Lenten Practice

Most of us get the concept of Lent. Lent is the 40 days prior to Easter that begins with Ash Wednesday. It is a time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus during Holy Week and Easter.

As I said, we get the concept. We understand that to do anything well, you have to prepare, you have to get ready. But how do we get our hearts ready for Jesus?

Traditional Christian teachers for centuries have advocated what they call “Lenten practices” or “spiritual exercises” to prepare our hearts and spirits. Just as physical exercise improves the body, spiritual exercises are meant to improve the spirit. In the church, it is our job to encourage these exercises and to provide opportunities to perform them. This month, I want to highlight three opportunities that are available for our folks to exercise a Lenten discipline.

First, there are the Ecumenical Lenten services sponsored by the Sand Springs Ministerial Alliance. These services will be every Tuesday at noon and a light lunch will follow. The schedule is on page 4 of this newsletter, and responsibility for these services is shared by the Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal churches. If you have not done so before, you may want to take advantage of these services.

Second, Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery is sponsoring their annual Cursillo weekend on March 12-15. This would be a wonderful way to deepen your spiritual walk. The retreat is designed to encourage people in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to deepen their faith, and give them the tools and the inspiration to move forward in their spiritual journey. There are more details in the newsletter, and application forms in the church office. I would love for us to take a group to Dwight Mission for this year’s event!

Third, I will be preaching a series of sermons during Lent on the topic of the cross, which is both a significant Lenten theme, and one of those aspects of our faith that many of us struggle with. Why did Jesus have to die? Was that really necessary? What does the cross really mean in our modern context, and how can I understand it? I hope you will make an extra effort to be in church every Sunday during Lent (a spiritual discipline in itself) and take advantage of these messages. If you are unable to be present, you can always view them online by accessing our church web page at www.fpcsandsprings.org, and clicking on the “video sermons” link.

I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to grow in your faith, and we also have many others, like Sunday School, Bible Study, and Lifetree Café. Whatever method you choose, make this the year you took the extra time to prepare your heart for the coming of the Savior.

The Andrew Project

     This past Sunday, I outlined a clear and reasonable way for us to reach out to our friends and neighbors and to increase church attendance. I call it the Andrew Project, because it is based on the life and ministry of St. Andrew.

    If you aren’t familiar with the life of Andrew, he was the brother of Simon Peter. But he is mentioned a few times in the Gospels for some of the things he did in his own right. For example, he is best known as the disciple who brought people to Jesus. It was Andrew, in fact, who brought his brother to meet Jesus, and it was Andrew who brought the little boy whose lunch fed 5,000 people. It’s what he was known for.

    That doesn’t seem too hard to me. I think that is something we could all do, something we should do, in fact—bring people to Jesus. That’s where I got the idea for the Andrew Project. I want to encourage every person in our church to think of one individual or family that they could invite and bring to church. Andrew brought people to Jesus, and when we bring people to church, we bring them to a place where they can meet Jesus.

    On Sunday, I used an acronym to help us remember to invite others, and how to do it. It was the word, “BRING.” Each letter helps remind us what we need to do to bring others to Christ.

    The first letter stands for “Believe.” That is the first step in bringing others to Christ. Andrew believed, and went and found his brother. When we believe, it gives us the motivation to find others and bring them to Christ.

    The second letter stands for “Relationship.” I suppose we could just ask random people we know or meet to come to church, but I doubt we would have very much success. Besides, that would be far too intimidating for most of us. What we can do is invite someone we know, someone with whom we have a previous relationship. That makes a lot more sense. I can tell my friend or someone I know at work how much I enjoy my church, and invite them to come with me some time. That’s not too scary.

    The third letter stands for “Invite,” because that’s what we are going to do. We invite someone we know, take that extra step and just ask them. You never know until you ask. But sometimes they may need a little help. That’s why the fourth letter stands for “nurture,” which also means “encourage.” We may have to keep on encouraging them until they actually come.

    Finally, the “G” in BRING reminds us of our “goal” which is to “glorify God” (that’s a lot of G’s). The Bible says there is great rejoicing in heaven for every sinner who repents. When someone accepts our invitation, and doesn’t just come to church, but actually comes to God, that is awesome. That is the goal toward which we work.

      So, over the next few months, think of somebody you know who isn’t going to church regularly. Maybe it’s a friend or a co-worker, or even a family member. Encourage them, nurture them, invite them, and BRING them to church to meet Jesus.

Thinking Forward

     Over the past week I have been thinking a lot about the future. Not in a long-term or apocalyptic kind of way, just some thoughts about where we are going in the church and what kinds of things we ought to be doing in the coming year.

     I have been having these thoughts for a variety of reasons. First, we have been preparing the church’s Annual Report, and doing some looking back and looking forward. Second, we had what I thought was an excellent planning meeting with the session last Sunday as we looked at our mission statement and made plans for the year ahead. Look for some of those plans coming to fruition in the next few months.

     When most of us thing about starting a New Year we think about how we would like to improve our lives or our selves. Exercise equipment goes on sale and Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig run special sign-up programs. Some people sign up for classes or purchase audio books to improve themselves during the time they spend alone in the car.

     When I think about how I would like to improve, the category of “spiritual” is at least somewhere on my radar. What that means changes from year to year, but it is usually there. Some years I think of important books on theology I need to read, sometimes I feel the need to work on my prayer life or Bible study. Just like our physical muscles, our spiritual muscles need a workout in order to remain strong.

     I am proud of the variety of opportunities we have at FPCSS to flex our spiritual muscles. We have heavy-lifting Bible study on Sunday nights at 6:30. We just started a verse-by-verse study of the Book of Exodus that will take most of the year, so this is a great opportunity to get started. We read and discuss and dig deep to understand and fill our minds and hearts with God’s Word.

     For the long run, there is a good cardio workout available in Sunday School. That is an ongoing program, week in and week out, year after year, that produces results over the long haul. If you are not involved, there are classes for a variety of ages and interests. In the parlor, the Pairs and Spares class meets and studies a traditional Presbyterian produced curriculum of a variety of Bible passages. The Library class downstairs is working their way through the Bible and are presently in the New Testament. The Saints and Ain’ts class is participating in the Lifetree Café curriculum and studying contemporary topics from stem cell research to keeping the love alive in your relationship. So there really is something for everyone.

     I am also excited about a fairly intensive boot camp training experience that is sponsored by Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery, and is called Cursillo. Cursillo is a Spanish word that means “short course,” and the weekend is a short course in Christianity. It helps answer the question, What does it mean to be a Christian, and How can I grow in my faith? There are details in this month’s newsletter, and some of our own members will be participating in the event.

     So, if you are looking for a way to turn up the heat in your spiritual life this year, there are plenty of opportunities to do so. Pick one and go for it!