A message from the Pastor:
Preparing for the Season of Lent
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. – Psalm 51 (ESV)
Psalm 51 is perhaps the greatest of the “penitential” psalms. It speaks to the profound depth of sin and of the absolute need for God’s mercy to forgive sin and create us anew, that we may live lives of faithfulness and holiness. On Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, the church will pray this psalm yet again, and because of the deep meaning of this psalm, it perfectly sets the tone for what it means to journey into the season of Lent – recognizing our sin and finding strength in the forgiveness and mercy of God.
I invite you and your family to make the most of the upcoming season of Lent. There will be many opportunities to be in prayer, worship, confession, reflection and learning, and we offer these opportunities to you because they are tried and true ways of growing stronger in faith. Especially because we live in such a crazed, hurried world, Lent helps us to slow down to recognize that what is at the heart of the church’s life is the good news that God forgives sin through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is why we come and worship, why we work so hard at every single ministry, and why the Spirit moves us to enter anew into a season that reminds us why we’re Christians in the first place – because we believe in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, who forgives us of our sin and grants us new, resurrected life. Come, and join us for the season of Lent, and discover this good news for yourself. —Pr. Shealy
