Hello friends -
I hope this finds you well! I wanted to share with you what Zion's community will be doing for midweek Lenten services. If you find yourselves in the Pelican Rapids area from February 17th - March 23rd, here's a shameless plug to join in our journey to the cross! What follows is my February newsletter article:
Sisters and
brothers, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and God’s Son Jesus the
Christ. Amen.
It’s difficult to believe that Christmas
was just a short while ago and now we’re looking on to Ash Wednesday, Lent, and
Easter – the cycle and seasons of the church life and calendar are continuing
on! I wanted to use this space this month to take some time to share with you
what I’m hoping for midweek Lenten services, as they are just a few weeks away
– Ash Wednesday is February 10th!
This year, for the six weeks in between
Ash Wednesday and Easter, together we will journey to the cross. We will be
having Wednesday night services of prayer and song, contemplation and silence.
We will be hearing from members of our community who will be sharing pieces of
their faith story. We will light candles and gather in the darkness of winter’s
nights as we hear about Christ’s good news lived among us, his death suffered
on the cross, and as we await the joyful good news of the resurrection of
Christ, defeating sin and silencing death forever.
To do this, we will be using music from
the Taize community, an ecumenical faith community who utilizes short chants
for their services. We will gather in darkness and silence. There will be some
readings from Scripture and other sources to invoke prayer. The music we will
be singing is easily and quickly learned, and you will be invited to join in as
you feel comfortable. You will be welcomed to the cross to pray and to light a
candle as a sign of your prayer. If you wish to have others join you in prayer,
you are welcome to do that, as well. If you would rather sit in the darkness
and pray from the pew, please do so. After our time of prayer has come to its
conclusion, the lights will be drawn just a bit, and we will hear a short
message from our faith community members.
I invite you to join us for Lenten
services. I invite you to take these next few weeks to consider the journey to
the cross – as Christ was ministering among the people and traveling and
healing, he knew that ultimately the cross awaited him – but what he finished
upon the cross perfected salvation for each and every one of us. It is this
that we remember, it for this that we pray and wait in silence.
Brothers and sisters, I can’t wait to
celebrate Lent with you. With you, Dale and I anticipate the journey to the
cross. We anticipate Christ’s death, and we live as resurrection people – today
and always.
Welcome to Lent.
In the love of Christ and for God’s sake –
Intern Pastor Dean
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