"Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Ephesians 5:14
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Earl and Scott led our lovely Morning Prayer service this past Sunday.
Br. Scott's sermon this past Sunday focused on the Epistle lesson from Ephesians 5 and pulled from his New Testament class at Nashotah House Seminary. In class he studied Colossians and Ephesians together because of their similar style and content. Paul had concerns about the Colossian's exposure and interaction with their culture's philosophies and about the Ephesians' practice of magic or sorcery. These concerns lead to Paul's emphasis on the cosmic supremacy of Christ over all, both heaven and earth, both seen and unseen (Col. 1:18) as well as to his exhortation in Ephesians Ch. 6 for Christians to put on the armor of God in order to overcome all the powers of the universe through Christ. These concerns about philosophy and magic being incorporated into the Christian beliefs are still relevant today - for example Santeria, Vodou, Mormonism, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witness, etc. In addition to his concerns about injecting other philosophies, magic, or paraspiritual thinking into the Gospel, Paul warns about sexual immorality, obscene talk and greed.
The last verse of the Epistle lesson ends with:
"Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Scott tied this verse to the song "You Are My Sunshine" and closed out his sermon with a beautiful sing-a-long reminding us that no one will ever take our sunshine away!
Please find the complete service at the following link:
During his sermon, Br. Scott also recommended the following website:
This website offers wonderful video summaries of each book of the Bible as well as other resources.
Thank you Br. Scott and Earl for the beautiful service.
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Immediately before the processional, several of our members, sang "The Magnificat". They were accompanied by Sue on the violin. They plan to sing this before every service during Lent. The above picture is of the rehearsal before services. Thank you for the beautiful music!
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The Stations of The Cross
This past Friday we participated in 'The Stations of The Cross' service.
We all read at least one of the stations. Br. Scott led us in opening and closing prayers. Such a beautiful service!
After the service, we enjoyed Daryl's amazing homemade gumbo and Diane's homemade sour dough bread with onion butter!!! Delicious light Lenten dinner!
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Fr. Dennis will continue the Confirmation classes on Sunday, March 19 at 10 am. Everyone is invited to attend these classes! Thank you Fr. Dennis for these very informative lessons!
On the Sundays Fr. Dennis is not with us, Sue will lead a short Prayer Meeting downstairs starting at 10:30.
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For Easter we will be decorating our altar with Easter Lilies. Please let Earl or Rose Marie know if you would like to purchase an Easter Lily in memory of a loved one. Please provide the number of lilies you wish to purchase along with the names of your loved ones. The lilies are $10 a piece.
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Our next Women's Bible Study meeting is at the church on Wednesday, March 15 at 11 am . Please remember to bring the book, your bible, and a lunch!
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Sue continues to lead our weekly online prayer group on Discord every Thursday at 2 pm. Thank you so much Sue for taking the time each week to lead our prayers! If you have a special prayer request but cannot join us, please send your request to Sue. Please contact me if you would like to join us on Discord.
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Sunday, March 19, is our next monthly pot luck luncheon! Please remember to bring a dish to share!
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The Lenten Devotional created by our Deanery is now available at the following link:.
Our own Br. Scott is one of the contributors!
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Bp. Jones sent out the following letter concerning this year's Lenten Appeal. Please consider supporting this generous and important program this Lent.
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