Pastor’s Message – February 16, 2021

Lenten Prayers and Practices

By the time most of you read this, the Lenten season will have begun with our Ash Wednesday service. As I previously shared, our Sunday worship series during this meaningful and reflective season is all about grief—and how the Scripture can guide us through grief into a deeper place of peace in Jesus.

I want to invite you into a few practices this season as a community of faith, centered in worship and expressed in our love for God and neighbor.

1. Memorize The Invocation: For the next five Sundays, our invocation in the worship service will be the same prayer, known as, “The Collect for Purity.” I encourage you to commit it to memory. If you have youth or children in your household, say this prayer together in your homes and discuss what you think each part means. I find myself returning often to this prayer when I’m struggling with words, and it is so powerful.

2. Donate Your Dimes: On the second page of this newsletter are the projects for our local Lenten mission this year, and the one that I’m most excited about is a new one. Get a 16 ounce, empty water bottle, and fill it with dimes. What if every family in our church filled one bottle? What an easy way to make a big impact on ministries in our community that need our support!

3. Make a Phone Call: As we learn more about grief in this season’s worship series, we’re also very aware that so many of us are grieving different losses. When the Holy Spirit places someone on your heart who might be struggling through grief, why not pick up the phone and call her/him? Or send a note in the mail? In the same vein, if you are walking through grief and need an ear, pick up the phone and call someone. Schedule a time to talk. This is all part of building up the body of Christ, and he is with us in those conversations.

I look forward to walking through this beautiful season with you.

all good things to each of you,
Dr. Darian

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