Lent 2021
We invite you to pray with Mary Finlayson, RSCJ, and Lynne Lieux, RSCJ, of the Vocations Ministry Team, via the video recording below.
Order of prayer service
Welcome
Song and video: Somewhere to Begin (used with permission of Sara Thomsen)
Reading: Genesis 9:8-15
Reflection by Lynne Lieux, RSCJ
Here is Noah building a large boat. What made Noah believe that he needed to do this? What past experiences of God’s faithfulness gave him the resolve to do what others probably viewed as insane?
Here is Jesus leaving the desert to begin his ministry. What did he experience in the desert that inspired him to begin to preach a message which others would reject and would ultimately lead to his death?
Here am I. What moves me to begin this Lenten journey, when so much around me seems wrong – covid, racism, domestic terrorism, fake information ... the list goes on and on.
What allows Noah to build, Jesus to begin, and me to hope? A deep knowledge of God’s love and faithfulness can move anyone to do what might seem impossible, to make a journey that might be filled with uncertainty, despair and suffering.
For Noah, the rains end. God’s love and faithfulness appears in the sign of rainbow. For Jesus, his ministry ends in death, but God’s dream is fulfilled in his resurrection. I have walked this Lenten journey before, but each journey is different. What will be at the end of this particular journey? I do not know. But if I do not begin, I will never be able to know, sing, dream or love.
How am I living my covenant relationship with God and all creation? What experiences of God’s love and faithfulness have supported me, transformed me? What song, dream, love am I called to begin or deepen during Lent?
