We continue our forty-day Lenten journey with Jesus, focusing on repentance, renewal, reconciliation, and God’s relationship with us through Jesus Christ. In the reading from Genesis, the second covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the one made with Abraham and Sarah: God’s promise to make them the ancestors of many, with whom God will remain in everlasting covenant. In the reading from Mark, Jesus speaks of his death and resurrection and then calls on his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. Through Jesus and the cross offers the promise of life. What does the cross mean to you? In what ways do you experience life through Jesus?