LENTEN WORSHIP SERVICE – WEEK 3

 

WARM-UP

Last week you picked one of your strengths and how you could use it for the good of your neighbor. How did it go?

Easter Lutheran Church is better because YOU are a part of it! We really are better together. At the same time, as humans, we are free to not work together. We are free to not care about others. We are free to only care about ourselves (Martin Luther called this naval gazing. Everybody look down at their belly button.)

 

READ Galatians 5:13-14, 22-26

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Jesus sets us free from sin and death. We can use that freedom to serve ourselves or we can use that freedom to serve our neighbors. Hotly debated in the United States throughout this pandemic is the use of face masks to prevent spreading the coronavirus. Without judging, blaming, or shaming others, discuss:

Some believe because they are free, they do not need to wear a mask. Wearing a mask can be uncomfortable, too. Some believe wearing a mask helps prevent spreading covid-19 to others. What do you believe? What is God asking us to do?

 

RESPOND

Easter serves others in many ways—through youth and education (Homework Help, TreeHouse, school partnerships), hunger (Loaves and Fishes, the Open Door, Every Meal), housing and homelessness (CATCH house), global partnerships (Guatemala and Tanzania), and justice and equity (racial equity leadership team).

  1. Make a list of things that worry you (in your school, in our community, in the world).

  2. Write down one area you would like to learn more about at Easter Lutheran Church (youth and education, hunger, housing and homelessness, global partnerships, justice and equity).

  3. What questions do you have about the needs in our community and how our church is involved? 

  4. Visit easter.org, hover over the Outreach tab, and click on Local Partnerships, Global Partnerships, or Justice and Equity to see if there are answers to your questions. Please write these down.

  5. Write down some ways your group can get involved. Please submit responses to our Director of Outreach, Rhonda Doran at rdoran@easter.org so Easter’s leadership teams can follow up with answers and help you get involved.

Extra Credit: Is there an area where you believe Easter Lutheran Church can do more? Perhaps an area outside of Youth/Education, Housing/Homelessness, Hunger, Global Partnerships, Justice and Equity. 

 

WEEKLY QUESTION

Easter’s leadership wants to hear from you about what God is up to among us. The Weekly Question will help us get a wider picture of life at Easter. Here’s this week’s question: