Tag: Lent

Posted on

Thursdays: Journaling through Lent

image by Marc Romanelli via Getty Images, from Huffington Post
Photo by Marc Romanelli via Getty Images, from Huffington Post

Betsy Arnold will lead a “Journaling through Lent” group on Thursdays, 11:30 to 12:30, in the conference room of the church. “Journaling is a very personal process and we will be exploring different ways to enjoy this spiritual practice,” she says.  “Please bring any thoughts, ideas, books, and techniques to share with the group. You will also need some type of journal or tablet of paper and your favorite pen. We will be doing some writing during our hour together.”

Intrigued? Check out this Huffington Post article about journaling as a tool for changing one’s life.
Betsy and her husband Bill moved to West Windsor last year; they have three children, one still in high school. Betsy graduated from Emory University and, earlier in her career, was a social worker. Now a published author, she is hard at work on Book III in the Tapestry series, a series of young adult historical fantasy novels set in medieval times.
 To join the journaling group, or for more information, call 609-924-2613 or email office@PrincetonUMC.org.
Posted on

Pastor’s Pen: Leaning into Lent

2016LentenSeries-WildernessTimeSlider-943x345From Rev. Catherine Williams: As I write this note Lent is on my mind. This is the time of the liturgical year I think of death and renewal. The dry, barren woods behind my home remind me that nature is in her own necessary cycle of death and renewal, even as Lent approaches. What images does Lent conjure for you? As a child growing up in Anglican schools the images of this season were markedly somber: fasting, deprivation, denial, meatless Fridays, penitence, confession, and lots of songs in minor keys! It was all about traditional piety back then. As an adult however, I’ve learned to lean into Lent more purposefully. Leaning into Lent means preparing to strip down my faith to its bare essentials. I don’t always succeed but the process always yields a healthier spirituality.

This year our mid-week Lenten meditations invite us into a fresh experience of the wilderness. We can lean into Lent as we take the journey from our cultivated daily landscapes into the uninhabited places of prayer, fasting, study, or whatever spiritual discipline is most meaningful to us at this time.
Our Lenten sermon series, starting February 17, looks at the “I am” sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel according to John. Jesus identified himself in these sayings as the Light of the World, the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door, and the Resurrection and the Life. These are powerful nodes of spiritual encounter that invite you and me to fertilize and prune our faith during this season of death and renewal. I hope you’ll take this invitation to heart and join us on this grace-filled journey as the Spirit leads us towards wholeness and healing. As we lean into Lent together, I offer for our meditation this hymn of prayer from Charles Wesley: (UMH #410)
I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear,
A sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.
I want the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,
To catch the wandering of my will, and quench the kindling fire.
In Lenten simplicity.

Catherine Williams

Posted on

Strong and courageous, strong and courageous, strong and courageous”

2015 3 10 Scott Sherill Tuesday

Scott Sherrill, the divinity student who just happens to be married to Deb Sherrill, PUMC’s office administrator, led the Midweek Lenten Gathering. To illustrate the topic “Change of Circumstances,” he chose the story of Joshua, who had to succeed Moses and lead the Israelites into the promised land.

Scott — who just happens to have experienced many surprising changes of circumstances in the last year — reminds us that God strenthens Joshua’s resolve by promising “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5b)

Three times the Lord uses the same two words, strong and courageous, ending with “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Next in the “Change” series for Lenten Tuesdays:

Anna Gillette March 17: Change of Perspective
Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan asked us to shift our thinking, our judging, our ideas about what is right. Jesus challenges us to move beyond parameters and into a whole new way of living. 
Bianca Baird March 24: Change of Heart
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees give us pause: “You honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me.” Jesus invites us to experience a change of heart that will in fact change every part of our lives.
Shivonne McKay: Change of Plans
God’s ways are not our own. We expect a conquering king and hero, but Jesus instead leads us down the road to Jerusalem and humbles himself on the cross. God changes our plans and replaces them with a love broader and deeper than anything we could imagine.

Scott interned at Hightstown Methodist Church last summer and is at Trinity Episcopal Church this academic  year. We are blessed to have him participate in the life of this church!

PS: Joshua found out that God kept the covenant. The first city they came to crossing  over the Jordan was Jericho, and we all know what happened there!

 

 

Posted on

Rethink Church: for Lent — a photo a day

lent photo a ay

The website Rethink Church offers an unusual way to observe Lent: take a picture a day for that day’s theme (listed above). and post them on Facebook, as quoted here:

As we journey through this season of Lent, some will choose to give up something. Some will go about their lives as if it was ordinary time. Some will choose to be more reflective. Whatever your practices this season, will you join this photo-a-day challenge and share with the community how you perceive each word or phrase for the day? ….

You don’t have to be a great photographer. This project is more about the practice of paying attention and being intentional, than it is using the right filter or getting the perfect shot..

The first of the daily themes is Announce,  for Ash Wednesday, followed by Look, Joy, and Alone. For details on this intriguing project, click here.

Posted on

The Landscape of Lent: Wilderness

2014 3 9 altar earhGod’s Word shows us that even life’s barren and hostile wilderness cannot separate us from God’s love and the destiny God has for us. That’s what ZhiHui Poh preached on March 9 in a Lenten sermon at Princeton United Methodist Church. His topic in the Landscape of Lent series was the wilderness — the wilderness in which the Israelites wandered, the wilderness in which Jesus was tempted, and the wilderness in our own lives.

He offered an inspiring message about how to think of “life’s wilderness” three ways — as part of God’s grace, as part of God’s discipline, or as part of God’s confidence in us. To continue reading, click here.

(The altar was designed for this service by Debbie Meola).

Posted on

The Landscape of Lent: Wind

2014 3 16 wind photo sanctuary Some of God’s best work happens in the midst of chaos and ambiguity, said Catherine Williams in her sermon at Princeton United Methodist Church on Sunday, March 16, 2014. The theme was “Wind,” and it was part of a Lenten sermon series on the elements. Here is an excerpt, and for the complete text, click here. The audio version is also available on Sermon.net.

Some of God’s best work happens in the midst of chaos and ambiguity. I was never more aware of that than in my clinical pastoral exposure in the chaos of emergency rooms, in the ambiguity of the psychiatric floor, or in the limbo of the intensive care unit and its waiting rooms. As a terrified chaplain-in-training, despite my predilection for order and control, I discovered that some of God’s best work takes place in the midst of life’s disruptions.

May those of us today who are trying to live through situations of ambiguity and uncertainty allow the wind of God’s spirit to fill us with peace. Often in this place of peace we encounter God’s wisdom, God’s knowledge, God’s understanding, God’s perspective of the situation that simply had not occurred to us before, nor would ever have, had we not placed our trust in God.

So come Holy Spirit, blow upon our hearts this day.

Blow your healing breath where there is pain and sadness.

Blow like a gale where there is complacency and inertia.

Blow, wind of God, blow over our trampled, broken dreams and bring them to life.

Blow over our callous hearts and soften them for your compassionate use.

Blow over our broken families and breathe forgiveness into places of disillusion.

Blow over frail and dysfunctional bodies and cause a rush of healing life to flow within them.

Blow over our failed systems of justice and overturn the rampant corruption and fraud that oppress your people.

Blow over city streets filled with violence and crime; let your reign of peace exert a leavening influence in our families and schools so our children learn to love peace and hate war.

Come holy spirit, breath of God, may this Lenten season give way to the Easter of our lives where we are reborn and renewed from above…

in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the blessed Holy Spirit, Amen