Midweek Message – February 18, 2026

Today is Ash Wednesday and normally I would seek out a church that was having a service. However it’s our regularly scheduled Leadership Team meeting this evening and since I’m leaving for Kenya on Friday, we can’t very well reschedule it. Here’s the Spiritual Reflection I did this morning for the United Churches for Dartmouth Facecbook group.

This Sunday marks the beginning of our Lenten Series: Tell Me Something Good. The scripture for this week is John 2: 1-11 & Matthew 13: 31-32. This is what the creators of the series had to say about it:

Lent was originally a season for new converts to learn and prepare for their baptism on Easter. During that time, they would study what was central to Christianity. As we crafted this series, we
asked: what are the core, foundational concepts of Jesus’ life and ministry? What makes each of these good news? Can we trust that the good news is truly good, even when it challenges us?

If we’re being honest, we can easily distort or sanitize Jesus’ teachings. Following Jesus leads to a
richer, more expansive life, but it’s not necessarily comfortable. We often describe Jesus’ ministry
as “radical” which comes from the Latin word “radicalis,” meaning “root” or “ground.”¹ Therefore,
the good news should bring us back to our roots, back to what grounds us: loving our neighbor,
caring for the vulnerable, pursuing justice and mercy, and resting in God’s unending grace.

The good news is extravagant, untamed, illogical, and persistent. It is joyful—like fine wine saved for celebration. It grows like a mustard seed that flourishes rapidly into a tree to shelter the birds. It smells like expensive perfume poured from an alabaster jar and like crumbling bread passed endlessly through a hungry crowd. It sounds like children laughing and like stones dropped to the ground instead of violently thrown. It feels like feet washed with tender care. The good news is alive in the world. We hope this series will provide fertile ground for conversation and worship, rooting our hearts and lives in the expansive goodness of God. This Lent, may the teachings of Jesus lead us forward. Let the good news ground us. And let that good news inspire us to take action in a world desperate to hear, see, and taste what is good.

My week has been stuffed full making sure everything is done before I leave. Even though it feels very odd to be leaving at the beginning of a major season in the church, I know I’m leaving you in good hands with Rev. Renee Clark on Sunday mornings and Rev. Stephen Fram for pastoral emergencies.

I leave on Friday morning and fly to Toronto and then the 8 participants and 4 leaders will fly out together on Saturday morning. It’s a 13 hour flight from Toronto to Addis Ababa and then another 2 1/2 hours to Nairobi. I have downloaded several books onto my tablet! My suitcase is packed, all I need to pack is my backpack that I’ll be carrying on the plane and I can’t really do that until Thursday night, Friday morning. Tomorrow, I start taking daily malaria medication, thankfully it’s only pills and not liquid. And I’m trying to write a sermon to preach on the second Sunday we’re there, without having a lot of context for it!