This Week's News and Updates
March 05, 2019
See highlights from last week's service by clicking here.
Join us for Ash Wednesday Service!
Ash Wednesday Service
March 6, 2019
Stride Toward Freedom
Call to Worship - Rev. David Wynn

A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

Opening Song - "For Everyone Born"

Opening Prayer - Rev. Robert Myers

Song of Reflection - "Come and Find the Quiet Center"

Reading: Isaiah 58 - Leigh Wolfer

Reading: "Falling" - Kevin Harkins

Song of Centering: "Come and Find the Quiet Center"

Beginning with Ash

Blessing after Ash

Song of Celebration - "There is Only Love"
Lent 2019
“Stride Toward Freedom”

When was the last time you felt truly free? When was the last time you felt your Divinity well up inside of you? When was the last time you woke up feeling balanced in your life even when all manner of things outside of your control were swirling around you? At its best, the ritual of Lent, gives us a communal structure where we can live into our authentic answers to those questions and others. Our communities depend on this kind of group seeking…Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “In the final analysis, Agape means a recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all people are connected.”  Come and “Lent” with us. You have a lot to lose and way more to gain.  

3/06 –  Ash Wednesday – “Welcome to a Clean Slate.”

3/10 – “The Hardest Part is Getting Started.”

3/17 – “How to Win Friends and Influence People?”

3/24 – “Focus on the System not the Person.”

3/31 – Community Breakfast Sunday – "Welcoming Sinners and Eating with Them.”

4/07 – “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.”

4/14 – Palm Sunday, “Where the Burro Meets the Road”

4/21 – Easter, “Freedom”  
In lieu of the traditional giving up something for Lent (i.e. chocolate, road rage, smoking, etc), here are 40 ideas to Keep Lent Holy as adapted from Nadia Bolz-Weber. The suggestions listed below encourages the development of community, relationships, social action, ecological responsibility and individual spiritual growth. Remember that Sunday is not included in the 40 days of Lent.

40 Ways to Keep Lent Holy…adapted from Nadia Bolz-Weber

Day 1: Pray for your enemies
Day 2: Walk, carpool, bike or bus it.
Day 3: Don’t turn on the car radio
Day 4: Give $20 to a non-profit of your choosing
(Sunday)

Day 5: Take 5 minutes of silence at noon
Day 6: Look out the window until you find something of beauty you had not noticed before
Day 7: Give 5 items of clothing to Goodwill
Day 8: No bitching day
Day 9: Do someone else’s chore
Day 10: Buy a few $5 fast food gift cards to give to homeless people you encounter
(Sunday)

Day 11: Call an old friend
Day 12: Pray the Paper (pray for people and situations in today’s news)
Day 13:  Read Psalm 139
Day 14: Pay a few sincere compliments
Day 15: Bring your own mug
(Sunday)

Day 17: Forgive someone
Day 18: Internet diet
Day 19: Change one light in your house to a compact florescent
Day 20: Check out morning and evening prayer at  The Daily Office .
Day 21: Ask for help
Day 22: Tell someone what you are grateful for
(Sunday)

Day 23: Introduce yourself to a neighbor
Day 24:  Read Psalm 121
Day 25: Bake a cake
Day 26: No shopping day
Day 28: Light an actual candle
(Sunday)

Day 29: Write a thank you note to your favorite teacher
Day 30: Invest in canvas shopping bags
Day 31: Use  Freecycle
Day 32: Donate art supplies to your local elementary school
Day 33:  Read John 8:1-11 
Day 34: Worship at a friend’s mosque, synogogue or church and look for the beauty
(Sunday)

Day 35: Confess a secret
Day 36: No sugar day – where else is there sweetness in your life?
Day 37: Give $20 to a local non-profit
Day 38: Educate yourself about a saint  www.catholic.org/saints
Day 39: Pray for peace
Day 40: Pray for your enemies (you probably have new ones by now) then decide which of these exercises you’ll keep for good
Ash Wednesday and Lent Week 1
Reflection and Prayer

When we were children, we were taught to give up something for lent. I never quite understood why God would care if I had chocolate or not. I think we got it wrong back then. There is a plethora of scriptures that teach us not to give up something, but to give something. In Daniel:3-4 it talks about the covenant of love promised by God. God’s love is endless when we turn to God in prayer:

3. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with God in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4. I prayed to the Sovereign my God and confessed: “Sovereign, the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant of love with those who love God and keep the commandments;” the greatest of them is love.

