The season of Lent began with Ash Wednesday, on March 6th. This is the time that Christians look to honor Christ's sacrifice by giving up something, taking up something, service, prayer etc. Listen to Fr. Mark as he explains the importance of Ash Wednesday and ways you can keep this Lenten season meaningful to your life.

Fr. Mark begins his sermon with a children's message - highlighting the importance of children in church and today's Gospel reading, the meaning of the transfiguration of Jesus in Luke 9:28-36. Fr. Mark uses two illustrations to explain our scripture reading - the transformation that occurs with the butterfly and that of taking a picture. A butterfly begins as a caterpillar; and a camera takes a photo of a particular event in time. As Fr. Mark continues his sermon to the congregation, this story ultimately leads to Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. Therefore, he invites us to journey with Jesus during this Lenten season that begins on Ash Wednesday.

Fr. Chris begins his sermon with the image of a tree. A tree provides shade, tranquility, air for us to breathe etc. But there are two fundamental truths about all trees - they are reaching and they are rooted. Just like the faith of the Apostles, and the 120 witnesses in our reading on Sunday in Acts 1:8, 'You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.' Because these people were deeply rooted in the divine life of Jesus Christ, the branches of faith spread and continue to spread to the ends of the world today through our missionaries. Fr. Chris continues with the analogy of a tree. All trees start as a seed but in order to grow, it needs to be planted. So where is God calling you to plant the seed of faith?

Fr. Mark begins his sermon with the fundamentals of our Christian faith based on our New Testament reading, I Corinthians 15:12-20. Christ died for our sins, and 'has been risen from the dead'. We celebrate this every Sunday.

So how does this to relate to ministry? As Fr. Mark explains, ministry is what we do in our church home. As we look around our church, we see many hands who have built things, have provided things and who continue to serve our church. All this is done with passion and love for our Christian community but ultimately for the love we have for our savior, Jesus Christ. We all have been given gifts and as Fr. Mark further states, "Everyone has a gift, everyone has a role. That is what ministry is about.'

This week's sermon is based on our Gospel reading, Luke 5:1-11. As Fr. Chris begins, he talks about how the crowds were pressed into hearing the Word of God. Just like the men who attended the Men's Conference on Saturday and for those attending worship this Sunday. We are all eager to hear God's Word, and Fr. Chris brings the Gospel to us in a way we can relate to today.

The first Sunday of the month is Youth Sunday. Fr. Mark always begins with a message to the children. This week's message centers around the importance of friendship.

The second part of his sermon, Fr. Mark continues the discussion on life groups and how they enhance our lives. In a world that can be about death and destruction, life groups at Christ the Redeemer are about life. Life that can be enhanced by being in fellowship with one another.

Besides worship, our life groups are a great way to get connected to one another at Christ the Redeemer. As Fr. Chris explains in his sermon, in a world that tells us we are dispensable, God tell us we are indispensable. We are the Body of Christ and a great way to live that out is by being part of a life group. For a list of our life groups and their leaders, please visit our Life Group page under Get Connected or simply call the church.

In our sermon series this past Sunday, Fr. Chris continues to discuss the benefits and importance of worshiping God as a corporate body on Sunday and as individuals throughout our week. Fr. Chris gives a very simple way we can take what we do on Sunday, and take it out into the world we live in. So pick a time and place to worship God on a daily basis. The song we sang on Sunday, after Fr. Chris' sermon was, 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord). It is a great place to start, if you don't have a favorite worship song. Making worshiping God part of your daily routine, will not only benefit your soul but also those around you. Let your light shine bright.

Fr. Chris begins this new sermon series with something that is not only fundamental to the Christian DNA but to all people - worship. What and who we worship says a lot about our priorities. For Christians, our first priority is to worship God and Fr. Chris outlines the benefits of making God our first priority, one being relationship. God desires to have a relationship with us. Listen to Fr. Chris' message as he explaining the significance of Jesus' baptism for those who lived in John the Baptist's time, and for us who live today.

Fr. Mark begins his sermon with a message to the children and asked the question, "What is the best part of Christmas?" The children give amazing answers, gifts was not one of them! On Sunday, we celebrated Epiphany - the day the Wise Men (also known as the Magi and Kings) come to worship Jesus bringing gifts. Fr. Mark explains to the children what each gift is and its meaning. Lastly, he asks the children what would be the best gift they could give to Jesus? What would be your gift? Hint: you can't buy it in a store or online!

For his sermon to the rest of the congregation, Fr. Mark talks about how Jesus came to save the whole world. Fr. Mark's son decided he wanted to listen in his dad's arms. So, for part of the sermon you can hear him affirm his dad's message.