Lent at LNPC:
FROM FEAR: HOPE
Hope and fear are both ways of viewing the future.
Fear asks, What if...
and then lists all the things that could go wrong, could shake us, destroy us.
Fear is foreboding about what is to come.
Fear paralyzes us. It make us afraid to hope. But hope is stronger than fear. And we don't find hope by fleeing from fear. Fear is finite. Hope is infinite.
Hope answers, Even if...
Even if all the very worst things happen, we are not destroyed. God is always bringing life out of death, and hope from despair.
Hope is trust in the One who holds it all - including what is to come.
Hope is always about wrongs being made right. And we cannot truly hope, we cannot embody hope and let it swell within us, and be people of hope, unless we look the wrong in the face and call it that. We must face our fear.
Things are not as they should be! because we know there is more. Hope is knowing it could be different, it should be different, it will be different. We are people who are not afraid to hope. And so we are also not led by fear.
One day, despite all we see and hear and feel, love wins, life prevails.
Peace will reign. Justice will rule. The weak will be made strong. What has been lost will be restored.
This is God’s promise. The love of God is "vast, unmeasured, boundless, free" - infinite.
This is our hope.
This Lent we face our fear, letting the What if... rise up
and then trusting God to meet us there with infinite hope, Even if...
The Samaritan Woman and Lazarus will lead us in our Lenten exploration of fear and hope.
(This continues our Year of Questions - Who is God and what is God up to? And, What is a good life and how do we live it? as guided by our ancestors in faith. So far we've journeyed with Hannah, Mary, Anna & Simeon, John the Baptist, Samuel, and David).
Hope and fear are both ways of viewing the future.
Fear asks, What if...
and then lists all the things that could go wrong, could shake us, destroy us.
Fear is foreboding about what is to come.
Fear paralyzes us. It make us afraid to hope. But hope is stronger than fear. And we don't find hope by fleeing from fear. Fear is finite. Hope is infinite.
Hope answers, Even if...
Even if all the very worst things happen, we are not destroyed. God is always bringing life out of death, and hope from despair.
Hope is trust in the One who holds it all - including what is to come.
Hope is always about wrongs being made right. And we cannot truly hope, we cannot embody hope and let it swell within us, and be people of hope, unless we look the wrong in the face and call it that. We must face our fear.
Things are not as they should be! because we know there is more. Hope is knowing it could be different, it should be different, it will be different. We are people who are not afraid to hope. And so we are also not led by fear.
One day, despite all we see and hear and feel, love wins, life prevails.
Peace will reign. Justice will rule. The weak will be made strong. What has been lost will be restored.
This is God’s promise. The love of God is "vast, unmeasured, boundless, free" - infinite.
This is our hope.
This Lent we face our fear, letting the What if... rise up
and then trusting God to meet us there with infinite hope, Even if...
The Samaritan Woman and Lazarus will lead us in our Lenten exploration of fear and hope.
(This continues our Year of Questions - Who is God and what is God up to? And, What is a good life and how do we live it? as guided by our ancestors in faith. So far we've journeyed with Hannah, Mary, Anna & Simeon, John the Baptist, Samuel, and David).
What is Lent?
Lent is the period of 40 days, (minus Sundays), beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending the Saturday before Easter.
Forty days mirrors Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, and it does not include Sundays because they are considered 'mini-Easters' - celebrations of the resurrection every week. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism.
Lent Today
All around the world, Christians practice Lent as a time of self-reflection, repentance and fasting. The focus is on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
Lent at LNPC: From Fear: Hope
This Lent we will practice facing our fears and letting God meet us there and lead us to hope.
We will have an infinity symbol with the word "hope" - either on a bracelet, keychain or in our pocket, to trace with our thumb, and feel how when we let ourselves trace the path through our fears, it returns us back to hope.
We will also have "infinity journals" - to record fears and hopes throughout Lent.
You may choose to fast from something, or take up a regular practice - whatever helps you be present to the fear and the hope.
Lent is the period of 40 days, (minus Sundays), beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending the Saturday before Easter.
Forty days mirrors Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, and it does not include Sundays because they are considered 'mini-Easters' - celebrations of the resurrection every week. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism.
Lent Today
All around the world, Christians practice Lent as a time of self-reflection, repentance and fasting. The focus is on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
Lent at LNPC: From Fear: Hope
This Lent we will practice facing our fears and letting God meet us there and lead us to hope.
We will have an infinity symbol with the word "hope" - either on a bracelet, keychain or in our pocket, to trace with our thumb, and feel how when we let ourselves trace the path through our fears, it returns us back to hope.
We will also have "infinity journals" - to record fears and hopes throughout Lent.
You may choose to fast from something, or take up a regular practice - whatever helps you be present to the fear and the hope.
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SCHEDULE OF GATHERINGS & EVENTS
WE ARE GATHERING ONLINE EACH SUNDAY AT 10:00 am.
Email Kara if you need a link to the services. You can join in by phone too! Holy Week with LNPC
PALM SUNDAY
ONLINE Sunday, April 5, 10:00 am You can join in by phone too! Link & number will be shared Hopefully, we will be able to deliver some palms to you! Have ready: a candle, matches 
GOOD FRIDAY TENEBRAE SERVICE
ONLINE Friday, April 10, 7:00 pm You can join in by phone too! TENEBRAE SERVICE WITH COMMUNION Link and number will be shared Have ready: 7 tea light candles. matches. a piece of bread, roll or cracker. juice, wine or water. 
EASTER CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION,
ONLINE Sunday, April 12, 10:00 am You can join in by phone too! Link and number will be shared Have ready: a candle, matches |
RESOURCES FOR ENTERING INTO LENT
Carbon Fast for Lent - from Climate caretakers, a brief daily email with something simple you can do.
Printable Lent Family Journal
Wonderful weekly family experiences to engage Lent in creative and practical ways. From flamecreativekids.blogspot.co.uk Daily Online Lent Reading & Meditation
Subscribe to receive a daily email with a short meditation, guiding you through a reading and reflection for each day of Lent. Photo-a-Day Challenge - BustedHalo
Lent is a great time to notice and be present. If you'd like a practice of noticing and sharing, why not a photo-a-day challenge?
40 Days Toward Love
A family or individual prayer practice with lots of action ideas - drawing from LNPC's Prayer for the Nation practice. (We will be doing a version of this during Lent that lets you pray for one person/need per week, but if you'd like a daily practice, or a complete set of 80 prayer hearts, this is a great resource) |
