I wrote this on March 7 but failed to give it to Debbie till March 11. We're running it in this issue anyway. On Sunday, March 7, the Communion Meditation was centered upon my recent viewing of the movie everyone's talking about: The Passion of the Christ. There may be some Lowman folk who wanted to learn more about it but weren't here that day. I guess that's one reason to attend worship: you don't know what you might be missing if you don't. I am impressed with those churches that are holding special meetings for discussion of the film. Maybe we should do that here at Lowman, too. But let me point out that we have those kinds of discussion groups every week. They're called "Sunday School Classes." To that we can add Bible studies, ALPHA groups, etc. I urge everyone to participate in a variety of these. Many of your questions can be answered right here. For the rest of the Sundays in March, our worship services will have Lenten themes. Particularly, we will be thinking about "The Temptation
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of Jesus," the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness upon which the season of Lent is based. We will not only try to grasp what this meant for Jesus, but also how it applies to us and the temptations we face daily. During Holy Week we will be focusing in on the same themes as the Passion movie. I invite you all to take part and expand your understanding of the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection. Our presentations will not be as colorful and dramatic as the Hollywood version, but we will be wrestling with the same questions and issues. And we will have the same guide that Mel Gibson credits with the inspiration of his film: the Holy Spirit. If you have seen the movie and been moved by it, take the next step
and move forward with your discipleship. Let us all become more mature
in our faith and discipleship so that we are not just "admirers of
Jesus," but we also become "followers of Jesus" and "witnesses for
Jesus." |