Yesterday was officially the first day of Lent. At the Dodgeville United Methodist Church, we gathered for a time of worship, to remember our need of repentance, and to be marked by 'ashes' as a reminder of our helplessness without a God who loves us--who sent his Son to reconcile us, through the giving of his very life. Now, it may sound a bit strange to some, but--and especially during this time of year--I see God in the simplest of circumstances.  Do you?  There was something--just a little thing--that took place during the worship service that was a good reminder to me of the imperfect world that we live in (and, thus, our need for God). For some reason, I forgot to light the candles prior to the worship service starting. So, I decided that during the opening song would be the perfect place to go up and light the candles, in front of everyone, as an act of worship--bringing the light of God into the sanctuary. I knew that we always kept one of those hand-held lighters up front behind the 'big Bible' on the communion table. So, I just made my way up there, confident that my decision to light these babies during the opening hymn was nothing less than a brilliant cover for my forgetfulness, and what do you think  happened? You got it; the Bic ... didn't click! And, to make matters worse, I wouldn't give up trying to make it light ... though finally I had to.  (Someone finally rescued me by finding a lighter that did work, making their way up front, and lighting the candles for me. How helpless could one pastor feel!)

Imperfection. Failure. Messing up. All of these things point to our condition, without Christ. Have you ever been there before? In a couple of weeks, we're going to be looking at what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before Jesus' crucifixion and death. Never has there ever been a better example of failure than what took place in the Garden ... time after time after time! But, what was Jesus' response, even at that critical time?

"Get up! Let's get going!" -- Matthew 26:46a (MSG)

If you're entering into the season of Lent this year feeling like you're not where you need to be with God ... every day, then you're not alone. And, I think that Jesus' words to his disciples on that fateful night over 2,000 years ago, would be the same that he would want to share with us today. If you're prone to falling, if you're susceptible to making mistakes, if you're weakness has been messing up in any way ... then leave it behind! "Get up! Let's get going!" is what Jesus wants to tell you today!

Well, like I said, it was a good reminder of the imperfection of our world and our lives when that lighter didn't light--not at all what God (or Rom) had planned originally. But, thank God for this season of Lent. For it's in Jesus and his humanness that we see what God had in mind all along. And, by putting our faith in Jesus--who gave his life for us as a final sacrifice, in order to reconcile our relationship with God--we can now be 'perfect' before God--not because of any effort on our part, but because our lives--through faith in Jesus--are now covered by the sacrifice of his death. What a God we have! What LOVE has come our way! Because it's only LOVE, in the midst of our everyday failures, who would say: "Leave the past in the past... Get up! Let's get going!"

On the path together,

Rom