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Mid Week Lenten Services & Suppers
10:05 a.m. Sunday School, Adult Forum and Coffee Fellowship
11:15 a.m. Informal communion service ( with one Sunday a month
being particularly family-oriented with Sunday School participation
encouraged.)
Lenten Midweek Services and Supper
Midweek Lenten Services
This year our Midweek Lenten Services will begin at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, February 29, and March 7, 14, 21, and 28. These services will be preceded by a time of fellowship at a soup supper. We welcome participants to provide soup for one of the evening meals.
Our worship service will be based on the Evening Prayer Service in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) Hymnal, beginning on page 309. This service is quiet and meditative, and allows for a time of reading and reflection. The overall theme for the readings and reflection, this year, will be “You shall love the Lord Your God.”
The theme arises from the dialogue between Jesus and the scribe in Mark 12, in which the scribe questions Jesus as to the most important commandment. Jesus answers: “The first is, ‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” These words that Jesus quotes are from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and are often referred to as the Shema (because the Hebrew word for ‘hear’ is Shema).
Various members of the CLC community will lead the reading and reflection portion of the service, which will provide an opportunity for worshippers to hear different perspectives on this theme. The specific themes and texts for each week are as follows:
Week 1: February 29—“Hear O Israel” —
Mark 12:28-34
Week 2: March 7—“You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart”— John 12:37-43
Week 3: March 14—“You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Soul”— Psalm 42
Week 4: March 21—“You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Mind”— 1 Kings 3:3-15
Week 5: March 27—“You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Soul”— Isaiah 12:1-6
We hope that you will make the Midweek Lenten Services a regular part of your Lenten spiritual practices.
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Lent Begins with Ash Wednesday
This year, Lent begins on Wednesday, February 22, with the observance of Ash Wednesday. Lent, which is the 40-day period prior to Easter, is a penitential time in which Christians remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us with his death on the cross. If you count the number of days between February 22 and Easter Sunday, which is April 8, you will find that there are more than 40 days. That is because Sundays, the days on which we remember Jesus’ resurrection, are not counted as days in Lent.
There are many practices Christians use to help in their reflection on Jesus’ sacrifices. Lent is typically a time in which Christians increase their focus on prayer, almsgiving, worship, and sacrifice. To help in your prayer focus, you might want to sign up to receive the daily email Lenten devotions, written by members of the congregation, and you might want to make a regular practice of attending the midweek Lenten Evening Prayer Services at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, February 29, March 7, 14, 21, and 28. These services will be preceded by a simple soup supper.
As a way of participating in the Lenten practice of almsgiving, please consider increasing your donations of food to support the Enfield food pantry. Since we are grounded in the Enfield community, our donations to the town pantry are a visible sign of our commitment. You will also receive a coin box in which to regularly save your small change. The proceeds from the change boxes will be used to make a church-wide donation to the ELCA Global Barnyard, which purchases farm animals for families in need around the world. If you choose to sacrifice by fasting or giving up something for Lent, consider donating the money you save to a charity that serves people in need.
We will begin Lent with a Service of Holy Communion at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22. This will also be preceded by a Soup Supper. During the worship service, you will have an opportunity to participate in the imposition of ashes. Tracing an Ashen cross on our foreheads serves several purposes: (1) It is a reminder of Jesus’ death on the cross; (2) Use of ashes has been a penitential sign for millennia; and (3) Ashes, which can be used as a fertilizer, are a sign of re-birth—the re-birth which is available to us in Jesus through our baptisms.
Join with us for worship on Ash Wednesday and the succeeding Wednesday in Lent, and join us in a set of Lenten practices that will enhance the joy of Easter morning.
Maundy Thursday Observance
On Thursday, April 5th, at 7:00 p.m., we will celebrate the first of the Three Days worship services with an observance of Maundy Thursday. On Maundy Thursday, we remember Jesus’ last night with his disciples. According to the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on the night before his death, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples. In this meal, Jesus teaches the disciples that the bread and wine are his body and blood, which will be given and shed for them, for the forgiveness of sin. Our Sacrament of Holy Communion arises from this meal that Jesus shared. Each Sunday, when we gather, we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion and share in Jesus’ body and blood and the forgiveness of sins which he grants us. On Maundy Thursday, Holy Communion is an important part of our worship service.
However, in John’s Gospel there is no report of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. The focal point of Jesus’ last gathering with his disciples in this Gospel is Jesus’ washing of his disciples feet. In response to Peter’s protests, Jesus tells his disciples that “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8). Later in this same passage Jesus tells them, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:14–15)
Following Jesus’ command, many churches offer a foot washing ceremony and remembrance during the Maundy Thursday service. Several people have asked if CLC could offer this at our service. The Worship and Music Committee has approved offering an option for foot washing during this year’s Maundy Thursday service. Hand washing would also be offered as an alternative to foot washing. This proposal has been discussed with the Church Council. It will be a purely voluntary portion of the worship service. This time of this remembrance will be accompanied by quiet music and singing.
At CLC, we offer several varieties of Bible Study
to meet the individual schedules and study styles of our members.
Adult Forum: Is taught by John Harris and meets weekly on Sunday
mornings in the Church Parlor at 10:05 a.m., during the Sunday School hour.
This group undertakes Bible study, learns Bible study techniques and sometimes
studies church history.
Tuesday Afternoon Study: Is led by Pastor Pat and meets weekly on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. in the church parlor. In this group, we study a book of the Bible in depth, typically at a rate of a chapter per week. Currently, we are studying the New Testament.
Enfield and Lake Sunapee Small
Groups:
These groups meet in the evenings and gather approximately once every four to six weeks at a participant’s home. The studies are led by group participants.
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