LENTEN SEASON 2023

MID-WEEK COMMUNITY GATHERINGS

Wednesdays 6 - 7 PM (in-person and zoom).

March 1, 8, 15, 22

You are invited to the first four Wednesdays in Lent for dinner, worship, connection, and a community art project in the Conference Center! This will be an intergenerational experience for all ages! We will sing, laugh, connect, creatively learn, and SIMPLY LOVE. Just think, this is one night during the week you do NOT have to cook! Come right from work; there will be a place for you at the Table!

Soup and bread will be provided. Please bring a salad or dessert to share.

You can join us on ZOOM if you cannot meet in person. 

Meeting ID: 852 4893 3576 Passcode: simplylove



ALL ABOUT LOVE CLASS

Wednesdays 7-8 PM (in-person and zoom).

March 1, 8, 15, 22

On Wednesday nights after the Mid-Week Community Gathering, Pastor Kacey will be hosting a conversation/class on bell hooks' foundational book, ALL ABOUT LOVE. We will integrate her intersectional theology with Jesus journey to the cross! Feel free to buy the book and read along, or just come!

All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about love and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces. “The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist bell hooks offers a proactive new ethic for a society bereft with lovelessness--not the lack of romance, but the lack of care, compassion, and unity. People are divided, she declares, by society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love.

If you cannot meet in person, you can join us on ZOOM. 

Meeting ID: 852 4893 3576 Passcode: simplylove



BLESS THE LENT WE ALREADY HAVE

1) St. Matthew's will be using the resource "Bless the Lent we Already Have" to enhance our Sunday morning worship services. You can use a FREE companion 40 devotional to help you SIMPLY LOVE during Lent. You can download it HERE. Or pick up a printed copy on Ash Wednesday or Sunday mornings!

Bless the Lent We Already Have, Spiritual check-in schedule:

Sundays after 8:30AM and 10AM worship services. Location is the Conference Center.

*You are invited to discuss and share any other devotional you are reading for Lent during this gathering. 

40 DAY JOURNEY WITH JULIAN OF NORWICH

During Lent Bobbi will be leading a journey with Julian of Norwich using the book 40 Day Journey with Julian of Norwich. The group will meet weekly Sundays after the 10:00 AM Service in the Comfy Couch Room for a time of Spiritual check-in with one another on our Journey. 

About the Book (from the Preface):

This book is an invitation to spend time in the company of one of the greatest Christian mystics of all time: Julian of Norwich. Living in fourteenth-century England, Julian knew firsthand the traumas of war, plague, and social upheaval. Yet her writings testify to visions of Jesus Christ bringing her and all those who read her work- a message of extraordinary love and hope. Journeying forty days with Julian will invite you deep into her encounter with the One who loves you (and all things) passionately, intimately, and securely. This encounter with Julian will draw you deep into the mystery of God's unending love for you, while giving you all the space you need to respond with authentic freedom. I look forward to journeying these days with you!

We have a couple books that can be purchased at church for $13.00, or you can purchase one online. Kindle versions are also available. Another fabulous text to accompany your reading if you wish is All Shall Be Well: A Modern-Language Version of the Revelation of Julian of Norwich. This is not required, but a great companion for your 40-Day Journey.

40 Day Journey with Julian of Norwich schedule:

Sundays after 10AM worship service ONLY. Location in the Comfy Couch room.

WERE YOU THERE

LENTEN REFLECTIONS ON THE SPIRITUALS

Luke A. Powery is Dean of Duke University Chapel and Associate Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School and has created a stunning lenten devotional on African American Spirituals. You will hear some of these songs during worship during Lent and Holy Week.

About the book: Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how those events bring about the liberation of God’s people.

In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christ’s atoning death and victory over the grave. Each selection includes the lyrics of the spiritual, a reflection by the author on the spiritual’s meaning, a Scripture verse related to that meaning, and a brief prayer. You can find the book at your favorite online bookstore or follow this LINK

We have a couple of books that can be purchased at church for $10, or you can purchase one online. Kindle versions are also available.

Were You There, Spiritual check-in schedule:

Sundays after 8:30AM and 10AM worship services. Location is the Conference Center.

*You are invited to discuss and share any other devotional you are reading for Lent during this gathering. 

LENTEN OFFERING OPPORTUNITY

40 Days, 40 Dollars, Forever eliminate Medical Debt!

RIP Medical Debt is a national nonprofit organization that has been formed to reduce medical debt burdens of low income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills. The non-profit buys medical debt in bundles, millions of dollars at a time, from hospitals and medical institutions at a fraction of the original cost.

This Lenten season we have an opportunity to participate in this project. A donation of $40 for the 40 days of Lent is encouraged, but any donation, higher or lower, will be gladly received. Checks can be made to St. Matthew's or cash can be put in an envelope, with the RIP Medical Debt designation on the donation.

Let's make a difference in our country for people who find themselves overwhelmed with medical debt. Thank you for your support. - Mary Kimsey

Read Mary's Letter here