This weekend was the first weekend of Lent, which is a time of reflection as we look backwards at our lives and ask, "Where could we have been better with our relationship with God?" Some people will fast (give up something important like coffee or chocolate). When they have the craving, they will pray for guidance, discernment and relationship. We are called to love the Lord with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul. We are called to love our neighbor in the same way. Sydenstricker is a welcoming church who desires to love our neighbors unconditionally. This weekend we explored the first of the Ten Commandments. Why did God do them in the order that God did them? What do they mean for you and me? We also began to populate a Lent Table with visual clues to remind us of what Easter is all about. 

This weekend Pastor Don brings a message titled, Where Do We Go From Here, where he attempts to define for us what General Conference has done in their work this week and what it means to us. We will celebrate our achievements during the past year and where we are going as a church, who we are called to be and how we will be impacted by the General Conference decisions. We will be hosting the hypothermia shelter next week and will be praying for that mission. We will be entering into the season of Lent shortly with Ash Wednesday on March 6.  As always great fellowship, great music, and great sharing.

This week we are praying for the delegates at General Conference. Let us ask God for discernment, wisdom, courage and strength as they work to resolve the issues before them. Here at home we are focusing on forgiveness and reconciliation. Are they the same? Does one demand the other? What does Jesus say about all this? We are rapidly approaching Lent and the time to reflect on our relationships. As always, great fellowship, great music and great sharing.

Our world today is polarized, angry and struggling. What are we to do about that as Christians? Jesus’s world was very much like ours and He had much to say about how we are to navigate these difficult waters. Come hear Pastor Don talk about “Bridging the Divide” this weekend. Can love overcome anything and everything? We will have special music as we celebrate Black History Month and share with one another in fellowship and love. God has an answer. 

We must have a good relationship with God in order to help others find a relationship with God, doesn't have to be perfect or deeper than the ocean but must be something there, - taking a different spin on the scattering of the seeds - we are a seed and need to be fed too - find good soil - it will make our witness more ''potent/relevant/real', - Its St Brigid day - - Celtic time its half way between winter solstice and spring solstice - time for seed catalogs and planning of the garden, - Our souls need tending - I will bring up several simple, but deep ways we can connect better with God so that we can 'feed' others...and be better church leaders/disciples

Sermon: And He Named Him Jesus