Lenten Letter

Dear Immanuel Church Family and Friends,


The Church Year leads us in our formation of faith: During Advent we patiently await the arrival of Messiah. During Christmas, we celebrate Jesus' birth - the coming of God's chosen redeemer. During Epiphany, we watch Jesus at work. We learn about his powerful ministry of justice and reconciliation. We see him at work among us to seek and save the lost.

Now, having glimpsed Jesus' glory, we begin our journey to the cross in the season of Lent. During this Lenten season leading up to Palm Sunday, Passion Week, and Easter Sunday, we will spend time reflecting on what it means to be followers of Christ. We will wrestle with Jesus' teaching on hypocrisy and consider what it means to be authentic witnesses of Christ. The hypocrisy of Jesus' followers is one of the chief reasons people reject the Christian faith. Because of this, it behooves us to wrestle with this distortion of faith, and consider how we may prove to be true (and truthful) witnesses of God's kingdom in our personal and corporate lives.

During our Sunday morning services we will cover such topics as:

  • How Not to Pray (Matthew 6:1-8)
  • Toxic Religion
  • Virtual Piety (and the Challenge of Hypocrisy)
  • The Subtle and Hidden Dangers of "Being Good" (Matthew 23)

During our Wednesday evening services, we will continue our journey through the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) by joining Israel in its trek through the wilderness to the Promised Land. We will wrestle with what it means to be God's covenant people - a kingdom of priests who follow the Ten Commandments and participate in temple worship. We will take a stab at the seemingly endless amount of Levitical laws. Finally, we will examine Israel's grumblings in the wilderness. All of this leads to Moses' final charge to a new generation perched to enter the Promised Land in the book of Deuteronomy.

Prior to each Wednesday evening session there will be a Lenten Dinner at 6:00 p.m. All are welcome! Service follows at 7:00 p.m. Join us as we journey together with Israel in the wilderness during this season of Lent.

Passion Week services begin April 9th with a Maundy Thursday service at 7:00 p.m.. We will hear Christ offer a final lesson to the disciples in the Upper Room and share a final meal before his descent into the darkness of the cross. During our noon Good Friday service, we will responsively and dramatically read through John's crucifixion account. After the silence of Holy Saturday, we will burst forth into the glory of Christ's resurrection with three services on Easter Sunday: an Easter Sunrise service at 7:00 a.m., and our normal services at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m.

The Apostle Paul spoke of his chief passion in Philippians 3:10: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death." Notice how Paul inseparably connects the cross and resurrection. Paul recognizes that he can only know resurrection power by conforming his life to the self-giving love of Christ - a love that is shaped like a cross.

This season provides the perfect opportunity to reflect upon both the cross and the resurrection - and our relationship to these saving events. In the cross we see the victory of seemingly powerless love over loveless power. In the cross we see Jesus' complete surrender to God's will and complete self-denial for the sake of others - in short, we see God's love with absolute clarity. And yet, without the resurrection, the cross would be empty of power. Our interest in it would reflect nothing but a morbid, macabre fascination with suffering and death. Only the resurrection can vindicate the claim: Jesus is Lord!

Preparing our hearts to fully embrace Jesus' triumph in his cross and resurrection is the reason for Lent. These high holy days remind us once again that our lives and faith are rooted in God's saving work on our behalf - and on behalf of the world.

I hope that you will be able to participate in some or all of our services. And my heartfelt prayer is that you would be touched by God in and through this holy season!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Rich Vincent