Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day: April 16, 2017

Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

April 16, 2017

Eucharistic Liturgies 8:00am, 10:45 am

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Easter dawn

He blesses every love that weeps and grieves

And now he blesses hers who stood and wept

And would not be consoled, or leave her love's

Last touching place, but watched as low light crept

Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs

A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.

She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,

Or recognize the Gardener standing there.

She hardly hears his gentle question, "Why,

Why are you weeping?", or sees the play of light

That brightens as she chokes out her reply,

"They took my love away, my day and night."

And then she hears her name, she hears Love say

The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.

Malcolm Guite, (Sounding the Seasons, p. 44)

Holy Saturday: April 15, 2017

Holy Saturday

April 15, 2017

Vigil of Easter, 8:30 pm

Romans 6:3-11; John 20:1-18

Jesus is laid in the tomb

Here at the centre everything is still,

Before the stir and movement of our grief

That bears its pain with rhythm, ritual,

Beautiful useless gestures of relief.

So they anoint the skin that cannot feel

And soothe his ruined flesh with tender care,

Kissing the wounds they know they cannot heal,

With incense scenting only empty air.

He blesses every love that weeps and grieves,

And makes our grief the pangs of a new birth.

The love that's poured in silence at old graves,

Renewing flowers, tending the bare earth,

Is never lost. In him all love is found

And sown with him, a seed in the rich ground.

Malcolm Guite, (Sounding the Seasons, p. 43)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

• Visit someone. Take them some hot cross buns for their Easter feast. 

Good Friday: April 14, 2017

Good Friday

April 14, 2017

(from “God’s Friday”)

Way of the Cross, 12 noon; Adoration of the Cross, 7:00 pm

Is. 52:13-53:12; Ps. 22; Heb. 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross

See, as they strip the robe from off his back

And spread his arms and nail them to the cross,

The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,

And love is firmly fastened on to loss.

But here a pure change happens. On this tree

Loss becomes gain, death opens into birth.

Here wounding heals and fastening makes free,

Earth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth.

And here we see the length, the breadth, the height,

Where love and hatred meet and love stays true,

Where sin meets grace and darkness turns to light,

We see what love can bear and be and do.

And here our Saviour calls us to his side,

His love is free, his arms are open wide.

Malcolm Guite, (Sounding the Seasons, p. 42)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

• Bake hot cross buns to break the fast (see recipe below.) Leave the radio and TV off today.

Holy Week: Hot Cross Buns      375° oven            about 15 buns

In a small bowl, combine:

       1 pkg. dry yeast

       ¼ c. warm water

In a small saucepan, scald:

       1 c. milk (or soymilk)

Add:

       1 t. salt

       ¼ c. sugar

       ¼ c. butter

Pour milk mixture into a large bowl. Let cool to lukewarm.

Stir in:

       1 c. flour

Add:

       yeast mixture

       1 egg, beaten

       ½ t. ground cinnamon

       ½ c. raisins or currants

Mix well. Add:

       2½ - 3 c. flour

Knead 5 minutes on floured surface. Place in greased bowl. Cover with clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. Punch down. Turn out onto floured surface; let rest 10 minutes. Shape into round buns (about 2 ½” diameter), and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with towel; let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to racks. Cool.

Mix: (to make a moderately thick frosting)

       1 c. powdered sugar

       2 t. to 1 T. milk

       a few drops of vanilla

Pipe frosting through the snipped corner of a sandwich bag into the shape of a cross on each bun. Makes about 15.

Maundy Thursday: April 13, 2017

Maundy Thursday (from “Mandare” – to command)

April 13, 2017

Eucharist, 12 Noon: Eucharist with Footwashing, 7:00 pm

Ex. 12:1-14; Ps. 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Maundy Thursday

Here is the source of every sacrament,

The all-transforming presence of the Lord,

Replenishing our every element,

Remaking us in his creative Word.

For here the earth herself gives bread and wine,

The air delights to bear his Spirit's speech,

The fire dances where the candles shine,

The waters cleanse us with his gentle touch.

