Wednesday          Mid-week lent Worship at 7:00 p.m. with meal beginning at 6:00 p.m.

These 40 days of Lent are a time to remember Jesus’ Passover from death to life.  On Ash Wednesday, we acknowledged our need for repentance and for God’s mercy as we also remembered the limitations of our humanity with the ash crosses on our foreheads and the words from Genesis 3:19, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

God has created us to enjoy our relationship with him, our neighbors and creation.  In short God has made us to live in community but we all know how difficult that can be at times.  Our sinful rebellion separates us from God, our neighbors and creation so that we do not enjoy the fullness of life that God intends for us.

As disciples and followers of Jesus, we are called and drawn into disciplines that help us to compete against evil and resist whatever may lead us away from the love of God and the love of neighbor.  You are invited into the disciplines of Lent which include – self-examination and repentance (include worship and devotional reading), prayer and fasting (try giving something up or fasting on one day – like Wednesdays and end your fast with our evening meal), sacrificial giving (all our mid-week offerings go different service agencies) and works of love (try a random act of kindness) as we journey through these 40 days.

As you journey, I invited you to join with the community to fellowship together on Wednesdays evenings beginning with an meal at 6:00 p.m. and worship at 7:00 p.m.  Our theme for the worship services will be the Lord’s Prayer.  Each week we will take a petition of Lord’s Prayer and spend some time in self-examination and prayer.  Please include this time together in your Lenten journey.

Sunday School Lenten offering

"GIFTS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE" SPONSORED BY THE PARISH EDUCATION COMMITTEE

The Education Committee continuing a program this year that is supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called ELCA Good Gifts. The material is available for the children in the Sunday School program as well as to anyone else interested in participating, starting February 15th. Please see the Usher’s table for a ELCA booklet or a gift box to make. The program will continue until Sunday March 29th (Palm Sunday), but individuals may donate at any time. The ELCA Program uses the donations from people like you to do God’s work around the world. The programs you can contribute to vary from buying animals, to health care, to school programs, to supportive services.

The Sunday School children will be given a gift box, either a pig or a barn, to collect money in over this period of time. At the end of the program the children will then vote on what the money will be spent on. We welcome and thank everyone for their participation and look forward to Good Gifts helping others around the world.