Psalm 69:15-20 2 Samuel 22:1-7 (8-16) 17-19 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 Luke 10:25-37
The longer I live, the greater the topic of family becomes for me—it grows more poignant, stronger, less idealized, more tensile, more valuable, more real. I have come to realize that our families are quilts of many odd patches. We wrap ourselves up again and again in the comfort of them. And, like any good quality fabric, they grow softer and more yielding of contour with time. Our families may never really fit us—and yet they always fit us.
And just as I am a member of my large, extended family, I am a member of the family of faith.
Millions and millions of other Christians are on this faith trek with me, and I am blessed and comforted by them. I wrap our shared faith around and around me to shield me, to comfort me, to mark my beginnings, to mark my endings. It is part swaddling clothes, part uniform, part shroud.
As a family we are approaching the long, blue shadows of that one tomb. Together we are straining to witness a rising that will change everything. And as a family, we are all invited in by Jesus.
This Lent, may you hear His invitation. May we all be wrapped up together— warm, known, blessed, and received—in the rare beauty of this ancient springtime story.

–Suzanne Synnestvedt