Isaiah 58:6-12

Isaiah 58:6-12 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We've left behind the revelry of Mardi Gras and entered into a solemn journey, one that leads through a land of preparation and into the necessity of the cross.  Only once we have sojourned there can we ascend to the heights of resurrection, where we discover that things have once more been set right.
  The question for us, as individuals and as a church, is how that journey to the cross will look.  Each of us will make that journey, and there are no shortcuts to resurrection.  But just because we are journeying towards death doesn't mean we can't walk with hope, because we know how the story ends -- we know about the life that awaits on the other side, the rising sun that is eternally parked just beyond the bleak and sorrowful night. 
  Thus, as an intertwined people of hope, we are called by the Almighty God to pour ourselves out for the hungry, to satisfy the desires of the afflicted, to be a people determined to journey together, invested in the next steps of our brothers and sisters.  When we collectively strain forward, yearning for the resurrection light to enfold us as a community, we discover what it means to be the church, a community of faith encouraging one another to lay hold to the claim that each of us are made in the image of God and claimed in the waters of baptism.  The drumbeat of hope connects us, binding us together as we march the road of discipleship together, heads held high as we encourage one another and hands reaching low to ensure none are trampled by our walk to the cross.  We lift up, we stoop to serve, and we look to the margins to seek to be radically inclusive as Jesus was,  inviting all to come and be healed and look forward with hope.
  So this is our Lenten journey to the cross.  Come and find your place, and may the power and hope of Christ infuse your every day this Lent to challenge you to encourage the people around you and include those who may feel left behind and forgotten.