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A Message from Pastor Wes

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ!

I have to admit to y’all: this update has been a hard one to write! Not for any particularly emotional reason or because I have been unsure about what to write. Honestly, these are usually easy and fun and a wonderful way for me to connect what we’re doing to your wonderful congregations.

No, the reason that this update has been difficult to write is that every time I’ve tried to sit down and do it, I’ve been bombarded by students reaching out to talk to me about commencement! I have some absolutely amazing Campus Ministry leaders who are graduating in May, and it has been a truly impossible endeavor to convince some of them to live in the moment right now and not try to skip ahead to the next adventure. Many of them know what grades they will earn, know what they are doing after TLU, and just want to get on with it.

And I get it. When you know of the glory to come, it is often hard to be present in the moment.

Over the years, I’ve thought often about this very thing during the liturgical season of Lent. We spend 40(ish) days introspectively preparing ourselves for Easter and the coming of the Risen Christ, and regularly I find myself just wanting to skip to the good part, to go straight to the empty tomb, to leave the introspection and the hard faith development that comes with it in the past. I know that good and amazing things are coming, and I, like my students, just want to get on with it.

But.

The season of Lent still has two weeks of preparation and introspection to it. There are still two weeks’ worth of chances for God to speak life into the places of death and desolation within our souls and in our world. There is still time to do the hard and good work to which we are called prior to Resurrection Day. And. The semester still has eight weeks of work, of fun, of highs, and of lows. There are still eight weeks’ worth of chances to invest in this community and have it invest in them.

We could skip ahead and fast-forward, but what would we miss in the process? What is God doing in our midst at TLU that is worth experiencing, not avoiding? What would we miss if we went straight to the cap and gown, straight to the folded burial clothes? May we instead make the most out of what remains of this Lenten season, and may our graduating students make the most out of their remaining time as students. Amen.