And here he shows the full extent of love

To us whose love is always incomplete,

In vain we search the heavens high above,

The God of love is kneeling at our feet.

Though we betray him, though it is the night,

He meets us here and loves us into light.

Malcolm Guite,  (Sounding the Seasons, p. 36)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

• Clean out a closet. Give away what you don’t need.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Worship: Noon

Reading: John 13:21-32

O Adonai

Unsayable, you chose to speak one tongue;

Unseeable, you gave yourself away;

The Adonai, the Tetragrammaton,

Grew by a wayside in the light of day,

O you who dared to be a tribal God,

To own a language, people and a place,

Who chose to be exploited and betrayed,

If so you might be met with face to face:

Come to us here, who would not find you there,

Who chose to know the skin and not the pith,

Who heard no more than thunder in the air,

Who marked the mere events and not the myth;

Touch the bare branches of our unbelief

And blaze again like fire in every leaf.

Malcol Guite, (Sounding the Seasons, p. 8)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

• Take a walk. Look for signs of spring.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Worship: Noon

Full Moon, Lakota "Moon of Fattening"

Pesach, Passover begins

Reading: John 12:20-36

Grain of Wheat

Oh let me fall as grain to the good earth

And die away from all dry separation,

Die to my sole self, and find new birth

Within that very death, a dark fruition,

Deep in this crowded underground, to learn

The earthy otherness of every other,

To know that nothing is achieved alone

But only where these other fallen gather.

If I bear fruit and break through to bright air,

Then fall upon me with your freeing flail

To shuck this husk and leave me sheer and clear

As heaven-handled Hopkins, that my fall

May be more fruitful and my autumn still

A golden evening where your barns are full.

Malcolm Guite, (Parable and Paradox, p. 68)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

• Buy and eat a fruit that has many seeds.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Monday, April 10, 2017

Worship: Noon

Commemoration of Michael Agricola, Bishop of Turku

Reading: John 12: 1-11

The Anointing at Bethany

Come close with Mary, Martha, Lazarus,

So close the candles flare with their soft breath,

And kindle heart and soul to flame within us,

Lit by these mysteries of life and death.

For beauty now begins the final movement,

In quietness and intimate encounter,

The alabaster jar of precious ointment

Is broken open for the world's true lover.

The whole room richly fills to feast the senses

With all the yearning such a fragrance brings,

The heart is mourning but the spirit dances,

Here at the very centre of all things,

Here at the meeting place of love and loss

We all foresee and see beyond the cross.

Malcolm Guite, (Sounding the Seasons, p. 35)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen

·       Place the palms from the Palm Sunday liturgy on your altar.

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday: April 9, 2017

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday

April 9, 2017

Worship: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

Mt. 21:1-11; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16;Phil. 2:5-11;

Mt. 26:14—27:66

Commemoration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer* (see last pages)

Palm Sunday

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,

The seething holy city of my heart,

The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him?

Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start;

They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing,

And think the battle won. Too soon they'll find

The challenge, the reversal he is bringing

Changes their tune. I know what lies behind

The surface flourish that so quickly fades;

Self-interest, and fearful guardedness,

The hardness of the heart, its barricades,

And at the core, the dreadful emptiness

Of a perverted temple. Jesus come

Break my resistance and make me your home.

Malcolm Guite (Sounding the Seasons, p. 32)

·       Listen to either the Matthäuspassion or the Johannespassion by Johann Sebastian Bach.                      St. Matthew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm1os4VzTgA

               St. John:         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1HmxBhRgqc

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who… emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Phil. 2:5,7

Out of the womb of wondrous love

came the person Jesus

wondrous love from

wondrous love.

All that came to him

that was hurt,

all that was shame,

all that was cruelty

all that was spite, -

all that came to him

he took into himself.

All the energy

of scorn, of fright

of worthlessness, of envy

all the energy of hate

that came to him

he took into himself

and did not lash out

to return it.

All that came to him

that was unlovely

he took into himself

and transformed it,

transformed

by the wonder of God's love.

