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Hi everyone! I hope your week is going well, and that you’re enjoying these first days of March.

Can you believe it—it’s March?! In my house, spring officially arrived this past Monday. I know, I know, the calendar will tell us that it officially turns to spring later this month with the equinox. But in our home, spring happens when the trees start to pollinate, eyes begin to itch, and noses run, and some of us start to take our annual cycle of Claritin. That’s right—allergy season has begun, which means it’s spring—at least for me.

I don’t say all that to ask for sympathy. I do enjoy the flowers that will soon be blooming, and I can live with a little sniffling. But I mention it so that you don’t all think I have some awful, contagious sickness if I blow my nose a bit more often when I’m around the church. I’m just “enjoying” the season. Some of you understand the situation very well from your own experience of spring. For the rest, be glad you can enjoy the flowers in a non-sniffly way!

This week, we all get to experience another aspect of spring in BC: the change back to Daylight Savings Time. That’s not quite such a painful thing, though of course, people find reasons to complain about making the change each spring and fall. No doubt we’ll all have plenty of conversations about the pro’s and con’s of the recent provincial decision to stop the biannual meddling and just leave the clocks alone after this coming Sunday. Wherever you stand on that issue, I predict that we’ll all pretty much forget about it after a year or so of leaving the time unchanged. It will be nice not to have to remember which day we make the adjustment. (I’ve done it every year of my life, but I still need to check the calendar each spring and fall to be sure I have the day right!)

This one last time, though, please do remember to move that clock an hour forward on Saturday night. Otherwise, we’ll all be smiling, nodding our heads knowingly, and giggling just a bit when you try to slip quietly into church an hour after the music starts. Personally, speaking as a pastor, I recommend changing the clock at 7:00 pm on Saturday so you get to bed earlier and get enough sleep. That’s what I’m going to do. Otherwise, plan to make that morning coffee extra strong.

This Sunday, we’ll finish our short series in the book of Philemon. I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief foray into a much-overlooked but rich little letter. I’ve certainly learned some things as I’ve taken the time to study it in more depth. We’ll continue using the same strategy we’ve employed for the past 2 weeks: looking at the life of a key individual in the letter. We’ve talked about Onesimus and Paul, so now this week we turn to Philemon himself. We don’t know a lot about Philemon, but we learn a few things about his character that set a good example for us. That’s where our focus will be this week.

Once again, if you’re reading ahead, I suggest reading the whole letter in a single sitting. It’s only 25 verses, and that will help to give context for the parts that we’ll focus on.

Looking further ahead, on March 15th, we’re going to have something of a missions Sunday with a special guest (more on that next week). Then we begin to ramp up to Easter. Because, after all, it’s spring, and Easter is only a few weeks away! That will be a wonderful celebration, as always.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful week. Enjoy today’s sunshine before it starts to drizzle again. Remember your clock! And may God bless you richly. See you soon.

—Pastor Ken