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

7/6/2019

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We are at that point in the Christian Year when everything is green.  As we count the Sundays After Pentecost until Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday, we are working with each other, aided by the Holy Spirit, to establish an embodied realm of God’s love and justice for all of creation. 

Here, in the Northeast, I equate the fullness of summer with our aim for the reign of Christ.  Imagine with me that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost is like the beginning of spring.  Early spring brings the promise of melt and the coming of warmth and the lengthening of days.  The weeping willows are often the first sign of color in world of grey and mud.  The willows turn their bright yellow, the maples and oaks first show signs of red as the leaves begin to bud.  There are a few weeks of bright green as leaves are new and grass resurrects from the lifeless muck that had been plowed and trampled.  Now that spring is over and summer is here, every living tree is fully green - harbors for birds and squirrels and chipmunks. 

Each year, this process of emerging and growing green reminds me of the Season after Pentecost, building to the Reign of Christ.  In the continual growth of green and life, I see the spreading of good news of God’s love.  I match the weeping willows with the friends of Jesus who wept at his torture and death. I see the red buds of oaks and maples as the blood of the martyrs of the early church.  Slowly the trees develop into their fullness of life with green leaves and red leaves and brown leaves too, until the whole of the region feels completely alive.  The work of the church is to spread (with the empowering presence of the Spirit) the good news of forgiveness and salvation found in Jesus.  As this good news spreads across the earth, from community to community, freeing each and every child of God to know God’s love, the reign of Christ is established.  This our work and our goal to spread the growth of love and grace until it covers every corner of creation.

I love this analogy - but you may be asking “what about the evergreens?”  The evergreens are of course a part of this relational realm of God.  In my thinking, the evergreens represent the people of God already in covenant - who have always known and maintained connection to and life in the presence of God. 

Having shared with you this image - I have to ask - do you desire to spread the growth of good news as we establish a forest of grace?  Are you marveling at the growing realm?  How are you participating in this greening process?
Blessings,

Pastor Kristi

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