Wondrous love from

wondrous love.

So is our beginning.

So is our ending.

Susan Palo Cherwien, copyright2010 MorningStarMusicPublishers

• Place a candle at the grave of someone you love. (Lazarus Saturday)

Friday, April 7, 2017

Friday, April 7, 2017

Jupiter at closest approach to earth; visible all night

Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

"The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward."  Isaiah 50:5

Martin Luther described sin as a person's being "curved in on itself", incurvatus in se, concerned only with one's own needs, desires, one's own puny little world. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, where reaction to his world-upturning teachings and life is building to a deathly confrontation, we see clearly how absolutely faithful he is to his identity as the Compassionate One, open and vulnerable to the world. He set his face "like a flint" (Is. 50:7) and turned not backward. How simple it would have been to disappear into the wilderness ravines east of the city. How difficult, to ignore the deep human instinct toward self-preservation and to continue on the road, in spite of risk, in spite of threat.

Merciful God, may we never turn backward from our calling as people of your heart. Amen

·       Eat no meat or oil today.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach

Reading: Matthew 21:1-11

"Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road."

 Matthew 21:8

The worn, rutted footpaths and roads in Israel were rocky and treacherous, and it was customary for townspeople to "prepare the way" when someone important was approaching, making the ruts level and removing rocks. It was also customary to lay down one's cloak, the outer garment, before a king, as the servants of Ahab did before Jehu in 2 Kings 9:13. What kind of king were the people expecting? What kind of ruler were they hoping for? One who would "smite the world perfect", as Dorothy Sayers wrote? Since we cannot know the thoughts and motivations of the 1st c. Judaeans along the road to Jerusalem, perhaps we should at least return to our own 21st century lives and ask, how do we prepare the way for the coming of Christ into the Jerusalem of our hearts?

            Then cleansed be every life from sin,

            Make straight the way for God within,

            And let us all our hearts prepare

            For Christ to come and enter there. Amen

                                    (Charles Coffin, "On Jordan's Banks")

• Make a drawing, painting, or poem in your journal.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following

6:00 Soup supper: 7:00pm Evening Prayer

Reading:  Psalm 130

"My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the

morning, more than those who watch for the morning." Ps. 130:6

In the midst of night, floors creak, twigs brush, heart pounds. All that distresses seems nearer, larger, more fearsome. If only the light would break, if only dawn would come. Who will call us out of this marauding night? Earl Schwartz teaches us to watch for repeated words and phrases in Hebrew scripture: "more than those that watch for the morning, more than those that watch for the morning." Twice. The soul's desire for God is stronger than even the desire for the dawn. The heart's desire for Light, for new Life, is even stronger than the yearning to leave that midnight darkness.

The soul desires the presence of God, and when God is found, "my soul is peaceful as a child sleeping in its mother's arms." (Ps. 131:2)

• Get up before sunrise tomorrow and watch the dawn.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Commemoration of  Benedict the African

Reading:  John 11:1-45

"Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"  John 11:37

Like the people mourning with Mary, sister of Lazarus, we often have very specific ways we want to see God at work in the world. Why doesn't God just intervene and stop war? We pray and pray and a friend dies of cancer anyway. Why didn't God just heal her and let her live? A poem by Dorothy Sayers, friend and colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis:

            "…Hard it is, very hard,

            To travel up the slow and stony road

            To Calvary, to redeem mankind; far better

            To make but one sceptered miracle,

            Lean through the cloud, lift the right hand of power

            And with a sudden lightning smite the world perfect.

            Yet this was not God's way, who had the power,

            But set it by, choosing the cross, the thorn,

            The sorrowful wounds. Something there is, perhaps,

            That power destroys in passing, something supreme,

            To whose great value in the eyes of God

            That cross, that thorn, and those five wounds bear                            witness."

