Greetings, Central Lutheran. I’m looking forward to making the best of our time together during this interim. I’ve currently signed on to be with you five months, and during that time I see my primary responsibilities as:

Leading and preaching at regular Sunday worship and special services

Providing pastoral care to the congregation

Guiding you through the transition process and preparation of your  Ministry Site Profile,

Providing administrative leadership to keep the congregation healthy

I’m sure that there will be additional “and other duties as assigned” that come up from time to time. Those are often the places where we meet Jesus most clearly – in the surprising moments of service that we weren’t expecting.

I’ll be beginning my ministry with you in February, which is a month in which we will see a major mood shift in the liturgical life of the Church. With Transfiguration Sunday right at the center of the month, the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany cycle will officially come to an end and two days later Lent will begin.

Once again this year our congregation will join with other congregations in Everett, worshiping together during Lent and Holy Week. Our Ash Wednesday services will be held this year at The Gathering.  Lenten Midweek Services will be at Trinity, with a soup supper beforehand. Maundy Thursday will be at Faith, and we will host Good Friday at Central. More details about these services will be available soon.

With the beginning of Lent comes a new focus, different sorts of Sunday lectionary texts, hymns, and liturgical themes. These 40 days are meant to be a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter, much as Advent (which seems to have just happened!) is a time of preparation for Christmas. In that way, we might be in a time of solemn and significant reflection, but we never lose sight of the joy of the resurrection. Even during Lent, Sundays are a celebration of Jesus’ victory over death. That’s why they are called Sundays “in” Lent and not Sundays of Lent. And they are not counted as a part of the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

As a part of our preparation and reflection during the Lent, an additional midweek service will be offered for the five Wednesdays of the season.  As stated above, they will be held at Trinity Lutheran at 6:30 p.m. and will be services of Holden Evening Prayer. A soup supper will precede the liturgies and begin at 5:30. Opportunities to sign up to provide soup will be available soon.

We enter into this time of interim ministry with a prayerful and hopeful spirit, and look forward to the many ways that God will be revealed to us in our ministry together. 

In Christ,

Pastor Hoffman