Week of the Last Sunday after Epiphany

Dear Friends in Christ:

A variety of matters warrant attention in this week’s Midweek Message during this important season of our life together.

Further Word on the School Rental Possibility

On Sunday, February 27 some thirty Resurrection members gathered for an open forum during which time I offered more information about the possibility of The Village School renting a significant portion of our educational wing. Below is a copy of the information sheet that I made available to participants:

School Rental Proposal Information Sheet (PDF)

In addition to providing information, we also engaged in a question-and-answer session which raised a number of very important matters for our church rental working group to consider and for us to address with the co-directors of The Village School. Many thanks to those who offered questions and insights which we had not previously considered. This is enormously helpful to and for our communal discernment.

Quite importantly, there will be an additional opportunity for members of the congregation to consider this possibility this coming Sunday, March 6 after worship at about 11:30 am during which time representatives of The Village School will be present with us to share more information about the school and their educational philosophies and approaches. Please join us for this important occasion.

Ash Wednesday

There will be two identical opportunities for worship on Ash Wednesday (March 2) – 11:00 am and 7:00, pm featuring confession and forgiveness and the imposition of ashes. Join us to begin this year’s Lenten journey.

This Sunday and the Sundays in Lent

The Sundays after Epiphany, because of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, have had a Lenten feel to them because of the need to abbreviate our time together because of the contagious extent of that variant. Our liturgies during the past weeks have had an understated quality. Since Omicron has diminished its claim on us in our area, during Lent we’ll return to more involved services of worship featuring an order for confession and forgiveness to begin the liturgy, more singing, and the weekly inclusion of the Apostles Creed, the creed associated with baptism and baptismal preparation – appropriate for use during Lent which itself is a time to reclaim the centrality of baptism in our Christian life and journey.

This coming Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent, we’ll install members of our Congregation Council and elected officers. We’ll do this during the sending rite when we are propelled out by the Spirit to do the missionary work that God has entrusted to us, which certainly includes the work of our elected leaders in helping to guide our life together for the sake of the world.

Additionally, beginning this coming Sunday, we will return to coffee hour. Coffee will be available in the parish hall, but weather permitting, we’ll seek to enjoy our beverages and each other’s company outdoors.

Watch for announcements of other opportunities to socialize during Lent as well as information about special social ministry initiatives during this holy season.

Midweek Lenten Series

Our 2022 Midweek Lenten Series will once again occur via Zoom on Wednesday evenings during Lent beginning at 7:00 pm. Each occasion will begin with worship, a simplified service of the word featuring readings from the daily lectionary. Worship will be followed by Resurrection members offering reflections on how their experiences of global travel and working and living abroad have expanded their understandings of Christianity and of the church. This thematic focus is in keeping with one of our shared statements of vision which seeks more fully to embrace in our life together, perhaps especially in worship, the global extent of Christianity.

Here is the schedule for the Midweek Lenten Series listing those who will offer reflections followed by conversation with participants: Pastor Linman on March 9; Wally Jensen on March 16; Norm Olsen on March 23; Gordon Lathrop on March 30; and Mimi VanPoole on April 6.

A link for Zoom participation along with the bulletin for each Wednesday will be sent out weekly with the Midweek Message.

There’s a lot going on in our life together currently, which is a good and salutary sign of the extent of engagement with the work that God has entrusted to us. I invite your fullest possible participation as an integral feature of your Lenten disciplines.

God in Christ lead us in sacred Lenten journeys under the direction of the Holy Spirit,

Pastor Jonathan Linman