                                                (The Devil To Pay)

Most loving God, your ways are not our ways; calm our hearts and soothe our questing minds with your wisdom, Amen

• Memorize a scripture verse.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday, April 3, 2017

Reading: Romans 8:6-11

"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace."  Romans 8:6

Today let Martin Luther speak, again from his "Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans":

"Flesh and spirit you must not understand as though flesh is only that which has to do with unchastity and spirit is only that which has to do with what is inwardly in the heart. Rather, like Christ in John 3:6, Paul calls everything 'flesh' that is born of the flesh - the whole person, with body and soul, mind and senses - because everything about [that person] longs for the flesh…From the 'works of the flesh' in Galatians 5[:19-21], you can learn that Paul calls heresy and hatred 'works of the flesh'.

On the contrary, you should call [the person] 'spiritual' who is occupied with the most external kind of works as Christ was when he washed the disciples' feet… Thus 'the flesh' is [one] who lives and works, inwardly and outwardly, in the service of the flesh's gain and of this temporal life. 'The spirit' is the [one] who lives and works, inwardly and outwardly, in the service of the Spirit and of the future life."

Put your Spirit in us, O God, to unite all that we are with your will. Amen

• Do something today to nourish your spiritual body and your bodily spirit.

Fifth Sunday in Lent: April 2, 2017

Fifth Sunday in Lent

April 2, 2017

Eucharist: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

Ez. 37:1-14; Ps. 130; Rom. 8:6-11; John 11:1-45

 O God, with joy I enter in,

Restored and precious in your sight,

For in your grace I live again

In lands of honey and delight.

·       Listen to Franz Schubert's oratorio "Lazarus" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pa1VgWnCzY. Score at http://imslp.org/wiki/Lazarus,_D.689_(Schubert,_Franz)

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Commemoration of Amalie Sieveking

Mercury at greatest elongation; visible in west after sunset

Reading: John 11:1-45

"Lazarus, come out!"  John 11:43

In the Saint John's Bible illumination for the raising of Lazarus, the viewer stands behind Lazarus in the rocky tomb, looking out through a circular tunnel where the bright gold figure of Christ stands calling Lazarus out of the tomb. It is almost like the pupil  of an eye. Against the inner darkness of the tomb are the gold leaf words of Christ: "I am the resurrection and the life." One vividly senses the loving call to come out of the tomb, and since we, as viewers, are also in the tomb with Lazarus, the call of Christ is also directed at us: "Lazarus, come out!" From all the dark places of  hurt where we have walled ourselves off, Christ calls us to come out. From the dead places of hatred and bitterness, Christ calls us to arise. From the tomb of self-loathing, Christ's loving voice bids us come forth. To golden light. To life.

Out of the depths have we cried to you, O God; O God, hear our voice. Amen

• Take a gratefulness walk. Gather something for your altar.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Friday, March 31, 2017

Commemoration of John Donne

Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14

"O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."  Ezekiel 37:4

Master Calligrapher Donald Jackson designed a two-page illumination for Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones for the handwritten Saint John's Bible. Whereas Jackson frequently traveled to the British Museum to view examples of Near Eastern ornaments and motifs for the book's illuminations, in this case he went to internet archives of documentary photos, extracting images of piles of bones from massacres in Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq and other places to create the lower half of the illumination page. These he interposed with piles of glass shards reminiscent of terrorist attacks and piles of eyeglasses from the Holocaust to create a bleak collage of the dry bones of human suffering and spiritual death. Across the top of the page, in contrast, is a collage of rainbow fragments and menorahs, signs of covenant and promise. All across the page, the small gold-leaf squares of divine presence shine even in the darkness of the valley. Even in death and dryness, God is present. Even in the seemingly hopeless, God's promise shines.

Your Word, O God, is life and light; open our hearts that we may hear your word and live. Amen

·       Place on your altar a picture of someone who has wronged you. Pray to forgive.   

