an invitation to a holy, life-giving lent
Friends, we enter a new season on Ash Wednesday in the Church's calendar. To prepare us for the joy of Easter's alleluia, we are given a season of repentance and renewal in Lent. Sometimes misunderstood as a period of self-punishment, Lent instead calls us to get in closer touch with the core of who we are: forgiven, beloved children of God.
How are you being invited this season to grow in faith and grace? We grow best when we grow together, so the church offers several opportunities for you to join other believers on the journey to new life. We hope you'll consider the opportunities below.
As the Apostle Paul says, "Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!"
sign up for our lenten devotional
Engage Devotionally and Daily with the Word and World
"Discipleship in a Divided Age: Living Faithfully Amid Division and Uncertainty"
by Teri McDowell Ott, editor of The Presbyterian Outlook
Follow along with us daily with our Lenten devotional from The Presbyterian Outlook.
Taking us through Matthew's entire gospel over these forty days, this year's devotional explores how we might find a faithful way through a confusing, divided, and turbulent time, showing us how Matthew's first-century audience experienced much of the same. Amid that tumult, Jesus proclaimed a new kingdom to an anxious people—a way of life grounded in humility, courage, and compassion.
Sign up by clicking the button below to follow with us on Jesus' way. Feel free to invite friends and fellow pilgrims to join us daily from Ash Wednesday, through Easter Sunday, April 5.
SUNday morning faith forum
"From Loss, New Life"
Trusting in God's Promises of Presence, Redemption, & Resurrection
Sundays in Lent: Feb 22 and Mar 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 | 9:30am | Room 7
Join us throughout Lent in Sunday's Faith Forum class to have honest and faithful conversations on death, loss, and what may emerge, however reluctantly, after and amid heartbreak.
Before and after Easter, Jesus does not shy away from death. Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died. He drew near to the brokenhearted. He accepted the fully human reality of death. He did not hide his scars. As God raised him from the dead, "breaking the power of sin and evil," Jesus showed his scars to his disciples, affirmed their reality, and bore witness to God's power to bring new life after scars reshape us.
Our Lenten series of faith formation will confront death and losses of all kinds, naming that they force new life upon us. We will honor this heartrending human fact. Share testimonies of loss. Offer wisdom from our tradition to honor death and walk in newness of life. Hear from experts and experienced mourners. And tell the whole story: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again! The God we worship and serve promises resurrection in the aftermath of insufferable loss, then and now, giving testimony to Easter's proclamation of enduring love.
We hope you will join us for these honest and faithful conversations as we affirm that in life and in death, we belong to God.
lenten weekday faith group
"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2)
Lenten Faith Group:
Dwelling on the Apostles’ Creed
FPC Parlor | Tuesdays in Lent, 6:30-7:30pm (Feb 24 - Mar 24)
How long has it been since you renewed your understanding of the Christian faith? Ours is a living faith that has animated prophets against injustice, inspired martyrs stand for truth against falsehood, and empowered ordinary saints to practice extraordinary love.
Join Pastor Tommy this season as we read through Ben Myers' little book and dwell on the Apostles' Creed. All seekers, skeptics, and believers are welcome. Learn more about the class here.
**Over the course of this class (Feb 24–Mar 24), Theology on Tap will be on break.