Ash Wednesday & Lent

Tonight's schedule looks slightly different than usual. We will have Children's Choirs at 6:15 PM and Weeknight Worship at 6:30 PM. Youth Missions Group and Adult Small Group Study participants should plan to join us in the sanctuary for Weeknight Worship. The worship service will follow its usual order, except that we'll end a little early in order to make time for the imposition of ashes. You will have the option of having ashes placed on your forehead, as is customary, or on your hand, which may be more comfortable for those who are not accustomed to this practice. If you do not want to participate in the imposition of ashes, feel free to leave the sanctuary at the conclusion of worship; you are also invited to simply watch the imposition of ashes if you want to find out more about it.

The imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday is a traditional practice observed by many churches. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, which symbolizes the 40 days leading up to the crucifixion of Christ. (Those 40 days, in turn, symbolize the 40 days of Christ's temptation in the wilderness.) We realize that there are many within the Baptist church who are unfamiliar with the observance of Ash Wednesday and Lent. Following is an explanation which we hope you will find helpful.

Throughout scripture, ashes (or "dust," depending on the translation) were used mainly for two reasons: 1) to symbolize grief (see Job 2:8, 12, for example) and 2) as a sign of repentance before God (see Jonah 3:6, for instance). For centuries, the church has used the symbol of ashes to acknowledge the desolation and ruin caused by sin, as well as the grief and remorse we feel because of sin. Acknowledging our sinfulness and the sorrow it causes is part of the process of repentance - the intentional act of turning away from sin and back to God. Through repentance we are able to understand the sacrifice of the cross and receive the forgiveness it provides through the gift of God's grace. Through the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday, we acknowledge that we are sinful mortals in need of the eternal grace of God.

Many Christians choose to "give up" something for Lent as an intentional reminder of their dependence on God for all things. Traditionally, that has involved fasting from some type of food or drink. However, there are many options for things you might choose to "give up" if you want to purposefully observe Lent: social media, anxious thoughts, anger, complaining, etc. Whatever you choose to fast from, use the time that would otherwise be filled with that practice and focus on God. We encourage you to spend this Lenten season in communion with God, choosing to concentrate on him so that he can prepare your heart to remember the sacrifice of the crucifixion, as well as the celebration of the resurrection.

This Sunday @ VBC:

Please plan to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM for a very special morning worship service, which will begin with a Parent-Child Dedication. We're also celebrating the one year anniversary of our Fun & the Son Play Group organized by Betty Jo Overstreet, and all of our Fun & the Son participants are invited to worship. Travis' message is "Joy?" and the scripture is John 15:1-11. If you cannot join us in person, you can livestream at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org and on our Facebook group page.

If you purchased tickets for the Youth Choir's Valentine's Meal To-Go, please remember to bring your tickets this Sunday and pick up your meal between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM. You may pick up in the kitchen or simply drive through at the glass doors to the New Ministries Building, present your ticket(s), and your meal(s) will be delivered to your car. Thank you so much for supporting our Youth Choir through this fundraiser!!

Preteens Event

Preteens (3rd - 5th graders) will meet Sunday, February 25th at 2:00 PM for an outing to Defy Roanoke.

JOY Seniors News

This year the JOY Seniors are going to "break out" of their regular routine and experience the community. Our first Senior Break Out will be February 27th. Instead of having our luncheon at the church, we will go on a tour of PBS and then have lunch at Jersey Lily's in Salem. We will depart VBC at 9:30 AM. Please sign up at the JOY Senior table by February 25th. The only cost is the price of your lunch.

We are planning a trip to Charleston, SC with Bonsack Baptist for the week of March 18-22. This 5-day/4-night trip will include visits to Fort Sumter and tours of several plantations. Details and a sign-up sheet are available at the JOY Senior table. Please act fast, as the deadline to sign up for this trip is March 4th.

There are two lunch events hosted by Bonsack Baptist that our seniors have been invited to. Please click the following links to sign up and pay:

• Lunch & Movie Tuesday, February 20th, 12:00 PM - 2:30 PM. The movie is Testament: The Parables Retold. Lunch is a choice of soups, crackers, drinks, and dessert. $10/person. Click here to sign up and pay.
• Lunch & Seminar on Identity Theft & Fraud Tuesday, April 16th, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM. Shannon Abell will present on the topic of identity theft and fraud. Lunch is chicken parmesan. $15/person. Click here to sign up and pay.

