Worship
Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/
Lesson: Mark 1:9-15
Message: Getting Into the Spirit
Hello Friends,
Today we start the season of Lent, 40 days of preparing ourselves for Easter. While typically Lent is a time to give something up, it feels odd to approach Lent in the same way this year. The last things that we did together before the pandemic was fully realized were marking the start of Lent. Ash Wednesday is often a time to reflect that we are human, that our time is short, and that we will return to God. We have more than likely already received that message.
Perhaps this year, what we need is a reminder that if we feel stuck in a rut or simply surviving from day to day, that there is something more beyond the surface. Lent can be a time of deep introspection and taking on a practice to connect us with God’s Spirit. While we continue to be mostly apart physically, I hope that we’ll find a way to support one another in this moment to reach out to God and find what we need. We’ll be offering things like our Living the Questions adult ed study, and our weekly devotional podcast to help with this, or you can join us for Bible Study on Tuesday mornings, but I’d also like to hear from you what your needs are. With others from UPA, I’ll be outside of the church today to offer blessings and ashes from noon to 1:30. We can chat when you come by, or drop me an email.
On Sunday, we look at the passage from Mark describing the start of Jesus’ ministry as he gets baptized by John and is driven by the Spirit to fast for 40 days in the wilderness. We base our practice of Lent on this time which prepares Jesus for the road ahead. We’ll look at how this might set the tone for our road to Holy Week and Easter.
You can join us for Sunday’s service via Zoom and Facebook Live. Please share this information with anyone who might be interested in tuning in. We cannot share the Zoom links publicly (to keep from being Zoom bombed), so please share it person to person rather than posting it on Facebook/Twitter, or other public social media. It’s fine to share the Facebook link broadly and publicly.
Zoom Link: UPA Sunday Morning Worship (for login inforamtion please email Chris at chris@newtonchurch.org)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Facebook Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/
Blessings and peace,
Chris
Music:
Prelude: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” African Am. spiritual
Meditation: “Kum ba yah” African Am. spiritual
Postlude: “Little Fugue in G” J. C. Bach
“Ashes to Go” at noon and 7pm Livestream Service
Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent. We have a drive through, touch-free option for receiving ashes and a blessing – Ashes to Go – from noon to 1:30. Come drive into the entrance on the front side of the church and receive ashes in a cup (for self-service) and a blessing. This is a convenient way to take ashes home to family to participate together in the evening service. If you would prefer to stay in your car, you can get a cross on your car windshield with a chalk marker.
Our livestream service is at 7pm. You can join us with or without ashes as we remember our humanity together. We’ll have this service via Zoom and Facebook Live. Following the service we will have our first session of Living the Questions at 7:30pm. The worship service and the study will share the same Zoom meeting login. Note that this meeting ID is different from our typical Sunday morning service login.
Join Zoom Meeting (for login information please contact Chris at Chris@newtonchurch.org)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Facebook Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/