Making Space for Jesus

Dear Friends,

Lent invites us into holy relationship. It is not a season of spiritual performance, but a season of clearing space to reflect honestly, to listen, and to receive God’s love—Love that is holding out its arms beckoning us into God’s embrace.

Life is busy. Our days fill quickly with responsibility, worry, noise, and even good intentions. Without noticing, we can leave little room for Jesus—not because we have rejected him, but because we have become too distracted to receive him. Lent offers us the gift of a pause.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus meets people not in their strength but in their openness. He enters homes where there is room for him, hearts that are cracked open by need, lives that know they cannot save themselves. Making space for Jesus does not require perfection; it requires availability.

Often, the process of creating holy space is not found by adding more spiritual effort, but by surrendering control, slowing down, and drinking in God’s love to nourish our soul. We can’t give away what we have not received. As we move toward the cross, we discover a paradox at the heart of Lent: the more space we make, the more we are filled—not with answers, but with presence.

May this Lent be a season of holy room-making. May we let go of what crowds our hearts. And may we discover that Jesus has been waiting—not for perfection, but for a relationship.

Lent is not just an individual practice, it is communal. Lent invites us to grow together. What we receive from God fuels our ability to share with others.

If you are interested in creating some intentional space for God’s presence in community, I invite you to Bethesda’s Lenten Retreat on Feb. 28th. Learn more & sign up here.

Blessings,

Rev. Tara