Lent 2011 at Messiah Lutheran Church

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 9, with Divine Service at 7 pm, preceded by a soup supper 6 pm. Throughout the Wednesdays of Lent, we will continue our recent tradition of having a hymn sing in the sanctuary between the soup supper and our services of Evening Prayer.

This year's theme is called "Amos: Restore the Roar!" The sermons and some of the elements of our worship services will be adapted from material prepared by Dr. Reed Lessing of Concordia Seminary St. Louis and author of a recent commentary on the book of the prophet Amos (published by Concordia Publishing House). Dr. Lessing presented a workshop last Spring to our Puget Sound Pastor's Conference on the book of Amos. On Sundays, the Adult Bible Class will study the Book of Amos in conjunction with our Wednesday night worship.

Why "Restore the Roar?" Amos 3:8 says, "The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" The temptation is to put our hands over our ears to drown out Lion Yahweh’s roar. The world, the devil, and our old Adam continue to urge us to clip the claws on the Lion and clean up His bloody Passion we are called to follow. This Lenten sermon series dares to let the Lion out of His cage to roam, roar, redeem, and restore. This Lenten theme will enable us to dig deeply into this minor prophet who has a major message for the church. So plan to come and learn again that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has triumphed!

Each midweek service during Lent begins at 7pm preceded by a soup supper at 6pm. The times for the Holy Week services are noted below in the schedule.

• Ash Wednesday, March 9 - “Rescued from the Rubble” (Amos 1:1-2)
• Evening Prayer, March 16 - “The Four R’s of Election” (Amos 3:1-8)
• Evening Prayer, March 23 - “This is the Night the Lord has Made!” (Amos 5:18-20)
• Evening Prayer, March 30 - “Grieving for Joseph” (Amos 6:1-7)
• Evening Prayer, April 6 - “Locusts Here, There, Everywhere!” (Amos 7:1-6)
• Evening Prayer, April 13 - “Lion Alert!” (Amos 7:10-17)
• Palm/Passion Sunday, April 17 (8 & 10:30am) - The Triumphal Entry
• Maundy Thursday, April 21 (7 pm) - “The Taste Test” (Amos 8:11-14)
• Good Friday, April 22 (7 pm) - “Buried!” (Amos 9:1-6)
• Easter Vigil, April 23 (7 pm) - Remembering Our Baptism
• Easter Sunday, April 24, (7 & 10:30 am) - “Come to the Feast!” (Amos 9:11-15)