Lent is the Season to practice returning to God.
Join us at Crossroads 6:00-7:00 PM
Today is the beginning of the season called Lent. Originally Lent was a time of preparation (40 Days) for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism on Easter Sunday. Since these new members were joining the community of faith, the entire church was called to preparation. Fasting and giving things up to prepare for the celebration of the Resurrection was a part of this journey called Lent.
Also, this was the time when those who had been away from faith in God would prepare to return. In the early church, on AshWednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, ashes were used to mark the forehead of people who had made a public confession of sin and were returning to God. Later, the imposition of ashes was extended to everyone because “all have sinned” and everyone is called to return to God. As friends and family of Crossroads, we will be preparing for Easter in a few distinct ways.
We invite you to join us in any or all of these ways.
1. Ash Wednesday service tonight 6 pm (Kids Wing)
2. Weekly Fasting: Wednesday evening at sundown to Thursday evening at sundown. We will be fasting and praying for the miracle of Salvation to visit our friends and family. Prayers will be offered for Resurrection miracles in our community.
3. Listen to Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast
4. Praying through the Lectionary. Lectionary readings and guidance on using the lectionary from the Transforming Center
5. Sunday Mornings 9:30 and 11:15. 40 Days- Nine Ways to Pray
Watch our blog and on our podcasts (on Apple Podcast or RadioPublic RadioPublic (for Android users) works in your browser.Download iTunes hereAndroid users can download the RadioPublic App from the Play Store) we will be exploring 9 distinct ways to pray through Lent. Ways to pray that won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you! You might just discover that your prayer practice is what connects you to God in ways you’ve never known.
Let’s begin this Ash Wednesday with a blessing from~Jan Richardson
Blessing The Dust from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.
This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.
God bless you as you prepare to celebrate the Miracle of the Resurrection!
