RE/LENT

Lent is a season that invites us to return to God, to deepen our lives of prayer and to focus on growing in our faith. It is the 40 days of spiritual preparation that carry us to Holy Week & Easter so that we might more fully celebrate the passion and resurrection of Jesus.

This year’s theme is RE/LENT which offers us many facets for exploration. The word RELENT itself carries multiple meanings: to surrender, to soften in feeling, temper; to become more mild, compassionate, or forgiving; to become less severe or slacken. In our relationships with God and with one another, all of those are good things as we seek to allow the Spirit to smooth away our rough edges, relieve us of our pride, help us let go of our selfish ways and form us into people who more consistently care, forgive and love.

Our playful rebranding of LENT to RE/LENT is also a nod to the fact that we will be using a different “RE” word each week as an interpretive lens while we dive into the scripture for Sunday by Sunday and throughout Holy Week. Words like REcalibrate, REturn, REject, REmember REdeem & REsurrect (to name a few) will be our sub-themes along the way under the larger umbrella of RE/LENT. So find your place and come along on this REnewing and REwarding (couldn’t resist!) journey through Lent.

Click here for the 2023 RE/LENT Brochure with all your opportunities to grow your faith with us this season.

Worship

SUNDAYS IN LENT
February 26 REcalibrate (Matthew 4:1-11)
March 5 REspite (Luke 10:38-42)
March 12 REturn (Luke 15:11-32)
March 19 REpurpose (Acts 9:1-22)
March 26 REbel (Mark 11:11, 15-19)

HOLY WEEK & EASTER
April 2: Palm Sunday REjoice & REject (Matthew 21:1-11)
April 6: Maundy Thursday REmember (Matthew 26:17-30)
April 7: Good Friday REdeem
April 9: EASTER SUNDAY REsurrect

EASTER REmix
April 16 REcognize (Luke 24:13-35)
April 23 REclaim (John 21:1-19)

Classes

We’re providing several classes during Lent to help you explore and deepen your faith.

In *Jesus in the Wild* you’ll take a forty-day journey into the heart of one of the most unusual, and often most misunderstood, stories in the Gospel accounts. In this encounter, following his baptism in the Jordan and before the inauguration of his ministry, Jesus is alone with the adversary—the one whose works he had come to destroy (1 John 3:8). He faces three tests, or “temptations”—all aimed at unseating him from his identity, his belovedness, and his purpose as the Son of God.

Understanding how Jesus faced down the accuser in the wild, we will be equipped to address every challenge that comes our way in the wild places in our own lives.

**Rev. Narae** will lead this study **in-person** on **Monday nights at 7pm** beginning 2/27.
**Rev. Lee** will lead this study **in hybrid format** (in-person and Zoom) on **Friday mornings at 10am** beginning 3/3.

In this fun, fascinating, and interactive study, we will watch clips from contemporary films *(Gran Torino, Chocolat, Les Miserables, etc.)* and talk about spiritual themes like grace, forgiveness, community and redemption. Free popcorn!

**Rev. Ron** will lead this study **in-person** on **Wednesday nights at 7pm** beginning 3/1.

We live in a world that demands relentless perfection. Happy marriages and easy friendships. Bucket-list-level adventures and matching family photos. But what if your actual life doesn’t feel very #blessed? Might our regular lives be worthy of a blessing too? Even an average Tuesday?

Formatted like a prayer book, *The Lives We Actually Have* is an oasis and a landing spot for weary souls, with blessings that focus on the full range of human moments: garbage days, lovely days, grief-stricken days, and even (especially) completely ordinary days. Let’s have a reminder that we don’t have to wait for a perfect life when we can bless the lives we *actually* have.

The Women’s Bible Study Group will read this book together and discuss **via Zoom** on **Monday nights at 8:15pm** (you know, after the kids go to bed) beginning 2/27.

Video REflections & Daily Devotionals

Each weekday we’ll post a REflection video devotion on our Facebook page by the pastoral staff, suggested prayer practices or links, art, classical and contemporary prayers along with musical selections from our SPARK Music Team.

We will have copies of the books Pauses for Lent (Trevor Hudson), Rise (John Pavolovitz ). The Lives We Actually Have (Kate Bowler & Jessica Richie) and Jesus in the Wild (Dan Wilt) at the Welcome Desk and available for purchase if you want a book for your own devotional reading. You may also download a PDF of Bless the Lent We Actually Have (Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie) You may also download a PDF of Bless the Lent We Actually Have by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie Just click on the image below to get your digital copy.