Lent at ECV

Yesterday (2/21) was the first Sunday of Lent, the season leading up to Easter (4/4). We talked about a few different things we've sensed that God is inviting us to do during this season. The best way to get up to speed on that is to read the handout we distributed and listen to Sunday's sermon. Below is a brief summary of each of the three things we sense God inviting us to do during this season, three challenges I offer to you:

Pray

In the spirit of engaging with God as real, active, and living, I want to encourage you to pray in three particular directions:

1. For something it would take God to do in your life.
2. For a handful of folks in your life in New Haven who you'd like to experience more of the good things of God.
3. For our city.

The handout from yesterday has something of a worksheet to help you make concrete what and whom you want to pray for in this season. I encourage you to take some time early this week to fill that out or otherwise make specific your prayer commitments.

Read the Bible

Yesterday we distributed the first week of a study guide that will lead us through the entire Gospel of Luke (one of the ancient accounts of the life of Jesus) in the next six weeks. That study guide is also available online, via daily email (subscribe at the study guide site), RSS, Twitter, or downloadable pdfs. We'll also print out a few paper copies every week and will have them at church on Sundays.

So please join us in reading through Luke in this season. I'm really excited to see what God will do as we encounter Him in scripture.

Consider Committing

Finally, as you pray during this season, I’d encourage you to pray about perhaps making a commitment to a life following God. The key is to make a commitment that matches where you're at in seeking God and then helps you take a step forward. The handout that you got has some practical thoughts on kinds of commitments you might make: extending various Lenten commitments, getting baptized, or committing to invest in what God's doing at ECV.

That last one especially I'll talk more about next week. For now, let me just let you know that with various groups of leaders in our church, we've been considering whether God is leading us as a church to articulate concretely our commitments to Him and to one another as we build God's church in ECV.

So that's the invitation: pray, read, consider committing.

Let's dig in; I think it's going to be an exciting 6 weeks.