Presbyterian Church hosts first Lenten Lunch of season
LUNCH: Pastor Dale Sutton spoke about becoming humble servants during the first Lenten Lunch of the season at the Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, Feb. 25. The Lenten Lunches are held each Wednesday during the weeks of Lent in the church’s fellowship hall. BEACON PHOTO BY BETH SCOTT
COSHOCTON – After a cancelation last week due to bad weather, the first of the 46th annual Lenten Lunches began on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at the Presbyterian Church. Sponsored by the three Ministerial Associations in Coshocton County, the Lenten Lunches provide an opportunity for people of all Christian denominations to come together for a single purpose of reflection and worship during the Lent season.
The speaker for the first Lenten Lunch was Pastor Dale Sutton, who was appointed to the Roscoe United Methodist Church on July 1 of last year. He gave a presentation on John 13: 1-7 where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet.
“What scared them (the disciples) about this is He (Jesus) is setting an example for them,” said Sutton. “And He’s setting one for us as well. These 12 disciples were not perfect. They were human beings. They were just like us. So we need to get that Leonardo Da Vinci picture of them sitting around smiling out of our minds. Just before this, they were quarreling about who was going to sit next to Jesus and be elevated and loved the best.”
Sutton explained that human nature is to want to become a person of more importance than others and to achieve greatness in society. He counteracted this by saying that the Christian view of greatness is just the opposite.
“The Christian greatness is determined by how willing we are to become servants,” he said. “It’s a call to a lifestyle of humility. Here they are (the disciples) invited to participate in the greatest meal in the history of the world and they don’t get it! They’re too busy squabbling and arguing. It was the greatest sermon Jesus ever gave without saying a word.”
Also during the luncheon, Jessica Paisley of Given-Dawson Funeral Home gave the welcome prayer and the announcements. She encouraged those present to fill out a card voting for Kids America to receive the $10,000 for the People’s Bank competition. Cards were available on the tables. Those who voted were automatically entered to win $5,000.
Maxine Scott accompanied the hymn, “O Jesus I Have Promised” on the piano and also performed an original spiritual by Calvin Taylor, “Jesus Take My Hand”.
Church Women United served the meal and members of Coshocton Nazarene and Central Christian provided food and workers for the lunch that day. Hind’s Jersey Farm provided the cheese. A minimum of $4 was asked as a donation for the food and all proceeds went to Church Women United.
The next Lenten Lunch will be Wednesday, March 4 with the theme, “Called to Be Disciples” with Pastor Cindy Massie from Solid Rock Foursquare Church as speaker and Stan Zurowski as presenter.
beth@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Faith
