Friends,
I hope you are all planning to attend our fun Fat Tuesday Brinner (That’s short for Breakfast for Dinner, if you haven’t heard!). The youth will be decked in Mardi Gras beads ready to serve you sticky pancakes, bacon, and sausage any time from 5:30-7:30. Remember the Fat Tuesday tradition: You feast on all the bad stuff on the Eve of Ash Wednesday, because when Lent begins, you give all those unhealthy treats and re-committing to a life of discipline and sacrifice as followers of Christ.
If you did not sign up to bring food, you can still do so on Sunday, or you
can email Pastor Tricia right now. tdthomas@peacepcusa.com
These youth fundraisers make it possible for the youth to go to Montreat
Conference Center in NC each summer, where they have a great opportunity to grow in faith with 1000 other youth.
Our Ash Wednesday Service at 7:00 will be brief, but a very meaningful time to reflect on your life, its frailty and its promise in Christ. If you’ve never attended an Ash Wednesday service, please make this your year to start. The Ash Wednesday and Good Friday Services are the book-ends of a faithful season of Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter.
The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigor during Lent are prayer(justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbor). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations. Our Mission Team encourages you to commit to providing for the most basic of needs during Lent: rice, beans, underwear and diapers.
This Sunday we will read the story of Elijah’s departure in the low-swinging chariots, as he passes his mantle to Elisha. 2 Kings 2:1-12. Our service will open with a dramatic reading of the Transfiguration of Christ, and some special music will inspire you.
While fasting from certain foods is a great discipline, so is fasting from
negative attitudes during Lent:
• Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
• Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.
• Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
• Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
• Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
• Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
• Fast from anger; feast on patience.
• Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
• Fast from worry; feast on the providence of God.
• Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
• Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
• Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
• Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
• Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
• Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
• Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
• Fast from discouragements; feast on hope.
• Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
• Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
• Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
• Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
• Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
• Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Finally, let me encourage you to feast on the PEACE of Christ that passes all
understanding.
Elizabeth
