Laurel Presbyterian Church

Adult Sunday School Conversation will be resuming on May 2 before Sunday service. We will meet at 9 AM outside, physically distanced and masked. All are welcome.

We will gather at 10 AM outside to wrap up our study of the Ten Commandments from Love Carved in Stone. We plan to meet outdoors, wear masks and practice safe spacing between our chairs.

Join us online or in person for our Holy Week services. (Please note that Good Friday’s impact experience will be live at the church but not streamed online.)

Palm Sunday, March 28 at 10 AM

Join us as we celebrate Jesus’s triumphant arrival to Jerusalem as we begin our march through Holy Week. Our choir will process in with palms in place of all of us. But all of us will “march” out with palms.

Maundy Thursday, April 1st at 5 PM

Join us as we participate in this very special service to celebrate the Last Supper of Jesus at 5 pm. This is the night of the Passover feast that holds the Last Supper inside of it. The day where Jesus becomes both the Passover Lamb himself, and our servant in the foot washing ritual. We have learned from the Judeo Christina tradition that the sacrifice instinct recognizes that something symbolically needs to die in order for something new to be born. Richard Rohr says, “It is always our beloved passing self that has to be let go of . . . and we will all find endless disguises and excuses to avoid letting go of what really needs to die for our own spiritual growth.” This is our natural very human reaction to this hard reality. Yet, together, bravely, as this Body of Christ, we can begin the movement from the table to the garden, and to the cross. Please join us for this pivotal experience of dying to ourselves, so we might live to God.

Good Friday, April 2nd 1-4 PM

Please join us for a self-guided outdoor experience of letting go of all that is not of God in our walk with Jesus to the cross.  It is our intention to be outside on the front lawn by the bell for this impact walk. It is meditative and designed to support an encounter with our living God as we embrace the hard realities of the cross. If it should rain, we will hold the event inside and will give you privacy and space to meander your way through. 

Easter Service, April 4th at 10 AM

Bring your cut flowers as we celebrate (online or in person) this forever gift of kingdom life. Let your wonder and awe join with the universe as we give thanks for this gift of Love that even death cannot deny. Weather and COVID permitting we are working out how to have a COVID friendly Easter Egg Hunt outdoors right after worship.

Easter egg hunt

An Easter Egg Hunt will follow Easter worship, out by the bell. Masks are required and we will space everyone out so our fun is COVID-safe. All are welcome!

 

News, updates and more

Download the April newsletter

Zoom coffee hour, Thursday April 23rd at 10 AM

• Bring your coffee to our virtual gathering to check in with old and new friends.

Chats with Ann, Wednesday May 5th, 2:30 – 4 PM

• The topic is “processing our pandemic life.” The event will be held in the church parking lot.

Fireside Happy Hour, Thursday May 27th, 5 PM

• In person! Bring your favorite libation and nibbles as we gather in the church parking lot around our firepit to catch up and hear some wild stories. 

 

We’re excited to share the news that we will once again welcome everyone for in-person worship at our Sunday service, beginning Sunday, March 21 at 10:00 AM.

For the safety and well-being of all, we will continue to require that masks be worn and social-distancing maintained while attending in-person services or other events at Laurel.

Of course, we understand that not everyone feels comfortable yet with gathering in person; we will also continue to live-stream services, and we welcome all to participate from wherever you are.

 

Choir practices will resume on site at Laurel, Thursday afternoons at 5 PM, beginning this week on Thursday, March 18.

So that choir members will be free to attend, our next Zoom Happy Hour will take place on Friday, March 26 at 6 PM. We look forward to seeing everyone!

The March 2021 newsletter is now available! Download the newsletter (PDF file).

Shrove Tuesday, February 16th: Celebrate Fat Tuesday by eating pancakes the last day before Lent begins. Pope Gregory in 600 AD banned meat and meat products during Lent, so pancakes were eaten to use up all dairy products in the house. It is also one last hurrah before the solemn days of fasting, praying and walking with our Suffering Servant begin.

Lent Practice: Ask God to show you how to walk with our Suffering Servant through these upcoming 40-days of Lent. Traditionally, this is a time of soul searching, of prayer, of contemplation. Many people give up things for Lent as one way to practice this solidarity. You might think about adding an act of loving kindness each day to expand Jesus’s footprint of love in the world. Or, expand your practice of caring for yourself so God’s love is known here too – eating for health, or gently exercising, or adding dedicated meditation time with God. All of these ways help us to know the love of God in the details of our living, and in our world. You can track your Lenten discipline using the Leading with the Heart of God chart (see below).

Leading with the Heart of God: A Lenten formation chart will be included in the Ash Wed kit that will help you track your spiritual discipline. Please adapt it so it is useful to you. This will also be emailed to you, and extras will be left in a baggie outside under the canopy.

Lent Study of JOB: We will be meeting by Zoom on Wednesday nights, starting on February 24th for five Wednesdays, through March 24th, at 7 pm. We will be using the bible as our main source along with Harold Kushner’s book, When bad things happen to good people. Please email Rev. Ann (laurelpres.cherry@gmail.com) if you are interested and she will get a book to you. The class will meet for about an hour (plus) each time. Love to have you join us

Download the February 2021 newsletter