As we prepare ourselves for the season of Lent, we keep in mind that fasting and ashes are symbolic of the way we give our love to God, keeping God’s commandments.

What type of love are you showing and spreading with others? 

Ever Loving God,

We pray for the strength and courage to give and receive true LOVE to and from everyone.

The kind of love that does not discriminate against anyone.

The love that is shown to others with a smile, a hand out and a hand up.

The type of love that shows up and shows out through all the ugliness surrounding us in our daily lives.

Starting today may we all be blessed to open our hearts wide and begin sharing agape LOVE with each other. 

Agape love that is not a feeling but a motivation for action that we may freely give to others.

A love that is a sacrificial love that voluntarily suffers inconvenience, discomfort, and even death for the benefit of another without expecting anything in return.

We are called to Agape love through Christ's example: " Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:14

Reflection and Prayer submitted by:

Chris Keusch and Laticia Williams
Church of the Trinity MCC, Sarasota, Florida 
All Church Garage and Estate Sale
March 15th and 16th, 2019
8:00AM - 2:00PM
Thursday March 7th will be the last drop off date for the garage sale.


We will be sorting/pricing Thursday, March 7, Friday March 8, Saturday March 9 and after church Sunday March 10.

Please call or text Cassy at (817) 992-9161 if you have time to help or need to drop off non-clothing items.
Dear Agape Family,

I wanted to tell you about a big challenge I’m taking on this fall. I have committed to walk 60 miles (yes, really!) over the course of three days in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day. Those of you who know me well know that there must be a really good reason that I would volunteer to exercise this much, and there is. It’s to raise money for a cause that’s very near and dear to my heart, to help end breast cancer.

Breast cancer has been a part of my life since last August when I was diagnosed. I underwent surgery in August to have a spot removed and later had radiation treatment to help make sure it won’t return. Since then I have been on hormone blocking medication that I will have to take for at least another five years - but more likely for the rest of my life.

I am very lucky in that my form of cancer was very treatable and that I caught it very early. I am so thankful! But I look around and nearly every day I hear about someone else. Many are not as lucky as I am and I know I have to do something now to raise awareness and try to help. So this is for them …and this is for me, because I am alive and so very thankful.  

I’ll be lacing up my tennis shoes, going on training walks, and most importantly, asking for money! It is your donations that will help fund the research and the treatment that will make a difference. I’m not used to asking for money, this is not for me. This is for all who are fighting the battle.

The 3-Day is not until November, but my goal is to raise the minimum $2,300 (or more!) before then, so I’m getting started now. You can help! Click the link at the end of this email to go to my personal fundraising webpage, or see me and I’ll make sure you get a donation form. (Or you can call 800-996-3DAY and the nice people at the 3-Day can take your donation over the phone.)

This is a huge deal for me and that is why I’m asking for help. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Love,
Lisa O’Grady 

March Birthdays
Mar 03 Zachary Roberts
Mar 06 Melisa Price
Mar 13 Chris Kalish
Mar 15 Rachel Cox 
Mar 16 Joe Rice
Mar 22 Kaitlynn Rose Wolfer-Stephens
Mar 25 Sandra Hardin
Mar 29 Denise LaRae
Sunday - March 10, 2019
Lent 1
Call to Worship - Rev. David Wynn

Opening Song - "Nothing More"

Welcome and Greeting - Rev. David Wynn

Time wih the Children - Kevin Harkins

Gospel Reading - Luke 4:1-13 - Lisa Davenport

Song of Response - "There Is Only Love"

Time of Teaching - “The Hardest Part is Getting Started” Rev. Wynn

Centering Song - "Hear Our Prayer"

Community Prayer - Rev. Robert Myers

Prayer Response - "I Will Change Your Name"

Bringing our Gifts - Cassy Batts

Celebration of Holy Communion - Leigh Wolfer
"Song of the Body of Christ"

Song of Sending Forth - "Power of Your Love"

Announcements and Benediction - Rev. David Wynn
817-535-5002 / news@agapemcc.com / http:// www.agapemcc.com /