Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, Caldwell. Please plan to join us tomorrow evening at 6 pm in the sanctuary to sing, to hear Scriptures read, to sit in silence, and to receive the imposition of ashes – all in preparation for the upcoming six week journey to the cross and the tomb.
There is an Ash Wednesday service tomorrow at noon at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church (1510 E. 7th Street). Lunch will not be served.
The Elizabeth Communities of Faith (made up of St. John Baptist Church, Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, the chaplains from Atrium Health Mercy and Novant Presbyterian Hospitals, and Caldwell) will host their annual Lenten worship services followed by lunch every Wednesday from March 1st until the 29th at noon at St. John Baptist Church (300 Hawthorne Lane). All are invited to attend those services and stay for lunch. Caldwell will lead the service and serve lunch on Wednesday, March 15th – at St. John Baptist. Please mark that day on your calendar as we will need help from Caldwell folks that day.
These first weeks of 2023 have been heavy. War rages on in Ukraine and elsewhere. A devastating earthquake ravaged Turkey and Syria. Mass shootings in this country continue unabated. Lives have been forever changed.
And closer to home, Caldwellians and our loved ones are in hospice care, recovering from falls, dealing with chronic illness, struggling with depression, facing surgery, undergoing chemotherapy, and other medical, emotional, physical, financial, spiritual, and relational challenges. Life is heavy for many of us.
I believe that when we weep, when any of God’s beautiful and beloved children weep, God weeps with us. God mourns with us. God sits with us in our pain and sorrow.
And God invites us to weep with, mourn with, and sit with each other in our pain and sorrow. Jesus told us to visit one another, to love one another, and to feed one another. And the Spirit empowers us to do all that we have been commanded to do. So let’s get to it!
This coming Saturday, you are invited to participate in feeding people in Charlotte, people who are unhoused, people who are hungry, people who are in need of the blessing of breakfast.
All are welcome to gather at the gate of the Urban Ministry Center, 945 North College Street, at 9:00 a.m. Please come with breakfast items for 5 people – things like sandwiches, burritos, or wraps. The meal will be served pot-luck style. Caldwell will provide coffee and juice.
As Lent progresses, we will be reading and preaching through the gospel of John. Here is a link to a reading plan, some questions to ponder, and other information about Lent at Caldwell. As we move through Lent, the information at that link will be updated. You can also go to caldwellpresby.org/Lent for information.
You are invited to join the combined ACE and Time in the Word Bible Study classes at 9:45 am on Sunday mornings during Lent. That combined class will gather in Hope Hall, Room 1, up on the second floor, to discuss the weekly readings and ponder the gospel of John together. Click here to join that class online every Sunday morning at 9:45.
Caldwell, our theme for Lent this year is “Moving Toward Resurrection.”
But let us not fall into the temptation to get to resurrection too quickly. Let’s take our time on this journey. Let’s take time to look unabashedly at the pain and sorrow that is ahead of us on the way to the cross. The pain and sorrow that breaks our hearts on a daily basis. Let’s set aside time every day to be with Jesus, the One who accompanies us on this Lenten journey, the One who leads us, the One who will never, ever leave us alone.
Here are a few thoughts and questions to ponder this Lenten season: In order for there to be resurrection, something or someone has to die. What needs to die in you and in me this Lent? Pride? Fear? An attachment to being in control? Worry? An habit or practice that is harming you or someone you love? Racist tendencies? What do you imagine God might raise to new life in you and in us as a family of faith?
Journeying with you to the cross and beyond, Gail