Saturday, February 28, 2009
Lent Event Prayer and Scripture for Today
Saturday February 28, 2009 Day 4 : Thankfulness for organisers Scripture for reflection: Ephesians 4:1-16 Prayer: Holy Spirit of God, I give you thanks for the ways in which you bless us as your people and call each of us to be a part of what you are doing in this world. We, across your worldwide church, praise you for imagining a world without extreme poverty. Thank you for the vision of Lent Event and the connections it makes between congregations and communities of the Uniting Church and with our partners around the world. Thank you for the organisational gifts of those who have made Lent Event possible in my community. I pray that all those involved in developing Lent Event are blessed by the knowledge that the lives of many have been touched by their efforts. Amen.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Lent Event Prayer and Scripture for Today
February 27, 2009
Day 3 : Letting go
Scripture for reflection: Matthew 6:19-24
Prayer: Creator God, All that I have belongs to you. You call me to be a good steward of all you have entrusted to me. But I confess that sometimes I want to hold it for myself. So easily it becomes precious to me. I think of myself as having ‘earned’ it by my own hard work, or ‘deserved’ it due to my own good nature. Then your good news can sound like bad news to my ears. Spirit of grace, continue in me your transforming work this Lenten season. Grant me the strength to let go of the things of the world, that I may gain abundant life. Amen.
Day 3 : Letting go
Scripture for reflection: Matthew 6:19-24
Prayer: Creator God, All that I have belongs to you. You call me to be a good steward of all you have entrusted to me. But I confess that sometimes I want to hold it for myself. So easily it becomes precious to me. I think of myself as having ‘earned’ it by my own hard work, or ‘deserved’ it due to my own good nature. Then your good news can sound like bad news to my ears. Spirit of grace, continue in me your transforming work this Lenten season. Grant me the strength to let go of the things of the world, that I may gain abundant life. Amen.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Lent Event Prayer and Scripture for Thursday, February 26
February 26, 2009
Day 2 : Thankfulness for traveling companions
Scripture for reflection: Matthew 4:18-22
Prayer: Holy God, Thank you for all who are joining together as part of Lent Event. May walking
together show us what it means to participate in the community of faith. May
we all hear Jesus’ words ‘Follow me’ and remember that we are his disciples.
May we reach out to others with the love you have so freely offered us. Loving
God, grant us the generosity of spirit to be an encouragement to others and
the grace to allow others to encourage me. Amen.
Day 2 : Thankfulness for traveling companions
Scripture for reflection: Matthew 4:18-22
Prayer: Holy God, Thank you for all who are joining together as part of Lent Event. May walking
together show us what it means to participate in the community of faith. May
we all hear Jesus’ words ‘Follow me’ and remember that we are his disciples.
May we reach out to others with the love you have so freely offered us. Loving
God, grant us the generosity of spirit to be an encouragement to others and
the grace to allow others to encourage me. Amen.
Sunday March 1, 2009
This is the first Sunday in Lent! I will be doing a program with the youth group, so Seth Ginter will be preaching. His title is "Garbage In/Garbage Out" and his Scriptures are:
Psalm 19
Matthew 15.17-20
This week's worship bulletin
Psalm 19
Matthew 15.17-20
This week's worship bulletin
Lent Has Begun!
The season of Lent officially got underway yesterday with Ash Wednesday. I was in the Ott Y working out early in the morning, and one guy already had his ashes on. I saw VP Joe Biden on the news yesterday, and he was talking to a group of people, and he had his ashes on. Last night, I got my ashes, along with a just about capacity crowd in the chapel at Catalina.
[A brief diversion an explanation] LENT? Huh?
What is Lent? The season of Lent has been observed from the earliest of times in the Christian Church as a period of serious reflection and prayer. In particular, it was traditionally a season of intense preparation for new Christians approaching their baptism at Easter. For Christians it was a time to renew and deepen their faith. It mirrors Jesus’ forty days of testing in the wilderness prior to commencing his public ministry. As such, the Lenten tradition of depriving ourselves of something is not a self-imposed form of penance, but rather is to bring a focus and intentionality to our spiritual life. In his period of testing in the harsh wilderness, being without any earthly comfort, Jesus found
sustenance in his identity as the beloved Son of God, and meaning in his purpose as the servant Messiah. In the Lenten practices of prayer and abstinence, we too are invited to find our identity and purpose. Setting aside material comforts and pursuits, we are invited to focus on our relationship with God, and our participation in God’s mission of
mercy and grace within the world.
[and now, back to our regularly scheduled program...] AND I socked away the first $2 in my Lent Event envelope. See, I normally drive (instead of bike) on Wednesdays, which means I normally go to Ike's for coffee. So, I did not go to Ike's, and I did put the money I would have spent in my Lent Event envelope. I am so excited about Lent Event! It is a way to DO something positive and world-changing while exercises some spiritual discipline. It takes the old "give up something for Lent" and makes it mean something. By the way, I'll be putting $2 more in today. And $2 for Saturday (I usually treat myself to coffee before Casa Maria) and $2 more on Sunday. Oooooo...that's $8 this week going toward important projects in needy parts of the world!
