to happen?  Would we include our daily work or tasks, the things that take up so much of our time, energy and focus?  Where would our relationships fit in, the areas of our lives that show up as love for others through service and generosity?  Are there ways we would feel led by Jesus to even sacrifice something, to give or do even more so that others may also come to know about God's love just as we are being transformed as we grow spiritually and know God more?  Our sermon series "On Purpose: Finding our Passion for Life" continues this Sunday as we listen in on a conversation between Jesus and some of the religious experts of his day.  Here's a hint: they did not agree on how best to follow God and God's ways (Laws).  If you sometimes feel like that, we might be reassured that some of our dilemmas are nothing new.

What if our passion for life and our main purpose truly connected?  With a deeper connection like that, how would it feel to be so fully alive?  And what about when we sense a Calling or leading from our Lord that might plant us on new ground?  As our Sermon Series continues this Sunday, things go even deeper for Jesus' followers.  Sometimes following Jesus will mean doing something completely new.  Sometimes following Jesus will mean living the same life, but in a completely new way.

What if we could re-find our passion for life?  Or, what if we discovered in a new way what it means to truly live on purpose?  I don't know about everybody else, but that sounds good to me.  Join us this Sunday as we go deeper into the gospel of Mark and get to know Jesus more.  I'm thinking of the words from the old hymn ("Rescue the Perishing"), "...feelings lie buried that grace can restore."  Let's carve out the time and space we need to truly live on purpose.

Our message for this Sunday is "Unbound" and we'll hear about a man in one of the most desperate situations we can possibly imagine. Trapped in a self-destructive and other-destructive cycle, he was completely out of control.  He was "bound" by his own inner and outer struggles, but he was powerless to control the very things that had taken over his life.  The reality is that thousands of us know exactly what that's like.  It can seem so hopeless.  And yet, with the miracle of God's power and presence which we know through Jesus, people are set free from what binds them.  It happens every day.

I don’t know about everyone else, but beginning out the new year with a series on Wellness has felt like a season of renewal for my life.  I’ve been thinking about how good that feels at the start of a new year.  Sometimes we start over and do the same things (good and bad) bringing little transformation to our lives.  But with God’s help, we can begin again... in new ways.  And life itself takes on new meaning and purpose.  Renewal.  Our series moves to the theme of Physical Wellness this Sunday.  You won’t want to miss it as there are several opportunities to connect with it that can help us to a new life of Wellness.  In fact, we’re going to be announcing something new that is available to people of LUMC and we hope that many of us will take advantage of this new opportunity.  God is always doing new things.  The gift of Creation is not in the past, it’s still happening.  In the 2nd letter of Corinthians (5:17) we read this: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

What is a life of wellness to you?  What is it like to feel that "it is well with your soul", just as it is put in that place in the 3rd Letter of John?  Over these first three Sundays of 2020, we are focusing on some of the most important areas of life.  Aspects of life that we all experience.  Spiritual, Financial, and Physical wellness.  This Sunday, we turn to Financial Wellness and it may not be what you'd expect.  The economy of God's grace is a "kingdom economy".  And how we engage in life is impacted in every way by how we receive Jesus' teachings and apply them to our every days. 

As we look to 2020, what are you hoping for?  Asking that might be a good way to begin the year and our Wellness Series is meant to help.  For the coming three Sundays, Alex and I will be talking about Wellness in three ways.  I'll begin this Sunday with Spiritual Wellness and then Financial Wellness on the 12th.  On the 19th, Alex will bring a message about Physical Wellness.  For each of these Sundays, we'll have opportunities to respond by taking a step along life's journey in 2020.  Spiritual growth can happen for all of us as we discover in a personal way that even as we are seeking God, God also is seeking us!  That's the good news of our Christian faith and it makes a difference in all our lives.  It is God's delight to be with us in all the ups and downs of our every days.  Plan on being here on this 3 Sunday series as the new year begins.  Let it be a year of hope!