Imagine this. You are standing clothed in white robes with a number of similarly dressed people in a dark hall lit only by a single candle. As you glance at the faces around you, you notice several which are familiar. There are quite a few servants who wait on the wealthy in your city. There are two soldiers, several merchants, a banker and a well-to-do matron from a prominent family. For 40 days, all of you have been fasting during the day and learning the stories and teachings of the church in the evening. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. At dawn you will present yourself for baptism and admission into the circle of those who follow The Way. This is the final night of preparation, the 24-hour Easter vigil. Your teacher has just finished telling the story of Jesus and how the disciples first misunderstood him and then deserted him. You’ve heard the story before but not like this. The story doesn’t end with the resurrected Christ commanding his followers to spread his message throughout the world. The story ends with the sentence, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mark 16:8) Your teacher says, “It is up to you now. What will you do?”

If it was up to you to pass on who Jesus was and what he still means to the world, could you do it? Do you know the stories and teachings not by rote but by heart? What happens when telling the story is uncomfortable? What happens when following The Way costs you financially or costs you friends? How do you know what The Way is?
How can you find the strength and courage to stick to it? For the church, Lent has long been the way to find answers to these questions. Forty days of discipline, study and prayer which renew us in the Spirit and enable us to recommit ourselves to The Way of Christ, the way of love for all. Without this preparation Easter becomes just a
fashion show or a quaint celebration of some ancient event no one really believes in anymore.

Join FirstChurch as we seek to follow the disciplines of Lent and continue on The Way. Join the Lenten Study in Wesley Hall. Pick up a Lenten Devotional guide. Commit yourself to Bible study, or daily prayer or some discipline which will help you prepare for Easter. Use this Lent to truly prepare for Easter, the day which changed the disciples from foolish, frightened people to understanding, courageous people who could (and did) transform the world.