by Sr. Stacie Lightner

One of my favorite parts of the catechism is the reminder to daily drown the old creature in our baptism and rise up to live in new life. Lent for me is an intentional intensification of that practice. We shouldn’t wait for Lent to change the things that need to be changed or draw close to God, we should do that all the time.

by Candidate Kriss Buss

Jesus inverts this and challenges conventional thinking. Gain goes to the least – those who haven’t asked or fought for it, those cutout and shut out. The Gospel is radical and subversive to worldly powers.

by Sr. Michelle Collins, director of communication and discipleship, Florida-Bahamas Synod

I try to use Lent to re-focus on my call as a deaconess to be grounded in my faith, sustained by community, and active in the world.

by Candidate Kriss Buss

Where are you hurting? What tears do we hear that call us closer, or draw us out to edges of our own towns? As sisters, how are we uniquely called to live out the reality that we are lifted up, each one of us, when we are together?

By Kriss Buss, Deaconess Community candidate

Dear Community, where are we seeing hopelessness in our towns and world this Ash Wednesday? Jesus promises the kingdom to those who have lost hope. God is for them, always.

As sisters called to these places, what image of the kingdom do we carry today? God’s kingdom says the forgotten will be remembered, the hopeless held closely in love.

During these Lenten days, we are invited to walk with the Beatitudes and follow the AAMPARO invitation to accompany children today and in the future, as we dwell in our relationship with God and each other.

In Deaconess Community Candidate Kriss Buss’ reflections, we are invited to “walk with the Beatitudes … “