Called Into the Dazzling Darkness - The Rev. Mike Angell

We sing our last Alleluias before Lent. We leave behind the long green seasons after Pentecost and Epiphany—“ordinary time”—and reflect on why that ordinariness feels so appealing in days that are anything but ordinary.

This sermon explores how people of faith respond to disorderly times: through mystery, courage, and refusal to accept cruelty as normal. From biblical mountaintops wrapped in cloud to a modern story of a priest “outed” as a Christian, we see how encountering God makes us a little odd—and more alive.

We recall the struggle for immigrant justice in New Mexico, a reminder that sometimes the world must finally see injustice before change becomes possible.

As we turn toward Lent, we reflect on faith as consciousness, resistance, and trust in the dazzling darkness of God’s love. We may never return to ordinary time—and maybe that’s grace.