This Sunday we'll consider the 5th chapter of Romans. Here, we'll find the counterintuitive invitation to "we rejoice in our sufferings." It's an especially apposite passage in Lent, when we reflect upon the passion and suffering of Christ.

How do suffering and joy, pain and delight, relate to one another in the Christian imagination? As it happens, tomorrow we'll host a lunch and learn on this exact topic. One of the most thoughtful, Spirit-filled theologians I know, Hannah Miller King, will be giving a lecture on the topic of her brand new book, "Feasting on Hope: How God Sets a Table in the Wilderness." She makes the argument in the book that she'll make tomorrow: joy isn't something we experience only on the mountain top, but in the valley. Please RSVP for tomorrow's event here.

On Sunday, we'll build on this theme by asking ourselves the question: Where is God in the pain? Where is God when things are falling apart? How can I come to see God, myself, and my situation through the eyes of Christ? In our passage, it's striking that St. Paul doesn't minimize suffering. He doesn't put a gospel band-aid over our very real wounds. Rather, he contextualizes the valley, the wilderness, the suffering. It's not that St. Paul wants us to see our problems more opaquely, it's that he wants us to see Christ's work on the Cross more clearly.

Please join us Sunday as we center ourselves around the life-changing news that pain and death won't have the last word--Lent will give way to Easter!

Our Music Director, David Belt, recently wrote a thoughtful article for AMiA Communications on the significance of Holy Communion. We invite you to take a moment to read it here.

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