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First Sunday of Lent
February 21
Pastor Steve Clark preaching

     For this Sunday, READ Luke 10:25-42 and REFLECT: The first part of this text, in which Jesus tells the story we have come to know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, is very familiar to many of us. If so, read it more slowly than you usually would, and see if there's anything in the text that you never noticed before or that stands out in a new way. Whether familiar or brand new, what stands out for you in either the story itself or in the conversation that precedes and follows Jesus' telling? In the second part of the text, what lesson do you think Jesus is trying to teach Mary? What lesson is there in this for you?
    TO JOIN US in worship this Sunday, February 21, CLICK ON THE PICTURE above to go to our Concord website. Near the bottom of the home page, click on the same picture to connect with the worship video. The worship video will be accessible after 9:00am each Sunday morning. 

Lenten Prayer Calendar

Journey through Lent with a prayer a day. Click here to download a calendar with a daily prompt to inspire you.
Please use the calendar, starting on Ash Wednesday, as a reminder to focus on different needs and different communities.

Our weekly MUG & MUFFIN study meets again next Wed., February 17 from 10:00-11:00am, led by Pastor Steve Clark. To join the Zoom gathering, follow the instructions below.

To join ONLINE, click on this link.

To join by CALLING IN:
(1) dial 646-558-8656
(2) If asked, enter the meeting number 879-780-5150 (no dashes)
(3) When asked for participant ID, just press the # sign
(4) When asked for meeting password, enter 489133, followed by the # sign

Prayers of continued healing for Bldg. Manager Duane Jessup - finally back at work but still dealing with after-effects of concussion suffered in hit-and-run auto accident.
Prayers for Gail Dill, scheduled for surgery tomorrow - results will help determine next steps in dealing with her colon cancer.
Prayers for Julie Klabunde, a friend of Bettye Shirar and Jan Moore, who needs bypass surgery and is fearful of the added risk of COVID.
Prayers of comfort for Greenes' daughter Kate, who will have a procedure to repair hereditary condition in one of her eyes this week.
Prayers of comfort and healing for Melanie's mother Mary Ruth Zehrung, who fell and fractured her elbow.
Healing prayers also for Margaret O'Boyle's mother, who broke her wrist in a fall. She is in some pain but fortunately no surgery will be needed.
Joyce Johnson's friends, Fran and John, are in need of prayers. His Alzheimer's has reached the point where she cannot care for him so he has entered Memory Care at Kendall. She was recently diagnosed with cancer.
Prayers for the safety of those impacted by the extreme cold and winter storms effecting large portions of the country.
Prayers of patience and persistence for those seeking appointments to receive the COVID vaccine. Prayers also for those administering the shots, and distributing and manufacturing the vaccines.
Prayers of thanks for the opportunities that are all around us where we can be of service and let God's Spirit work through us. Help us to be aware of those times.
*** 
A Diaspora Prayer Group prays on Mondays at 9:00am for those on the church prayer list (of which this is just a part). If you would like to add names/needs to this list and this ministry of prayer, click here: info@concordpc.org.

Every Black History Month, the people that are usually celebrated are repeated figures from history - civil rights leaders and abolitionists whose faces are familiar. This month I suggest we focus on people that don’t often make the history books. Each of them transformed America in a deep way and sometimes did not fit the conventional definition of “hero.”  Various people were weighed down with personal issues and misunderstood by those around them. These were not household names, but all of them were pioneers. 
 

     The woman was Amelia Boynton Robinson and she lay sprawled unconscious in the road, beaten and gassed by Alabama state troopers. A White officer with a billy club stood over her. A famous photo of that shocking moment helped galvanize the civil rights movement. It was taken during the “Bloody Sunday” march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The attack horrified the nation and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. It also revealed the toughness of Robinson, dubbed “the matriarch of the voting rights movement.” Later, she said, “I wasn’t looking for notoriety, but if that’s what it took, I didn’t care how many licks I got. It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause.”
     As far back as the 1930s, Robinson was registering Black voters in Alabama – a brave undertaking that could have cost Robinson her life in the Jim Crow South. In 1964, she became the first African American woman to run for Congress in Alabama. President Obama honored her half a century later when he clutched her hand – she was frail by then, and in a wheelchair – as they crossed the Selma bridge in March 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Robinson died five months later at age 104. 
     Quintessentially American — “Robinson was as strong, as hopeful, and as indomitable of spirit — as I’m sure she was that day 50 years ago,” Obama said at her death.  “To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia Boynton requires only that we follow her example — that all of us fight to protect everyone’s right to vote.”

Submitted by Kathie Pownall

Another Lenten Study Opportunity
Walking Through Lent for Peace: A Focus on Palestine/Israel
February 21 - March 17, 2021
(offered by Ainsworth United Church of Christ, Portland OR)

Come walk the path to peace with justice for Palestine/Israel. The series begins with Palestinian Tarek Abuata preaching online at Ainsworth UCC followed by four evenings. Each of the four evenings will be a combination of film on the Palestine/Israel conflict, readings and prayers, and a responder to questions. The UCC Palestine Israel Network resolution A Declaration for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel will be provided as a study piece. A Palestinian, Israeli, or American role will be provided for your private reflection to walk with through Lent. Click here for a PDF containing a full course description.

Here is the link to sign up for this Lenten ZOOM Experience: http://bit.ly/Lent2021CPCPIN.

The evening sessions will be an hour and a half to two hours. We will start with a Lenten reading, give some encouragement to take on a role, show the films for an hour, and then the evening Responder will answer questions put in the chat box. We will close with a prayer. You will have an opportunity to pick a role to play as you go through this series. (You will get a list of roles if you sign up for the course. If you would like a preview, please email Marj Johnson.) 

- submitted by Marj Johhnson

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