Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Isaiah 58 Matthew 18:1-9 We are entering the season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days (but we don’t include Sundays so it’s not exactly 40 days) before Easter when we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We begin Lent with Ash Wednesday. Many of you are probably wondering what Ash Wednesday is all about. On Ash Wednesday, we remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. We remember that we are mortal, that we are finite, that we are

John 12:20-33 Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-17 We are in fifth week of our Lenten Sermon series. Next week is Palm Sunday and then we enter Holy Week. Please check your March flyer for our special Holy Week services. This year during Lent, we are talking about deepening our roots in Jesus. During Lent, we often participate in a fast in order to deepen our roots in Jesus. Fasting is sacrifice and blessing. We can remove something from our lives in order to add something tha

Luke 10:25-42 2 Kings 4:8-10 Psalm 143:1-11 We are in the fourth week of our Lenten sermon series. This year we are talking about deepening our roots in Jesus. During Lent we often participate in a fast. The purpose of a fast is to help us grow closer to God. Fasting is sacrifice and blessing. For example, when we do a food fast, we might sacrifice a meal (like lunch) and we would replace the time spent preparing, eating, and cleaning up the food with prayer. A fast can a

Mark 4:1-20, Isaiah 51:1-3, Psalm 32 We are in the first week of our Lenten sermon series. This Lent, we are going to talk about deepening our roots in Jesus. During Lent we will talk about different spiritual disciplines that help us deepen our relationship with God. During Lent there is a tradition of fasting. Last year I talked about fasting being sacrifice and blessing. This means that we can remove something from our lives in order to add something. One way to do t

Isaiah 58, Isaiah 62:1-5, Eph 4:1-6, 5:1-2, Psalm 51:1-17 In the letter I sent, I said that I would talk about fasting as preparation to become the bride of Christ, the church, but the sermon evolved differently than expected. We will still be talking about Ash Wednesday & Valentine’s Day, which seem like opposite things. On Valentine’s Day we celebrate our sweetheart, the love in our life. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is the forty days leading up to Easte