Lent —
Ruth: When Everything
Falls Apart
So often, the presence and power of God are found in the most unlikely people and places. Who and what our culture may dismiss as irrelevant, God often elevates to a place of honor and importance. Jesus is the King of an upside-down kingdom. As we begin the journey of Lent, a time marked with repentance, fasting, and the reorientation of our lives around Jesus, we will study the book of Ruth. This is a story where the goodness of God is displayed in unlikely people, unlikely places, and during an unlikely time.
What does it look like for followers of Jesus to find God’s goodness even when everything falls apart?
Fasting Guide
“It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
In fasting, we exchange indulgence for holiness. We set aside something that will be missed to be reminded of what we truly need and pick up practices of spiritual formation to turn towards the transformative love of Jesus.
Pick one or two options from this list for Lent. Display this sheet where you can view it daily as a reminder of your commitment in this season. We encourage you to connect with a healthcare professional before making dietary changes.
Loving our Immigrant Neighbors
As we take time during Lent to reflect on the story of Ruth, an Immigrant story, we are inviting the Church to reflect on what it means to love our Immigrant neighbors. During a cultural moment that is heated and rife with debate, we felt it important to go to the scriptures and to examine what a Christ-like posture towards Immigrants can look like.
Below are some resources to support us in that journey. We have three interviews conducted by Pastor Lane:
An interview with Pastor Jordan Bemis, who spent twelve years working with immigrant families through World Relief.
An interview Josie Dayton, who has extensive experience working with the government and with non-profit organizations regarding immigration.
And lastly, an interview with Dr. Ted Vail, who is the Vice President of our denomination and has extensive experience with international ministry. This interview is from our Q&R event about "Cultural Unity & The Gospel"
We also have recordings of Pastor Lane reading aloud a devotional series called Together At The Table by Zach Szmara, who is the Founder and Executive Director of Immigrant Connection, an organization that provides access to immigration legal services through a church-based model that is scalable, sustainable, and centered on the needs of immigrants. We will have a limited amount of hard copies of the Together at the Table devotional available at the Info Table.
As always, if there are aspects to this journey that you are wrestling with, we want to wrestle alongside you. Please reach out to one of our pastors so we can meet over coffee and pray together!
Conversations on Faith & Immigration
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In this episode, Pastor Lane of Red Hills Church and Pastor Jordan Bemis of College Street Church discuss what the Bible has to say about immigrants, how we as followers of Jesus are to treat immigrants, and what we can do to better love our immigrant neighbors.
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In this episode, Pastor Lane has a conversation with Josie Dayton on immigration policy in an attempt to learn more about the technical and legal aspects of the Immigration process as well as better understand what Immigrants experience when migrating to the U.S.
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Our featured guest for our "Cultural Unity & The Gospel" discussion is Pastor Ted Vail, who is VP of Global Operations for The Foursquare Church. He holds a doctorate in intercultural studies, has served as adjunct faculty for Life Pacific University, previously served as a director of Foursquare Disaster Relief, and a pastor with his wife, Dawn, in the U.S. northwest, California and Colorado.
Together at the Table Devotional Recordings
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This is episode 1 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.
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This is episode 2 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.
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This is episode 3 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.
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This is episode 4 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.
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This is episode 5 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.
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This is episode 6 where Pastor Lane reads aloud a devotional series called, Together at The Table by Zach Szmara, with the hope of allowing the word of God to illuminate what it looks like to love our immigrant neighbors.