Thursday Thought

If the Church valued reconciliation over judgement, it would have to surrender its fondness for black-and-white, either-or thinking. Our tendency of reducing the most difficult matters to the simplest and starkest of terms cripples our ability to understand and appreciate the moral complexity inherent in many issues. Worse, it predisposes us toward language of hostility when sympathy and understanding are most needed.
 ~ Philip Gulley

A short explanation of the day and the church season upon us

Looking for a quick way to explain Ash Wednesday to your friends? Look no further than Busted Halo’s® two-minute video that describes the day which begins the season of Lent, and why Catholics and many other Christians(like us Lutherans) receive ashes on their foreheads.

Lent begins with a solemn call to fasting and repentance as we begin our journey to the baptismal waters of Easter. Now is the acceptable time to return to the Lord. During Lent we as a community of faith will reflect the meaning of our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. On Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes traced on our foreheads, to remind us that in our baptism, we were marked with the sign of the cross forever. The ashes suggest our human mortality and frailty. What seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new beginning, in which we are washed in God’s mercy and forgiveness. With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the springtime Easter feast to come.

Let us pray,
Gracious God, out of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!

You are invited

Our Lenten journey begins tomorrow evening, starting with a soup supper to be held in the social hall at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. we will gather in the worship space for Ash Wednesday.

Come with an open heart and an open mind, as we are reminded of our common humanity and mortality through the Imposition of Ashes. Hear how we are called to be a community of faith, the body of Christ, through proclamation of the Word and the breaking of the bread.

I’ll see you at supper and in worship.

In Christ, Pastor Grant

Blessing the memory of Martin Luther

Martin Luther died this day in 1546.

I offer up this prayer that he wrote, as a testimony to the man who reformed the Christian church of his day, in order that the Good News of God in Jesus Christ is heard loud and clear.

Dear God and Father, we thank you for your infinite goodness and love to us. You do continually keep us in your word, in faith and in prayer. By this we know how to walk before you in humility and in fear. By this we are not proud of our own wisdom, righteousness, skill, and strength, but glory alone in your power. You are strong when we are weak, and through our own weakness you win daily and gain the victory. We pray for you to so nurture us that we may be to you as beautiful pleasure gardens so that many people may enjoy our fruits and be attracted through us to all godliness. Write into our hearts, by your Holy Spirit, whatever is abundantly found in Scripture. Let us constantly keep in mind, and permit it to become far more precious to us than our own life and all else that we cherish on earth. Help us to live and act accordingly. To you be praise and thanks in eternity. Amen.

Love letters from God

On Valentine’s Day let pause and give thanks to God for the love God gives to a broken world.

John 3:16
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Romans 8:35-39
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 4:7-8
God Is Love
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Souper Bowl of Caring soup collection update

We had additional cans of soup come in AFTER weekend worship. The additional cans brings our collected soup can total to 615-almost double our goal. Praise God! And thank you for your generosity.

Results from the Souper Bowl of Caring

Members and friends of Christ the King collected 593 cans of soup for the Souper Bowl of Caring. Thank You!

Hungry families and individuals in the Greater Gallatin Valley area will benefit from such generosity.

Presentation of our Lord

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’
Luke 2:28-32

Today we celebrate the Presentation of our Lord, when Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem to dedicate Jesus at the Temple forty days after his birth in Bethlehem.
It is there they were met by Simeon, who was promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Simeon’s words, from Luke 2:28-32, have been passed down throughout the ages as the Nunc Dimittis, from the Latin, referring to the words “Lord, now you are dismissing your servant in peace.”
May our eyes, like Simeon’s, see the Lord’s salvation that has been prepared in the presence of all peoples.

Souper Bowl of Caring

CtK youth and adults are gearing up for the Souper Bowl of Caring Famine and Lock-In this weekend. Students will go without food for close to 30 hours, to be reminded of what it's like to be hungry, and to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who go without food on a regular basis.
They will work on some service projects, including assembling school kits for Lutheran World Relief, creating items for a couple of upcoming auctions, and helping lead worship this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
EVERYONE is invited to help them break their fast, at a potluck meal at 6:30pm this Saturday, February 4th. Bring a dish to share and ask to hear the stories of the day. If you want, join in the fast from home, and donate all the money you would have spent on food for the day to the Souper Bowl of Caring offering for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank this weekend.
If you're able, please also bring a can of soup or two to add to the growing offering here at CtK. There are over 250 cans of soup piled high so far - with your help it shouldn't be too hard to reach our goal of 312 cans and $312!!