In case you have somehow missed it, here is some info on Lent Event:
Why Lent Event?
God has a dream – to save what is lost, to restore what is broken and to establish justice. God is speaking of this dream through the global movement to overcome extreme poverty. God is calling us to respond to this tragedy of our times. Lent Event is a movement to eradicate world poverty by challenging those of us who live in the first world to re-evaluate our priorities, our use of God’s resources and the systems that drive our economy. Lent Event is about inviting God to shape our lives more fully with Christ’s love and compassion. Through Lent Event we express God’s solidarity with people who are poor, entering with them into a future of hope. At the same time, we experience the blessings of a life lived more faithfully with God, and a world order more reflective of God’s dream.
How Does Lent Event Work?
During Lent, individuals and communities:
• reflect on the place of Christ within their lives and society as part of the continual reordering of priorities and values that is the journey of discipleship.
• forgo something of their choice during the 40-day period of Lent as an entryway to the broader spiritual disciplines of Lent.
• learn about international development projects that have a transformational impact on impoverished communities
• immerse themselves in Christian education to nourish their spiritual journey through Lent.
When is Lent in 2009?
Lent is the period of forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Easter Saturday. Sundays are not counted in the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.
Ash Wednesday is on 25 FEBRUARY 2009 and Easter Saturday is on 11 APRIL 2009.
If you don't have a Lent Event envelope yet, just hold on to the cash and pick up an envelope on Sunday on the back table in the hall.
Also on the back table will be a handout called "Finding Faith in Testing Times" and this is the prayer and Bible study booklet for Lent. There will be a new installment each week with a prayer and Scripture for each day and then an in-depth Bible study that you can do all at once, or a little of each day.
[A brief diversion an explanation] LENT? Huh?
What is Lent? The season of Lent has been observed from the earliest of times in the Christian Church as a period of serious reflection and prayer. In particular, it was traditionally a season of intense preparation for new Christians approaching their baptism at Easter. For Christians it was a time to renew and deepen their faith. It mirrors Jesus’ forty days of testing in the wilderness prior to commencing his public ministry. As such, the Lenten tradition of depriving ourselves of something is not a self-imposed form of penance, but rather is to bring a focus and intentionality to our spiritual life. In his period of testing in the harsh wilderness, being without any earthly comfort, Jesus found
sustenance in his identity as the beloved Son of God, and meaning in his purpose as the servant Messiah. In the Lenten practices of prayer and abstinence, we too are invited to find our identity and purpose. Setting aside material comforts and pursuits, we are invited to focus on our relationship with God, and our participation in God’s mission of
mercy and grace within the world.
[and now, back to our regularly scheduled program...] AND I socked away the first $2 in my Lent Event envelope. See, I normally drive (instead of bike) on Wednesdays, which means I normally go to Ike's for coffee. So, I did not go to Ike's, and I did put the money I would have spent in my Lent Event envelope. I am so excited about Lent Event! It is a way to DO something positive and world-changing while exercises some spiritual discipline. It takes the old "give up something for Lent" and makes it mean something. By the way, I'll be putting $2 more in today. And $2 for Saturday (I usually treat myself to coffee before Casa Maria) and $2 more on Sunday. Oooooo...that's $8 this week going toward important projects in needy parts of the world!
In case you have somehow missed it, here is some info on Lent Event:
Why Lent Event?
God has a dream – to save what is lost, to restore what is broken and to establish justice. God is speaking of this dream through the global movement to overcome extreme poverty. God is calling us to respond to this tragedy of our times. Lent Event is a movement to eradicate world poverty by challenging those of us who live in the first world to re-evaluate our priorities, our use of God’s resources and the systems that drive our economy. Lent Event is about inviting God to shape our lives more fully with Christ’s love and compassion. Through Lent Event we express God’s solidarity with people who are poor, entering with them into a future of hope. At the same time, we experience the blessings of a life lived more faithfully with God, and a world order more reflective of God’s dream.
How Does Lent Event Work?
During Lent, individuals and communities:
• reflect on the place of Christ within their lives and society as part of the continual reordering of priorities and values that is the journey of discipleship.
• forgo something of their choice during the 40-day period of Lent as an entryway to the broader spiritual disciplines of Lent.
• learn about international development projects that have a transformational impact on impoverished communities
• immerse themselves in Christian education to nourish their spiritual journey through Lent.
When is Lent in 2009?
Lent is the period of forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Easter Saturday. Sundays are not counted in the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.
Ash Wednesday is on 25 FEBRUARY 2009 and Easter Saturday is on 11 APRIL 2009.
If you don't have a Lent Event envelope yet, just hold on to the cash and pick up an envelope on Sunday on the back table in the hall.
Also on the back table will be a handout called "Finding Faith in Testing Times" and this is the prayer and Bible study booklet for Lent. There will be a new installment each week with a prayer and Scripture for each day and then an in-depth Bible study that you can do all at once, or a little of each day.
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