"Covenant Connections"
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WLLC Labyrinths
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Walking the Labyrinth
One day Travis Scholl discovered a labyrinth in his neighborhood. As he began to walk it, he found this ancient practice offered a much-needed path away from life's demands, allowing him to encounter God in quiet solitude. In this meditative guide, Travis Scholl takes readers on a journey: "The path is always new, because, as a spiritual discipline, the labyrinth is a tool for contemplation, for reflection, for prayer. Underneath the surface, walking the labyrinth is a profound exercise in listening, in active silence, in finding movement and rhythm in the stillnesses underneath and in between every day's noise. Walking the labyrinth is an exercise in finding the voice speaking in whispers underneath the whirlwind of sound." With no end, but only a center, labyrinths become a physical symbol of prayer and our journey with God. Each step unites faith and action as travelers take one step at a time, living each moment in trust and willingness to follow the course set before them. Providing a historical and modern context for this unique spiritual discipline, Scholl weaves his own journey through a labyrinth with the Gospel of Mark's telling of the twists and turns of Jesus' life, providing 40 reflections ideal for daily reading during Lent or any time of the year. |
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Daily Prayer Calendar for Lent
Families can get a Lenten Gift Bag with activities for the season of Lent to do with all ages. Anyone interested in these activities can learn more on the Faith Formation Resources page of the website. Most can be created with materials you have at home and adapted to any age. Videos and other links will be posted on that page throughout the season of Lent.
"An LGBTQIA+ Stations of the Cross Lenten Journey" 2021 Devotional by ReconcilingWorks
This resource is intended to be a way to live into knowing how God has gone before us. It is up to us, as the hands and feet of the Divine, to allow our hearts and minds to be transformed and in so doing, we transform the world as it is in this moment into a place where all are truly welcome and celebrated. Just as God has already gone before us to prepare the place, as we walk through the journey of Lent toward Holy Week, let us be reminded that the experience of faith, hope, and love, lived out in our everyday lives, is not only the promise God has made to us, but the promise we make to one another as we live into, celebrate, and become our most authentic selves. |
Lent Midweek GatheringJoin others for Connection Conversations and Holden Evening Prayer
on Wednesdays through Lent. The Zoom Room opens at 6:15 pm. Holden Evening Prayer starts after 7:15 pm. Meeting ID 872 1333 3869 Passcode 742632 |
Worship Service Now Available
The Ash Wednesday Worship service is a creation of five churches: WLLC and these churches in Lake Oswego: Christ Church Episcopal, LO United Methodist Church, LO United Church of Christ, and Our Savior’s Lutheran. Our service that will premiere at Noon on Ash Wednesday will include Holy Communion. This service includes the imposition of ashes, so plan on having ashes mixed with a few drops of olive oil ready. If you don't have ashes, you also can use the smudge from a burnt candle or a small amount of dirt from a houseplant. |
Weekly Worship Focus
February 21 - First Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING IN WATER AND RAINBOW
On Ash Wednesday the church began its journey toward baptismal immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ. This year, the Sundays in Lent lead us to focus on five covenants God makes in the Hebrew Scriptures and to use them as lenses through which to view baptism. First Peter connects the way God saved Noah’s family in the flood with the way God saves us through the water of baptism. The baptismal covenant is made with us individually, but the new life we are given in baptism is for the sake of the whole world.
Genesis 9:8-17 The rainbow, sign of God’s covenant
Psalm 25:1-10 Your paths, O Lord, are steadfast love and faithfulness. (Ps. 25:10)
1 Peter 3:18-22 Saved through water
Mark 1:9-15 The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days
February 28 - Second Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING THE GENERATIONS
The second covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the one made with Abraham and Sarah: God’s promise to make them the ancestors of many, with whom God will remain in everlasting covenant. Paul says this promise comes to all who share Abraham’s faith in the God who brings life into being where there was no life. We receive this baptismal promise of resurrection life in faith. Sarah and Abraham receive new names as a sign of the covenant, and we too get new identities in baptism, as we put on Christ.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 God blesses Abraham and Sarah
Psalm 22:23-3 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 22:27)
Romans 4:13-25 The promise to those who share Abraham’s faith
Mark 8:31-38 The passion prediction
March 7 - Third Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING IN THE GRACE MARGIN
The third covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the central one of Israel’s history: the gift of the law to those God freed from slavery. The commandments begin with the statement that because God alone has freed us from the powers that oppressed us, we are to let nothing else claim first place in our lives. When Jesus throws the merchants out of the temple, he is defending the worship of God alone and rejecting the ways commerce and profit-making can become our gods. The Ten Commandments are essential to our baptismal call: centered first in God’s liberating love, we strive to live out justice and mercy in our communities and the world.
