It is a reality of parish ministry that a pastor must always be thinking ahead of the liturgical calendar. All summer we think about Rally Day. In September our attention turns to Advent and Christmas. Before Christmas we start planning Lent and Easter.
For Lent this year we purchased the series "God's Gift of Forgiveness" from CPH (the Concordia Publishing house). The series includes Bible Studies we will use on Tuesday and Sundays; outlines for Ash Wednesday, mid-week, and Holy Week worship services; and sermon suggestions. We will also be using the companion Lenten devotional booklet. This was written by Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn, and it is excellent (I just finished reading it). The devotional weaves together the stories of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac, the Exodus, and Christ's Passion. It is rock solid Lutheran theology. We envision the Ash Wednesday and mid-week services being some what less complicated than previous ones, while remaining definitely liturgical (just a little less "smells and bells").
0 comments:
Post a Comment