|
Dear San Marco Church Family: We are approaching Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and it is an excellent time to reflect on our Lenten practices and any insights we have gained this season. For me, I have enjoyed getting to know several of you better during our Wednesday evening time together. Thanks to those of you who were able to join me in the sanctuary on Wednesdays. As a reminder, we will NOT have the Wednesday evening gathering next week because we have a special Maundy Thursday service on April 17 at 7pm in the sanctuary. Please invite friends to our Maundy Thursday service, as it will be a time to celebrate God’s love and to share holy communion. While we will not have weekly Wednesday evening gatherings after Easter, I do plan to offer another Wednesday evening opportunity later in the year. As I mentioned last week in my message, I am currently reading Father Richard Rohr’s book entitled “The Tears of Things.” If you are interested in a truly thoughtful, insightful book about the place of lamentation and tears in our spiritual journey, I highly recommend this book. He uses the prophets of the Hebrew Bible as a model of the movement from anger to sorrow to gratitude grounded in faith. I think we all make this journey many times throughout our lives as we experience disappointment, betrayal and heartache. The mature prophets transitioned from anger to hope based upon their experiences with God's faithfulness despite human rebellion. If you are looking for a good online daily devotional, you can subscribe to Father Rohr's daily meditation. Just go to cac.org and click on daily meditations and follow the prompts to subscribe. It’s a free devotional resource. If you are receiving this blog, it means that you have a significant interest in San Marco Church. I challenge you to consider why you attend and support this church. If God has blessed you in some way because of your connection to this church, how can you share the blessing? One possibility is simply to tell one friend that the church has blessed you and to invite that person to worship. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday are all excellent times to invite friends. You might be instrumental in helping someone find a renewed sense of hope. I look forward to seeing you Sunday! Steve Hart
|
