Lenten message set to spread like wildflowers

For two weeks before today’s beginning of Lent, First United Methodist Church lead pastor Jon Stouffer and assistant pastor Julius Wardley stationed themselves outside the church on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

They offered prayers and handed out packets of seeds for congregants and others to plant.

The wildflower seeds, which will be planted in soil, serve as a Lenten remembrance “that God created us from dust, and that God makes beautiful things out of dust,” Stouffer said.

Because of COVID-19, the church’s Ash Wednesday service will not include the traditional distribution of ashes.

Instead, Stouffer will plant wildflower seeds amid the service, “using the dirt as a reminder of our own mortality. We’re trying to retain that connection while also abiding by best practices.”

Minding the call for spiritual messages while minding the mandates of a global pandemic has been a fine line the church, like many,has had to navigate.

The current times have fit perfectly with Henri Nouwen’s book “Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety,” from which Stouffer and Wardley will cite passages in sermons throughout the Lenten season.

“The book will guide our thoughts as we preach. We are managing in an age of anxiety. Everybody’s tired, everybody’s ready for this to be over and to find our way home to a place of peace in the midst of this,” Stouffer said.

As congregants rolled through the portico to pick up their seeds, Stouffer and Wardley visited with each.

Many were senior citizens who spoke excitedly of having gotten their first or second COVID-19 vaccination, eager for the time when they can return to normal — joining in the choir, the bell choir or simply the normality of weekly worship.

It is a goal their pastoral leaders share.

kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com