March
Lent is a season of prayer, confession, self-examination, and for some even fasting, in preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is a period of 40 days beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Sundays are not counted in the 40 days since every Lord’s Day is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We will begin a new sermon series at The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church on the first Sunday of Lent, March 1st, entitled “Heart to Heart Talks.” Each Sunday we will look at “heart to heart talks” Jesus had with people, all kinds of people, with questions and fears and hopes.
We may see ourselves in Nicodemus. He seems at first not to understand or maybe he didn’t want to understand. After all it might be costly to embrace Jesus. Or the Samaritan woman who was stunned not just that Jesus knew so much about her but that instead of rejecting her Jesus welcomed her. Or the blind man in John 9. So many questions about “why” and “how” and “who is this Jesus?” The death of Lazarus. Why wasn’t Jesus there sooner? Where is Jesus when I need him? And then of course, on Palm Sunday, how everyone denied even knowing Jesus, even his closest friends. Do we deny him today? All of which brings us to Easter Sunday. Good news that we are called to share, not just with words, but actions and attitudes.
Of course, our conversations, our “heart to heart talks” with Jesus don’t end. They continue as we read Scripture and enter a conversation with the Living Word. They continue as we gather on Sundays to worship with others, once again inviting conversation with the Living, Resurrected One through hymns and prayers and Scripture. They continue in one on one conversations and small group discussions where we are willing to listen for God to speak to us through others. And where we are willing to allow God to use us, our questions, our fears, and our hopes to speak into someone else’s life.
David Jones
Pastor
The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church