Lenten Lunches bring spiritual joy to community
COSHOCTON – During each Lent season, people of all denominations and religious backgrounds come together in the basement of the Presbyterian Church to warm up over a cup of soup and a piece of pie, and have fellowship with each other at the Lenten Lunches. The Lenten Lunches this year will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 11:45 a.m.
“I think there are several elements that make it so successful,” said Rev. Jon Carlisle of the Presbyterian Church. “One is the fellowship. The word for fellowship in the New Testament encompasses depth and breadth of communication. People look forward to seeing each other year after year. The household of faith includes diversity of people and in the fellowship meal, we become one household, one family of God.”
In the past, people attending the meal could look forward to a lunch of soup and pie, a musician performing a special selection, and a pastor speaking on a different topic each week. However, this year, instead of pastors of different county churches speaking, community lay people will be speaking about how they use their faith in their workplace.
“We wanted to hear from the people who live out their faith from where they work,” said Carlisle. “Christians today need to revive their worship on Sunday mornings and live out their faith during the work week. They’re going to talk about how their faith revived on Sunday mornings is put into practice during the week.”
All of the speakers were excited to speak when asked and each will be introduced by the pastor of their church.
“Some of them said, I can’t preach for 20 minutes,” said Carlisle. “I told them, I don’t want you to preach. I want you to give your testimony of how you live your faith out in the workplace.”
The luncheon, which will be held each Wednesday of Lent, is sponsored by The County Association of Churches. There is a $4 donation asked for the meal.
“There’s always a spirit of upbeat, friendliness, and joy,” said Carlisle. “It seems like people just enjoy coming in.”
A list of speakers is as follows: Feb. 10 – Chuck Rinkes, Feb. 17 – Mickie Galajda, Feb. 24 – D. Curtis Lee, March 2 – Gary Carver, MD, March 9 – Charles R. Snyder, and March 16 – Marilyn Wiley.
beth@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Faith
