The season of Lent is one where all Christians are called to self-examination. This Lent at Holy Cross, we are asking the question of how we are loving our neighbors, and in these often acrimonious times, acknowledging that for each of us, some of our neighbors are harder to love than others. Our Lenten Programs are designed to help us get to know our neighbors better and to invite us into deeper reflection on how we might grow in love for those who are different from us.
Adult Forums in Lent: Our Neighborhood Partners
Sunday mornings, 9am - on Zoom (with viewing option in Parish Hall)
The Outreach Committee has organized representatives from our major ministry partners to speak to us about their mission and how Holy Cross might better support them. The CEOs and founders of these organizations will speak to us about the unmet needs they see in our area and how their organizations are responding to systemic issues around race, gender, immigration, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Mar. 6 Comfort Cases
Mar. 13 Cornerstones & Embry Rucker Shelter
Mar. 20 CHO
Mar. 27 The Lamb Center
Apr. 3 Second Story
Wednesday Night Class: Lent with the Prophets
Wednesday nights Mar. 9, 23, 30, Apr. 6
Join Kevin online from 7 to 8:30pm in this apocalyptic Lent as we turn to the prophetic voices of Scripture for wisdom and inspiration. For the prophets, terror, violence, and calamity could often be faithfully traced to a failure to obey God’s commands. Sometimes, someone, somewhere, somehow had failed to love. Love of neighbor is neither a feeling nor random acts of kindness. It is an individual and collective choice with dire consequences for each and all.
When asked which was the greatest of God’s commandments, Jesus pointed to the command to love God and said the second was like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So what does it mean to love your neighbor? Who counts as our neighbor? What counts as love? What happens when we take the command to love as seriously as the prophets? And what happens when we don’t?
Each session will feature a reading and meditation on one of the great prophets, with prayer and discussion.
Neighbors Around the World: Tanzania Porridge Program
Consider a Lenten discipline of using some of your resources to feed a malnourished child. The Tanzanian children we feed through the porridge program go hungry every day, which affects their ability to learn. A morning meal of porridge and rolls allows them to concentrate on their education, the key to moving out of poverty. Your one-time donation of $35 will feed a child daily for the entire school year. Setting aside just 88 cents each day of Lent will be enough to ensure that a malnourished child has food every day that they are in school.
- Text HCPAY to 73256 and select "Tanzania Porridge"
- Make a donation through Realm and choosing "Tanzania Porridge Pr" from the fund list
- Mail a check to church—include "Tanzania porridge" in the memo line
Racial Justice Ministry Meeting: Neighbors in Beloved Community
Sunday, March 20th - 5pm on Zoom
In the fall of 2020, the vestry of Holy Cross committed the work of justice-making around issues of race in our society and affirmed that Black Lives Matter. This meeting is for those interested in starting a new ministry that builds on the vestry statement and discerns how Holy Cross is called to respond to systemic racial injustice in our neighborhood, country, and world.
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross, using the artwork from our sanctuary, have been installed on the Holy Cross grounds so that you might prayerfully walk this way throughout Lent. Begin your devotions at the Gallows Road door. Follow the path around the church to the outdoor chapel and its cross and, finally, to the labyrinth.
Follow along on our website HERE, pick up a print booklet by the Gallows Road door, or use the QR codes at each station with your personal device to pray and reflect. Take some time this holy season to walk with the one who walked this way for us all.
Online Stations of the Cross
If you prefer, you can walk the stations virtually on our website. Start Here