We began our Lenten Journey on Ash Wednesday, March 5^th, with 13 of us at worship. Lent has dual significance to our liturgical journey of faith. The forty days are a remembrance that Jesus went “into the wilderness” for 40 days and was tempted by the Devil to forsake His mission to God’s people right after His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.

The temptations of Christ failed because He was prepared to meet temptation with conviction. Jesus could not be seduced to succumb to promises of Global power or satisfaction of His personal desires; He could not be tempted to test God. The concept of resisting temptations has remained to this day.

The second significance of Lent’s 40-day journey is as a historic time of preparation for Easter… not just Easter with great rejoicing but the entire drama of Holy Week resulting in Easter and Christ’s Resurrection.  Jesus’s final acts –

__Entering Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowds on Palm Sunday

__Jesus clearing the temple of the money changers who were defiling God’s House

__The Institution of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday

__The Betrayal in the Garden by Judas Iscariot

__The Mock Trials before the authorities and the rejection by the People – even the denials by Peter

__The Crucifixion, death and entombing

To be human is to experience endings and mortality… so it was for Our Lord. We often manage to “get things in order”, and sometimes endings are simply that- order or not – we come to the moment prepared or not.  Have you prepared to take a leave suddenly?  How well are you prepared? 

The Lenten services are focused on turning Our Face toward Easter and what it means to “Face the Cross.”

Lent 1 – Facing Temptation – March 9
Lent 2 – Facing our fears – March 16
Lent 3 – Facing Our Worldliness – March 23
Lent 4 – Facing One Another- March 30
Lent 5 – Facing our Suffering – April 6
Palm Sunday – Stepping Stones – April 13
Holy Thursday – April 17, 5 pm 
EASTER April 20

May your journey be filled with blessings,

Pastor Dianne