Church-Wide Lenten Study

Princeton and Kingston UMC’s 2023 Lenten Study is called Living The Sabbath. There are nine primary components of the Lenten Program:

Restore! Small Groups

Join us for our new small group offerings this lenten season! Over the course of six weeks, we will experience numerous ways to participate and enter into God’s sabbath rest through spiritual practices and God’s invitation to be restored through Sabbath.

There are several new groups meeting:

Sunday mornings from 9:15-10:15 at KUMC

Tuesdays from 12:30-1pm at PUMC (following the noon prayer service)

Wednesday nights from 7-8pm at PUMC

All of our 2023 Lenten groups will be accessible in person or via Zoom. Sign up for your small group by scanning the QR code or visiting princetonumc.org/lent-easter.

Unwind: A Meditative Prayer and Blanket Making Workshop

Our Lenten Kickoff Event, A Contemplative Prayer and Blanket Workshop, will be held on Sunday, February 26th at 11:30 in person at PUMC, KUMC, and through Zoom. This workshop is designed designed to bring people together for a time of prayer to usher in the Lenten season. This workshop will blend contemplative prayer practices with the act of blanket making to provide a space for creative Sabbath rest. Participants will be able to utilize this blanket during their own personal prayer practice as well as within their small groups as they engage in different spiritual practices.

We ask for $12 to cover the cost of the materials needed for the workshop, however, we are willing to waive this fee for those who need it. You can sign up and pay for the event by scanning the QR code or visiting princetonumc.org/lent-easter.

Tuesday Noon Lenten Services

Our Lenten prayer services are back! Get a mid-week respite during this weekly worship service, held in our Princeton chapel. The service lasts about 30 minutes and will have a discussion time that follows, where we will briefly engage with our church-wide lenten curriculum on Sabbath. Service and discussion are open to in-person attendance, as well as online.

Restore! A Lenten Sabbath Journey Sermon Series

Beginning Ash Wednesday (February 22nd) Princeton and Kingston UMCs will begin our church-wide series called Restore! A Lenten Sabbath Journey. Together, we will ask questions like: how do you rest? What restores you? How do you honor the sabbath and keep it holy? If you are like most of us, we don’t rest easily or well. We are depleted and struggle to truly feel restored. And many of us have felt the weight of restriction and even shame around keeping sabbath. This Lent we seek restoration through sabbath practices. We seek the delight, joy, peace, and freedom the sabbath is meant to offer. We’ll explore what sabbath is (and what it’s not). We’ll look at how it matters deeply to our own flourishing and experience of the fullness of life, and indeed that of all of creation. In this season of repentance, focused on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we’ll see how sabbath and the restoration it brings is a matter of life and death for us as well.

Book

Living The Sabbath by Norman Wirzba helps us explore what it means to be transformed by God’s grace through rest and delight. We will primarily focus on Part Two of this text which focuses on Sabbath in different contexts, including work, home, economics, education, environmentalism, and worship. This book is not required for those participating in our small group or listening to our sermon series, but we hope this will be a practical resource for your continued formation.

Ash Wednesday

Drop into Princeton UMC’s Sanford Davis Room February 22nd from 9am to 5pm for prayer and meditation on our prayer labyrinth and in the chapel. Self-imposed ashes will be available. A joint Ash Wednesday service will be held at Kingston UMC at 7pm.

Easter Egg Hunt

Our annual Easter Egg Hunt is back April 1st at 10am! Children, families, and adults are all welcome to join in the fun at this intergenerational event. There will be worship time, crafts, and a visit from the Easter bunny. There will be two egg hunts offered: one for our youngest egg hunters and the other for our older children. This event happens at our Kingston Campus, outside on the playground area and parking lot.

Walking Through Holy Week

Join us daily from Monday, April 3rd to Friday, April 7th from 9am to 5pm to experience meditative silence and walk the prayer labyrinth in the Sanford Davis Room at PUMC. We also invite you to participate in our Holy Week worship services:

Maundy Thursday | April 6th, 7pm | Princeton UMC, Online

Good Friday | April 7th, 7pm | Princeton UMC, Kingston UMC, Online

Holy Saturday | April 8th, 10am | Princeton UMC Prayer Chapel, Online

Easter Sunrise | April 9th, 6:30am | PUMC Lawn, KUMC @ Carnegie Lake, Online

Easter Worship | April 9th, 10am at PUMC and Online, 10:30am at KUMC and Online