March 2017

March 1 Ash Wednesday Service

6:00 in the Candler Center

March 5 The First Sunday in Lent

March 12 The Second Sunday in Lent

March 19 The Third Sunday in Lent

Pastor Jeff’s Last Sunday at Calvary

March 26 The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Worship

Crosspoints

ing aspects of a larger Christian tra-dition as a means to refocus on spir-ituality in a culture that is increasingly secular. Originating in the fourth cen-tury of the church, the season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and conclud-ing the Saturday before Easter. Origi-nally, Lent was the time of prepara-tion for those who were to be bap-

tized—a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil and the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. But since these new members were to be received into a living community of faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Also, this was the time when those who had been separated from the church would prepare to rejoin the community.

Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to cel-ebrate Easter. Since Sundays cele-brate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent. The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry by facing the temptations that could lead him to abandon his mission and calling. Christians today use this period of

What is Lent?

Monthly Newsletter Calvary Baptist Church

This month begins the season of Lent in the Christian year. The sea-son of Lent has not been well observed in much of evangelical Christianity, largely because it was associated with "high church" liturgical worship that some churches were eager to reject. However, much of the background of evangelical Christianity, for example the heritage of John Wesley, was very "high church." Many of the churches that had originally rejected more formal and deliberate liturgy are now recover-

If you would like to pur-chase an Easter Lily in honor or in memory of a

loved one please complete the form in the below and return it to the church office with your payment. You can also call the church office to place your order. The plants may be purchased for $10.00 each. All orders are due by Sunday, April 9th.

Easter

Lilies

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The Governance Sub-Committee of the Lead-ership Team is proposing a revision to Sec-tion B - Employee Categories of the Person-nel Policy. Below is the recommended changes to this policy which will be present-ed at the March 12th Quarterly Business Meeting for your consideration and approv-al.

A temporary employee is hired for a special pro-ject or as a substitute for another employee of the church; typically hired to cover for an absent employee, or to fill gaps in the church’s work-

force. A Temporary employee generally works part-time and no more than 20 hours per week. Temporary employees are not eligible for benefits. There is no guarantee of continuation of assignments beyond the current situation. Hours may be adjusted per the requirements of the program and budget. Hourly employees normally are not expected to work more than eight (8) hours per day. Temporary employees’ wages will be established at the time of employment and reduced to writing to improve understanding of the church and employee; normally the temporary will not be paid more than the hourly rate of the employee whom they are replacing.

When a regular employee determines, they are unable to perform their job duties they are required to immediately notify their immediate supervisor of this condition. The supervisor will determine if a Temporary employee is nec-essary. The regular employee may recommend a person to fill the need but the supervisor will make the final determination if that person meets the re-quirements of the job and contact them to determine if they are available and willing to perform the duties and the rate of their pay. Temporary employees will not work more than three consecutive months and may be terminated without notice as soon as the regular employees can return to work or their services are no longer needed.

If you have other business for the Quarterly Business meeting on March 12th, it must be received in the church office by Monday, March 6th.

Sunday, March 12th 12:00 noon

NAME_________________________ I WILL BUY_____EASTER LILIES AT $10.00 EACH

IN HONOR OF: ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________

IN MEMORY OF: ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________

Facing the Darkness film

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time for introspection, self-examination, and repentance. This season of the Christian year is simi-lar in scope to Advent, in that it pre-pares us for a celebratory season to come.

Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fast-ing, and almsgiving. Today, some churches still observe a rigid sched-ule of fasting on certain days during Lent, especially the giving up of meat, alcohol, sweets, and other types of food. Other traditions do not place as great an emphasis on fast-ing, but focus on charitable deeds, especially helping those in physical need with food and clothing, or simply the giving of money to chari-ties. Most Christian churches that observe Lent at all focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God’s grace. It is really a preparation to celebrate God’s marvelous redemp-tion at Easter, and the resurrected life that we live, and hope for, as Christians.

The journey through Lent is a way to places ourselves before God humbled, bringing in our hands no price whereby we can ourselves pur-chase our salvation. It is a way to confess our total inadequacy before God, to strip ourselves bare of all pretenses to righteousness, to come before God in dust and ashes. It is a way to empty ourselves of our false pride, of our rationalizations that pre-vent us from seeing ourselves as needy creatures, of our external pie-ty that blinds us to the beam in our own eyes.

