Where did Ash Wednesday come from?

I'm glad you asked. :)

Ash Wednesday has its origins in the early Christian Church – somewhere between the sixth and eight centuries. Originally, the idea was that a Christian, as a sign of repentance, would sprinkle ashes on his or her head.  In the Bible, ashes were always associated with humility and mortality, fasting and remorse. If you had sinned against God, and you felt remorse about that sin, and you were repenting of that sin, then sometimes, in the Bible, you would sprinkle ashes on your head as a sign of sorrow and repentance. Ashes were supposed to remind you that you were mortal, that you will eventually become ashes after you die. We’re only ashes, and we need to repent of our sins now while God gives us a time of grace. 

During 6th or 7th centuries, Christian churches thought about this idea. Sometimes, in private, people would sprinkle ashes on themselves as a sign of repentance. Eventually, this became a public practice. Instead of sprinkling the ashes on your head, the ashes would be rubbed onto the forehead in the shape of a cross. It was a sign of repentance, and a reminder of your baptism, when the sign of the cross was placed on you with water and the Word. The ashes would actually be taken from the palm branches from Palm Sunday, burned the year before.

As you think of the ashes on your head, you might think how Christians have done this as a remembrance of sins for hundreds of years. 

So how do we begin preparing our hearts for Ash Wednesday and the walk through what we call, Lent?

One way is through prayer.

Throughout the entire Christian scriptures, we hear generations praying, the same prayer: Lord, have mercy...
​

• The Psalm writers and the Tax Collector...
• The Cannanite Woman and the Blind Bartimaeus...
• The crowds of people lining the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus rides in on a donkey...

They're all praying... crying... begging... Lord, have mercy...

The prayer, "Lord, have mercy..." is still echoed today. And, every generation finishes the prayer with a specific subject.

This week, it's appropriate that we pray, Lord, have mercy on Ukraine and Russia.

So, let's do that together.

In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

For the Reign of God, and for peace throughout the world, for the unity of all, 
let us pray to the Lord. ​

On Wednesday, March 2, I'm going to be taking this prayer a step further and unpack how Ash Wednesday is God making his mercy known to us.

So, let's take a walk together through what we call "Lent".

​Join me here onsite in Tacoma or online at www.oslc.com/lent.

For now, check out this video to learn more about Lent.

Hi from Phoenix!

Our ministry team is honored to have been chosen to present breakout sessions at a national ministry conference. If you get a chance, send them a note to encourage them. And then ask them about how it went the next time you see them.

Yesterday, while I was with our team here in Phoenix, Governor Inslee shared that beginning March 21, the statewide mask mandate for most indoor spaces will be removed. Our staff has been anticipating this day and are ready to adapt with your health and the health of our entire community in mind. In the coming days, we are anticipating guidance from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to guide this transition for our wider community and our specific ministry environments. As the next few weeks unfold, I will keep you updated about what this means for our ministries as we move into the spring.

There's no doubt that our campus facilities are some of our greatest assets. They support gathering, connecting, and serving together alongside our wider community. Here's a quick update...

• Both Men's and Women's Bathrooms near the Chapel are open.
• Any future Basement work will be included in our larger Master Campus Planning process.
• Unfortunately, earlier this week, we learned that our West Campus facility will need to be connected to the City Sewer System. Because of this large unanticipated expense combined with the rising cost of construction and labor, we are re-evaluating our options to determine the best way to expand the capacity of our Backpacks 4 Kids program. Please keep this all in your prayers!

Finally, preschools like ours here at Our Savior are not only about helping young children learn their A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s… it’s also about influencing their families to model the love of Jesus at home.

I want to share what Leah Jennings did when her daughter asked her,  "Mommy, what if God isn’t great? What then?". Click here to read more.

Preschools help parents like Leah gain confidence to respond to our littlest's hard questions.

For more resources to better understand how preschoolers learn and how you can influence the little kids in your life with the love of Jesus, check out the Parent Cue Resource Library.

Between 2005 and 2007, I had the privilege to pioneer service and leadership experiences at Lutherhaven Ministries.

At that time, we called it the Servant Leadership Institute. It was a year-long  service and leadership experience for high school and college students who led their peers to significantly plan and lead how best to serve people in the Silver Valley (ID), Sunnyside (WA), Seattle, and Baja California (Mexico).

17 years later, students and adults are still serving side-by-side people.

​Since then, ISA has become a more accessible week-long experience (now known as Idaho Servant Adventures or "ISA"). In the last 10 years, ISA has immersed over 10,000 students and adults (over 100,000 service hours) from around the world into the Silver Valley located in North Idaho's Panhandle communities of Shoshone County.

​Quite incredible!

These pictures give you a taste of what I'm talking about.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when a few months ago, our Youth Minister, Cary Hoff shared that he is was planning to begin taking students from Our Savior to Idaho Servant Adventures. This week is filled with hands-on service engagement, leadership opportunities, laughter, and fun that combines to transform the hearts of students and those they serve. That transformation is then seen when they return home to their schools, friends, families, and churches.

You can learn more about it here. Registration opens February 15.

This week, I share a conversation between my friends Dust Kunkel and Clint Kunze. Clint shares his vision for consistent service in Shoshone County, what it's like being called to love a specific community, and how ISA equips teenagers for a lifetime of service and leadership. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.​