Everything In Between: A Journey Through Lent Begins
Tonight, we gather as a church family to mark the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service at 7 PM. This sacred season invites us to reflect on the space between intention and action, brokenness and healing, sin and grace—the very “in-between” moments where God meets us.
Why Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday is a time to pause, to remember our humanity, our need for grace, and the hope we have in Christ. The ashes placed on our foreheads remind us of our mortality (“from dust you came, and to dust you shall return”), but they also invite us into a journey of renewal, repentance, and deeper faith.
This year, as we walk through Lent under the theme of “Everything In Between,” we recognize that our faith isn’t just about where we begin or where we end—it’s about the transformation that happens in the middle. It’s in this space that God is shaping us, calling us to align our intentions with action, our hearts with His will.
Join Us for Worship
Our Ash Wednesday service will be held in person at 7 PM tonight, and we hope to stream it online as well. This service will include prayer, Scripture, music, reflection, and the imposition of ashes—a powerful reminder of our need for God’s grace.
As we move through Lent together, we invite you to join us each week for worship at 10am.
Lent is an opportunity to slow down, to reflect, and to rediscover God’s presence in the in-between moments of life. Let’s begin this journey together.
We look forward to seeing you all tonight at 7pm either online or in person.
Pastor of Community Engagement Blog
Who knows but that you have come to your position
for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
It is hard to believe that we are already in the third month of the year and about to begin Lent. These months have felt like they have gone by so fast. For me it has felt like time has passed especially quickly because there have been so many things happening on the national level. Trying to keep up with the news has sometimes felt overwhelming, particularly when it comes to imagining how to faithfully engage with politics in such a time as this. I believe the Scriptures orient us to engage with things like politics, and the book of Esther is a good place to start. In Esther chapter four, Mordecai invites his relative Esther to not keep silent while their people suffer, but instead to advocate for others using the position of influence that she holds. Lately, I’ve found inspiration from the Book of Esther as to how I will use my position to stay engaged during all the changes that are happening and advocate for the wellbeing of others.
One way in which I am staying engaged has been in partnering with organizations such as the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) and the Faith Action Network (FAN) to advocate for bills and policies that would protect the vulnerable people in our communities. My whole point with doing this advocacy is not to be partisan but to be politically engaged in a way that pastorally and theologically champions the Gospel’s call to seek the wellbeing of the most marginalized. The picture on the right was taken with folks from FAN as we spent the day in Olympia doing faith-rooted advocacy.
Another way I’m staying engaged for such a time as this is by becoming a board member at FUSION. The first time I heard of FUSION was when Judy Free told me about it on my second Sunday ever attending Federal Way UMC. From that moment, I knew that it was an organization that was truly serving the least of these in the Federal Way area and that I would love to connect further. Fast forwarding to now, I am so honored to be a board member of this organization that provided shelter, not just to folks transitioning out of living in the streets, but also provided shelter for 29 nights during this winter’s major cold spell that made it extremely dangerous for people sleeping outside. I am glad to represent Judy and other members of our church as I help foster a continued relationship with FUSION families and our church community. Pictured on the left is me and Christine Krug, taken right after my first FUSION board meeting!
I cannot write about how our church is engaging the community without talking about our Abundant Grace Free Market event, which happened this past Saturday. What a gift it was to share with our community the generosity and abundant grace that we find in the Gospel! Many neighbors and community members came through the doors of our church to shop for items for their families; we lost count after 140 people. I was so happy to see huge piles of empty hangers and so many empty shelves that had been overflowing just a few hours before, representing how generously our church community shared their abundance for the free store and how much our community members were blessed by the items that they were able to take home to their families.
There are so many other recent events that I wish I could tell you about more in depth. I want to give a shout-out and thanks to Barbara Dadd Schaffer and many others for their leadership in pulling off a successful Spuds for Buds in Nepal potato bar fundraiser this month, and another shout-out and thanks to Michelle Thompson and many others for their continuing leadership and service in our Food 4 Families program partnership at Meredith Hill Elementary School, from carefully packing grocery bags after church on Sunday to delivering everything safely. I look forward to continuing our community engagement and outreach together, and I feel so blessed to do this work alongside you as your pastor.
Bendiciones,
Pastor Caleb
