ALPLAUS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
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Ash Wednesday Info
        As previously mentioned, this year Ash Wednesday is 2/17.  This is the day we start our Lenten journey.  We usually begin with an afternoon/evening service that includes the imposition of Ashes.  Last year we had a series of stations set up in the sanctuary for personal devotions at your leisure, ending with Ashes.
        What is the deal with Ashes on this day?  Have you ever wondered why we do this?  We can see when someone has been to a service and started their Lenten journey because the Ashes are visible on their face.  But in our worship, we specifically read in Matthew 6 about NOT making a show of our faith with outward signs…  It seems like a contradiction and it is a bit confusing.  Back in the day [Bible times] people who were repenting for a transgression or a significant change in attitude would adopt a manner that would involve humility and public display of repentance - wearing sackcloth and covering oneself with ashes.  This behavior of repentance would be very public and draw attention to a person’s devotion and faith.  Sometimes, it would be a bit of a show and occasionally more show than actual change.  This led to the teaching that repentance should be more private and less of a “production.”
        So why, then, do we have such a visible sign of repentance at the beginning of our Lenten season with the imposition of ashes?  Not for their visibility but as a reminder.  Primarily, the ashes are used to remind us that our life is finite.  We are born and we die as children of God.  Marking the beginning of our Lenten journey - as we dedicate ourselves to journey with Jesus to Jerusalem - we are remembering our own mortality and our fleeting opportunities to mend relationships, with God and with one another.  Traditionally, the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday - now crisp and dry, are burnt to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday [“Sunday’s Palms are Wednesday’s Ashes - as another Lent begins…” TFWS #2138].  We use these ashes to remember that the adoration of the crowds as Jesus entered into Jerusalem quickly turned to the crowd’s cry of “Crucify!”
        Can we enter Lent without Ashes on Feb 17?  Absolutely!  Look to Facebook and the website for worship elements and look for a little devotional booklet to come to you in the next couple of weeks.


Pastoral Message

4/4/2019

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We are at that time - Lent - when we travel together - seeking to repent, to turn our lives in such a way that we travel with Jesus on his path to Jerusalem.  We know what will happen there and how it will end.  We are invited to take part in prayer and self-denial that we might align our hearts with the love of God poured out for us in each step and in each breath.  This is not about boldly proclaiming whose we are.   It is about accepting what takes place for the forgiveness and salvation of all and how our lives, our actions and our words can invite others to know, to live, to accept these gifts.
Here is a prayer from Steve Garnaas-Holmes about our season, found at unfoldinglight.net:

Temptation

For forty days he was tempted by the devil.
—Luke 4.2
Temptation
God, I confess
I want the power
to make things as I wish them,
to turn stones to bread, this to that,
to have the world as I desire, not as it is.
I renounce my hunger for power.
Your love alone is my power.
 
I confess
I want to manage what others think of me,
I want authority, status, belonging,
the kingdoms of the world.
I renounce my hunger for status.
You alone are my belonging
I confess
I want the security of freedom from pain,
from risk, from sacrifice,
as if I could leap from a height and be unhurt.
I renounce my fear of suffering.
You alone are my security.
 
Spirit of love,
be my power, my security, my belonging;
overwhelm the fears of my ego
and redirect my desires,
that I may trust you, belong to you,
and bear your love alone.
 
I breathe your love.
I breathe your love.

Amen.

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