We welcome the newly baptized! Confess the faith! What a joy it is to baptize anyone. On this particular day I had the honor of baptizing Addie. She was filled with expectation and joy on this very important day. Someone capture this moment- the Kingdom of God very present!

​“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Ministry is all about getting your hands dirty in the midst of your community. I read the quote from Theodore Roosevelt for the first time when I was a young student. I really didn’t get it at all! I came across it again recently and it really spoke to me. What I think it hits for me is how important it is to use the one life you are given for the great good and with propose and dedication to a cause!

As Christians we constantly hear the words of Jesus in our worship services and bible studies. They marinate us in the call to serve God by serving others and not ourselves. It is a challenging call that requires a sense of purpose and dedication on our own part to live into. It could be easy to just let those words pass on and say, “not me.” Or as Roosevelt states we could start critiquing others on how poorly they are doing!

Lent is a perfect time to get in touch with this clarion call to services and purpose. Starting with Ash Wednesday and the hard work of dealing with our frailty and humanity as we admit we need forgiveness and repentance. Then we walk the 40 day journey of recommitment, self-examination, renewing purpose and recommitment to our faith journey. We are called to “dare greatly” with our life!

In the ministry I have the chance to see people really embrace these principals. Amazing work and ministry can happen when they do. Even with the failures and misses that all of us experience- God does work through us.

​As we move from Lent to Easter I hope you take the call to serve God by serving others seriously. Each of us have something we are called and able to do. Will you take that up? Will you dare greatly? I hope so!