The Micah Center for Social Justice will host “Know Your Rights,” a  Zoom clinic presented by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. A flagship offering of the lawyers guild, the program focuses on people’s rights regarding police stop and search policies and is designed to both educate and empower people, regardless of their immigration status. 
    If you are alone on a dark road and the police pull up behind you with their lights on, what should you do? What is safe and what are your rights? These questions and others will be answered during the Zoom clinic. 
    The Micah Center, founded in 2020, brings forth social topics for education, awareness and to promote meaningful discussion that could lead to meaningful change. Begun as an initiative of  St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Marlborough, the center has also attracted community members as individuals and from other organizations. Micah Center volunteers believe the Know Your Rights clinic can provide a starting point for conversation and understanding.
    For information on how to access the Tuesday, March 1 Zoom event, go to www.saintstephenlutheran.com/micahcenter.
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“Community” is the theme for Wednesdays in Lent at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Marlborough, beginning with Ash Wednesday worship on March 2 at 7 pm at the church at 537 Bolton St. Marlborough. Wednesday worship continues through Lent on March 9, 16, 23, 30 and April 6.
    “After two years of being kept apart, and as we’re increasingly able to gather again, this Lent we focus on what brings us together,” said pastor Joseph Graumann. The prayer service will explore community with creation, all the saints, our neighbors, the marginalized, and community with Christ. At this time, masks are still required at worship.
    Wednesday services will follow the format of Holden Evening Prayer. Written in 1985-86 by Marty Haugen during a musical residency at Holden Village, a scenic Lutheran camp in the mountains of Washington State, Holden Evening Prayer is a simple Lutheran vespers service that follows traditional form while using contemporary and inclusive language. Since then, the service has been adopted around the world. Haugen is a composer of liturgical music for Lutheran, Roman Catholic and other denominations, with over 400 compositions.
    “God creates each of us for community with others, and so we’re never truly alone., pastor Graumann added. “If you’re feeling lonely and isolated after two years of pandemic living, come make friends at church.”
    As Lent draws to a close, St. Stephen will mark Palm Sunday on April 10 at 10 am, hold a Maundy Thursday worship and soup supper on April 14 at 7 pm, and Good Friday worship April 15, also at 7 pm. The Saturday April 16  Easter Vigil  at 7:30 pm will focus on seven Bible passages, with insight and interpretation by parishioners. On Sunday, April 17, festive Easter worship will take place at 10 am, followed by a potluck brunch.
    For more information about St. Stephen Lutheran Church, visit www.saintstephenlutheran.com  or the church’s Facebook page. Saint Stephen is a member of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (www.elca.org) . The church is a Reconciling in Christ congregation, inviting people of every gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, ability, marital status, or class. Parishioners come from Marlborough, Hudson, Berlin, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Stow, and Bolton
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