Lent

Lent is a season in the Christian calendar for preparing for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. It is 6 weeks long, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding on Easter Sunday. The forty days of Lent is a time of introspection and intentionality, a time of looking more closely at all the ways habit, convenience, and distraction has crept into our spiritual lives and turned us away from God. Many Christians use the season of Lent to deepen their relationship with God through various spiritual practices. Lenten practices traditionally include fasting, prayer, increased attention to reading scripture, and service to others.

The theme for our 2023 Lenten Devotional is Practicing Compassion With All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind.

Lent is a time for introspection and self-reflection, a time to reflect on the core of what it means to live a Christian life in the midst of great change and uncertainty. When facing change and uncertainty, practicing compassion becomes more central to that life so that we are freer to both receive and share the healing love of God.When facing change and uncertainty, few practices are more central to that life than letting go so that we are freer to receive the gifts God has to offer us.

The diverse and rich voices of the ten writers in this devotional encourage us to understand that in order to prepare for the new life of Easter, we need to be intentional about discerning what it truly means to let go with our whole being.

The Gospels are full of stories of Jesus sharing meals with disciples, friends, even tax collectors and Pharisees.

Whether multiplying bread to feed a whole crowd, relaxing with his inner circle, or telling curious elites stories about even greater banquets, Jesus imparts wisdom as he shares the wine and grants forgiveness as he distributes the fish. This eight-chapter resource provides biblical insights along with thought-provoking queries regarding our own time, such as whom should we invite to Sunday dinner and who is left out and left behind in our culture today.

Our onsite time together each week will include a shared meal of soup, salad, and bread, as we journey together through Lent. If you are joining us via Zoom, you are invited to enjoy a meal during our meeting time.

Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras, is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), and in many cultures this is a carnival day, and also the last day of "fat eating" before the fasting period of Lent.

This year, New Church and Greenland Hills Church will share in a “Fat Tuesday” Pancake Breakfast, but instead of gathering on a Tuesday we will gather on a Sunday.

*Donations will be gratefully accepted for this summer's Greenland Hills Youth Mission Trip.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is perhaps one of the most meaningful worship services of the church year. Christians throughout the world will gather to prepare for the journey of Lent by confessing our sins against God, each other and our own best selves. As part of the worship service we will receive the mark of ashes on our foreheads.

If you want this year to be different, if you want this Easter to have power and meaning for your life, then worship with us on Ash Wednesday and begin once again, your journey to Easter.

This service is among the most beautiful and moving worship services of the church year. It is the worship service where we remember Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, family and followers. In that moment, Jesus offered to them and us, a “new covenant” with his life and love.

In our own remembrance we will share in the Feast of Holy Communion and hope you will gather a bit of bread or cracker, as well as a sip of grape juice or wine. Then, following the service of Holy Communion we will hear the passages that tell us about Jesus’ Passion, his arrest, trial and crucifixion.

As the lights dim in our worship space we will end our service in a symbolic remembrance of Jesus’ death by stripping our altar of all symbols of our faith.