Dear Friends in Christ,

As I walked through the Garden of Gethsemane last week, I was weary. Full days and nights of meeting with church partners and others in Israel-Palestine had meant moving daily among armed soldiers, through checkpoints, sitting and listening to apprehensions, deep longings for peace and justice, and courageous work. I felt both full and empty.

I thought about the last night Jesus spent in the garden with his friends. They were weary, and they found it hard to stay awake with him. Even though they were inspired by Jesus and were his friends, he had to ask, "Could you not keep awake one hour?"

Even with all that makes us weary, may we keep awake with our friend Jesus this Lent. May our eyes remain open, whatever we're facing. With my Lenten video message, I invite you to hear Christ's challenge along with words of poetry and images from the Middle East in the video message below. They all help strengthen my resolve to try to stay awake with Christ.

If you'd like to be accompanied through Lent by a United Church community that's praying together in this season, please join me and others in prayer and online conversation while using this year's Lenten devotional book, Rising with the Morning Star.

You can join the conversation here: Rising with the Morning Star Lenten discussion.

This is an opportunity to share in a living spirituality that sustains the journey of faith doing justice, focused on God's healing of soul, community and creation.

May our eyes remain open...
May the soul's journey be revealed
and the true hunger fed.
May we be forgiven for what we have forgotten
and blessed with the remembrance of who we really are.

~ The Terma Collective from "The Box: Remembering the Gift."

Join WonderCafe's Lenten book conversation here: Rising with the Morning Star.