The Cross and the Catechism: Crucified with Christ

Lent wasn’t always about commemorating the Passion of our Lord.  It began as the last dash to Baptism and Holy Communion for adults in the early Church.  In later years, when there were less adult converts, the focus of Lent shifted to the Passion of Christ.  Liturgical scholar Frank Senn writes, “Thus Lent became a time when the whole church returned, as it were, to the catechumenate, and in which the whole church, as it were, entered the order of penitents” (Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical, Fortress Press, 1997, p11).

This year, our Lent, Holy Week, and Easter services will review the Passion and Easter accounts, but will also preserve that original catechetical intent, using Luther’s Small Catechism and seeing how the Catechism leads to the cross, focusing especially on the Ten Commandments, with the theme, “The Cross and the Catechism: Crucified with Christ.”

Services are on Wednesdays, 6:30 pm.  Suppers precede services (5:30 pm) beginning on Ash Wednesday until Holy Week.

As in past years, the pastors of the western side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Circuit of the Wisconsin Synod will share pulpits for midweek Lenten services.

Here’s the schedule in brief for St. Mark:

March 9 – Ash Wednesday (Lord’s Supper): The Ministry of the Keys and Confession (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)

March 16 – Midweek 1 (Lord’s Supper): The First Commandment (Pr. Paul Seager)

March 23 – Midweek 2: The Second Commandment (Pr. Brian Doebler)

March 30 – Midweek 3 (Lord’s Supper): The Fifth Commandment (Pr. Richard Schleicher)

April 6 – Midweek 4: The Sixth Commandment (Pr. Nate Bourman)

April 13 – Midweek 5 (Lord’s Supper): The Ninth and Tenth Commandments (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)

April 21 – Maundy Thursday (Lord’s Supper): The Sacrament of Holy Communion (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)

April 22 – Good Friday Tenebrae: The Lord’s Prayer (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)

April 24 – Easter Sunrise (7:30 am; B’fast at 8:30 am): The Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)

April 24 – Easter Festival Service (10:30 am; Lord’s Supper): The Third Article (Pr. Benjamin Tomczak)