Peace Lutheran Church

What is Lent? It’s the season of the church year we commemorate Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days just after he was baptized. Lent is a time of spiritual renewal and going into the wilderness of Jesus. It’s often associated with deepening spiritual practices like fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These intentional spiritual practices are meant to lead to spiritual renewal and prepare us for Holy Week as we journey to the cross with Jesus.

Consider entering the Lenten journey as you foster spiritual practices deepening your relationship with God.

Prayer – pray each day. How often? That’s up to you but make it intentional. Set aside a routine time to pray for a specified amount of time. Begin to speak with God, and you’ll learn to value that time as God begins to speak. Prayer opens the door for you to both share your life with God and to listen to God sharing life with you. Also, connected to prayer is also reading scripture. This is an ancient form of prayer in which you read and then reflect and pray based on that reading. There are many reading plans available online.

Fasting – it’s not going on a diet. Fasting is intentionally going without something so that it doesn’t have the same power over you. Fasting is traditionally food, but it can also be from the way we spend out time. Maybe it’s a fast from social media or the constant need to be entertained. Take time for silence.

Generosity (Almsgiving) – fasting leads to generosity. If you cut out that Starbucks run for six weeks, how much did you save? Use that to bless someone and not just consider it a savings plan. The same goes with your time. Maybe you cut out the social media scrolling and now you can dedicate more time to acts of service. Be generous!

To explore Lenten practices consider the ELCA World Hunger guides: https://www.elca.org/our-work/relief-and-development/elca-world-hunger/40-days-resources

Good morning, this is John Sutton on the Board of Directors for Family Promise. It has been a bit since I provided any updates from the Board of Directors. We have several items to share with you that I hope you find interesting.

As many of you know we have two families currently enrolled in the transitional housing program, that is staying at churches while they take steps to stabilize their lives and move into permanent housing. We the Board are committed to continuing this program. We realize that each of you have taken on more hosting dates that has placed an extra strain on your recourses. We are actively seeking other churches to bring into the rotation. I will gladly reach out to any church or other organization that any of you can suggest to open discussions about hosting families.

The Board has begun planning another fundraiser dinner like the one we had last year. We are planning on holding the event in August so look for more updates as we get closer. I will gladly put anyone that would like to help in touch with our fund-raising committee. Just have them drop me a line or call my cell. We are also making plans to bring back the Bed Race, in 2026.

Family Promise Giving Day will happen 4/22/2025. We will be sending information to churches as well as sending information to regular donors on the event as it gets closer. Remember that 100% of what is given to Family Promise of New Braunfels is used to help families right here in New Braunfels.

Many of you have asked about an executive director. Well, we are actively seeking a director and have hopes to fill the position in the near future. In the meantime, Board members are working closely with the two staff members to keep the program running smoothly.

I'm making another appeal for help with transportation of the families. Without public transportation, getting families from the day center to childcare, to churches and jobs is expensive when we have to use Lyft or Uber. Some of you may remember the van that was used for several years. We have it but lack drivers. Do you know anyone that would like to help our families get around town? Perhaps you know someone that is a early bird or someone else that has an afternoon or evening free? Let me know and I'll reach out to them.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Thank you and your churches.

John Sutton

830-387-9777

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