View From the Manse 2.0 - March 2025

 

If you are anything like me, you recently felt the temperature rise above freezing and you started thinking about spring. Maybe you even imagined planting your garden or mowing the lawn. Spring is coming, but we probably have a few more cold days ahead of us.

          That being said, we can still look to the days ahead and think about what is coming. I would like to host a new members class on Saturday morning, March 22. In our new members class, we spend the morning going through the membership questions and considering some of the particulars of being a Presbyterian. We conclude our time with a lunch. If you want to know more about our church or you have been considering joining APC, please join us for this class.

          The liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5 and extends for 40 days to Holy Saturday. In Joel 2, we read, “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” This is the emphasis of Lent; return. The use of 40 days is significant to the life of God’s people. The Lord flooded the earth for 40 days while Noah was in the ark. Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses was on Mount Sinai with the Lord for 40 days. Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted of the devil for 40 days. It is during this season that we return to the Lord and look for him to transform us.

          Our Lenten book this year is, To Seek and To Save, by Sinclair Ferguson. In this devotional, Ferguson walks with us through the second half of Luke’s gospel and we consider the life and message of Jesus. These books are available in our church lobby for $10. Please purchase one and join us in this study.

          I will be preaching through Matthew’s account of the last week of Jesus life for Lent this year. We will begin in Matthew 23 this Sunday. May God bless us as we seek his face together.

Bryan Fitzgerald, Pastor (bryan@argylepresbyterian.org)

 

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