LENT 2018
A Life-giving Story In the
Kin-dom of God
In the early church, Lent was time of preparation for baptism at Easter. Members of the community were mentors and teachers, guides along the pathway to a new life in Christ. At Easter, individuals were welcomed into the body
of Christ, the community of faith, as full participants.
This year we will once again hear in the readings for Ash Wednesday: now is the acceptable time to return to God. But what if that is not only a call for us as individuals, but also as a community? As Christians, we are called into community. We’re called to recognize and act upon our connection to one another, to care for those in our midst and to break down structures that spread injustice.
One way to talk about that is to recognize that we are all members of the kin-dom of God.
Kin-dom is a term that’s been used for decades to remind us that we are all siblings in Christ. In other words, we’re living in this kin-dom Jesus envisioned for us and we are called to live accordingly.
During Lent we, as the people of God, will reflect on the meaning of our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. The sign of ashes reminds us of our human mortality and frailty. But what seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new
beginning, in which we are washed in God’s mercy and forgiveness. With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the springtime Easter feast to come.
On Sundays in Lent this year we will explore together the promises God has made with the community of God’s people and what it means to live in the kin-dom of God. Because, even though we know the end of the Lenten story, we don’t know exactly how things will turn out in our lives. The real constant is God’s life-giving love. As the hymn writer Juan Espinosa proclaims: The people walk throughout the world together and cry out, “Come, O Lord”; the people who long to claim the promise, God’s liberating Word.
Lent begins this year on February 14, Ash Wednesday. We'll gather for worship at 11 am and at 7 pm. February 18 is the first Sunday of Lent.
Beginning on Wednesday, February 21, we’ll worship at 7 pm, framing our liturgy with "Holden Evening Prayer.”
To recap, our Lenten Wednesday schedule will be:
5:45 pm - 6:45 pm - Lenten Book Study –A Good Time for the Truth
6:00 pm - 6:25 pm – Good News Choir, Salt & Light (Girls Group on March 7)
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - The Faith Club
6:25 pm - 6:50 pm – Spirit Drums
7:00 pm - 7:30 pm - Worship
7:35 pm – 8:30 pm - 7-12th Grade Youth Group
7:35 pm - 9:00 pm - Adult Choir (immediately following worship)
A Life-giving Story In the
Kin-dom of God
In the early church, Lent was time of preparation for baptism at Easter. Members of the community were mentors and teachers, guides along the pathway to a new life in Christ. At Easter, individuals were welcomed into the body
of Christ, the community of faith, as full participants.
This year we will once again hear in the readings for Ash Wednesday: now is the acceptable time to return to God. But what if that is not only a call for us as individuals, but also as a community? As Christians, we are called into community. We’re called to recognize and act upon our connection to one another, to care for those in our midst and to break down structures that spread injustice.
One way to talk about that is to recognize that we are all members of the kin-dom of God.
Kin-dom is a term that’s been used for decades to remind us that we are all siblings in Christ. In other words, we’re living in this kin-dom Jesus envisioned for us and we are called to live accordingly.
During Lent we, as the people of God, will reflect on the meaning of our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. The sign of ashes reminds us of our human mortality and frailty. But what seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new
beginning, in which we are washed in God’s mercy and forgiveness. With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the springtime Easter feast to come.
On Sundays in Lent this year we will explore together the promises God has made with the community of God’s people and what it means to live in the kin-dom of God. Because, even though we know the end of the Lenten story, we don’t know exactly how things will turn out in our lives. The real constant is God’s life-giving love. As the hymn writer Juan Espinosa proclaims: The people walk throughout the world together and cry out, “Come, O Lord”; the people who long to claim the promise, God’s liberating Word.
Lent begins this year on February 14, Ash Wednesday. We'll gather for worship at 11 am and at 7 pm. February 18 is the first Sunday of Lent.
Beginning on Wednesday, February 21, we’ll worship at 7 pm, framing our liturgy with "Holden Evening Prayer.”
To recap, our Lenten Wednesday schedule will be:
5:45 pm - 6:45 pm - Lenten Book Study –A Good Time for the Truth
6:00 pm - 6:25 pm – Good News Choir, Salt & Light (Girls Group on March 7)
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - The Faith Club
6:25 pm - 6:50 pm – Spirit Drums
7:00 pm - 7:30 pm - Worship
7:35 pm – 8:30 pm - 7-12th Grade Youth Group
7:35 pm - 9:00 pm - Adult Choir (immediately following worship)
Welcoming worship
- Sunday worship with Communion at 8 and 10:30 a.m. Education for all ages at 9:15 a.m.
- Nursery staffed during 10:30 a.m. worship
- Church building is accessible
- Memorial Day weekend-Labor Day weekend;: Sunday worship at 9:30 a.m.
- Monthly worship/holy communion offered at Nokomis Square Cooperative, 5015 35th Ave. So., Minneapolis
Worship services are grounded in Lutheran theology and stylistically blended. We celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday – and every Sunday we hear and experience and intend the following welcome:
Whoever you are, however you feel, for whatever reasons you are here, come to the feast. Whatever your condition, whatever questions you have, wherever you are on your spiritual journey: know that your host is the one who has given his life for the world, the one who was raised to new life, and the one who invites us to come to the table.
This means you are welcome in worship: single parents, GLBTQ people, previously incarcerated, those of us in recovery, differently abled, whatever your political leanings or body type or education level.
Your heart and mind, gifts and talents, questions and challenges will find a home here.
