Lent Resources

HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE:

Sunday, March 28 - Palm Sunday - Misunderstood Again!; Matthew 21:1-11.  Worship services are at 9:00 am for contemporary worship and 10:30 am for blended worship. Childcare is provided.

Thursday, April 1 - Maundy Thursday -Worship is at 7:00 pm.  Childcare is provided up to age 4.  An offering will be taken to benefit our Feed My Starving Children project.

Friday, April 2 - Good Friday - There will be a community service at Christ Community Church at 2400 Forest Hills SE, in Grand Rapids at 12 noon.  The offering will be for Access 6.  If you have questions, the phone number at Christ Community Church is 954-0331.

Sunday, April 4 - Easter - Life; John 20:1-18.  Worship services are at 9:00 am for contemporary worship and 10:30 am for blended worship. Childcare is provided. This year's Easter Mission offfering will benefit Global Missions and the Glenn Van Noord Short-Term Urban Missions Program.  If you would like to know more about the Glenn Van Noord Program, click here. If you would like to know more about Global Missions at Thornapple, click here.

2010 Lent Theme:  Images of the Cross

On February 21 Pastor Rob began a worship series for Lent entitled, Images of the Cross focusing on the meaning and impact of the sacrificial death of Christ and how it relates to our daily life. 

Complete Lenten worship schedule:

Wednesday, February 17 - Ash Wednesday - Worship is at 7:00 pm. Childcare is provided up to age 4.

*Sunday, February 21 - Images of the Cross: Victory; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

*Sunday, February 28 - Images of the Cross: Healing; Isaiah 53:1-12

*Sunday, March 7 - Images of the Cross: Not Guilty; Romans 8:1-4

*Sunday, March 14 - Images of the Cross: Reunion; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

*Sunday, March 21 - Images of the Cross: Freedom; Mark 10:45

*Sunday, March 28 - Palm Sunday - Misunderstood Again!; Matthew 21:1-11

Thursday, April 1 - Maundy  -Worship is at 7:00 pm.  Childcare is provided up to age 4.

Friday, April 2 - Good Friday - There will be a community service at Christ Community Church at 2400 Forest Hills SE, in Grand Rapids at 12 noon.  The offering will be for Access 6.  The phone number at Christ Community Church is 954-0331.

*Sunday, April 4 - Easter - Life; John 20:1-18

This year's Easter Mission offfering will benefit Global Missions and the Glenn Van Noord Short-Term Urban Missions Program.

*The Sunday worship schedule is 9:00 am for contemporary worship and 10:30 for blended worship. Childcare is provided.

Background by Rob Peterson 

Lent has a long history in the life of the church. In the early church candidates for baptism had to undergo an intense time of preparation (as long as two years) for the baptism service that was held once a year on Easter Sunday. The preparation was a time of study, prayer, fasting, and self examination. Eventually the church as a whole joined in this time of preparation for Easter – a time of celebrating Christ’s risen life.

Over time Lent became connected to the 40 days of wilderness preparation experience of Jesus and to the events of what became known as Holy Week – the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Lent is a time of self-examination, repentance, self-denial, conversion and growth. It lasts for forty days, excluding Sundays, and begins on Ash Wednesday (February 17, 2010) and ends on the Saturday (April 3, 2010) before Easter Sunday. Worship spaces are often decorated in purple which is the color of Lent. The word Lent has come to mean springtime or new life and many congregations invite their people into a season of spiritual spring cleaning. Many people are familiar with the practice of giving something up for Lent. This tradition for some is rather silly – I am giving up road rage for Lent! But the practice when done with integrity is meant to foster a stronger will, one that intentionally chooses to make room for God amidst all the competing realities of life. Giving something up for Lent is a choice to say no to lesser desires so that we can say a greater yes to God.

At its heart Lent is a journey into wholeness, a participation in God’s mission of redemption. The journey of Lent for believers follows the journey of Christ to the cross, the tomb, and resurrection. It is a corporate practice that joins believers to Christ’s way of humility and dependence on God. In many ways, Lent is an invitation to a form of dying and rising. Practiced well, Lent nurtures a greater knowledge and love of Christ and a more realistic understanding of believer’s frailties, finitude and need of help from God.

Ash Wednesday by Matt Anderson

On February 17th, you will most likely see a few people walking around with black smudges on their foreheads--these people are not hygienically challenged. They are taking part in the church holiday called Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a day when faithful followers of Christ have their foreheads marked with ashes, in the shape of a cross. This Christian observance is the first day of the season of Lent.

Lent is a season of spiritual discipline, cleansing, and fasting, and occurs in the forty days, excluding Sundays, before Easter. The ceremony reminds us that we should begin our Lenten repentance in a humble spirit. In Biblical times, the faithful would fast, wear sackcloth, and sit in dust and ashes. While we no longer wear sackcloth or sit in dust and ashes, the customs of fasting and putting ashes on our foreheads, as a sign of mourning and repentance, have survived to this day. In the Bible, a mark on the forehead is a symbol of a person's ownership. By having our foreheads marked with the sign of the cross, we have an outward sign that says, “We belong to Jesus, who died on a cross.” Come, February 17th at 7:00 pm, and "remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

Additional resources:

For Books to read during Lent, click here.

For Website resources which include daily Lent devotionals, click here.

There are devotional materials available at the Welcome Center for both families and adults.