Lent 2 at Memorial Congregational Church

"If you think getting up on Sunday Morning is hard, try Rising from the Dead."

Sunday March 20 is the second 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.

Rev. O’Brien continues Lent meditations based on the New Testament Gospel according to John, Chapter 3, Verses 1-17.  In this passage, Jesus teaches Nicodemus the Pharisee some important points about eternal life.  Nicodemus begins the conversation in the evening by asking Jesus about his coming from God, marveling at the miraculous acts he has performed in his life.   Jesus responds first:” Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  Nicodemus has trouble comprehending the answers so his questions continue, and Jesus responds with more depth in each answer, reproaching Nicodemus for his lack of comprehension:  “You are Israel’s teacher, and you do not understand these things?”

Verses 16-17 are among the best known from the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

On the first Sunday in Lent, MCC’s new Minister of Christian Education, Melissa (‘Missy’) Sturtevant begins her active calling, organizing and delivering programs for all MCC youth.   Sturtevant was introduced to the children on March 6, last Sunday of Epiphany, and swiftly captured their attention conducting the Children’s Moment that day.  Sturtevant’s ministry will be supported by the MCC Christian Education committee and church school superintendent Carole Pendleton.

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.  Every Sunday, the children focus on a new passage from 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.

The MCC Senior Choir continues to sing 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.  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.

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.