Lent has always been my favorite season in the church year. Or maybe “favorite” is the wrong word; perhaps it is more accurate to say that I’ve always found Lent to be the most meaningful time in the church year. I am drawn to the discipline of Lent; to repentance and reflection, prayer and preparation. But I think what I find most powerful about Lent is that it is a season rooted in honesty.
It begins with Ash Wednesday. Ashes are honest; they tell the truth about our mortality. And throughout the season, we are faced again and again with the truth of our need for a Savior. The readings, the songs, the prayers—all of it helps us be honest about how much we need to be saved.
But that’s not the only truth of Lent. The journey through these 40 days leads to a basin and a towel, to bread broken and a cup shared, and finally to a cross. And these, too, are honest things. They tell us the truth that the One who came to save us from our sin has washed us, fed us, and freed us. We take this journey together, that we may remind one another of these truths, and that we might support one another on the way.
This Lent, we are dwelling in the theme of “Saved and Set Free.” These truths are at the heart of Lent. The ashes that started the season show us our need to be saved—from sin, from temptation, from confusion, from isolation, from blindness, from despair. But the cross reminds us that by his death and resurrection, Jesus has set us free—for testimony, for curiosity, for inclusion, for boldness, for deliverance. All the discipline and devotion, all the repentance and reflection, are not meant to earn our salvation, but to bring us again to the cross—where Christ meets us in our mortality and gives us life.
The cross is the place where our need and our new life intersect. The cross is where we are saved and set free.
I pray you may be richly blessed this Lent as we journey together to the cross. May you be blessed with honesty, both about your need and about what God has done for you, that you might live as one who has been saved and set free.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Will Starkweather
Last modified: February 24, 2026
I love this… I heard you say that the cross is where our sin and Gods grace intersect and I cannot unhear that!
Thinking about that a lot this Lenten season. Thank you Pastor and God bless you with stamina to do what you feel you must, peace and awareness of HIS presence and also enough rest during this busy season of Lent.
Jennifer