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March 13, 2009

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

At Kingdom Sunday last week, Adam Thompson, student pastor, asked us to think about broken relationships. He asked us to expand our sense of compassion and empathy, to see the places and feel the pain of those that are hurting. We were asked to think about how we can take on the suffering of others and help as a community so that on Easter we can say together that we have power over it in Christ ... and celebrate.

We were asked to go to work stations around the sanctuary to create a visual symbol of something we believe represents a broken relationship. Adam gave the example of violence he has witnessed in the neighborhood where he lives ... of broken connections between the seminary and churches.

We could draw a picture, create something from magazine clippings, write a poem, or even create a Mandala. We put our symbols in a basket during communion and then took up a cross that represented one of our three rules of Lent:

Do No Harm
Do Good
Stay in Love with God

Pictures from this past Sunday can be found on the Journey Through Lent bulletin board near the Grace Street entrance outside of the church office.

This Sunday at our 10 a.m. worship we’ll see what the congregation created last week presented on a huge felt board. If you weren’t able to join us in worship and want to add something to the board, please bring it along this week. If you can’t join us, feel free to send something in to Pastor Vickie and we’ll post it.

“To go out of our way to be a better Christian, to search for some difficult task to perform, to seek to rectify a wrong, correct a misunderstanding, patch up a quarrel ... all of these become a discipline and if we perform them for Christ’s sake, we then are doing what I think Lent is all about.”
- Ruth Waldron

Last weekend I (your weekly message editor) found a typed page of thoughts on Lent written by a friend and member of our church, Ruth Waldron, who passed away two years ago this past week. She was a lifelong member of this church and one of the saints who watch over us. The page almost jumped into my hands as though Ruth wanted me to read it. I’m happy to share it with you. Above is an excerpt from the full piece. The rest can be found in the Excerpt to this entry.

And from John Wesley - “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.”

Thanks to the Flores family for refreshments during fellowship last week. Immediately following church this Sunday we’re all invited to come to the fellowship hall for our annual Baked Potato Bash fellowship meal. We top baked potatoes with our favorite goodies. This year our donations benefit the Senegal Initiative, which is reaching out to women and children through health initiatives, micro loans, and other ways. We will hear from a special guest preacher, Bo Pagin, who has traveled to Senegal eight times and will share his experiences. Contact Sina or Rich Kraneis (rkraneis@TechSpectrum.com) if you would like to help with this popular annual event.

Easter Flowers orders are due by Sunday, March 29.

Sunday Worship: 10 a.m. followed by fellowship time. Nursery available for infants and toddlers.

Our Prayer Network consists of faithful prayer partners who pray for everyone that has submitted a prayer request to the group, either spoken, or written on the forms provided with our Prayer Boxes. To become part of our praying group contact Tina & Wally Felckowski, bwf79@sbcglobal.net

THOUGHTS ON LENT - by Ruth Waldron

The original meaning of “LENT” meant spring (lengthening of days.)
It became associated with the period of fasting, preparing one for the joy of Easter. It commemorates the 40 days of fasting and prayer of Jesus in the wilderness. For we Christians, it is a time of spiritual renewal.Our churches, during this time, bring us spiritual studies and ask us to discipline ourselves - I refer to them as spiritual exercises.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and it is concluded with the joyous celebration of our risen Lord on Easter day. It is up to each one of us to reap from this period the opportunity to become spiritually enriched.

For myself, I think it is better we ask not what am I giving up, but “WHAT WILL I DO FOR CHRIST IN A SPECIAL WAY?” - Trying to make this Lenten observance a positive one.

Just to do without something that one shouldn't be having or doing in the first place warrants no merit. Setting goals just for our own good is not the meaning of discipline or discipleship. To go out of our way to be a better Christian, to search for some difficult task to perform, to seek to rectify a wrong, correct a misunderstanding, patch up a quarrel, all of these become a discipline and if we perform them for Christ's sake, we then are doing what I think Lent is all about.

We all have chores left undone - getting in touch with someone in grief, someone who is ill, writing that letter that we promised ourselves we would do. We so often never seem to get around to these essentials - we clutter our lives with busyness - unimportant things. We shortchange ourselves and deprive ourselves of enrichment.

Lent should stop us in our mad pace of life and it should say to us “Take time to be holy; speak of it with thy Lord.” Lent is a time for communion with our Lord - a renewed relationship.

So let us pray that during this Lenten season that we will have had a renewed relationship with our Lord, and will continue to accomplish purposes that will bring further enrichment into the lives of others as well as into our own lives. Let others see the beauty of Jesus in us.
Amen.

Ruth Waldron

Posted by vickie at 12:12 AM