A Fruitful Lent
Our theme throughout the season of Lent is the Fruit of the Spirit. Lent has historically been a time for the church to focus on spiritual growth and renewal. There is often a component of instruction, but beyond learning for learning’s sake. The Fruit of the Spirit will be central in all five of our Wednesday midweek services, and in four of our Sunday services.
The Apostle Paul used the image of fruit in his letter to the Galatians to contrast expressions of the Holy Spirit with desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26). The Holy Spirit produces within us: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul writes with the expectation that these are each growing within each of us.
Paul also writes about spiritual gifts, which are distributed among church members in ways that foster interdependence. None of us has all of the spiritual gifts; we need each other in order to bring the full complement to our shared lives and ministry. Of the nine types of fruit Paul lists, only two are also named by him as spiritual gifts, generosity and faithfulness. Although he also writes that without love, spiritual gifts are not useful. (1 Corinthians 13)
Sundays will follow our usual format, with the thematic content mostly present in the sermon. But Wednesdays will offer thematic content through conversations that I’ll be having with a different Alpine member each week. Don’t worry about being called upon during worship, I already have our volunteers!
We also have a daily devotional resource that is available outside the sanctuary. This comes from another church that used the theme for a month-long series. So there are 31 daily devotions, not a full 40 days’ supply. We can think of that as a bit of grace for any of us who miss a day (or up to nine).
I encourage you to join us for as many Wednesdays and Sundays as you can, and to engage the daily devotions and any of the growth steps and suggestions we offer each week. Let’s grow together!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Don Wink