With the storm coming, it’s natural to think about seasonal preparation.  The news is crowded with images of hardware stores sold out of shovels and salt, and empty grocery store shelves where milk and bread used to be. No one wants to be caught in a storm unprepared. How appropriate, then, that Lent, the liturgical season we enter on February 10th this year, is a time set aside to prepare. Forty days in which we remember Christ’s last days, and aim to know Him better through them. What would happen if we took the season of Lent as seriously as we do the preparations for a big snowstorm?

This year at our Lenten retreat at Corhaven on Saturday, February 13, right on the heels of Ash Wednesday,  we will be looking at the season with the influence of Celtic Christianity, with its emphasis on repentance and penitence, Creation, and a real awareness of God’s omnipresence. There is raw honesty, a realness, characteristic of the Celtic tradition that we hope to bring to Lent this year. We offer this day as a way to carve out space, a way to find a more profound entrance and dwelling with God during these meaningful six weeks.  Engage with us early in the season so we can all make “a good Lent”!

One of the best things about preparation done well is heightened enjoyment upon arrival at the destination or event. Tomorrow morning, we might well wake up to a world completely covered in a sparkling blanket of pure white.  What a beautiful picture of what Christ does for our souls, celebrated on Easter morning, making all things radiantly new again.  And how much more beautiful is that newness, how much deeper our gratitude, on the other side of thoughtful and intentional preparation.  So grab your shovels today, join us on February 13th, and let’s walk together through those upcoming forty days of Lent, and with renewed awe receive the gift of new life given through them.