Our Lent theme for this year is Thrown Alongside, which is a sort of literal translation of the word “parable.” In many ways, parables are stories, metaphors, images, and ideas that are placed (or thrown) alongside the stories, metaphors, and images of our own life. They are an invitation to find the unfamiliar within the familiar and vice versa. Parables are often meant to sound like normal, everyday stories until they suddenly take a turn and we find ourselves wondering what this surprise is saying to us. 

The theme took a couple different iterations before landing on its final form. At first, it was something more general about parables. This was fine, but–and I’ll only speak for myself–it failed to really capture the imagination. As the planning team discussed what we might do with a theme around parables, the idea that we are being “thrown alongside” these stories felt much more evocative and engaging. 

To me, it also speaks to the reality that many of us feel as though we are being thrown alongside a world that we hardly recognize anymore, often unsure how to respond. When Jesus teaches through parables, I believe he is, at least in some way, recognizing that the world doesn’t need easy answers or step-by-step guides because those can only take us so far. The world is far messier and we continue to be thrown alongside situations and encounters we could never anticipate. 

So instead, Jesus offers us stories. He invites us to live within them, to find ourselves in their characters, to be challenged by their metaphors, and to wonder how these stories collide with our own. 

This evening we will begin our Lent journey of being thrown alongside the stories of Jesus at our Ash Wednesday service. This will be a chance to orient ourselves to the season through confession, singing, prayer, listening, and silence. We will mark one another with ash to remind ourselves that we are dust and to dust we will return. We will do all this not to increase shame and guilt but as a reminder of how beloved we are and how God continues to throw grace upon grace into and alongside the dust of our lives.