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St. David Lutheran ___________________________________________________________________________ March 2020 Sunday, March 1 - First Sunday in Lent 9:30 am—Sunday School/Confirmation 10:30 am—Worship/Communion Wednesday, March 4 2020 6:00 pm—Soup and Sandwich Supper 7:00 pm—Lenten Vespers ARCH M Sunday, March 8 - Second Sunday in Lent 9:30 am—Sunday School/Confirmation 10:30 am—Worship/Communion HURCH C R Wednesday, March 11 6:00 pm—Soup and Sandwich Supper E 7:00 pm—Lenten Vespers UTHERAN L T Sunday, March 15 - Third Sunday in Lent 9:30 am—Sunday School/Confirmation AVID 10:30 am—Worship/Communion H . D T S Wednesday, March 18 OF G 6:00 pm—Soup and Sandwich Supper 7:00 pm—Lenten Vespers I Sunday, March 22 - Fourth Sunday in Lent L EWSLETTER 9:30 am—Sunday School/Confirmation N 10:30 am—Worship/Communion P Wednesday, March 25 ONTHLY M 6:00 pm—Soup and Sandwich Supper M 7:00 pm—Lenten Vespers HE T A Sunday, March 29 - Fifth Sunday in Lent 9:30 am—Sunday School/Confirmation 10:30 am—Worship/Communion L Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Having entered into the season of Lent, we have begun our annual pilgrimage with Jesus to the cross. In the greatest display of love the world has ever seen, God humbled himself not only to become one of us in the mystery of the incarnation, but even to suffer our own death in order to destroy the power of sin, death, and the devil. What a broken and beautiful image to think about! One of the things that we hear about each year on Ash Wednesday is about the practice of Lent—a discipline of prayer, fasting, and alms giving. Prayer is a natural part of the Christian life, an open-ended and ongoing conversation with God our Father. Every time I think about the discipline of prayer, I remember the words of Pope Francis who spoke about the fact that God never tires of hearing our voices lifted up in prayer to him, but that we are the ones who grow weary of approaching the throne of grace to give thanks, to ask for forgiveness, support, and guidance, and to be present with those in need. Don’t give up on praying, because God doesn’t give up or tire of hearing your voice. Fasting is always the hot topic when Lent rolls around. Many folks give up things like chocolate or soft drinks. While those things might be helpful to you on your own personal journey of health and wellness, but it misses the mark of what the church is trying to instill in us for our own growth as people who follow Jesus. Fasting is meant to remove something so that we can be filled in our relationships with God and our neighbors. So go ahead, and give up that chocolate, but maybe consider doing something charitable with the money you would have spent on chocolate. Or maybe you’re fasting from an activity—try replacing the time you normally spend on that activity with time spent in study of scripture or in prayer. Fasting is meant to draw us nearer to God, not just to make us angry about not having chocolate or having headaches from caffeine withdrawal. Alms giving is the one that usually gets the least attention. Alms giving is nothing more than charitable giving to those in need. Sure, people do this all the time through different organizations and there’s a whole host of places that you can give that are good, proper, and holy. What I’d like for us to consider this year on our Lenten pilgrimage together is whether we feel God calling us to invest—either for the first time or to deepen our level of investment—in the ministry that God has called all of us to here at St. David. Through your gifts given to the church, the reach of our ministry literally stretches across the globe—all starting right here in our corner of West Columbia. Our gifts not only fund local ministry, but work to support the mission of the church here in SC, the United States, and globally through programs like Lutheran World Relief, Young Adults in Global Missions, and by supporting our military chaplains with resources that help to nourish the souls of our servicemembers at home and abroad. Your gifts matter, and they reach farther than you might imagine. (Continued on next page.) (Continued from previous page.) One of the things we’re working on as a church is making giving accessible. One of the ways we’re doing that is by partnering with a new vendor, PushPay. Using their system, we’ll be able to not only accept gifts to support the ministry through bank draft, but also by debit card. We don’t want anyone going into debt to give to the church, so we aren’t accepting credit card transactions. You can access this new system either by signing up on the website, or by texting SDLC GIVE to 77977 on your mobile phone. This system is much more user friendly than Vanco, and if you’ve been using Vanco, you’ll be receiving a letter about switching to the new system. Additionally, PushPay will be developing a mobile app for tablets and smart phones that will increase the church’s ability to communicate with folks between Sundays about the important ministry that we’ve been called to through the gospel. I pray that your Lenten pilgrimage this year is blessed, and that by walking with Jesus to his cross, we might find a renewed passion for loving and serving God and our neighbor through the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and alms giving. May peace be our journey, Pastor Greg+ YOUTH March is another busy month for our youth! It is also a very service-oriented month. Our first event will be a yard clean-up for 2 of our shut-in members here at St. David. The next weekend our youth will be doing a prayer walk-a-thon around the Church Cemetery to raise funds for the National Youth Gathering in 2021. The walk will consist of prayer through the stages of the cross and then will have various topics for the youth to pray about as they do more laps. For every lap they will have pledges from other people to donate money toward their cause. The last youth group event is the SCLCY “Spring into Action” which will be held in Greenville this year to help clean up a camp that is in need. Our LYLS will have another ELF event this month at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church on March 29. If you would like to volunteer to help with any of these events, please contact Joel at [email protected]. MARCH 1 Shut-ins’ Service Day - Yard Clean-Up 8 Youth Prayer Walk- Fund Raiser (National Gathering) 20-22 Spring Into Action 29 LYLS- E.L.F. Event WORSHIP NOTES O Lord, throughout these forty days you prayed and kept the fast; inspire repentance for our sin, and free us from our past. Claudia Hernaman d.1898 ELW 319 When Jesus, who had no sin, came to John for baptism, it was not for repentance. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus shows himself ready to do God’s will. After his baptism, he begins his ministry by going into the desert for prayer and meditation. So, what are you giving up for Lent? This was the greeting I used to hear years ago as others saw ashes on my forehead. This understanding of Lent has been replaced with a more positive take. What are you DOING for Lent? Both ideas express a change in the routine of our lives, whether we give up chocolate or read the Bible daily, we begin to think about the why. The world is much with us, though, and it isn’t easy to keep our minds fixed above: Though parched and hungry, yet you prayed and fixed your mind above; So teach us to deny ourselves that we my know God’s love. In Lenten meditation, we are encouraged to withdraw mentally and to go into a deeper part of ourselves. Time spent in meditation does have a lasting effect. The preparation we do during Lent and Holy Week gives us more depth to our Easter celebration. So travel with Jesus during this forty day pilgrimage. Reorder your days and your thoughts. Be with us through this season, Lord, and all our earthly days, That when the final Easter dawns, we join in heaven’s praise. AL THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT of the Souper Bowl of Caring initiative! Together we were able to raise $344.40 for the cause. Also, with thanks to you, we were able to donate 297 lbs. of food and needed items to Mission Lexington. Your selfless gifts will help feed and care for those who need it most. January 2020 Council Highlights St. David Congregational Council met on January 5, 2020. The meeting was opened with devotions presented by Jim Bickley from Joshua: Encouragement for the New Year. Minutes from the December 8, 2019 meeting were approved. Business 1. Approval was given to purchase new robes for the Chancel Choir, Jubilate Bells, Assisting Ministers and Acolytes. An opportunity will be given to the congregation to donate in honor or memory of someone. 2. A new organizational chart for the congregation was adopted at the Council Retreat just prior to the January council meeting.