Chapel Hill United Methodist Church

12411 Templeton Trail
Farmers Branch, Texas 75234
(972) 241-3491

presents

Lenten Journey 2012

Created by Spiritual Ministries Institute, Inc.

Tuesday, April 3 &
Wednesday, April 4

two sessions each day from:

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. &
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Fellowship Hall

Lenten Journey is a personal, spiritual and creative experience offered in a community setting. Eight meditation centers provide an environment and instructions for a private and self-paced meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ. In order to maintain the sacred space and silence of Lenten Journey, guests are welcomed and given a brief introduction to the meditation centers.

Each of the eight meditation centers provides a different meditation experience, while each center has instructions and materials necessary for the meditation suggested.

A simple journal is provided and instructions are given for journaling in order that guests may better remember the graces offered them. You may bring your own journal if you wish.

Guests take as long as they like at each station. If they are unable - due to time - to complete all eight stations, that is alright. Lenten Journey is set up for you to come and go at your convenience.

If guests need extra time between centers, want to remain in prayer or solitude after the eight meditations, or perhaps need to wait for a center to become available, they are invited to sit quietly in the Sanctuary, read their Bible, or go for a walk (in the daylight).

Lenten Journey is a simple, yet deep experience for participants. All hospitality ministers and guests are asked to maintain silence and respect the solitude of other participants.

Location:
From Valley View Lane, turn on Templeton Trail south to Chapel Hill United Methodist Church and access parking at rear of church. From LBJ Freeway,

• Exit North at Marsh Lane and turn left at 1st street, Ridge Oak Way going west . Turn left at Templeton Trail and continue to Chapel Hill UMC parking space.
• Exit North at Webb Chapel and turn right at Myra Lane (1st stop light). Turn right at Templeton Trail to Chapel Hill UMC parking space.

View images from last year's event:

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My church family,

I would like to personally invite you to a very special event. Please come spend time and walk with me as we prepare our hearts for Easter.

You are such a loving, supportive family- the true body of Christ. You are constantly doing for others and giving of yourselves. You definitely keep busy with the work of the church. I invite you to stop and do something for you. Take the time to refill your spiritual gas tank. We can’t keep giving if we don’t take time to rest and receive. Please make time for you. Please make time for this refueling.

Join me in Fellowship Hall either Tuesday April 3 or Wednesday April 4 for the Lenten Journey. You will not be sorry that you came!

Love and laughter ~ Kim Connally

If you enjoy singing - singing the beautiful, poignant music of Lent and the exhilarating, exciting music of Easter - then I invite you to join the Chancel choir on March 7 through April 8.

I can promise you the music we will be singing through Lent and up through Easter will thrill your soul, lift your spirits, and make you thank God for giving you the ability to sing.

So come on, join our wonderful, fun-loving Chancel Choir and join us in lifting your song to

Praise God through music!

Kathy Guttierrez
Director of Music

Lenten Journey is a personal, spiritual and creative experience offered in a community setting. Eight meditation centers provide an environment and instructions for a private and self-paced meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ.

Chapel Hill United Methodist Church will hold our Lenten Journey 2012 event on Tuesday April 3 & Wednesday April 4, 2012.

Two sessions will be held each day with hours for both days at 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Bulletins from Spiritual Ministries Institute are being prepared showing all local churches that are holding the event for 2012, and Chapel Hill UMC will be listed among them.

We will distribute the bulletins to the surrounding churches and communities as we did last year, inviting everyone to come.

You won’t want to miss Lenten Journey 2012. Meanwhile, look at the photos taken at Lenten Journey 2011 held at Chapel Hill UMC.

Next

Lent is the traditional season of prayer and fasting in preparation for the great “Feast of feasts,” Easter. The church year has been fashioned by rhythms of feasting and fasting. What real significance can Easter have if we do not know the experience of Lent? Lent is the great fast of the church year. It is a season that reveals and magnifies our understanding of spiritual discipline. We trivialize spiritual disciplines when we lose sight of their real purpose. So maybe there is more to Lent than giving up chocolate?

The question we need to ask with any spiritual discipline is, "What does God want to accomplish in me through this practice?" St. Augustine once said that God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them. Emptying our hearts and hands of our desires is the core dynamic of self-denial. Go with strength and courage to explore the practice of self-emptying this Lent.

In Christ,
Pastor JoNell
(Thanks to M.J. Thompson's Soul Feast for inspirational reading)

Chapel Hill UMC has been challenged by the United Methodist Women to fast from sundown Tuesday, Feb. 21st until 6:00 on Wednesday, Feb. 22. We will break that fast at 6:00pm on Wednesday with a light meal together before we go into the Sanctuary for the traditional Ash Wednesday service which officially heralds the beginning of the season of Lent.

Take the challenge. Fasting is an ancient means of grace and has been exercised as a spiritual discipline for generations. John Wesley fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays from 4 am until 4 pm. The time he would have spent eating and drinking, he spent praying and going through a rigorous time of self-examination of conscience. Many will give the money they would have spent on food to the church as an added discipline.

If you choose to fast, ponder these thoughts from one of my favorite authors, Macrina Wiederkehr:

Fasting makes me vulnerable and reminds me of my frailty. It leads me to remember that if I am not fed I will die. Standing before God hungry, I suddenly know who I am. I am one who is poor, called to be rich in a way that the world does not understand. I am one who is empty, called to be filled with the fullness of God. I am one who is hungry, called to taste all the goodness that can be mine in Christ.

Come join others, even if you decide not to fast, at the brief service of repentance and forgiveness at 7:00 pm on February 22. The service is a means of beginning our journey of remembering Christ’s passion. It is like the melody line in the rich harmony of a symphony. Come re-experience sin confessed and sin forgiven with our sisters and brothers in this body of Christ and bring a friend.

Your servant and His,
Pastor JoNell