Good morning Redeemer,
Well the snow came down last night and is still coming down! And because of all the snow, I am working from the home office in Berea today. The Berea plows have plowed mom and myself into our driveway, think that might be my afternoon activity, shoveling our drive. I will be in the church tomorrow as normal, but can be reached by email or my cell phone (440-655-0643) if you need me today. If you brave the outside today, please be careful!
If you were on my list to get a Lent Devotional Bag today from me, I will be bringing them out to you tomorrow in between the Lenten Book Study and Finance meeting. If you are still in need of one, please let me know and I will add you to my list.
Tomorrow evening we will gather over Zoom for our Ash Wednesday service. We will have communion and the imposition of ashes, if you do not have the ashes from the Lent Devotional Bag, you are welcome to use some vegetable or olive oil to anoint yourself. Our service will start at 7pm and when Shanelle has finished our postlude I will end our Zoom meeting. The Zoom link that you use for Sunday’s worship service can be used for tomorrow’s service as well. Check the email that Cynthia sent out on Sunday for the bulletin and the link.
Sunday February 21st, Kari Queen will be preaching for us. It will also be the first Sunday of Lent and our third Sunday of our Black History month celebration!
Today, Bishop Malone released a devotional calendar for Lent. I have included that calendar in the email as well.
There was a lot of talk during Joys and Concerns and also during Coffee Hour on Sunday about where to get the COVID-19 vaccine. I have included at the end of the email, some of the places that were mentioned.
Our scriptures for Ash Wednesday are:Â Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21. And our scriptures for the week are:Â Genesis 9:8-17, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15.
Our prayer for this week is:
Prayer for Faithfulness at the Beginning of Lent
Loving Lord,
at the beginning of this Lenten season,
we are met with the challenge of handing over
every bit of our lives that do not come from You.
To rid ourselves of what clutters our lives,
and all that distracts us from the simple truth
of Your love for us.
Your prophets have called us to change the way we worship—
to make internal sacrifices instead of external ones.
To seek justice, and love kindness,
and walk humbly with You
each and every one of our days.
If we don’t give anything up for Lent,
then let us at least give up this:
that we might live cease living in ways that disconnect us from You,
for every one of our steps is like a circle around Your temple.
Perhaps this Lent,
we can give up our way
and give ourselves to Your way for us.
So, lead and guide us on this Lenten way.
May we walk with Jesus toward the hill just outside of Jerusalem.
May we like Him take up our cross and follow,
spending each moment of our lives living responsively to You,
just as Christ Himself did.
For that is the faithful way. Amen.
~ written by Patrick Ryan, Pastor at Kuhn Memorial Presbyterian Church in Barboursville, West Virginia.
Covid 19 Vaccine Sign up Links:
If you have others, please email them to me and I will include them in next week’s email.
May this week land gently on you all.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Megan
