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Lent is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “spring”. Lent is the Church Year’s “springtime”. Out of the cold and darkness of sin’s winter emerges a people – the Church – reborn in their Lord’s Easter resurrection.
Although Easter is the oldest Christian season, the observance of Lent appeared between 200-300 A.D. Lent was a time of preparation for persons being instructed in the Christian faith before their baptism. Following the model of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, new adult converts practiced Lenten penance and prayer for 40 days while waiting to receive their baptism, confirmation and first Lord’s Supper at the Saturday evening vigil before Easter.
Today Lent calls us to take time out and look back on the impact of our baptism in our lives. How are we doing, we who have died to sin and come alive to new life in Christ? In repentance we
ask our Lord to clear our hearts and lives of sin’s self-centeredness.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday’s somber repentance and leads us to Holy Week’s bitter story and Easter’s joy in Christ’s
resurrection.
These 40 days (excluding Sundays) are the first half of a larger rainbow arch, centered over Easter. The other half includes the Easter season’s 50 days in which we celebrate our baptismal rebirth in Christ.
Contemporary Christians’ six weeks of Lent form a journey taken annually. Mark your calendars for WEDNESDAY. For those of you who do not like to come out at night, won’t you join Pastor Ann for a series on PRAYER. I am hoping that this time will be convenient to many of you who are retired, or who have an hour for lunch and work nearby. We will meet at 12:10 and conclude by 12:50.
We will use the book “Grounded in Prayer” by Brent W. Dahlseng. Based on the parable of the Sower in Mark’s gospel, “Grounded in Prayer” explores how prayer “can be focused like a plow of the Holy Spirit to break up the hardhearted soil of the path, unseat the rocks of distraction, uproot the thorns and thistles of the world, and plant deeply the seed of faith in the good soil of the heart.”
If you are looking to deepen your personal prayer life and develop or strengthen your daily discipline of prayer and reading the Bible, please come.
To reserve your spot, please call Trinity’s Church Office at 664-5743. To optimize our time together there will be room for eight people. Please call by February 14th so that I can order materials.
On Wednesday evenings we will use a series of special services for Lent called “This Lenten Road”. After the meal is
shared we will gather in the sanctuary for song, scripture, prayer
and a message. We will begin Wednesday, February 24, with soup
at 6:00 and worship following.
As the holiday season comes to an end we take the opportunity to sit back and reflect upon all of our blessings. Most importantly, we thank the Lord for having a church home that is so loving and caring. Thank you for sharing your hearts with the children of tomorrow and for all of your tremendous support over this last year! We couldn’t have done it without you.
With the winter season here the children will be spending loads of time outside building snowmen, painting the snow and just having fun in the cold. We are all very excited for the white fluffy stuff to come.
They will continue to work on helping the community with food donations to the TLC Food Bank and Family Promise. We also will put together a “come read to the children” program. We are excited to bring families and friends together to encourage learning together. If you would like to be a part of this program please come on by or give us a call and let us know what day and time would work best for you. We will definitely make sure the children are ready.
We still have some openings in our classrooms (six weeks
to five years) so if you know of anyone looking for a quality learning
environment for their children, please let them know. We are open
Monday – Friday, 6:30am to 6:00pm, and always welcome phone calls to give more information at (208) 676-9112.
The teachers and I would like to send out a special thank you for supporting the Center this school year. Though we have had a rough start financially, our team is working together, keeping the mission of the heart in mind. We feel blessed by your support and tremendous contributions this year. Thank you!
May this New Year bring the joy and the grace of God to you and yours.
Blessings,
Susie Freligh, TLC LC Director
Learn More about TLC LC
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Suppers will be provided
according to the first letter of your last name. You are most
welcome to contact a board member to volunteer to provide soup, but you may be called, and we hope you will be able to say “Yes”.
The suppers will be set up, served and cleaned up by committees.
The schedule is as follows:
Feb. 24: Property & Grounds Committee — soup
provided by names beginning
with A – E
March 3: Outreach
Committee — F – J
March 10: Learning Committee — K – O
March 17: Youth & Worship Committees — P – S
March 24: Fellowship Committee — T – Z
We need 12 pots of soup and 10 – 12 loaves of bread for each meal. There will be sign-up sheets by the church office door for those who can bring soup.
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