The Christian calendar is moving quickly through 2013; before April even gets here, Jesus will have risen.
What does this mean for the church? What does this mean for March? February flourished with activities making it easy for everyone to find somewhere to be active and involved. April is starting to fill up with events covering music, missions, and youth. Right in the middle is March. In March we have our regular monthly and weekly events: Men’s Fellowship Breakfast, Evening Bridge, WMU, Yoga, etc. Then we switch into Holy Week: Palm Sunday, which includes a preschool-aged Easter Egg Hunt and Baptismal service; the conclusion of our Lenten Series for Wednesday Night Programs; Maundy Thursday service; Good Friday meditations, which includes a Labyrinth walk and the Chapel is open for prayer; and it culminates on the 31st, Easter Sunday.
I think that this provides an interesting opportunity for our congregation. During the season of Lent, the calmness of church activity doesn’t mean you can’t be present in church. If you spend each day reading a Lenten Devotion, and this gives you a chance to read scripture and reflect, then you are present in church, you are present with Christ.
A “slow” month at church shouldn’t slow you down. Instead, it should encourage you to be in the pews on a Sunday morning taking in the sermon and the music, bringing you back to the original reasons why you started worshipping at River Road Church.