Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021,  marks the beginning of the Lenten season. This day serves as a reminder of our human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God.

Ann Arbor CRC would typically have a family-oriented worship service with communion and imposition of ashes, but this year, we will mark it with an at-home worship liturgy that you are invited to use in your homes: liturgy and playlist.

The Ecumenical Ann Arbor Taize Ash Wednesday worship will be at 7:30pm and is going virtual this year. The worship will be live-streamed on the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor’s Facebook page and YouTube channel or join the zoom link found here.

Lenten worship

When we think about God with us, liturgical Christians will often let their minds wander back to Advent, Christmas, or Epiphany seasons. We think about a time when we celebrate Emmanuel-God with us—we think about the incarnation. While this is absolutely right, Jesus and his vocation to prophetically announce the kingdom of God in word and deed, is enmeshed with his incarnation.

God becoming flesh is a drama repeated every gospel story where people are healed, exercised of unclean spirits, or simply seen as people lovingly created in the image of God. In our world today, many people suffer from isolation. We are a people who can feel alone or disconnected. Some of our most vulnerable populations are also our most isolated. In this Lenten season, where we are asked to reflect on our relationships with God, ourselves, creation and others, we pause and remember that in the most powerful act of vulnerability—God taking on flesh—God has demonstrated Withness. God is with us. God is with us in Jesus as he moves throughout the Galilean countryside, with us as he speaks truth to power, with us as he welcomes all in his name, with us as he breaks bread, with us as he goes to the cross, with us as he takes on the weight of our sin and our death. With us when God raises him from the dead on easter morning.

Today God calls the Church to be a people who are with. God asks us to be with the poor, with the sick, with the hurting, with the lonely. These are vulnerable places. They are also the places God is in Christ. Join us this Lent as we reflect on a God who is with us even in the most isolating seasons.

You are invited to be “with” in a house group this Lent/Easter

During Lent our House Groups will be meeting again, immersing ourselves into Scripture and learning together. The passages will match what is being preached about each week and reflect a chance to go even deeper in Lent!

We’ll use our base groups from the fall and invite anyone who would like to join to contact Ross Weener (rweener@aacrc.org). Our groups meet at various times throughout a weekend, so hopefully there is a group that can work for you!  Many groups are meeting virtually, so for those of you not in town, you are invited too.