This Sunday, the second of Lent, we'll consider the call of Abram recorded in the 12th chapter of Genesis. If you grew up in church, the story will be familiar. After 10 chapters of mankind failing to live up to its call to love God and Neighbor, God's defiant, counter-intuitive, seemingly nonsensical grace continues to interrupt. Adam failed, Cain failed, Noah ultimately failed, but God now goes to Abram.

His words to him are clear: "Go from your father's house to a land I'll show you." This land, we'll learn, flows with milk and honey--the two richest substances to be found in the vegetarian Garden of Eden. Indeed, the Promised Land is a new Eden. Though evicted by sin, God promises to return his people to where they belong: in his temple-presence.

Understood this way, we see that Abram is called both away from home and toward home. This, in many ways, is the overarching theme of Lent. In fasting and self-denial, we're leaving the comforts and security of this world, as Abram did when he embarked on his journey. But the hunger pangs of Lent aren't the end, they're the means. We're selling our possessions to buy the treasure in the field. We're sojourning, not wandering. We're heading to a place, a land, a home.

This Sunday we'll learn from the story of our father in the faith, Abram. We, like him, will take small steps towards the New Canaan--the New Heavens and the New Earth. Each day of Lent that passes brings us one day closer to Easter. Remember, Christian: we are bound for the Promised Land.

St. Bart’s parishioner Malcolm McGregor was recently interviewed by AMiA Communications about his journey with poetry. The piece features a trio of his Lenten poems. As part of our Lenten resources, we invite you to explore these moving poems, which are linked within the interview and can be found HERE.

Guy+ gives us a look into what to expect during the Lenten season at ASD.