What is Lent?

Lent is a time of spiritual renewal and commitment.  The 40 days of Lent (which does not include Sundays) should be a positive time of growth, both spiritually and physically, individually and communally. 

During Lent 2010, our worshiping community will be joining together with other United Methodist churches in our area for worship on Wednesday nights.  The host church and the preacher changes every week, so check out the details below, and join in our Lenten Worship Series on Experiencing God Through Our Senses.

Upcoming Special Mid-Week Services

Mid-week Lenten Worship - Week 1
February 24, 2010 at 7:30pm
Location: Milltown UMC
"Experiencing God Through Our Senses: Touching"
Preaching: Rev. Dr. Heasun Kim

Mid-week Lenten Worship - Week 2
March 3, 2010 at 7:30pm
Location: Conklin UMC, So. River
"Experiencing God Through Our Senses: Hearing"
Preaching: Pastor Jessica Brendler, Trinity UMC/Monroe

Mid-week Lenten Worship - Week 3
March 10, 2010 at 7:30pm
Location: Simpson UMC, Old Bridge
"Experiencing God Through Our Senses: Seeing"
Preaching: Rev. David Mertz, Milltown UMC

Mid-week Lenten Worship - Week 4
March 17, 2010 at 7:30pm
Location: Trinity UMC, Spotswood hosted by Monroe Community Church
"Experiencing God Through Our Senses: Smelling"
Preaching: Rev. Robert Cook, Aldersgate UMC

Pot-Luck Dinner
Followed by Worship and Communion at 7:30pm
March 24, 2010 at 6:30pm
Location: Aldersgate UMC, East Brunswick
"Experiencing God Through Our Senses: Tasting"
Preaching: Pastor Lorraine Priestly-Smith

Lent is a time to prepare for Easter. It is a necessary prelude. The death and resurrection of Christ are true whether or not I prepare for Easter. However, without my heart and life being ready, I may not experience the depth and power of Christ's death and resurrection. So with my brothers and sisters, I commit myself to disciplines for conversion from sin and death to love and life in Jesus Christ. Listed below are suggestions for Lenten Disciplines that you might think about giving up or taking on.  Look through the list and select ones that your feel drawn to, or be inspired by these suggestions and create your own.

Inward and Personal Disciplines

___ Spend time in solitude each day.

___ Commit to giving up something that you recognize as a crutch in your life, ex. coffee, candy, alcohol, Facebook, television, or gaming.

___ Read a book for inner growth.  Free copies of The Case for Easter are available at church while supplies last.

___ Participate in adult Sunday School, a discussion group or a book study.

___ Read twice through the Gospel of the lectionary cycle you are in: Luke for 2010.

___ Begin to keep a journal of prayer concerns, questions, reading.

___ Focus on thanksgiving, rather than on asking, in prayer.

___ Give myself a gift of three hours to do something I always say I don't have time to do.

___ Find a way to go to bed earlier or sleep in so I get enough rest.

___ Make a list of people with whom I need to be reconciled. Pray for them and let Jesus guide me in my thinking and feeling toward them.

___ Take control of my life by ______________.

___ Attend all of the Wednesday night Lenten services.

___ Go to all of the Holy Week services as an act of love and waiting with Jesus.

___ Take one hour to inventory my priorities and plan how I will reorder them.

___ Give up a grudge or a rehearsal of a past event.

___ Forgive someone who has hurt me.

Outward and Social Disciplines

___ Take on some loving task:

___ Plan to visit a "shut-in" neighbor or church member weekly.

___ Write a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched my life.

___ Listen and respond to Christ's call to a ministry of service:

___ Go to coffee or dinner with someone I want to know better.

___ Begin to recycle waste from my home and workplace.

___ Commit to giving blood to help save a life.

___ Say "NO" to something that is a waste of money and time.

___ Pray to God to help me resist the –isms that plague our world (racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, heterosexism, ableism, etc.) and to give me courage in opposing them.

___ Decide to become a member of the church and speak to a pastor about it.

___ Censure the spirit of criticism and my own tongue out of control.

___ Find a way to live out the baptismal promise to "resist evil, injustice, and oppression" in the power and liberty God gives us by ___________________

___ Other outward and social promptings:

            As a way of being accountable, commit to sharing your plan with at least one other person and share with that person your experience of Lent during Holy Week.

Adapted from http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=3331 By Daniel Benedict (dbenedict(at)gbod.org), the Director of Worship Resources for the Center for Worship Resourcing of the General Board of Discipleship.