Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)
Pastor’s Corner For those of you who have not yet heard, our sister in the faith, Pat Moore, entered into her eternal rest yesterday, shortly after midnight. It is a time of mourning, but it is also a time of rejoicing in the fulfillment of the Easter promise. Please keep Jonathon, Jennifer, and the rest of her family and friends in your prayers. We will be having a memorial Service of Witness to the Resurrection at the church. Details are forthcoming.
It is fitting, then, that today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Presbyterians do not traditionally give up anything for Lent, believing that any sacrifice we make would pale in comparison to the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. However, Lent would be a good time to adopt a spiritual discipline. Perhaps for the next 40 days, you could get up ten minutes early and read one of the gospels. Or take a walk after dinner each night – the weather has been great – and use that time to be in communion with God in prayer. Whatever it might be, I encourage you to adopt a spiritual discipline for the next 40 days. It will make constructive use of the time of preparation and make the joy of Easter all the more sweet.
Finally, I want to say that the 100th meeting of New Hope Presbytery last Saturday was wonderful. There were several important things that came out of that meeting that pertain to Butner PC, including the installation of Rev. Andy James as Associate Presbyter for Small Church Ministries and Technology and the announcement of an event for small congregations in our area to be held at Oxford Presbyterian Church on Saturday, May 6. Plus, there is a new resource website called ConnectEd at newhope4christianed.org. More information to come on all of these developments.