Introduction - 2012

As always, it has been my privilege and Joy to edit this book; and as has often been the case, there are a few common threads winding their way through the devotions you’ve shared here.

Over and over, expressions of the awareness of God’s Presence and Providence have cropped up. Over and over, experiences of the Triune God overflow with Joy and Awe. Over and over, the welcoming nature of our congregation comes into focus, whether based on our official status or simply on the experience of that welcoming. Over and over the experience of God’s love and leading in marriage and family is shared. Over and over, the Joy of living out our faith comes pouring out of pens and keyboards and off the pages into our hearts.

We have much to treasure and celebrate in the pages of this little book; it’s hard to imagine how a mere fifty or sixty pages can contain so many thoughts and emotions and experiences. I don’t know how it works, I just know that it does.
   

Just as we have each year since reviving this Lenten tradition, we repeat the introduction from our congregation's first book of devotions of well over thirty years ago:

Keeping a true Lent requires us to be vigilant in many ways: in prayer, study, worship, sacrifice, giving, meditation, and fellowship.

One or all may take precedence, depending upon our daily commitments. From these devotions, lovingly prepared, may you find a well spring of faith to renew and sustain you, so that the Glorious Triumph that is Easter will remain with you always.

The Lenten Committee 

Again, we can but say, “Amen.”

Charlie van Becelaere, Editor