A number of years ago now, I overheard a conversation between one of our Church teenagers and one of his friends who had occasionally come with him to Church. “What are you giving up for Lent this year?” asked the church-goer. “Was it Lent already? Sorry, I must have missed it!” That sums up many Christians understanding of Lent. Even though many of us grew up “giving up” a favorite food or TV program or some other “fast” from our regular life in order to grow closer to Christ, maybe a better way to think about the season is to “take on” some additional Spiritual discipline. The word “Lent” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘to lengthen.’ It speaks of the lengthening of the days in the Springtime and also our growing Spirituality.
 
The 40 day period of Lent starts with Ash Wednesday each year and ends just before the Easter sunrise. For those of you who are good counters, you will notice that Sundays are not counted as a part of these 40 days, but are designated as ’ Sundays during Lent.’ Sunday, the Lord’s day, were always thought of as a “feast” day and never a “fast” day. This 40 day period was kept by the early believers as being like Jesus’ 40 days of preparation and temptation in the wilderness (see Luke 4: 1-13). This was the time many early believers took instructions in the faith so that they could be baptized into the faith before Easter. That is why I scheduled our Confirmation Class that way. Alaura Hopper and her Mom, Miranda Revesz will be joining the Church on Palm Sunday, March 28 at the 11:00 Service. We will be having a Church-wide Potluck at noon that day to welcome them and fellowship with one another. Savannah Schurman has also re-taken the class along with adult mentors Bill Winter and Dorie Marshall. Make your plans to come and bring your favorite dish!

Some of the special Holy week events planned for that week before Easter are the Passion Play each night from Tuesday, March 30 through Saturday, April 3 at 7 PM at the Farmington Civic Center. We will celebrate an Aztec Community Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday at 6 PM at the Presbyterian Church. Reservations need to be made for this by Monday, March 29 at our church office 334-6524. We will be celebrating with the traditional foods telling the story of Israel’s Exodus from Egyptian slavery and God’s gift of freedom that Jesus was celebrating with His disciples when He instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion. If you haven’t ever experienced this before, be sure to come on April 1 (no fooling!) There will be more details in next month’s Newsletter.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff