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.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Commemoration of Thomas Cranmer

Reading: John 4:5-42

“Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.”    John 4:6

Sitting by the well, Jesus speaks to the woman of Samaria about “living water” or “running water” according to the writer of John, who frequently uses double or triple meanings. In one icon of this story the well is shaped like a Greek cross: the living water flows from faith. In an early Christian mosaic, it is shaped like an eight-sided baptismal font: the well of living water is baptism. In one catacomb painting, Jesus himself stands in the well: Christ is the living water. German theologian Oscar Cullman argues that this story was intended to continue Nicodemus’ discussion with Jesus about being born anew (or “from above,” – another double meaning!). Which is it? Perhaps the answer is, “yes.” The power of story is that we can enter it from many different directions, many different levels. Each person can enter and find meaning at different points in life.

So - another story: The disciples asked the master, “Why do you tell us stories and stories and do not tell us what they mean?” The master replied, “How would you like it if I offered you a piece of fruit and chewed it first?”

God of life, lead us always to the flowing water where we will find life. Amen

·       Listen to The Pilgrim Travelers sing "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwcTUUjSGc

Monday, March 20, 2017

Monday, March 20, 2017

Spring Equinox, 5:28 am

Reading: Psalm 95

“Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, when your ancestors tested me.”    Psalm 95:8

Pray with your lips, so that you may pray with your mind, so that you may pray with your heart. This is an aim of prayer, of fasting, of acts of love - to engage the heart, to encounter the changing power of God. "Create in me a clean heart" we sing on Ash Wednesday and all through the Sundays in Lent. In A Simple Way To Pray, Martin Luther wrote that we should pray the scriptures and the creeds daily "and use them as flint and steel to kindle a flame in the heart." The heart is where the whole person comes together - body, mind, and spirit. It is where change takes place, where transformation happens. As St. Makarius the Egyptian wrote: "The heart is a small vessel; and yet dragons and lions are there, and there poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There likewise is God, there are angels, the heavenly cities and the treasuries of grace; all things are there." (Homilies 43:7)

Pour your love into our hearts, O God, through your Holy Spirit. Amen

• Drink water instead of a cup of coffee today. Set aside the money saved for an act of love.

Third Sunday in Lent: March 19, 2017

Third Sunday in Lent

March 19, 2017

Eucharist: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

Ex. 17:1-7; Ps.95; Rom. 5:1-11; John 4:5-42

Commemoration of Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

O break the rock, let water flow

And wash the dust and drought from me;

I taste your peace, your presence know,

And drinking deep, am healed and free.

Listen to C.P.E. Bach's oratorio, Die Israeliten in der Wüste (The Israelites in the Wilderness). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duMIrm1EyX8 All of Part I deals with the Israelites' thirst, mistrust, and dismay, and ends with Moses' entreaty to God to find water, and the Israelites' joyful return to trust in god. Click on Libretto - English translation for text.
http://www.cpebach.org/toc/toc-IV-1.html

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Commemoration of Cyril of Jerusalem

Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

“YHWH said to Moshe: Here I stand before you there on the Rock at Horev, you are to strike the rock and water shall come out of it, and the people shall drink. Moshe did thus, before the eyes of the elders of Israel.”  Exodus 17:6

Lent as a period of preparation for Easter was already common in the church by the year 330 CE. During these days catechumens (candidates for baptism) were being instructed for their baptism at the Vigil of Easter, and the community as a whole used the time as a reminder and renewal of their baptism. The woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus were all scripture lessons used in this instruction, pointing toward new life, the new sight given by the waters of baptism. Water flows in the desert, thirst is quenched in the wilderness. Hope is offered to those in despair. Water flows from the rock. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Blessed are you, O God, for you bring water flowing from the rock. Amen

• Light a candle at your altar to give thanks for your baptism.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Friday, March 17, 2017

Commemoration of Patrick, missionary to Ireland (see last pages)

Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

“The people thirsted for water there, and the people grumbled against Moshe and said: ‘For what reason then did you bring us up from Egypt, to bring death … by thirst?”     Exodus 17:3

In April 2010, National Geographic devoted an entire issue to the theme of “Water,” and included in the issue one of those grand National Geographic maps, this one a mapping of every river system of the world. One need only a quick glance to see that between the Nile in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq there is Not Much. Not even taking into account the Jordan and its few tributaries. Not much at all. It is brown on the map. No perennial rivers or lakes. And it is through this land that Moses and the Israelites are traveling. Water is life. Water is the life-blood of the green earth, like capillaries and arteries in our own bodies. The Israelites looked around and as far as they could see – only desert. Only wilderness. Only dry rock. But underneath their feet, out of sight, unknown, was blessing – the fossil water of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer. They saw only despair, hopelessness. But they were surrounded by blessing: water, life. Unseen, under their very feet, was blessing.

God of life, so dwell in us that our trust in you may never be shaken. Amen

• Become aware today of all the ways water comes into our lives. Place a small bowl of water on your altar. Make the sign of the cross with it.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Reading: Romans 5:1-11

"Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us."   Romans 5:4-5

When hardship comes to us, as it always will, we often want to flee, and quickly. But quite often, as years pass, we discover that hardship has taught us important lessons: trust in God, trust in our own mysterious inner strength, compassion toward others, release of fear and anxiety, gratitude, wonder. Help does not always come in the form we momentarily desire. What may come may simply be an increased capacity for endurance. But God pleads with us not to harden our hearts - to remain hopeful, God-trusting, open, and loving. God wills for us abundant life.

Hear our voices when we call, O God, and strengthen us to release all that keeps us from abundant life in you. Amen

• Eat only cooked rice for one meal; set aside the money saved for an act of love.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following

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

Reading:  John 3:1-17

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."  John 3:16

The Ignatian Examen instructs us, after giving thanks, to examine and name the ways in which we have moved away from God. What is the old garment we need to remove before we can be renewed in the waters? What attitude, what despair is blocking us off from living a resurrected life? Perhaps we are so angry that we have become hard like stone. Perhaps we are so afraid of being hurt that we have let ourselves become numb. Perhaps we have felt so unloved that we have put ourselves first above everything. Naming our incompleteness is not easy. It takes silence, it takes honesty, it takes vulnerability. But Christ already has become vulnerable before us. And God has already loved us, in spite our waywardness. “God so loved the world…”  When we open ourselves up to God, it will not be to storm and wrath, but to loving embrace.

All-loving God, we place in your care our hearts, our wills, our lives. Amen

• Take something on – daily prayer, a new attitude, helping a neighbor…

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Reading: John 3:1-17

 “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  John 3:6

Life in Christ is a journey into transformation, into newness. It asks for the giving up of things of the flesh, that is, self-centered, self-absorbed, worldly gain, the incurvatus in se, being turned in toward self, that Luther calls sin. We would often rather, like Jonah, sell our donkey, so we don’t have to take this journey, but Christ is whispering in our ear “I am yours” awaiting our “I am yours.” And when the two come together – fire! wind!

Abba Joseph, a desert father, was approached by Abba Lot, who informed him that he had kept his rule of prayer, fasted, purified his thoughts, and lived peaceably – what more could he do? Abba Joseph held out his hands toward heaven, fingers extended, and said, “You can become fire.” Each fingertip blazed like a candle.

May we become fire, O God, and live as your light in the world. Amen

• Give something up – a bad habit, a grudge, despair …

Monday, March 13, 2017

Monday, March 13, 2017

Reading: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

"[Abraham] is the father of all of us, as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations'…" Romans 4:16b-17a

In his "Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans", Martin Luther wrote: "Faith…is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God…Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. The knowledge of and confidence in God's grace make us glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures." We are descendants of Abraham in faith, writes Paul, and thus we are confident and bold to go where love of God leads us. We are born anew in the Spirit, as Christ explains to Nicodemus in the darkness, and thus we are free to live in sure confidence of God's love, "glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures."

Loving God, make us glad and bold and happy in the sure confidence of your grace. Amen

• Make the sign of the cross on your forehead and remind yourself of your new life in Christ with the words, "I am baptized into Christ."