Exodus 20:1-17 The commandments are given at Sinai
Psalm 19 The commandment of the Lord gives light to the eyes. (Ps. 19:8)
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Christ crucified, the wisdom of God
John 2:13-2 The cleansing of the temple
March 14 - Fourth Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING AT THE CROSS
The fourth of the Old Testament promises providing a baptismal lens this Lent is the promise God makes to Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live. In today’s gospel Jesus says he will be lifted up on the cross like the serpent, so that those who look to him in faith will live. When we receive the sign of the cross in baptism, that cross becomes the sign we can look to in faith for healing, for restored relationship to God, for hope when we are dying.
Numbers 21:4-9 The lifting up of the serpent
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 You deliver your people from their distress. (Ps. 107:19)
Ephesians 2:1-10 Saved by grace through faith for good works
John 3:14-21 The lifting up of the Son of Man
March 21 - Fifth Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING OUR HEARTS
God promises Jeremiah that a “new covenant” will be made in the future: a covenant that will allow all the people to know God by heart. The church sees this promise fulfilled in Christ, who draws all people to himself when he is lifted up on the cross. Our baptismal covenant draws us to God’s heart through Christ and draws God’s love and truth into our hearts. We join together in worship, sharing in word, song, and meal, and leave strengthened to share God’s love with all the world.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 A new covenant written on the heart
Psalm 119:9-16 I treasure your promise in my heart. (Ps. 119:11)
Hebrews 5:5-10 Through suffering Christ becomes the source of salvation
John 12:20-33 The grain of wheat dying in the earth
On Ash Wednesday the church began its journey toward baptismal immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ. This year, the Sundays in Lent lead us to focus on five covenants God makes in the Hebrew Scriptures and to use them as lenses through which to view baptism. First Peter connects the way God saved Noah’s family in the flood with the way God saves us through the water of baptism. The baptismal covenant is made with us individually, but the new life we are given in baptism is for the sake of the whole world.
Genesis 9:8-17 The rainbow, sign of God’s covenant
Psalm 25:1-10 Your paths, O Lord, are steadfast love and faithfulness. (Ps. 25:10)
1 Peter 3:18-22 Saved through water
Mark 1:9-15 The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days
February 28 - Second Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING THE GENERATIONS
The second covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the one made with Abraham and Sarah: God’s promise to make them the ancestors of many, with whom God will remain in everlasting covenant. Paul says this promise comes to all who share Abraham’s faith in the God who brings life into being where there was no life. We receive this baptismal promise of resurrection life in faith. Sarah and Abraham receive new names as a sign of the covenant, and we too get new identities in baptism, as we put on Christ.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 God blesses Abraham and Sarah
Psalm 22:23-3 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 22:27)
Romans 4:13-25 The promise to those who share Abraham’s faith
Mark 8:31-38 The passion prediction
March 7 - Third Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING IN THE GRACE MARGIN
The third covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the central one of Israel’s history: the gift of the law to those God freed from slavery. The commandments begin with the statement that because God alone has freed us from the powers that oppressed us, we are to let nothing else claim first place in our lives. When Jesus throws the merchants out of the temple, he is defending the worship of God alone and rejecting the ways commerce and profit-making can become our gods. The Ten Commandments are essential to our baptismal call: centered first in God’s liberating love, we strive to live out justice and mercy in our communities and the world.
Exodus 20:1-17 The commandments are given at Sinai
Psalm 19 The commandment of the Lord gives light to the eyes. (Ps. 19:8)
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Christ crucified, the wisdom of God
John 2:13-2 The cleansing of the temple
March 14 - Fourth Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING AT THE CROSS
The fourth of the Old Testament promises providing a baptismal lens this Lent is the promise God makes to Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live. In today’s gospel Jesus says he will be lifted up on the cross like the serpent, so that those who look to him in faith will live. When we receive the sign of the cross in baptism, that cross becomes the sign we can look to in faith for healing, for restored relationship to God, for hope when we are dying.
Numbers 21:4-9 The lifting up of the serpent
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 You deliver your people from their distress. (Ps. 107:19)
Ephesians 2:1-10 Saved by grace through faith for good works
John 3:14-21 The lifting up of the Son of Man
March 21 - Fifth Sunday of Lent - CONNECTING OUR HEARTS
God promises Jeremiah that a “new covenant” will be made in the future: a covenant that will allow all the people to know God by heart. The church sees this promise fulfilled in Christ, who draws all people to himself when he is lifted up on the cross. Our baptismal covenant draws us to God’s heart through Christ and draws God’s love and truth into our hearts. We join together in worship, sharing in word, song, and meal, and leave strengthened to share God’s love with all the world.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 A new covenant written on the heart
Psalm 119:9-16 I treasure your promise in my heart. (Ps. 119:11)
Hebrews 5:5-10 Through suffering Christ becomes the source of salvation
John 12:20-33 The grain of wheat dying in the earth