I remember the first time I experienced Ash Wednesday. It’s not that hard since it was only 7 years ago. I grew up not doing Ash Wednesday. The only reason I could give you is because the Catholics did Ash Wednesday. I didn’t know anything about it, nor even try to understand it. But as I reached Highland and saw how the youth ministry here participated in an actual Ash Wednesday service I began quickly to see the benefits.
Preparation: Ash Wednesday is a day where we begin to prepare for the crux of our faith, Easter. Easter came and went for me as a kid with only the knowledge that we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus every Sunday and the Easter Bunny gave good candy (and $5 if you found the golden egg). But as I sat through my first Ash Wednesday service I quickly realized I could have 40 days to prepare for what should be the largest celebratory Sunday we have each year.
Sacrifice: I had heard of lent and all I really knew growing up was that my catholic friends couldn’t eat meat or something. I understand now, as a protestant Christian, that the 40 days of lent are a time of sacrifice. It is a time where we give up something we cherish throughout the year, so that distractions are minimized between us and God. Usually this means fasting from Dr. Pepper, but since I gave that up for good, it will need to change this year. The sacrifice allows us the tiniest taste of the life-giving sacrifice from Jesus.
The Slow-Down Effect: This isn’t something we truly practice in our fast-paced society. However, when we are practicing sacrifice and preparation we must slow down our pace. In my first Ash Wednesday service I was wanting a celebration of song and what I got was lament, contemplation, and time to listen to God.
These are just three benefits I find in observing Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. I’m not sure what I might sacrifice this year, but I know that I am looking forward to preparing for Easter, sacrifice/fasting, and taking time to listen to God.
Do you celebrate Ash Wednesday?
Share how and benefits you find from the Lenten season.
Thank you so much for all of the hospitality and love you have shown our family. We are excited to be coming to Conway and partner in ministry with you. It seems as soon as the announcement was made time has begun to stand still. April 1st just can’t seem to come soon enough. We appreciate your prayers through this time of transition for our family and for University church, our church.
I want to use this space to blog about happenings at UCC and share dreams of what we can do as a church for one another, the community, and the world. I hope to share something here once a week. It is my prayer that this blog becomes a place where we can interact with ideas and stay informed with what we are doing in ministry. I also hope that it can be a place where I can encourage us in our journey together.
If there is something you want to hear more about then this may be the space to share and dialogue about ministry, community, theology, and life.
Join the conversation here at my blog.
Tommy Huett was in charge of organizing our potluck last Sunday, and he wishes to say a very special thank you to all those who worked so hard to make it such a success. There are too many people to mention individually, but there was much behind-the-scenes work going on in the set-up, preparation, serving, and the cleaning up when everything was over with. Thank you all. And, of course, we appreciate very much all the food that each of you provided.
We are blessed to have our new preaching minister, Michael Mercer, speaking for us this Sunday morning. We are very excited to have the entire Mercer family with us for the first time today. Welcome Mercers! We are glad you are here and look forward to April when you begin your work here as a part of our UCC family.
Please remember that we will have a potluck lunch this Sunday, February 5, to welcome the Mercer family. We pray that you will all plan to take advantage of this opportunity to fellowship with each other and meet our new preacher and his family. If you have not been assigned an item to bring, please bring a vegetable or a dessert.
On Wednesday evening, February 8, we will be very blessed to have Roy Merritt with us. He will be speaking to our combined adult Bible classes and our youth group. Roy is a missionary in Zambia, which is UCC’s longest-supported mission effort. We have been a part of the Lord’s work in Zambia through Roy and Kathi for thirty years and are excited to have them with us and hear what they have to share with us about their work there.
This Saturday, February 11, at 7 pm the Harding University Concert Choir will be performing here at UCC. We are excited that we will have our own Alex Westjohn performing with this choir. Please invite your friends to come along with you. We hope to have a great crowd for them.
There are still lots of baby bottles left in the foyer if you desire to participate in the annual “Change-for-Life” campaign for Life Choices. Stop by and pick one up today and fill it with loose change or you may simply place a check made out to Life Choices in the bottle. If you write a check a receipt will be mailed to you. If you put cash or change in the bottle and desire to have a receipt for tax purposes, you must include your name and address in the bottle. Bottles are to be turned in by February 19.
We are very excited to hear the news that UCC has a new preacher. It was announced last Sunday that Michael Mercer and his wife, Leah, and their four-year-old twin sons, Dylan and Brody, will be joining our family here. Michael currently serves as the youth and family minister at the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. Michael will begin his work with us in April. Leah is a teacher and will have to remain in Abilene until the school year ends. The Mercers will be here on February 5 to be introduced to you. We will have a potluck lunch that day to give you a chance to meet and fellowship with the Mercers.
Our annual family retreat will be January 27-29 at Camp Wyldewood. Dinner will be served at 6:30 Friday evening and everything will end before lunch on Sunday. Dusty Rush will be our speaker, and the praise team from Memorial Drive Church of Christ in Tulsa will be with us to lead our worship and teach us some new songs. Please sign the list on the youth room window if your family plans to attend. The cost is $100 per family.
