Pastor Dick Hurd: Pastor Dick Hurd
The Mid-Week Message is an On-Line Ministry Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church” (A Global Methodist Community of Faith) March 12, 2025
I was thinking about how I should approach this Lenten season personally and it occurred to me that my perceptions might be influenced by my circumstances. I am a pastor. Many would consider me to be elderly, although I don’t see myself that way. I am a father, grandfather and great grandfather, a widower and I don’t see my children as often as I would like due to distance and circumstance. I live alone, with the exception of my dog.
Considering all of that, perhaps I should be making this Lenten journey with a greater sense of urgency. No one knows how many more Lenten seasons I will have. But I don’t think that is the case. I think it should never be with a sense of urgency but rather a sense of submission and solidarity with my Lord.
There is an old hymn that says “I want Jesus to walk with me, all along my pilgrim journey.”
I don’t think it really matters what our personal circumstances are as long as we share this journey with the one who first traveled it. We need to walk with Him as He ministered to the least, the last and the lost. We need to experience the frustration of dealing with, less that fully committed and often confused, disciples. We should know of the tears he must have shed as he presided over his final meal with those he loved knowing full well that one of them would betray Him. We need to feel the desperation He felt in the garden when he prayed knowing what was to come. We need to place ourselves at the foot of the cross as His life was slipping away and we need to hear his final words “Father forgive them."
We need all of that and more because without it, resurrection morning will be void of meaning. Without it Easter will be a lovely day of celebrating Easter bunnies and chocolate candies and nothing more. Without that intimate knowledge of Christ's commitment to us we may never have a true commitment to Him. For me , I want Jesus to walk with me ALL along my pilgrim journey, so that I may walk with Him into eternity! How about you?
Yours in the love of Christ,
Pastor Dick
Breath prayer: Lord step by step, all the way with You. May it be so! Amen
