I knew it. I had felt it. I had an intrinsic understanding of the concept. A colleague of mine put this reality into words, and it has stuck with me for a decade. She said, “It’s always two things.”
It’s always two things. Life is never black and white. There is never ‘one side’ to a story. Every blessing has its downside, and every curse bears some blessings. None of us are all good, and none of us are all bad. There is never only one moral to any story or one interpretation to any sacred text. Decisions are decisions by definition, because it’s always two things.
No season of the church year highlights this more vividly than the Lenten/Easter season. On Wednesday evening, February 26, we will begin the Lenten season with a traditional Ash Wednesday Service. Our MidWeek meal will be served at the regular time; then we will move to the Sanctuary for this 6:15pm service. Ash Wednesday is a reminder it’s always two things —life and limits. On the following Sunday, March 1, we will celebrate the first of five Lenten Sundays around the theme—Come to the Dark Side. We will not be encouraging you to participate in evil (of course not!), but we will look at the negative aspect to an idea we typically see as sacred; it’s always two things. The Lenten Season will end with our celebration of Holy Week, April 5-12. This Holy Week will include Palm Sunday Service, Maundy Thursday Communion Service, Good Friday Meditations with the Stations of the Cross, Easter Sunrise Service and Easter Sunday Service. The week will be filled with joy and sorrow, celebration and mourning, life and death, finality and resurrection. It’s always two things.
Please join us for this celebration of Lent and Easter. I think it will minster to each of our lives…and the ‘two things’ we all struggle with and carry.
—Jim