the editor SO MUCH MORE

ebruary is the love month. On the fourteenth, sweethearts swap cards and candy, go out for dinner, or like me, fall asleep in front of the TV beside my wife, content, knowing we are together and blessed by that fortune. February 22, 2023, is Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of our mortality. God raised humanity out of the earth and to dust, we all return (Genesis 3:19).

During Lent, we anticipate Christ’s crucifixion, a perfect being put to death (albeit temporarily), so that we may receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life. How wonderful a promise that we sinful beings could find rescue from ourselves in Calvary’s cross. That’s a love I cannot fathom, a love I find beyond me even in my most sacrificial moment.

In our cover story, “Giving-up, taking-up, and opening-up,” Phil Gunther implores us to make our devotion to Christ an “everyday thing.” That may sound like something we think we’re already doing, but are we? What would it look like if we made every effort to make the 40-day disciplines of Lent a 365-day lifestyle? How could this practice make us more like Christ?

It was a pleasure getting to know Sandi Reutlinger of River of Life Community Church in Blind Bay, BC. She recounts her ministry journey in our MBHD interview on page six

In this month’s “Moment in prayer,” Ken Esau writes: “Jesus is God’s great agape love embodied— forgiving sin; conquering the powers of sin, Satan, and death; and revealing what true life for humans looks like.” We ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with this agape love; we seek to be like Jesus. I encourage you as an MB community to join in prayer, following the prompts in this month’s prayer guide as we enter this Lenten season.

BECAUSE YOUR LOVE IS BETTER THAN LIFE, MY LIPS WILL GLORIFY YOU. I WILL PRAISE YOU AS LONG AS I LIVE, AND IN YOUR NAME I WILL LIFT UP MY HANDS. PSALM 63: 3-4

If I may offer one suggestion, as we pray together: remember the words of Psalm 63, and see how David describes the love of God as being better than life itself. Can you imagine such love? My wife rouses me from my slumber on the couch, and my waking eyes fall on hers, and I get an inkling of how that love might feel. But it’s that to the millionth degree. God’s love is so much more. Holy Spirit, fill us with your love. Today and every day.

CARSON SAMSON Communications director

*per annum. Rate in effect January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023. Subject to change.

Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)

Earn a return while investing in ministry tax-free. The TFSA contribution limit for 2023 is $6,500. Contact us to contribute or open a TFSA account.

Registered

Savings Plan (RRSP)

Invest in ministry while saving for retirement. The RRSP contribution deadline for the 2022 tax year is March 1, 2023. Contact us to contribute or open an RRSP account. INVESTING

For more information or if you have questions, please contact:

To make an investment or to open a new account, please contact: