Join the Osborne UMC on Sunday, March 9th, as we start our Lenten Sermon Series, “Are We There Yet.” Do you ever feel like if you just make it over the next hurdle or reach your next goal you will have finally arrived in life? Many people do, including our Biblical friends, but guess what? That’s called the arrival fallacy, and it can keep us feeling disappointed and unhappy when we get to the “next thing” and find we still haven’t arrived at our hoped-for destination. We are still unfailingly human, flawed, and broken. This Lent, let us learn to savor our uniquely human journey without the pressure of arrival as we reconnect with the God of Jesus Christ, who leads us in the way, providing sustenance, meaning, and hope through all our ups and downs. March 9th – 1st Sunday In Lent: Getting Free and Staying Free | Exodus 15:22-27 | Like the Israelites who were freed from Egypt only to find themselves without drinkable water, we too can find ourselves freed from one trouble only to be met with another. God invites us to shift perspective and find our freedom in relationship with God. March 16th – 2nd Sunday In Lent: It’s Not the Destination, It’s the Journey | Deuteronomy 32:1-10, 44-52 | We can work for weeks, months, even years to arrive at a certain point in life, our own “Promised Land.” But sometimes that Promised Land is not what we envisioned. Sometimes, we don’t even make it there. And even when we do, the Promised Land is not the end of the journey. How can we let God reshape our vision of both the destination and the journey so that we can find beauty and meaning in all of it? March 23rd – 3rd Sunday in Lent: Who’s Your Hope? | 1 Samuel 8 | When we are dissatisfied, the idea of a strong new leader can seem like our only hope to get where we want to go. But the story of the Israelite people and their demand for a king is a powerful reminder that leaders are all too human and that we must place our ultimate hope in God, the true King. March 30th – 4th Sunday In Lent: No Going Back | Ezra 3:10-13 | Sometimes we think that everything will be fine if we can just go back to the way things were, but the present will never be the past. The good news is that God is in what was, what is, and what will be. April 6th – 5th Sunday In Lent: The Fake Out | John 2:13-25 - Just when we think we have it all figured out – the right job, the right routine, the right way of doing things – Jesus comes in and upends our certainty, always moving us into deeper truth, justice, and relationship. April 13th – Palm Sunday: Staying Power | Luke 19:28-40 - Everyone loves a parade but what happens when the party is over? Real hope is built in daily acts of showing up – in times of celebration, in times of challenge, and in the ordinary in-between. April 20th – Easter Sunday: Setting Out Again | Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 -Death is not our final arrival. Jesus lives, and so do we. He sends us out on the journey anew and promises to be with us the whole way.