Thoughts from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church • Birmingham, AL

Friday, March 15, 2019

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Psalm 95, 40, 54 * 51

Epistle: Hebrews 4: 11-16

Gospel: John 3: 22-36

“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

The final verse from the Epistle assigned for today sounds a lot like this quote to me:

 “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.” Star Trek

I feel a little silly drawing the comparison, but oddly enough, it rings true. Most of us don’t have many reasons to do anything “with boldness,” especially approaching thrones or exploring strange new worlds. But what if we all tried it, just for Lent. 

What if we chose a new ministry of the church, either Outreach or Inreach, to explore. Think you might enjoy flower guild, but don’t think you have an eye for it? Boldly sign up, and I bet someone will teach you. You’ll see that your creative side has a fun new outlet. Do you love to cook, but don’t feel comfortable around our Community Kitchens guests? Boldly sign up to help make the meal for Memorial Day. You’ll see that there is nothing to fear, just people who like a home cooked meal.

Have you ever seen a child learn to walk? I’ve watched three of them do it, up close now, and it never ceases to amaze me. If I fell down that many times, I would give up. But do you know what? Kids don’t. They boldly fall on their little bottoms, and get up a hundred times a day, just so they can toddle over to what they want. “To boldly go where they have never gone before.” I think there is a lesson to learn in that.

So this season, let’s all consider to walk through the 40 days of Lent boldly. What if we all put aside our fear and acted with uncharacteristic boldness? Approach the throne to find grace. Seek out new life, in our church or your friend groups or your self. Go boldly, stretch yourself, and see if we like the result.

Elin Glenn