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Reading:  Ezekiel 37:1-14

"Can these dry bones then live?"  Ezekiel 37:3

After the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman army in 70 CE, a group of extreme Zealots (Sicarii) overtook the  Roman garrison at Masada, a tabletop mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, where Herod the Great had built a fortified palace complex including a synagogue. Besieged by the Roman troops, the Sicarii and families watched as, bucketful by bucketful, stone and dirt were used to build a ramp up the west flank of the mount. (Imagine building a dirt ramp up the side of Devil's Tower in Wyoming…) When the Roman army breached the walls on April 16, 73 CE, they found every one dead, except a few hiding women and children. Among the artifacts excavated from under the synagogue at Masada is a scroll fragment: Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. Overlooking the wilderness around the Dead Sea, we hear these words again, "Can these bones then live?" One could wonder: what was the new life for Israel the prophet had declared? What is the new life God desires for each one of us?

Breathe your Spirit upon these dry bones, O God, and make us new. Amen

• Start making Ukrainian eggs for your Easter celebration.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following

6:00 pm Soup supper: 7:00 pm Evening Prayer

Commemoration of Hans Nils Hauge

Reading: John 9:1-41

“[The man who was born blind] answered: “… one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  John 9:25

In one of her visions, Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1160) saw a golden Christ figure pouring out divinity from himself. The golden stream of the divine flowed down to a figure in white baptismal garments; another veiled figure stood below Christ, the garments covered with open eyes. Hildegard called Christ, “the One Who Gives Eyes” - eyes to see wisdom, eyes to see justice. Perhaps eyes to see Christ in the faces of others? Eyes to see the pain in the world? Eyes to see God at work in the universe?

Oh, Holy Jesus,

most merciful Redeemer,

Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

and follow you more nearly.  Amen

(Prayer of Richard of Chichester)

• Call or write a relative you haven’t spoken to in ages. If they have died, place the letter on your altar.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

New Moon

Reading: John 9:1-41

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.”  John 9:1

According to many New Testament scholars, the writer of the Gospel of John (probably writing about 90-100 CE) originally ended the gospel immediately after the story of Thomas and the Risen Christ in Chapter 20, and concluded with these words, “Now Jesus did many other things in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that you may have life in his name" (John 20:30-31). Seeing and believing. Seeing and believing.  The disciples at the Cana wedding, the woman at the well, the people who were fed by the five loaves, and now the man born blind. St. Augustine writes in one sermon that the world is the blind man. Seeing and believing. What are we not seeing? To what are we blind? Is Christ truly our light? How does the light of Christ change how we see?

O God of light, open our eyes that we may see ourselves, the world, and you, more clearly.  Amen

• Take a walk. Notice shadows, Give thanks.
• Go tohttp://gratefulness.org/blog/delighted-share-new-video-stop-look-go/to see the video "Stop.Look.Go."

Monday, March 27, 2017

Monday, March 27, 2017

Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”   Ephesians 5:14

Here is one of those lovely, unexpected hymn fragments that are woven into letters and other books in the New Testament. Just a little fragment, possibly of a baptismal hymn, already in existence and being sung by the early Christians by the time Paul wrote this letter to the church at Ephesus. Imagine the song in the night: river water may be rushing nearby, or waves splashing from the sea. The smell of chrism is in the air, and the smoke from fire. The renunciation toward the west, and then the turning toward the east, the direction of the rising sun, where Cyril of Jerusalem says, “God’s Paradise opens before you, that Eden … The place of light, that garden which God planted in the east.” And voices chanting in the dark, “Awake, O sleeper…”

Awaken me, O God, raise me up from the dead, and grant me the light of Christ. Amen

• Memorize a hymn.

Fourth Sunday in Lent: March 26, 2017

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 26, 2017

Eucharist: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

I Sam. 16:1-13; Ps.23; Eph. 58-14; John 9:1-41

How shall my days your grace proclaim;

How shall my deeds your healing prove?

An open heart will praise your name;

My grateful life will sing your love.

