Volume 17, Number 1
The Lent issue
February 2002/March 2002
Pastor’s Message
The Lenten Pilgrimage
“Therefore lift your dropping hands and strengthen your
week knees,
and make straight paths for your
feet, so what is lame may not be put out of joint
but rather be healed. Strive for peace with all men,
and for the holiness without which
no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God.”
“Darum
stärkt die müden Hände und die wankenden Knie
und macht sichere Schritte mit euren Füßen, damit nicht jemand strauchle wie
ein Lahmer, sondern vielmehr gesund werde. Jagt dem Frieden nach mit jedermann
und der Heiligung, ohne die niemand den Herrn sehen wird, und seht darauf,
daß nicht jemand Gottes Gnade versäume.“
Hebräer
/ Hebrews 12:12-15a
For many people Lent is a period of restraint. You don’t do certain things you normally would do. This is reflected in our worship format too: Some pieces like the Gloria (Glory to God in the highest/Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe) and the Halleluja(h) are omitted until Easter. A popular German Karnival song or „Schlager” says: „Am Aschermittwoch ist alles vorbei...“. On Ash Wednesday, everything is over. No more parties, no more casual flirting, no more drinking…
Now, it is good to have those times where you restrain from things and habits and have time to reconsider your priorities. But at the same time it is important to notice the positive aspect of Lent. Lent is not just a time to refrain, but also and even more so a time to start, a time to set out on a special journey. Ash Wednesday sets us off on a 40 days’ spiritual journey with our Lord. That pilgrimage will lead us to rough spots and even to the way of the cross. But the journey’s end will be the joyful morning on Easter day, when we resume the Halleluja(h) and join the joyful praise: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Lent, therefore, is a time to
get ready for this. It is a time of spiritual exercise, springtime training for
the soul. “Lift your dropping hands and strengthen your week knees” –
that’s our goal, our objective. We may have different ways to reach that goal,
but there are some that have been tried and found helpful over the years: Quiet
time, intensified reading of scripture, personal prayer, taking an active part
in Sunday worship and the Lenten program. In realizing what great gift God gave
us in His son and what Christ achieved for us on the cross, we will “strive
for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the
Lord.” Holiness, in the New Testament sense of the word, is not so much a
special moral quality, but a personal spiritual formation that makes room for
Christ, for hope, faith and love in your heart and in your daily life.
As a church and congregation,
Lent is a special time to refocus our evangelism – within our congregation and
outside of it. We are charged with the Apostle’s plea: “See to it that no
one fail to obtain the grace of God”. I invite you to give a special thought
to this charge this year. Pray about it, talk about it to a friend or neighbor
– and put it into a loving action.
Have a blessed Lent! / Eine gesegnete Passionszeit wünscht Ihnen
Pastor Dr Holger
Roggelin
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A
note on our Lenten program:
Later in this
newsletter you will find an outline of our extensive Lenten program:
What do self-portraits of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
have in common
with the passion of Christ? Well, you are to have a unique opportunity to find
out on four Thursday evenings during Lent! Following last year’s highly
successful video program “Tales from the madhouse”, this year’s Lenten
study group will focus on another medium and look at paintings. We are to
encounter Frida Kahlo’s haunting self-portraits as a key to understanding pain
and dignity, the Passion and ourselves. Meetings start with a light supper at
6pm. Do come and join us!
The service
arrangements for Holy Week were well received and appreciated last year, and we
will keep their format, which is designed to honor the stages of moving from
Palm Sunday to Easter in the best way open to us in our particular setting:
Maundy Thursday has a solemn Eucharist in English with beautiful music,
immediately followed by the stripping of the altar. Good Friday will have a
German service at 3 pm, the traditional hour of Jesus’ death, with the reading
of the passion according to John, German chorale music, and Holy Communion.
Easter Sunday has
festive services with choir and brass in both languages. In between, we will
proclaim the resurrection over the pastors’ graves, have an Easter breakfast
(prepared by the men) together, and let the kids have their Easter egg hunt in
our garden.
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