Our worship centers on Matthew 4:1-11, the temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness. Special music is provided by the Sanctuary Choir and Denise Walters.
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Lent?
Lent is the period preceding Easter that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday and so includes forty weekdays.The word “Lent” means lengthening of the day, an indication that we are moving from winter into spring.
Lent at Tabernacle? Why are there pictures of dirt?
This year Tabernacle’s Lenten theme embraces the hopefulness of the word “Lent.” The sanctuary is a garden. The first week of Lent we began with the bare dirt of a garden. Many of us share a common love of gardening, for us the sight of well-prepared bare dirt is an exciting and welcome sight.
We can envision many beautiful plants growing in the dirt, flowers, vegetables or trees. There are many pictures of “dirt” in the hymns racks. The congregation is actually sitting in the middle of a wonderful field of dirt ready to be planted. In the front of the sanctuary there is a garden box full of dirt. On the choir rail there is a winter picture of trees waiting patiently for the warmth of spring to allow them to sprout leaves.
The first Sunday of Lent found the dirt and the trees as barren and empty as the wilderness in which Jesus finds himself in the Gospel Lesson for the day (Matt. 4:1-11). In the following weeks the Gospel readings share stories of Jesus as he encounters various people who ask questions and explore a relationship with him. The garden, with the help of our children, will slowly grow over the weeks as we ask questions and explore our relationship with Jesus and with each other. The garden will reach its full glory on Palm Sunday when we will welcome “King” Jesus to Jerusalem.
