Here we are. One year later from when the ways we enjoyed our lives changed. We learned to live differently, a way in which we find ourselves very uncomfortable. Over the past year, we’ve experienced community in ways like never before. The Lenten invitation spoken on Ash Wednesday reminds us that we enter this season together “with the whole church.” We then hear that “we are created for communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation.” Our Lenten practices invite us to individual acts of “repentance, prayer, and fasting, sacrificial given and works of love,” Lent is also a time for deepening of community.
Our Lenten focus this year is “Created for Community.” Using the Sunday Gospel readings as our guide, we’ll look at being “In Community” with creation, with all the saints, with our neighbor, with those on the margins, and with Christ. Our service format each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. will be “Holden Evening Prayer.”
Each Wednesday, we’ll engage the Gospel reading using a Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) process, which involves read/listen, meditate, pray, and contemplate. We’ll hear the lesson three times, listening to it differently each time. The first time, we’ll listen for a word or short phrase that stands out to you. Listening to it a second time, we’ll listen for a way in which God is speaking to you personally. And hearing it the third time, we’ll listen for a way in which God is speaking to the community/communities to which you belong.
For Ash Wednesday, we’ll offer a drive-thru opportunity for the imposition of ashes. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., we’ll be here in the parking lot to apply ashes to your forehead in a safe way. You may also pick-up some pre-filled communion chalices and wafers.
Continuing to use an abundance of caution, our services through the end of March will be online; this includes our two Sunday services, our Ash Wednesday service, and our mid-week Lenten services. www.MessiahEvents.com/Zoom or www.MessiahEvents.com/YouTubeLive
On Ash Wednesday, we will offer a drive-thru imposition of ashes at the church from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Our Ash Wednesday Holy Communion service will be online at 7:30 p.m.
May you have a blessed Lenten Season.
God’s peace,
Pastor Tim