Lenten Lessons

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Detailing the majesty, the horror and the love told in the story of the crucifixion of the Christ, the annual Community Lenten series, sponsored by the Red Willow County Ministerial Association, came to a close Friday with the reading of the Good Friday liturgy at Memorial United Methodist Church...

The Nebraska National Guard had earned several significant national awards in recent months and I would like to talk more about these awards as well as several other significant events involving the men and women of our Nebraska National Guard. Members of the Nebraska National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters air staff learned they had been awarded their second-consecutive U.S. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A well-planned trip in 1992 back to Trenton, New Jersey, to attend his 20-year high school reunion included not-a-few, not-so-welcome side trips for the Rev. Steve Bales and his wife, Denise. Bales detailed some of the unexpected detours and distractions, including a middle of the night fire in the hotel where he and Denise were staying...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Miles of endless water, trapped on a stricken ocean liner, much as the passengers of the Carnival Triumph were over the past several days, can be a "desert" experience, according to the Rev. Gary Brethour, pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church...

The closing stanza in the fourth verse of "O Sacred Head" offers the prayer, "Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee." To that end, the 2012 Community Lenten congregation took part in the reading of the Liturgy of Good Friday, taken from the Gospel of John: 18:1-40 and 19:1-37, detailing the betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion of the Son of God...

"It is for this reason that I have come to this hour." And 2,000 years later, men continue to contemplate "this hour" and find in that contemplation the hope that was born in that hour and the hope that continues to live in the resurrected Christ. A game of "burn-out" catch, in a church gymnasium, almost ended in tragedy because a youngster, becoming the man the Rev. Eddie McElhannon would one day be, flipped out the lights, thrusting three young men into utter darkness...

DAWN CRIBBS Associate Editor Man's default destination is hell, according to the Rev. Angel Carrillo, pastor at McCook Harvest Church. Carrillo, his Latino roots evident in his accent, gently warned the community congregation of 101 gathered at St. Alban's Episcopal Church Friday afternoon during the Community Lenten Service that apart from new life in Christ, man cannot change his eternal destination...

"Jesus either brought people to their feet or to their knees," said the Rev. Johnny Walker Friday as he addressed a community congregation of 119 at St. Alban's Episcopal Church. "He either gathered people unto himself or watched as they turned away," Walker continued...

The Rev. Eddie McElhannon, McCook's newest pastor, arriving at the pulpit at First Assembly of God just last fall, said he was honored to be asked to contribute to the faith community as part of the Community Lenten service at First Congregational Church Friday afternoon...

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Of all of the choices we make each day -- what to wear, what to eat, where to live -- no decision is more important than the one we make to the question "What will you do with Jesus?" The Rev. Clark Bates, pastor at McCook Christian Church posed that question to an audience of 98 Friday afternoon at the third 2011 Community Lenten service at First Congregational Church, but not before revealing how some have already answered...

The Rev. Jon Albrecht looked out on a sea of 94 faces, all remarkably similar to the visage he painted of the Apostle Peter, Friday afternoon during the second 2011 Community Lenten service at First Congregational Church. Albrecht, pastor of McCook Harvest Church, believes that all who follow Jesus Christ can relate to Peter's experience on the night of Christ's betrayal...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A visit to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives evokes many hard questions, including perhaps the most poignant question of all, "why?" The Rev. Gary Brethour, pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the inaugural speaker at the 2011 Community Lenten Service Friday at First Congregational Church in McCook, addressed a community congregation of 83, with the "why" questions of the suffering of the Christ, first in the Garden, then following through to the cross...