Dear Redeemer Family,
Good afternoon! A blessed Ash Wednesday to you.
As we begin the season of Lent together, I want to take a minute to tell you about where we are headed in our Lenten sermon series. The title of the series is: Disenchanted | Losing & Regaining Our Connection with the Natural World & with God.
This series will explore the ways in which technological advancements and cultural shifts are estranging people from their bodies and the material world, resulting in profound disconnection with God. Leaning heavily on the historic church’s understanding that God has written two books: scripture and creation - Disenchanted seeks to unveil to us the ways in which our lives are missing essential raw, gritty, embodied practices and experiences.
God has given us two "books" that reveal who God is and what God is about. These are the Book of Nature (which is the natural world itself) and the Book of Scripture, the Bible. They complement one another; and both Scripture and the natural world reveal God's truth, as both have God's hand on them. Together, they speak a single truth, and they are, at their deepest level, in accord.
—Saint Augustine
Together, we will consider how reappropriating basic human acts like: assisting with the birth of a child, creating music, experiencing sexual intimacy, growing food, telling stories, and caring for the dying are experiences that connect us to the God who is creator of the material world and author of life.
Week 1—Re-Enchantment through Birth
Week 2—Re-Enchantment through Music
Week 3—Re-Enchantment through Sex
Week 4—Re-Enchantment through Memory
Week 5—Re-Enchantment through Death
When we take up these practices, our lives, our homes, and our church will be infused afresh with the mystery and glory of life as creatures of God in a created world.
Download the Lent guidebook here.
See you Sunday.
In the Father’s love,
