Lent 2018

 
Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means “spring.” The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
 
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
 
Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter” and the reverent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful anticipation of the Resurrection.
February 14: Ash Wednesday, Create in Me a Clean Heart – Psalm 51 – 6:15p, Sanctuary
 
February 18: Letting Go: Pride – Genesis 3: 1-7 – 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
February 25: Letting Go: Envy – Genesis 37: 17-24 – 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
March 4: Communion, Letting Go: Anger – John 2: 13-22 – 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
March 11:  Second Sunday Sing, Girl Scout Sunday, Letting Go: Control Matthew 6: 25-34 – 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
March 18: Letting Go: Greed Matthew 19: 16-22 – 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
March 25: Palm Sunday, Healing Service –  Letting Go: Indifference – Proverbs 24: 30-34 10:50a, Sanctuary
 
March 29 Maundy Thursday, Love One Another – John 13: 1-17, 31b-25 – 7p, Sanctuary
Communion, Hand/Foot Washing
 
March 30: Good Friday ~ Tenebrae: A Service of Darkness, 7p, Sanctuary

The Lenten Prayer Stations will be an interactive way of praying through tangible acts of worship and reflection. So much of faith requires us to believe in something we can not detect with our five senses.  Especially in times when the world around us bombards us with so much physical evidence to doubt our faith, I need something to physically cling to in order to find strength to believe. 

Adapting a postmodern style of worship that began in Europe, the prayer stations give opportunity to participants to encounter faith in a way that is tangible, meaningful, experiential, and reflective.  Much like the rituals of baptism, communion and laying on of hands, we engage in our faith that is real and relevant in our lives and refreshes our call as God’s children, and reminds us of who God is.

The Lenten Prayer Stations will be set up in the sanctuary building on Wednesday, March 25 from 6:15p to 7:15p and are fully designed for everyone to engage in some way regardless of age, ability or stages of faith. I hope you will make time during Holy Week to pray in this way.

~ Pastor Sarah Davis