Thrive Youth

Youth Sunday is February 25th! Our youth group members will be involved in every aspect of worship, including bringing the message(s). They will also bring the message(s) for Weeknight Worship on February 28th!

DNOW weekend is March 8th-10th. Click here for the agenda/details. Click here for the registration form.

We are also planning our summer mission trip to Dinwiddie, Virginia. Click here for all the details. Deposits are due by March 15th.

Evelyn & Gordon Welsh

c/o Harmony Assisted Living #306

4402 Pheasant Ridge Road

Roanoke VA 24014

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Weeknight Worship: 57

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Sunday School: 191

10:30 AM Worship:

• 308 in person
• 183 online

Congratulations to Matthew & Jessica Brewer Lashley in the birth of Henry Matthew on February 9th, weighing 8 lbs., 7.4 ozs. Big brothers are Aiden & Charles.

Homebound Easter Packages

The following items are needed to prepare Easter boxes and bags for our homebound folks:

• small tissue packs
• sugar free candies
• large print word searches
• adult coloring books/colored pencils
• travel size hand sanitizer
• travel size hand lotion
• travel size lint rollers
• Band-aids
• lip balm

Donations are now being accepted in the marked bin at the Missions Tables. We plan to prepare about 30 packages for our homebound folks. Please drop off your donations before March 10th. Packages will be assembled the following week and will be ready for delivery on March 17th. Please see Joanna Harman with any questions.

Bible Reading Plan

We're officially finished with Jeremiah, and we'll start Lamentations tomorrow. If you're interested in joining us, now is a great time to jump into our Bible reading plan. Lamentations is a short book (5 chapters, 1 chapter/day), and then we'll move on to Ezekiel.

Fee & Stuart (How to Read the Bible Book by Book) characterize Lamentations as exactly that - a total of five laments over the fall of Jerusalem. There are three different speakers identified: the narrator, the city of Jerusalem itself, and the people of Jerusalem. Interestingly, four of the five chapters are arranged as acrostics, "...where the first letter of each verse starts with a succeeding letter of the (twenty-two-letter) Hebrew alphabet." Because of this arrangement, sometimes the topics addressed in each verse vary widely because of the constraints of the required letters of the alphabet. Following is the overall summary of the book from Fee & Stuart:



"Lamentations consists of five laments written in response to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The laments, which correspond to the five chapters, are carefully composed pieces of literature, similar in form and content to Psalms 74 and 79 .... Together they express deep anguish over Zion's desolation and Israel's exile - recognized to be well deserved - and mourn the sorry plight of those who were left in the now desolate and dangerous city, while raising some larger questions about justice and the future. The whole is written basically from the perspective of those who have been left behind."

Fee & Stuart also note the atrocities ("famine, thirst, cannibalism, rape, slaughter") of living through the two-year siege of the city, experiencing its destruction at the hands of the Babylonian army, as well as being left behind to fend for oneself in the aftermath. Even though Jeremiah had told people that God wanted them to go willingly to Babylon as part of his judgment on the Jewish people, many fought tooth and nail to hold onto Jerusalem because that's the place where God tabernacled with his people. When Jerusalem is no more, the ones who are left behind wonder whether God has forgotten them.

-- Kim

Boys & Girls Club Snacks

Boys & Girls Club will soon be at maximum capacity with a total of sixty students! We would love to collect snack items for them once again. They can use any type of pre-packaged, shelf stable snack items (except items with peanuts). A marked bin is available at the Missions Tables for your food donations. Thanks for continuing to bless our community through your support of Boys & Girls Club!

Volunteer Opportunities

The Rescue Mission is in need of volunteers for a number of positions. If you are concerned about homelessness in our area and/or are looking for a way to make an impact on our community, please click here for details.

To My Church Family,

Thank you for the cards, prayers, and especially the color sheets from Marissa. I am much better but I still have to get stronger. Thank you again!

Love, Peggy Spigel