·      Listen to Edward Elgar's oratorio on the man born blind: "The Light of Life" (1896) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtYQQW6U964. 
 Score at: http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Life,_Op.29_(Elgar,_Edward)
 Score at: http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Life,_Op.29_(Elgar,_Edward)

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Feast of the Annunciation

Reading: Psalm 23

“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”  Psalm 23:5

If we have eyes to see it, ears to hear it, senses to feel it, all around us our cup is overflowing. To take that first deep breath in the morning is a blessing. To feel the softness of slippers. To smell coffee. Perhaps to hear a loving voice. Blessing. The Babylonian Talmud instructs the pious Jew to bless God one hundred times each day. Blessed are you, O God, for the light blue snow at sunset. Blessed are you, O God, for the crescent moon. Blessed are you, O God, for the eyes of that child.  Blessed are you, O God, for the song of the wind. For these amazing fingers. For lentils. For wool. Imagine a life lived, steeped in blessing. My cup overflows.

God the Good Shepherd, lead us beside still waters, that we may see your many blessings and bless you.  Amen

• Give thanks 100 times today.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Friday, March 24, 2017

Commemoration of Oscar Romero*

Reading: I Samuel 16:1-13

“So Shemu’el (Samuel) took the horn of oil and anointed David amid his brothers. And the spirit of YHWH surged upon David from that day onward."   1 Samuel 16:13 (Everett Fox, tr.)

The books of First and Second Samuel are books about power, about the corruption of power and about personal responsibility, and in this story beginning the longest continuous narrative in the Bible, we meet the shepherd-boy who will become king, David. Here, the prophet Samuel anoints David, the youngest son of Jesse, for kingship, after rejecting David’s seven older brothers. David was anointed for kingship. Prophets were anointed, high priests were anointed. Anointing was for healing, for hospitality, for burial. We anoint the ears and  eyes of catechumens. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible says, then, in John 9:6 that Jesus “anointed” (epechrisen) the blind man’s eyes with mud. (The New Revised – NRSV – says “spread.” What a loss.) Christ means the Anointed One. How did David use his power as the anointed king? How did Jesus use his power as the Anointed One?

God of glory, fill us with your spirit and anoint us for your work in the world.  Amen

• Take bit of pure olive oil. Anoint your hands, your eyes, your lips, your ears, your feet, your heart.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Reading: I Samuel 16:1-13

“… the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”     I Samuel 16:7

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing as the season of Lent begins. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing in the liturgy at the Great Entrance of the Eucharist. A clean heart. The heart is where the whole person comes together – body, spirit, mind. What is intended by the mind takes up residence in the body and spirit. What is done with the body takes residence in the spirit and the mind. All are interwoven. In the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, heard through this Epiphany season, Jesus spoke over and over again about intention. How crucial are the intentions of the heart! Other people see our actions which may seem just, but God sees the motivations, the intentions, the energy behind our acts. In T.S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket struggles with the possibility of martyrdom, and whether he might actually be desiring the glory that comes with it:

“Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:

Temptation shall not come in this kind again.

The last temptation is the greatest treason:

To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

God of light, awaken us to see the glory of life in you.  Amen

• Place on your altar a picture of someone experiencing hardship. Pray for them.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following

6:00 pm Soup supper: 7:00 pm Evening Prayer

Commemoration of Jonathan Edwards

Reading: John 4:5-42

“Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty.” John 4:15

If you look at Orthodox icons of Jesus and the woman at the well, you see that the woman is occasionally shown with a nimbus, the gold circle around the head which is a sign of holiness and divine energy. In the Eastern Orthodox church, the Samaritan woman at the well has been given a name, Saint Photini, the “enlightened one,” and is “equal to the apostles”,  because she believed and went to tell others about the Christ she had encountered. Her story continues. It is said she was baptized along with her five sisters and two sons, traveled to Carthage to share the story of Jesus Christ, and eventually traveled to Rome, where she was martyred by the emperor Nero. Her feast day is February 26, and a church dedicated to her has stood for centuries at Nablus in the West Bank, traditional site of Jacob’s well.

“By the well of Jacob, O holy one,

Thou didst find the Water of eternal and blessed life;

And having partaken thereof, O wise Photini,

Thou wentest forth proclaiming Christ, the Anointed One.”

(Megalynarion for St. Photini)

Living God, give us the Living Water that we may never thirst.  Amen

• Place an icon on your altar and meditate on it.