It’s amazing how quickly things in Wisconsin can change in the span of a month: at the writing of last month’s newsletter the temperatures were warmer than seasonal and the grass was green, and now we have at least two feet on the snow on the ground and the temperatures are seasonable for January. The traditional seasons have not forgotten us and time marches on.
For those of us tasked with planning and organizing the worship life of the church, time marches on even more quickly this year. Easter falls a bit earlier this year—March 31st—meaning that the time between the First Sunday after Epiphany and Ash Wednesday is shorter. It is to be expected: in the average of once in a handful of years, Easter will fall in March. Salem’s Worship Team has already prepared a schedule of worship and study for the Wednesdays in Lent, so the bases are covered.
Like last year, we will start out Lent with Ash Wednesday worship in the sanctuary on February 14th at 7:00 p.m. with a service that features the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion. After that, we will we begin five weeks of Lenten activities very similar to last year’s schedule. We will gather for a simple meal between 5:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m., move to a moment of study from 6:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., break into smaller group activities from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., and conclude with vesper worship at 7:15 p.m. This year our study theme will be “Feeding our Faith,” which will be reflections on short videos that focus on the Eucharist (the themes to be covered each of the particular Wednesdays is still being determined at this writing).
We will also carry this format into Maundy Thursday (a move we considered doing for last year’s series already): a simple meal followed by worship with Holy Communion at the tables in Fellowship Hall. More details on this will follow in the weeks ahead, but to get started, there is a sign-up form for hosting and helping with simple suppers later in this newsletter.
Our time between Jesus and the waters of baptism and the start of the journey to Jerusalem and cross is a short one this year, so let’s make the best use of it as we begin to transition our hearts and minds to the pilgrimage ahead.
Shalom aleichem—Peace be with you.
Rev. Jim Hoppert
