Dear Chapel Hill,
This Wednesday (February 18) is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, during which we prepare our hearts for the journey that Jesus led through the wilderness of tension and conflicts with the religious leaders that eventually took him to the cross and then to the empty tomb on Easter morning. The practice of observing Ash Wednesday began in the sixth century in Rome. The Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent was chosen to make the Lenten Season last exactly forty days.
Participation in this ancient rite can be a healing event, a Christian witness to God’s great love and grace to those who would confess their sins and turn back to God. Parents are invited to take their children in for the imposition of ashes and to receive a blessing.
I hope you invite your families, friends, and neighbors to join us at 6:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall to breakfast of the day; then we will head for the sanctuary for our Ash Wednesday Service at 7:00 p.m. Childcare is available.
For Sunday worship, February 22, at 10:30 a.m., in place of the message, you will see two skits, performed by two groups of Chapel Hill members. The skits are acted out from two of the stories that several of you have suggested as the Bible stories in which Chapel Hill lives: the Casting of the Net and the Parable of the Sower. The idea of having members to act out their stories is a powerful way to help our congregation to see objectively who we are and if a change is needed for us to live more authentically to what God would want for us. These two skits are important to answer the first of the three questions “Who are we?” of the Holy Conversation process. Also, our District Superintendent, the Rev. Cammy Gaston, will be joining us this Sunday. She is looking forward to meeting us and worshipping with us. So come to worship this Sunday as we continue our conversations about “who we are.”
Also, several of you have asked us to remind you who is on the Holy Conversations team. The committee members are Margaret Young, Howard Stansell, Tom Wooldridge, Lee Willhite, Bitsy Laney, Kelly Patterson, Melanie Willhite, and Rev. Mai Le.
You can also email us your questions and thoughts to holyconversations@chapelhillumc.org.
I’m Praying for you. Please do say a prayer for me.
~ Mai
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