An Unlikely Lent

An Unlikely Lent

One of the friendships I treasure most is rather unlikely. My buddy, Hal, is Jewish and proud of his heritage, and he is thankful to be a child of YHWH (God). Our families are close, and he and his wife even came to my ordination here in 2005.

One night, I received an unexpected phone call from his oldest daughter. “Mr. David, I’m in a bind and I’m hoping you can help me. As you know, I’m going to Catholic high school and must take a course on the Old Testament and one on the New Testament. I did great on the Old Testament — it was a piece of cake. The New Testament? I don’t have a clue. I had to write a paper on the virgin birth, choose my favorite disciple and explain why, and identify the miracle that astounded me the most. Now we’re heading into Holy Week, and I don’t know anything about it, except I hear my dad call you every Easter morning and holler, ‘Don’t blame it on the Jews!’ Blame what? I don’t know. Can you help me… please!!!”

I agreed — with the warning that this story has an unlikely ending.

This Lent, Eva is teaching a book study on An Unlikely Lent: Extraordinary People of the Easter Story. You will recognize all of the people, but you may not have related them to the Lenten journey. My sermons will also be based on these characters. The study meets Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. or Tuesday mornings at 11:00 a.m. You don’t need to buy the book, and you’ve only missed one week of this unlikely story. I guarantee you will learn something and enjoy the company.

Hope to see you! David