Dear Lakeview United Church friends and family,

Could anyone have anticipated all the events of the last year and their effect on our world, our country, our province or our own congregation? With so many highs and lows, I have been grateful for the constant rhythm of the church calendar moving us through time, offering us sacred stories and spiritual practices with which to find balance, regain perspective, and renew commitments to life.

The Lenten journey is very much about those same things. It's a journey meant to peel back the layers of habit and hurt that hide our humanity and its full beauty. It is not a journey to shame us or engender guilt, but one that asks us to move closer to the God who moved closer to us in the humanity of the One called Jesus.

This year we will enter Holy Week with much on our minds, in our hearts and with our spirits. We are still letting go of Kelley and her ministry among us, looking for the new relationship with her that will come as she discerns her path. We are also facing the work of the Joint Needs Assessment Committee (JNAC) to examine our ministry together and our full staffing requirements. We canÕt afford to lose momentum in our ministry with young families and young people, so lay leadership and perhaps interim staffing is still needed. You are also heading toward my sabbatical period, which means our shared ministry has even greater need for your presence, your participation and your support. There is work to do for this ministry to find its way and know its call. I am asking all of you to enter Holy Week with an openness to GodÕs leading, and to greet the resurrection news with a commitment to step up and take your turn in our common work.

The Lenten journey and Holy Week has a way of "sorting us out". Its drama of loyalty and betrayals, of grief and hope, of courage and faithfulness, carries us all along--first in one role and then another, until we stand dazed and wondering about an empty tomb and what it can mean for us. This year I invite you to live as closely to this story as you can. Expect that it will re-order your priorities, set out new commitments, confirm your strengths and understand your weaknesses. The tomb is meant to be empty, but there is a place for you in our ministry that only you can fill. Discover the meaning of Easter here in your own congregation. If you can join a committee--join it. If you can support a ministry--support it. If you can write a cheque--write it. If you can visit someone--visit them. If you can take a turn--take it. If you can pray a prayer--pray it. If you can get to church--be there. Trust that you can make a difference. Encourage each other by standing side by side in different roles and different jobs. As we say at baptisms--remember who you are and whose you are, for it is never God who forgets.

It is a comfort to know that our tools for deeper discipleship are the same sacred stories and spiritual practices that have stood the test of time, and despite their age, they are ever new. They will be exactly that for Lakeview United Church this year--the bearers of an ancient truth, and the midwives of new life.

Let us come together as God's people, drawing from the witness of the past, taking up the responsibility of now, and working toward the promise of tomorrow. It is our common work, our common trust, our common privilege.

Rev. Diane J. Strickland,
Minister.