First Sunday in Lent at Memorial Congregational Church

“No matter who you are or where you are going, no matter what season of the church year, or what the weather is like, you are welcome here.”

Sunday, March 13 is the first Sunday of Lent, the forty-day period of reflection, repentance and preparation that culminates April 24 in what Christians regard as the high point of their calendar, the resurrection of Jesus Christ as marked by Easter Sunday.  Rev. Tom O’Brien brings new reflections in his second Lent season as senior pastor at MCC.

The Lay Leader this week is Framingham resident and MCC member John Tersoni.  John, a junior at Framingham High School, is a drummer, sings bass in the MCC Gospel Choir, and performs with the MCC Worship band Covenant.

Rev. Tom O’Brien opens the MCC Lent season with the New Testament Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 4, Verses 1-11.  The passage tells the well-known story of the Devil’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  From Verses 1-4: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’  Jesus answered: ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’

Throughout Epiphany, the MCC Senior Choir sang movements from the masterwork by Gabriel Faure, Requiem, Op. 48, offering MCC members and visitors a sneak preview of the music to be performed at the Faure Festival Concert on April 2.  The choir offers two more movements during Lent. 

Don’t miss the great collaboration of choirs of three churches – MCC, Framingham Edwards Church and Malden St. Paul’s Episcopal Church -- and the MCC Spring Festival Orchestra, with soloists John Whittlesey and Rebekah Alexander.  For more information on the program and ordering or reserving tickets, email publicity@mccsudbury.org visit http://mccsudbury.org/?subtab=821.

Each year during Lent, the children of MCC participate in a major service project, reaching out to those in need through activities that all ages, from pre-school through eighth grade, can embrace.  The children will hear the story Listen to the Wind, the children’s version of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time.  It tells the story of Greg Mortenson’s quest to build a school for the village of Korphe in Pakistan.

The Church School Lenten Project will be to amass thousands of pennies for Pennies for Peace, a program of the Central Asia Institute, an organization that was founded by Mortensen, and continues his mission of providing community-based education, especially for girls.   The program began at Westside Elementary School in River Fall, WI in 1994, when students, through their own initiative, raised 62,340 pennies to help Greg build his first school in Pakistan.  “Children had taken the first step toward building the school,” Mortenson says. “And they did it with something that is basically worthless in our society – pennies. But overseas, pennies can move mountains.”*

To learn more about Pennies for Peace, visit http://www.penniesforpeace.org/about-the-program, or email info@penniesforpeace.org.

Quotes from Bible passages in this article are from the New International Version and printed with permission granted by www.biblegateway.com, Copyright: “THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”  Quotes from Greg Mortensen about Pennies for Peace in this article are from http://www.penniesforpeace.org/about-the-program.

Memorial Congregational Church is a member congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC).  MCC has an open and affirming ministry to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability or financial situation.  All areas of the building are handicapped accessible. Sunday worship service begins at 10 am, and childcare for infants and toddlers is provided from 9:00 AM until 11:30 AM.

Information on MCC worship services, music programs, Christian education, Outreach, and teen programs may be found at the church web site on the Internet at http://MCCsudbury.org. Watch for ‘This Week at MCC’ columns in most Metrowest area community newspapers.  Find us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/mccsudbury.  Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MemCCEvents.  For weekly worship news at MCC, visit http://mccsudbury.org/?tab=400.

You can reach the church office and staff by phone at 978-443-3885, or by email at office@mccsudbury.org.   The church is located at 26 Concord Road in Sudbury. Directions to the church may also be obtained from the church website.  Click on the “About Us” tab and then click “Directions/Map”.