Pastor’s Note 02/15/2024

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food

until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust

you will return.”

Genesis 3:19

 

Ash Wednesday was yesterday and it marked the beginning of Lent, a forty plus day journey to Holy Week, ending on Holy Saturday, the Saturday before Easter.

 

I want to encourage you to participate in a Lenten activity during this time. You can participate in our church’s Forty-Days of Prayer for our Neighbors, which is a guided prayer walk through our neighborhoods praying for our neighbors both near and far. (You can pick up the Prayer Guide at LCPC).

 

You can also connect with a Lenten devotional. There are many to choose from but one of my favorites is an online devotional from the Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts. Here is a link to the Lenten Project:  

https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2024/?utm_source=The+Advent%2FLent+Project&utm_
campaign=d033494249-ccca_lent_2024&utm_
medium=email&utm_term=0_78cecb2370-d033494249-247614681#
 

I hope that you will have a meaningful journey with Christ this Lenten season.

 

God Bless.

 

PS I just heard about the shooting at the Kansas City Chief’s Victory Celebration and I am once again shocked and dismayed that this type of violence has taken place. Pray for the victims and the injured and for a solution to the gun violence in our county.

 

 



Pastor’s Note 02/08/2024

“I am the vine; you are the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5

 

Next week on Wednesday, February 14, the Forty Days of Lent begin, marking the beginning of the Christian Season of Lent. Ash Wednesday, is an opportunity for those who follow Christ to journey with Christ to the cross and mark a deeper time of “remaining in Him.”

 

First, there is the opportunity to begin Lent with the spiritual exercise of the “Imposition of Ashes.” It is a reminder of our frailty (“From dust you have come and dust you will return.”) and that we need Christ in the midst of our fragile walk here on earth. We will have two different opportunities on Wednesday to do this exercise with “Drive-Thru” Imposition of Ashes from 12-3pm at the church parking lot. Then in the evening at LCPC at 6pm, we will have a “Healing Prayer Service” which will include the Imposition of Ashes.

 

It is also during Lent that we take the opportunity for spiritual disciplines to help us in our walk with Christ. For some of us, there is the spiritual exercise of “fasting from something.” This means “giving-up something” (a habit or a treat) and when you would normally engage with that “something,” you pray or read the Scriptures. It is a chance for you to connect with God in a deeper way.

 

For others, during this Season there is the spiritual exercise of “adding something.” So, you add a time of prayer or reading the Scriptures. It is this spiritual exercise or soul training that I want to encourage you to do these next forty days.

 

“Forty Days of Prayer for Our Neighbors” is a chance to add the spiritual discipline of “Prayer Walking” through our neighborhood and community. Together as a church we are going to be praying for our neighbors, both near and far, asking God to meet their needs but also to reveal Himself to them.

 

You can pick-up a copy of the Prayer Guide this Sunday at church or you can find it here at the end of this eBlast. You can also call or email the church office (office@lakesidepc.org)  and we can easily send the Prayer Guide as an email attachment where you can then print a copy for yourself.

 

May our soul training during Lent cause each of us to walk closer with Jesus and to share His love with our neighbors.

 

Stay dry and have a great rest of the week.