2026 March 27th

Eve, James Solomon Russell, 2026 March 27th

“Strength for the Heart”

“Though my flesh and my heart should waste away,

God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”~ Psalm 73:26

Beloved:

Holy Week in the season of Lent is observed with images that offer profound opportunities for deep reflections on the life of Jesus and our own encounters with the challenges that impact our lives. Often described as the wilderness experience, the temptations of Jesus, and our own struggles amid the trials of life shape our identity and witness as followers of Jesus Christ.

Marked by solemn liturgies and prayers, even the imposition of ashes that began this season, which includes Holy Week, was an invitation into the wilderness that surrounds us. Like Jesus, we are sometimes led into the wilderness - a place of testing and purpose, a place of confrontation, but also belonging. While the harshness of the wilderness might frustrate and irritate us, it is not a place of abandonment. We may perhaps be isolated, but not abandoned. God is always with us, even in the wilderness. If we see the wilderness primarily as a place of confrontation and contemplation, it becomes less of a place for combat.

When we find ourselves confronting the forces of the wilderness, we meet the powers of distractions that have set their gaze upon us, seeking to pull us away from our true identity and purpose. It is here that we are called to make a prayerful distinction between the need to confront and the temptation to combat. The temptation toward combat, which is often a fight with external realities and powers, tends to leave us empty and unfulfilled. Even when it seems that we have had outward success, won the fight or battle, the struggle with the inner realities remains. We cannot avoid the ultimate necessity of self-confrontation. The fear of not confronting the self is the burden that hinders our hopes and joy. We can walk away from what is around us, but not from what is within us. Acknowledging and returning to God, the One who loves and never leaves us, who calls us beloved, we rediscover and renew our strength, our hope, and joy.

May the work of this season strengthen our hearts with hope in the dark and dry places towards the light of day.

With Lenten blessings, I am,

Faithfully in Christ,

The Right Reverend John T.W. Harmon

Bishop of Arkansas