Lent at St. Luke's

Sacrifice, discipline, prayer, fasting, works of justice and kindness, purple, journeying, baptism – all are images that come to mind when one thinks about Lent.The 40-day period of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (March 1) when we are again called to “return to God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”During Lent, many of us simplify, clean out, discipline and renew our lives and our relationships with God.Since the fourth century, Lent has been a time when individuals preparing for baptism are instructed in the Christian faith. For those already baptized Lent offers opportunity to deepen our own spiritual practices and renew our own faith journeys.This year’s journey includes a few stops along the way:

• The remembrance that we are dust and to dust we shall return as we are marked with the imposition of ashes. St. Luke’s Ash Wednesday service.
• Each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. thereafter until Holy Week, we can pause on the journey and be refreshed with a simple soup supper, and share conversation around the practices of the Christian faith: prayer, food, worship, sacraments, money, service and community. A time for prayer, meditation, and song will follow the meal at 7 p.m.
• In Lent we simplify our 9 and 11 a.m. service – Dramatic stories --  with baptismal themes including renouncing evil; seeking new birth; living water that lasts; light and new sight; anointing; dying and rising – are shared between periods of silence and Taize refrains.

Please plan to join us this year on the journey to Holy Week and Easter.-Bev Jedynak, Cantor