Detail from “There Is Still Room” by Lauren Wright Pittman | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

Dear Westwood Family,

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. We offer you this devotional, designed for you to use at home; with art, poetry, scripture, and reflection questions, it offers tools for your spiritual life during this season. We also invite you to join us for Ash Wednesday worship this evening, at 7pm in the Sanctuary or by livestream on YouTube.

We begin with invitation: you are invited to receive the good news of God’s love.

You can pick up a printed copy at church. Created by A Sanctified Art, it features diverse artists and writers. Here is how it begins:

Lent was originally a season for new converts to learn and prepare for their baptism on Easter. During that time, they would study what was central to Christianity. As we crafted this Lenten devotional, we studied what was central to Jesus’ life and ministry: radical welcome, love for neighbor, care for the vulnerable, nourishment for the hungry, nonviolence in the face of injustice. At the heart of Jesus’ teachings, we find liberation, love, mercy, and grace—all of which are meant to be very good news for us all.

Jesus’ ministry can be described as “radical” which comes from the Latin word “radicalis,” meaning “root” or “ground.” Therefore, the good news should bring us back to our roots. Emulating Jesus and embodying his teachings should ground us in who God created us to be. Can we be “good news” people in a world too often burdened by bad news?

This Lent, let us remember that the good news really is good news. It is joyful—like fine wine saved for celebration. It grows like a mustard seed and smells like perfume poured from an alabaster jar. It tastes like bread passed endlessly through a hungry crowd. It sounds like laughter and feels like mercy. The good news is alive in the world.

We invite you to journey through this devotional at your own pace, as each week offers art, reflections, poetry, and hymns to ground you in the good news. This Lent, let the teachings of Jesus lead us forward. May the good news inspire us to take action in a world desperate to hear, see, and taste what is good.

-The Sanctified Art Creative Team

I pray that this season will be good news, indeed.

grace and peace,
Pastor Molly