A Note from Pastor (Feb 2026)

This month begins the annual season of reflection and repentance in preparation for Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter. According to the Treasury of Daily Prayer, “During the forty days of Lent, God’s baptized people cleanse their hearts through the discipline of Lent: repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is a time in which God’s people prepare with joy for the Paschal Feast (Easter). It is a time in which God renews His people’s zeal in faith and life. It is a time in which we pray that we may be given the fullness of grace that belongs to the children of God” (Treasury of Daily Prayer, CPH 2008). 

Consider this from Luther's Smalcald Articles III III 3, concerning repentance: This is what true repentance means. Here a person needs to hear something like this,“You are all of no account, whether you obvious sinners or saints in your own opinions. You have to become different from what you are now. You have to act differently than you are now acting, whether you are as great, wise, powerful, and holy as you can be. Here no one is godly.” But to this office of the Law, the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace through the Gospel. This must be believed as Christ declares,“Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)    
 
For your prayers, the Collect for Ash Wednesday (Feb. 18): 
"Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of the penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen."