It was the First Sunday of Lent, and the minister called all the young people to the front for the children’s sermon. She asked if anyone could tell her what Lent is. One young boy raised his hand and said, “Yes, it’s what we get out of our pockets.†Which is not such a bad answer, actually. Lent is a time for reaching deep into our pockets and cleaning out what has collected there without our noticing. Not the lint littered pockets of our pants so much as the cluttered pockets of our lives. Giving something up for Lent begins with looking within ourselves to recognize and remove some of the “lint†of life which has been taking up space that should be reserved for God. Even during this prolonged pandemic, there continue to be many opportunities throughout the season of Lent to “de-lint†your life and make more room for God.
* Contemplative Prayer meets on Zoom from 7-8 PM on Tuesday evenings, with the exception of the first Tuesday of the month. This group practices the ancient Christian meditative forms of prayer know as Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer. Most of our prayers are made up of words we say to God. Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina are ways to listen for God, or to be more attuned to God’s presence with us.
* Worship Connections meets on Zoom every Wednesday from 10-11 am. If you associate Bible study with words like dry, dull and boring, you haven’t experienced Worship Connections. The focus is usually on the passages from the lectionary that are the basis for the sermon for the upcoming Sunday of that week.
* Holy Week commences on Palm Sunday (3/28) with a drive-thru distribution of palms (from 10:45am to 11:30) outside the entrance to the church offices, following the virtual Palm Sunday service. The palms come with a printed blessing for each person or family to use in blessing their palm frond at home.
* Maundy Thursday (4/1) will commemorate the events of the night before Jesus’ crucifixion with a virtual service of Tenebrae (gradual darkening of the sanctuary and reading of scripture and Communion) at 7pm.
* Good Friday (4/2) will be observed with a special virtual worship service produced by the UCC at 3pm.
As you can see, there is a rich offering of Lenten events again this year, despite the restrictions related to the pandemic. So, I encourage you to take advantage of some or all of them and “get the lint out†while creating some space for God in your life!
Grace and Peace
Pastor Ray