From Campus Pastor Rev. Wes Cain

Grace and Peace to you, friends!

I know that Lent is supposed to be a more somber, introspective season, but I have to be honest with y’all: I am still flying high from my opportunity earlier this month to spend a few days in sunny Anaheim, California with seven amazing students at the ELCA’s Youth, Children, and Family Ministries Extravaganza! It was a gift to be able to have intentional time set aside to pour into these young adults, to learn alongside them, and to dream with them about what the church could be—should be!—as they move into leadership positions within it.

We worshipped together, broke bread together, and celebrated the movement of the Spirit through us, though TLU, and through the world. And while just a mile or so from the "Happiest Place On Earth," we experienced one of those magical liminal moments when heaven and earth seem to kiss. It was magical; it was holy.

And that, my friends, is the energy that I am bringing into this Lenten season.

Now, don’t worry. I will spend time in introspection and reflection on the cross, and I will invite others to do so as well. But this year I’m also going to listen to the voice of God remind me that between the ashes and dust of creation and death is a time of magic and wonder—a time when we have the chance to engage in holy, mysterious work alongside our God and a time when this world has the potential to be reshaped by the movement of the Spirit among and within us.
May God remind us all of this fact, and may we all experience those holy, liminal moments this lenten season.