Through prayer that gives up self, we seek to open ourselves up before God, and to hear anew the call "Come unto me!" We seek to

recognize and respond afresh to God’s presence in our lives and in our world. We seek to place our needs, our fears, our failures, our hopes, our very lives in God’s hands, again. And we seek, by abandoning ourselves in Jesus’ death, to recognize again who God is, to allow his transforming grace to work in us once more, and to come to worship him on Easter Sunday with a fresh victory and hope that goes be-yond the new clothes, the spring flow-ers, and the happy music.

Yet, that celebration begins in ashes. And it journeys though dark-ness. It is a spiritual pilgrimage that we must all make, one way or the oth-er, for genuine spiritual renewal to come. No doubt you have read 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says: ". . .if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." This usually is quoted in the context of wanting revival or renewal in the church. The prayer is usually interpreted as intercessory prayer for others, since we too easily assume that any problem lies with someone else. Yet a careful reading of the passage will reveal that the prayer that is called for here is not in-tercessory prayer for others; it is peni-

tential prayer for the faith commu-nity, for us. It is not to call for oth-ers to repent; it is a call for us, God’s people, to repent. It is our land that needs healed, it is our wicked ways from which we need to turn, we are the ones who need to seek God’s face.

Perhaps during the Lenten season we should stop praying for others as if we were virtuous enough to do so. Perhaps we should take off our righteous robes just long enough during these 40 days to put ashes on our own heads, to come before God with a new humility that is willing to con-fess, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." Maybe we should be will-ing to prostrate ourselves before God and plead, "Lord, in my hand no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling." That might put us in a posi-tion to hear God in ways that we have not heard him in a long time. And it may be the beginning of that healing for which we have so longed.

O Lord, begin with me. Here. Now. (Adapted from Dennis Bratcher; Copyright © 2015 CRI/Voice, Insti-tute)

Tom and Michelle Mattox will lead a group of all persons interested to see the Samaritan’s Purse Film Facing Darkness on March 30th. As the Ebo-la pandemic was sweeping across West Africa in the spring of 2014, one or-ganization was willing to step up and fully commit its people and resources to provide comfort, compassion, and care to the hurting people of Africa …all in the Name of Jesus. But when the deadly virus infected its own medical personnel, includ-ing Dr. Kent Brantly, the epic crisis truly hit home for Samari-tan’s Purse and its leader Franklin Graham. Facing Dark-ness tells the incredible true story of how—with only faith, determination, and prayer—the ministry moved mountains … and God performed a miracle! Sign up in the church office or through the Sunday bulletin.

St Patrick’s Day quiz

Once again, we will be traveling to Nicaragua to work with Vision Nicara-gua. This trip will take place early in August. If you are interested in going, a meeting will take place at 2PM on March 6th in the Conference Room. During

that meeting, we will Skype with Ron Read from Vision Nicaragua, who will be directing our trip. If you are unable to attend the meeting, but interested in going on the trip, contact the church office.

March 6 2:00 Nicaragua Mission Trip Meeting

March 7 6:30 Deacon Meeting

March 12 Quarterly Business Meeting

March 13 6:00 Leadership Team Meeting

March meetings

1. In Ireland, what does the color green stand for?

A. Spring B. Countryside C. Hope

2. Where was St. Patrick born? A. Ireland B. Britain C. Scotland

3. What did St. Patrick do? A. He was an explorer B. B. He was a missionary C. C. He was a war hero.

4. What is St. Patrick best known for? A. Driving the snakes out of Ireland B. Leading the country to War C. Discovering Ireland

5. What is March 17th? A. St. Patrick’s Birthday B. The day St. Patrick died C. Hope: Pot of Gold at the end of the rain- bow

6. What symbol stands for St. Patrick’s Day? A. Shamrock B. Rainbow and Gold C. Snake

7. What are you to never do if you catch a leprechaun?

A. Kiss him B. Take your eyes off him C. Shake his hand

The answers to the quiz and the solution to the Sudoku puzzle are on the calendar!

The Leadership Team will host a reception for Jeff and Krista.

The details have not yet been determined so please check the bulletins for more information.

I will instruct you and teach you

in the way you should go. Psalm 32:8

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