TOMORROW is the last opportunity to donate to our TOILET TISSUE MISSION PROJECT for Heart, Love, & Soul. This is one of our most-appreciated projects since this is an item that is required daily, cannot be purchased with government assistance cards, and is seldom donated to social service agencies for distribution. If you would like to support our Social Ministries’ project, please drop off your donations on the tables provided in the chapel or narthex by tomorrow. Thank you for your support.
SIGN UP FOR TRIVIA EVENT: As we finish our second unit of Enduring Faith Bible Class & Sunday School, our Board of Education is sponsoring another Trivia Event on Friday, March 11, in the chapel from 6 – 7:30 PM. All are welcome to attend as we celebrate with food, fun, and fellowship. Check out your Bible knowledge and cheer on our students as they receive prizes for their completed memory work. A sign-up sheet is available on the glass case.
FEBRUARY MISSION ENVELOPES are designated to support YOUNG LIFE, an international youth organization with local chapters whose purpose is to bring teens to the knowledge of our loving Savior through activities and mentorship from caring, Christian adults. Several Grace members have participated in Young Life over the years. Dick Crawford has a long association with this organization and would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding their work locally.
SIGN UP FOR YOUNG LIFE’S FUNDRAISING BANQUET, scheduled for Thursday, March 31, at 6:15 PM at Classics V Banquet Center on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst. There is no charge for this dinner, but donations to support Young Life are appreciated. This is an awesome opportunity to learn more about Young Life and support their work locally. Please SIGN UP on the glass case so that we can reserve seats to sit together. All are welcome to attend!
BEYOND THE SURFACE: Christian education Wednesday, March 2nd at 10:00am. We will be looking at the following verses: Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Romans 10:8b-13, and Luke 4:1-13.
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE – March 2nd @ 6:30PM
“Behold the man!” was Pontius Pilate’s short, yet most profound, sermon. Our endeavor this Lententide and Easter Sunday is to behold the man, God in human flesh, Jesus. Each time together, we are meditating on and proclaiming His real, bodily suffering and death as well as His physical resurrection. He knew all that real bodies experience; He suffered, wept, bled, ate, and hoped.
On Wednesday we remember how the man Jesus fasted for forty days, refusing to eat—the direct opposite to our first parents, who ate the forbidden fruit in their rebellion. Eating and fasting were very physical actions for Jesus; His body needed sustenance. In the Sermon on the Mount (today’s Gospel), Jesus doesn’t command fasting, once a hallmark of Lent; rather, He says, “When you fast.” Whether we individually fast or not, our elder Brother does give us what we need for every aspect of our lives: Himself, in, with, and under the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins.
As we move through this season of Lent, it will become increasingly clear why God became man: He lived this physical life in order to be nailed to a cross. Thereby, we are truly preparing for the celebration of His real, bodily, flesh-and-blood resurrection. Without that, our faith and our preaching are all in vain. God the Son became the embodied, incarnate Son of Mary. In Jesus, God has human flesh, a body, just like us. What could be more profound? Behold the man, who has led the way for us through death to our own physical resurrection!
© 2018 Concordia Publishing House. Scripture: ESV®.