Lent begins with Ash Wednesday
On Wednesday, February 14th, we enter into a Holy Lent, the season marked by 40 days before Easter. Lent is 40 days because Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness resisting temptation before her fully began his public ministry and after his baptism.
We are invited to be marked with ashes on our foreheads by the priest. She says these solemn words over us:
"Remember you are dust,
and to dust, you shall return."
You can receive ashes either "to go" before school/work between 7am and 10am at our space on 620. And/or, you can come for Holy Eucharist and ahses and a reflection on Lent at 5:30pm in our space.
What is Lent?
Lent is a season that extends over 6 Sundays, this year from Ash Wednesday on 2/14 through Holy Week, with Palm Sunday bring 3/24. This is a time we remember we are mortal. We reflect on death and its power in the world. We think about our sins, which is actually a liberating invitation to see that being sinners doesn't make us unlovable: it means we aren't God. God saves us. We don't. We are obligated to do the work of loving mercy and doing justice and we are liberated in knowing our limits.
You can observe Lent by:
Coming to Church on Sundays
Sticking around after for our highly requested Bible 101 class
Read Listening for God by Renita Weems and join in a group convo about the book on 3/24 after church
Join us for our Lenten retreat on March 16th
Lent culminates in Holy Week, March 24 - March 31, when we keep time with Jesus in his trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Palm Sunday
(Worship starts outside at the corner of Tanglebriar Trail and Lake Creek Parkway and we will walk approximately 0.25 a mile. Should you prefer to not walk, simply meet us at the church and join the procession in there!)
All of Holy Week centers around keeping time with Jesus in his walk to the cross, his death, and his resurrection.
One week before he died, he triumphantly entered Jerusalem; for this, we keep Palm Sunday.
We begin the service with joy and waving palms like the crowds that welcomed Jesus, and we end in "the Passion," a phrase that encompasses the total narrative of the events that led to Jesus' execution.
9:30am March 24
Feast of the Annunciation on Holy Monday
We have a rare and powerful dyad on Holy Monday this year:
it is the first day of Holy Week, when we keep time with Jesus in his walk to the cross, his death, and his resurrection.
But Monday is also the Feast of the Annunciation: 9 months before Christmas, Mary consents to carry the Christ child into the world when the Angel Gabriel visits her - so we, in our modern calendars, observe this feast on March 25th every year.
Join us for a Spoken Eucharist at noon on 3/25 to observe this haunting and hopeful tension of a mother’s “yes” and the Son’s last days. This service will last about 40 minutes and has no music besides chanting.
12 noon March 25
All of Holy Week centers around keeping time with Jesus in his walk to the cross, his death, and his resurrection; on Thursday he gathered his beloveds to dine. Jesus Christ creates a New Covenant with them. He commands us to remember this meal and love one another. Jesus also washes his disciples' feet -- so on Maundy Thursday we also wash each other's feet (as one feels comfortable & consents) in remembrance of him.
The altar is then stripped, and we behold a barren sanctuary as Jesus waits in the garden, praying, until the wee hours when he will be arrested.
Maundy Thursday
6pm March 28th
12 noon on 3/29
We gather at noon; for it was at noon Jesus was hung upon the cross.
We do not consume the blessed sacrament of Holy Eucharist, instead bearing witness to a full cross and a full tomb- full of God's love and sacrifice for and with us.
Good Friday
8pm Saturday, March 30th
Easter Vigil
If you come to one service this year, it should be this one. It starts with a fire.
"There was evening
and there was morning: the first day."
As Christ rises from the grave deep in the darkness between sunset and sunrise early on the first day of the week, so too we gather to behold a dark and empty and beautiful tomb.
This is the most ancient of Christian services. It is wild. It last a couple of hours. And it is amazing.
