Welcoming All to the Table
This year, Resurrection Parish Family invites you to the Lenten Table to grow as a community, feed our minds, and strengthen our relationships with each other and the Lord. We are welcoming all to gather around the table this Lenten season and beyond.
Gathering around tables is nothing new. All throughout sacred history, all of God's people have gathered around tables to celebrate, reflect, feast, and remember. In the book of Ruth, Boaz sat around the table with his workers, inviting an unknown Moabite woman to eat his bread. And in the New Testament, Jesus gathered around tables with friends and sinners, and then he instituted the Eucharist at the Passover meal he shared with his disciples.
Having everyone gather around the table is as necessary today as it was 2,000 years ago. We need space to regain perspective and reorient our focus back toward others and the things that matter most. But modern life and our busy culture often takes us away from the table. This Lent, let us take time to gather around all the tables in our lives, from the kitchen table, to the Gathering Area tables, to the Altar table. May we welcome all who come to the table, regardless of who they are, with joy and hospitality.
Amanda Dewitt lays out five reasons why we should gather around the table:
Place for rest – The table calls us to briefly set aside our schedules and rest. We acknowledge our humanness, hunger, and need for refreshment. We serve others, and then we let them serve us. Together we receive the physical and spiritual nourishment we need to continue our tasks and resume our daily work.
Creates fellowship – In our fast past society, friendship doesn’t just happen. Relationships take work. We need to look our friends in the eyes, watch their expressions, and listen to their words. The table gives us the space to take off our masks. It helps us get honesty. And it encourages us to share struggles and celebration grace.
Cultivates perspective – As we share our daily joys and griefs around the table, we often gain a new perspective. Suddenly our problem isn’t so big. Maybe we’ve been overlooking the goodness right in front of us. Or perhaps the solution we need is found within the counsel of a trusted friend. The table creates dialogue, gives us new ideas, and sends us back into life’s situations with greater wisdom and perspective.
Celebrates the present – Gatherings are made for reminiscent and dreams. But eventually they always lead us back to the present. Memories are made around the table. Laughter splits our sides and tears wet our cheeks. Such moments reminds us that our hours and minutes are precious—gifts to be gathered as our daily bread. They call us to make the most of our time, soaking up the life that lies within our simplest moments.
Calls for sacrifice – Ultimately the table calls us to sacrifice ourselves—to show hospitality, pull up a few extra chairs, and meet others’ needs. It breaks our selfishness and reorients our focus toward service. No wonder Jesus selected the table as a picture of his own sacrifice and summoned his followers to gather often in remembrance of his ultimate gift.
Lent begins this Wednesday - Ash Wednesday. After the celebration of Mardi Gras, we gather as a community to repent and refresh our desire to live in Christ. It is a holy day of prayer and fasting that is marked by the receiving of ashes on our foreheads to remind us of our mortality and need for God's mercy.
Resurrection has planned numerous opportunities for you to experience as we gather around the Lenten Table. Learn more about all the Lenten resources Resurrection will be provided at our dedicated webpage:
We begin our daily Lenten journey with Jesus. Along the way, we go to an “out of the way” place to encounter His presence in Scriptures, Haikus, Reality, and Prayer. May Jesus does not find us sleeping, perplexed or afraid to remain at the Cross. Like Jesus, God will surprise us with the Resurrection. All the way to the Cross is the Resurrection steps of our Lenten journey.
Daily Reflections by Roger Vanden Busch:
Lent offers opportunities to pass on your faith to children. Here are some activities for Churches of the Home to make Lenten memories:
Get ready for Lent by brushing up on your prayer routine. Set aside a regular time to pray together as a family — or, if your schedules don’t allow for the whole family to pray together, aim to pray together one-on-one or in small groups.
Lent is Around the Corner!
This Lent, pray the stations with your family using the Project Nazareth Lenten Stations. Children can connect-the-dots, color, and ponder with you about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Join us for Mass this weekend in person at 4:oo on Saturday, 8:30 or 10:30 on Sunday, on www.gbres.org/live, our YouTube channel, and our Facebook page.
READINGS FOR THIS WEEKEND’S MASSES
VIRTUALLY SUNDAY REFLECTION
We are called to love more deeply, even when it is difficult. But do we love just enough to pass the test? Or do we love so greatly that we have life and have it to the fullest? As we enter into Lent next week, how can we love the way Jesus calls us to love God and each other?
Join Fr. Tim Shillcox as he reflects on this Sunday's Gospel.
Give BIG Green Bay
February 21 & 22
Give BIG Green Bay highlights the important work nonprofits are doing in every corner of our community. This year 45 participating organizations are participating, including many Resurrection supports and is involved with as a parish. These organizations are working to make our lives more vibrant and fulfilling.
Families
This Weekend's Bulletin
(click to read)
February Town Hall
This past Wednesday, Rev. Bridget Flad Daniels joined the monthly Town Hall series to discuss What Scripture Says About Sexuality & Being Inclusive.
Rev. Bridget Flad Daniels is the Senior Pastor of Union Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Green Bay. Bridget’s ministry works to help people see that Jesus’ teachings are more relevant today than ever, particularly around the areas of justice, inclusion, healing, and hope.
What does the Bible say about sexuality, about inclusion and acceptance, and how we respond to the LGBTQ community with the love of Christ?
These and more questions will be included in this important conversation.
2023 Bishop's Appeal
You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
“When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” Matthew 5:39-42
In this weekend's gospel, we are reminded that we should not only love our neighbor but also love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This feels like a tall order, doesn’t it? It is usually easy to give love to those we know, but more challenging to reach out and show love and compassion to a stranger or to our enemies. Maybe those are people who have made choices we disagree with or have hurt us.
To be perfect in the eyes of our heavenly Father, we need to look past those we know, to be more compassionate with those we might not normally consider. Together we need to rise in faith and go the extra mile. Certainly, there are different ways to do this, but one way is by giving to the Bishop’s Appeal. Funds raised during the Bishop’s Appeal help people in our parish we know and people in our Diocese that we don’t know. Children and adults attend lively programs learning the Word of God, Care Ministers are trained to minister to members in our parish, Catholic Charities provides counseling to people in need, and families seeking to adopt are connected with newborn babies. Your gift to the Bishop’s Appeal makes happy endings possible and helps you show love and compassion to others.
What you give is less important than the spirit in which you give. To make a gift contact our parish office, use the letter and pledge you received at home or visit the Bishop’s Appeal website at www.catholicfoundationgb.org/give.
Announcements
Ruby and Res
Hey Mary! How about sharing that chocolate-covered strawberry?
