WHAT IS WHOLENESS?
Wednesday, February 17
“Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Joel 2:13
What exactly is wholeness? While the Lent intent is often personal, the result is often communal. We start Lent hearing the words, “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” These words return us to our beginning, when God-breathed dust. What came next was God’s people. Beloved. Perhaps the question isn’t, “What IS wholeness?” But, “Wholeness for whom?” God, of course. The prophet Joel names our God’s love. As God’s people, we are whole and wholly God’s with all our flaws. And it is good. Not just as individuals, but as people of faith, the Body of Christ. Thanks be to God.
Gracious God, we think about ourselves. A lot. Challenge us, as we see the ashen cross on our own foreheads, to see the image of you, our God, in the face of our neighbors. Amen.
Pr. Josh Toufar, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd