Easter 2025

Welcome to this season of Lent!  

You may have wondered about one or more of the following: What exactly is Lent?  Why do people continue to observe it?  Is there any specific significance associated with the 40 days?

Technically speaking, Lent is the 40-day period leading up to Easter, (excluding Sundays) that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Historically, it has been observed as a time of prayer, fasting, and increased giving to charity.

Lent is intended to be a time of inner reflection and repentance: To be intentional about setting aside additional time to read the Bible, to pray more often, and to feel a deeper intimacy with the Lord. It is a sweet time of preparing our hearts and minds for both Good Friday and Easter.  The season of Lent leads us to the cross in humility and gratitude for the great sacrifice of God on our behalf, and for the Son who bore it.

Next week we’ll dig a little deeper into those forty days.  Stay tuned!

A Multitude of Forties

The Bible is full of “forties”— occurring 158 times, to be exact. (134 in the Old Testament and 24 times in the New.)  It is a significant number and can have several meanings associated with it.  It can be taken literally, or it can refer to a generation of man.  Often in scripture, it symbolizes a period of testing or trial.  

We are likely most familiar with these references to the number 40:

*The 40 days and nights the rain flooded the earth in Genesis.

*Twice, Moses met with God on Mt Sinai, receiving the 10 Commandments for a period of 40 days and nights.

*The 40-year period when God led the Israelites through a wandering in the wilderness.

*Elijah endured 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb.

*After the resurrection of Jesus, He continued to appear on earth for a period of 40 days.

*The Bible was written by 40 different people.  (32 writers of the Old Testament, 8 writers of the New.)

Which brings us to perhaps one of the most interesting times in the life of Christ—the 40-day fast He endured while being tempted by the devil, just prior to the beginning of His public ministry.  

This is the very reason we observe an intentional “fasting” of sorts during the 40-day period leading up to our Easter celebration.  Next week, we will walk around a bit with Jesus through His wilderness experience.

Blessings,

Wendy Jones

Jesus in the Wilderness

When Jesus was baptized by John, the Father spoke and the Holy Spirit descended.  It was a unique earthly presence of the Holy Trinity.  Following that holy encounter, Jesus was then led by the Spirit out into the wilderness, to be tested by Satan in advance of His public declaration of being our long-ago prophesied Messiah.

What strikes me most about Jesus’ encounters with Satan, is the obvious impotence of Satan’s power and his hyper-inflated sense of ego.  This is clearly evident from the very beginning.  The timing of Satan’s first temptation says it all:

He fasted for forty days and forty nights and afterwards was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”

Satan comes when we are at our weakest.  He has no advantage over Christ, so he must try to work the circumstances in his favor.  Of course he fails miserably.  It is nearly comical that Satan is demanding proof from the Bread of Life to produce bread.

The second and third temptations prove futile as well.  Satan wanted Jesus to throw Himself down from the highest point of the Holy Temple.  Surely, he was ready to witness Jesus falling to His death.  Finally, he takes Jesus to a very high mountain with sweeping views:

(Satan)…showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Again, the self-aggrandizement in claiming he possesses “all of the kingdoms” in order that he would be able to give them away.  There is but one King of Kings who is the rightful owner over all Creation, and our Lord of Lords bows down to no one.  He alone is the object of our worship, and His kingdom never ends.

It occurs to me that Satan’s bag of tricks hasn’t really changed much since his appearance in the Garden of Eden.  He preys on our vulnerabilities with opportunistic timing, and whether the offering concerns fruit or bread, he appeals to the hungering of our fleshly desires.  He loves to see us stumble and fall in our walk with God, and he unsuccessfully attempts to lead us to believe we can become our own gods.

The moral of the story of this particular wilderness experience Jesus encountered: Whenever the tempter comes, as Christians we possess the power to shut that prowling lion’s mouth and keep him from devouring us.  We simply do what Jesus did—turn to the life-giving Word of God in scripture.  The Word that rightly divides truth from lies and conquers the enemy.

Blessing,

Wendy Jones

The Other Side of Prayer

While we always want to engage in a healthy and vibrant prayer life, “Lent” is nearly synonymous with prayer.  Our prayers during this holy season are intended to become a deeper reach inside ourselves.  It is a time set apart for reflection and self-examination.  The intent of our commitment to prayer, is to ponder anew the weightiness of the season; a solemn reminder of who we are and to Whom we belong. 

Prayer is a great privilege for us because it means we have been given access to Almighty God.  We can know that God listens, cares, reveals and responds to us.  We are able to see within ourselves and others a response from the other side of our prayers—a knowing of God’s heart and His indelible love over us.  Sometimes that includes the witnessing of miracles!

Prayer is also an entrusted privilege from God.  We are commanded to pray without ceasing. This is a provisional emptying of ourselves, a giving over of our concerns to God—which we were never meant to carry in the first place—and we do so with total trust in His providential care.

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 

If He collects our tears in a bottle metaphorically, then the same must be true for our prayers. Our winged prayers take flight, and as His Word promises, nothing returns to Him empty.  A great day is coming when we will see the effects of our prayers from the other side; when Jesus will say,  “Come and see”…

Wendy Jones

Palm Sunday

A special worship to start Holy Week, remembering Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. Our children will bless us with a procession of the waving of palm branches and our choir will bless us with song! We will turn our eyes toward Christ as He journeys to the cross. 

Maundy Thursday Service - 6:30-7:30pm

A reverent, somber, worship gathering commemorating the events leading up to Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death, including sharing in the Lord’s Supper and hearing the Holy Week story through scripture readings. We will share in worship and reflect on the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. All will enter and exit in quiet and reverence. 

(Recommended for ages 9 and up. Parents can decide for younger children. No Kids Ministry provided.)

Easter Sunday- 9:30am & 11:00am

A beautiful celebration of our resurrected Lord Jesus. We will have special music from our choir and instrumentalists! We will also share in the very meaningful “Flowering of the Cross”. All are encouraged to bring flowers, living or artificial, to bring to put on the cross, turning a symbol of death to a symbol of life! It will be a morning of worship and joy, together in Christ!

Thursday, April 10, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm in the Worship Center

Hop into an evening of joy and fun with Easter Jam!   

Easter Jam is an exciting way to celebrate the Easter season with your elementary aged children. All are welcome.