The invitation to Lent spoken on Ash Wednesday reminds us that we enter this season together “with the whole church.” It goes on to state that “we are created for communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation.” Though many common Lenten practices rightly invite us to individual acts of “repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love,” Lent is also a time for deepening of community.
In the early church, the weeks before Easter were a time in which the whole community took responsibility for the training of those preparing for baptism. Not only were these catechumens enriched by this formation, but those already within the community were strengthened in their faith along with them.
This year at Gloria Dei, we are inviting each other to reflect on what it means to be in community with one another, with the world, with creation, and with God. In Sunday morning worship, at our Sunday Forums, and in our Wednesday midweek Evening Prayer, we’ll hear God’s call to us to be renewed in our baptismal gifts of connection, reconciliation and new life. (Based on ideas from sundaysandseasons.com. Copyright © 2024 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.)
Wednesdays in Lent
Join us each Wednesday evening for soup supper 5:45-6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall and Evening Prayer at 6:30 p.m. including prayer, song, candlelight and a reflection on creating community. Evening Prayer will also be livestreamed on Gloria Dei’s YouTube channel. Here are the weekly topics and speakers:
- March 6 – Community Within the Congregation (Pr. Jodi)
- March 13 – Community and Antiracism (JUSTmove)
- March 20 – Community and The Self (Dennis Friesen Carper)
Wednesday Discussions at 7 p.m. – 30 minutes of discussion and community building. Adults meet in Gathering Place; 7th & 8th graders meet in Fellowship Hall; 9th &10th graders meet with mentors at various places throughout building.
Sunday Forums in Lent
Sunday Forums meet at 9:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall and will cover these topics with these featured speakers through the Lenten season.
- March 10, Created for Community with God through Icons – Pastor Bradley introduces us to the new icons we will be seeing in Gloria Dei’s Chapel of the Good Shepherd. Icons are an ancient devotional form, inviting worshipers to gaze into a symbolic presence of the Divine as a spiritual practice. Gloria Dei has four new icons from a diverse set of artistic and theological expressions, which will expand the art of our chapel.
- March 17, Created for Community Across Racial Divisions – Music and spoken word artists Dave Scherer and Joe Davis make up the duo JUSTmove which encourages the church in its journey toward racial justice, including modeling ways to get beyond the anxiety of discussions of race and into authentic conversation with our neighbor. JUSTmove invites us into a process toward societal healing. Its unique blend of movement, music, story-telling and poetry offer us new ways to consider cross-racial reconciliation.
- March 24, Created for Community in our Neighborhood – Intergenerational Palm Sunday Procession. Join us as we celebrate Passion Sunday in our neighborhood. We’ll create signs and posters announcing God’s hope to feed the world with food, peace, compassion, and justice. We’ll begin in Fellowship Hall at 9:30 a.m. At 10, we’ll process through the streets of Highland to share God’s love with our neighbors (or through the halls of Gloria Dei if it’s chilly outside).
Special Lenten Activities
Show us community being created at Gloria Dei – Community is always being created at Gloria Dei in ways that not everyone knows or gets to see. Send us your photos showing community being created from your Gloria Dei perspective. We’ll share them on social media and post them on church bulletin boards. Be creative in sharing your community’s story.
How can you share your photo?
- Click here to share your digital images via email.
- Follow Gloria Dei’s Facebook page each Monday for the weekly prompt and post it there.
- Post your photo on your own Facebook page and tag Gloria Dei.
Be sure to include information about what community is shown and who is in the picture!
Walk the Labyrinth; Created for Communion – Spend time in quiet, prayerful movement.
- Outdoor Labyrinth – Available in the courtyard, weather permitting, anytime the church is open throughout the week.
- Indoor Canvas Labyrinth – Wednesday, March 13, from 4-8 p.m. in the Gallery
