When so many people identify themselves as Christian, how can we spend some time thinking deeply about what we really believe? What is the what? What are the foundational beliefs and how are they living and moving with us as we change and grow?
Faith is passed down from generation to generation - it’s an unbroken line of ancestry that connects us all the way back to Jesus. The powers of the world wanted to break Jesus and yet this faith that we rest on is strong enough that they couldn’t do it. We are a part of this great tradition that will not and cannot be broken.
Through our Lenten theme, through worship and practice, we will explore how we are and always have been “both/and” people:
We value both wisdom and innovation.
We are individuals with gifts and unique abilities and we are a part of a community that is much larger than any one of us.
We are rooted and growing.
We are grounded in tradition and always reforming.
WEEKLY THEMES
The weekly Lenten worship themes will be as follows for Wednesday night worship:
Week 1: God speaks to us through Scripture and Spirit.
God speaks to us through ancient stories, evocative poetry, fiery prophecy, and intimate correspondence. The Bible has been handed down from generation to generation, carefully translated and boldly interpreted, so that we might open it and hear good news. And God is still speaking, as we gather together to ponder these stories anew, encounter wisdom from traditions different from our own, or wrestle with a message preached into contemporary life.
Week 2: God becomes human for us in Jesus Christ.
The God who creates all that is takes on life and death in the person of Jesus. This God who becomes flesh understands our loves and limits, and bridges the gap between God and creation through radical acts of love in Christ’s living, dying, and living again. God’s costly love for creation compels us to embrace Christ’s compassion and care for all of life.
Week 3: God feels our pain and suffering.
God becoming human in Jesus means God is deeply familiar with the pain and suffering of body, mind, and spirit. Jesus’ experiences of loneliness, sorrow, and betrayal alongside the physical pain of violence and death reveal that God suffers with and for us and all of God’s beloved creation. And it is in resurrection that God declares that divine love promises to transform all that threatens to destroy that which God created.
Week 4: God compels us toward mercy.
God’s merciful nature is gracious rather than preoccupied with punishment. Jesus embodies God’s mercy through compassion toward all who suffer and forgiveness toward those who cause suffering. At the same time, God’s mercy exists alongside God’s justice and calls for accountability and repentance for those who live by revenge and retribution. Created in the image of a merciful God, we are beckoned toward acts of mercy and justice for ourselves, for others, and for all of God’s creation.
Week 5: God delights in our goodness and judges sin.
God announces the goodness of all of creation. God celebrates the gifts the Holy Spirit has given each of us to serve our neighbor and the world in need. Yet there is evil in the world, which God condemns and works against. Sometimes we are a part of that evil, caught in webs beyond
individual choices of right and wrong. Sometimes we are recipients of that evil, through actions of others or networks in the world. God judges sin, but always in service of love for all of God’s good creatures.
Join us for soup supper and grilled cheese sandwiches at 5:45pm and stay for Wednesday worship at 6:30pm. We look forward to your presence with us as we grow in our “Living Faith!”
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