ALPLAUS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
  • Home
  • About
  • Pastoral Message
  • Video Message
  • Calendar
  • Muse
  • Activities

Picture
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

6/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Wow!  It’s been a year since we invited our D.S. Rev. Rich Weihing to come and talk to us about our options as a congregation and we started to look at this Compass Project.  We wondered what this Project was and how could we possibly use this “Conference Tool” to help this congregation here in Alplaus to find how and where God is leading us!  Since then we have started and are over ½ way done with this Project.  From this Compass effort we have noticed closer ties within the congregation and more energy about who we are as the people of the Alplaus United Methodist Church.  We have sent the Confirmation Class on an intergenerational VIM trip.  We have a new walking group – the Alplaus Amblers.  We have adjusted our greeting procedure for Sunday mornings.  We are working on issues of accessibility.  Those are some of the tangible outcomes of our efforts.  Less tangible but equally important is the depth of connection that we make as we meet and discuss how it is we offer ourselves to be servants of God and how we nurture one another in it.
What else can we do?  We need to up our courage and boast a bit – in an inviting kind of way- to actually invite and welcome folks to bask in the Spirit of God as we do each time we gather here.  We do good work, great ministry and fabulous community.  I feel like we are burning a pretty good lamp here and we need to remove our bushel basket and let this light shine!
 
Blessings, Pastor Kristi

0 Comments

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Pastoral Message
  • Video Message
  • Calendar
  • Muse
  • Activities