LENT Week 4
Follow along daily throughout with us this Lent as we explore the key Wesleyan emphases of holiness:
Covenant, Discipleship, Sanctification, Repentance, and Unity
This season we will journey further into love as we are more perfectly formed to tell the story of God with our head, heart, and hands.
Week 4 - A Heart for Repentance
THE EXAMEN
The Examen is a daily spiritual discipline of prayerful questions created by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in order to help prime his spiritual vision to be able to see God moving and working in his life. His constant invitation to those he lived and worked with was to find God in all things. The Jesuits, the holy order of priests and brothers founded by St. Ignatius, order their lives in perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and pray the Examen every night.
Use these five prayerful steps to find God in all things this Lenten season.
1. Attune to God’s presence. Find a comfortable position and ground yourself with deep, slow breathing. Know that God is with you, always as close as your next breath. God is with you even now.
2. Review your day. What was a consolation to you today?
*Consolations are anything, any place, or any person that brings us closer to God. Consolations can be good, bad, or neutral themselves - but they are those things which usher us into the presence of God.*
3. What was a desolation to you today?
*Desolations are anything, any place, or any person that brings us further away from God. Desolations can be good, or neutral themselves - but they are simply those things which draw us out of the presence of God.*
4. Give thanks for the day. Name the moments and the people and the experiences you are most grateful to God for today.
5. Repentance is turning from sin and death toward life.
What practices or ways of thinking do you need to repent of this Lent?
SUNDAY
Lectionary Readings
Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3; 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
Join us for Worship this First Sunday of Lent
We are excited to welcome you to worship in-person or online at ESUMC. We will worship at 10:30 am for The Gathering and 8:30 am & 10:30 am for the Sanctuary.
The livestream and bulletin for this Sunday can be found online at esumc.org/livestream.
MONDAY
MUSIC
“God So Loved the World”
by John Stainer
offered by ESUMC Chancel Choir
Click here for more Lenten Music
TUESDAY
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
by Ed Coman (inspired by Psalm 73)
Truly, God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart. But as for us, our feet nearly stumbled, our steps nearly slipped for we have drunk deep from the cup of our secular culture. With our lips we have praised you, O Lord, but all the while thirsting for our next drink, not from the cup of salvation, but from that false brew of the cup of our secular culture. Having become addicted to this brew, we have failed to worship you in spirit and in truth. We have neglected the poor and the needy. We have allowed our hearts to be closed to your Word. In this troubled world, we have failed to be bridges of reconciliation. We have failed to be an obedient church. Forgive us, O Lord, and by the grace of your Holy Spirit, infuse our hearts with true repentance this Lenten season. May we be ever mindful of your steadfast love, that you are always with us and that you, and you alone, are our refuge and our strength this day and all days. Amen.
WEDNESDAY
ART & POETRY
Click Here to see this week’s artwork
THURSDAY
FIRST READ PODCAST (LIVE)
Join us on Wednesday evenings this spring (2/21-3/20) for Midweek Bible Study to connect, gather around the table for dinner, and learn together. Our Bible study will focus on the scriptures being preached each week during Lent. Several pastors and laity will engage in a live recording of ESUMC’s First Read Podcast beginning at 7:00 PM each week, followed by conversation at tables and time for Q & A. We look forward to seeing you there as we journey through the Lenten season together.
Click Here for this week’s episode
FRIDAY
STORIES
MEET MICAH
Micah was enrolled at Learning Together at two years old. At the time, he was non-verbal, wore a weighted vest and a chew necklace to help with his sensory needs. He would bite himself and wore a helmet to prevent injury from hitting his head on the floor. Micah graduated in June of 2019 and just started 4th grade this year. He no longer has a behavioral IEP, no longer receives ABA, speech or occupational therapy, and does not require ongoing sensory support. His mom recently said in gratitude: “Learning Together was a huge asset to Micah’s development. We loved that the classes included kids with and without special needs. The teachers were excellent at working with Micah on his social/emotional skills, and gross motor skills.” Micah’s story is a success because he had access to early diagnosis and intervention. Learning Together exists to ensure every child has access to equitable early childhood education that helps them find their potential.
SATURDAY
LENTEN ALMSGIVING
Throughout Lent, we invite you to join us in the spiritual practice of almsgiving - the sacrificial sharing of our resources to partner with God’s work in the world. Our hope is to raise $20,000 for L’Arche NC and Learning Together, to provide resources for Learning Together scholarships and to help to fill L’Arche’s new home. We hope you will join us as we practice living like Jesus by sharing our resources and cultivating charitable hearts! Click the links below to give resources and/or time this week.