Second Sunday in Lent: March 12, 2017

Second Sunday in Lent

March 12, 2017

Eucharist: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

Gen. 12:1-4a; Ps.121; Rom. 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17

Commemoration of Gregory the Great

Purim

But far from Sinai have I roamed

And bear the hidden wounds of strife;

Away and worn, I yearn for home;

Athirst, desire the spring of life.

·       Listen to Ernst Pepping's motet, "Jesus und Nikodemus" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agfzU6kric

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Full Moon: Lakota, "Moon of Snow Blindness"

Reading: Psalm 121

“The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand”   Psalm 121:5

The Ignatian Examen that was described in the Ash Wednesday reflection begins and ends with gratitude. Our days begin with “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise,” (Matins) and end with “Let us bless the Lord; thanks be to God.” (Compline)

When life leads us into the wilderness, gratitude helps us recall that we have a shelter from the sun and wind, a refuge from predators. Meister Eckhart, 14^th century Rhineland mystic, wrote “The one most needful prayer is: thank you.” Gratitude cultivates an approach to life that is life-giving and healing. Gratitude provides a deep well to sustain us in dry desert times, days of wandering and uncertainty, days of wilderness.

O Lord, thou hast given so much to me;

Grant one thing more: a grateful heart.”  (George Herbert)

Amen

• Go to http://gratefulness.org/resource/a-good-day/to view the video “A Good Day.”

Friday, March 10, 2017

Friday, March 10, 2017

Commemoration of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth*

(see last pages)

Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

“Be a blessing!”  Genesis 12:2b

Each person is a unique, never-to-be-repeated event in the universe. No person has the same fingerprint, voice print, or retinal pattern as another. No one’s DNA, cell memory, and life experience are exactly the same as another’s. All of us have different songs, different wounds, different joys vibrating in our bones. God has given each person talents and abilities that are unique, and the universe needs us to develop and use these gifts. God said, “I will give you blessing … be a blessing!” Rabbi Zusya said, “In the world to come, I shall not be asked, “Why were you not Moses?” I shall be asked, “Why were you not Zusya?”

God, rich in blessing, may we be complete, as you are complete. Amen

• Fast secretly for one meal. Set aside the money saved for an act of love.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

“YHWH said to Avram: Go-you-forth from your land, from your kindred … to the land that I will let you see.”

             Genesis 12:1( Schocken Bible, Everett Fox, tr.)

Righteousness.

What was the personal benefit to Abram that he left his land, the land of his father, the land of his ancestors to step out on the journey God offered him? What would Abram get out of the journey he was about to undertake at God’s bidding at the age of 75? Abram was leaving all that he knew, giving up rights to the land of his birth. All we are told is that Abram was given a promise by God. Abram trusted and accepted the summons and left for Canaan.

Martin Luther wrote in Two Kinds of Righteousness, that the first righteousness is a gift of God “instilled in us without our works by grace alone,”  from which develops our “proper” righteousness, a life lived “soberly with self, justly with neighbor, devoutly toward God.… Therefore, through the first righteousness arises the voice of the bridegroom who says to the soul, ‘I am yours,’ but through the second comes the voice of the bride who answers, ‘I am yours.”

So Abram went.

O God of love and promise, may we always answer, “I am yours.”. Amen

 

• Plant a bulb in a pot. Begin to water it; place it in a sunny window.
• Listen to the soprano (Soul) and bass (Christ) duet , "Mein Freund ist mein"from J. S. Bach Cantata 140        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHXIGC07fU

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following

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

Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

“Then the devil took [Jesus] to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…'" Matt.4:5-6a

Jesus fasted for forty days, and the tempter tried to entice him to turn stones into bread.  Then the tempter tried to entice Jesus to throw himself down from a height of fourteen stories and defy gravity and death. Jesus wandered humbly without possessions, and the tempter tried to entice him with great wealth and power. All of these temptations were attempts to lure Jesus away from his true identity: that of embodied compassion. For compassion suffers with (“cum” – “patior”). If Jesus were truly to live as humans live, he would at some time suffer hunger, thirst, alienation, disappointment, pain, loneliness, death. To opt out of any of these experiences would lessen his capacity to be the Compassionate One. Compassion suffers with. It is experienced from a state of equality, not from a superior position of pity, but from a position of equals. Christ suffered, died, and rose anew, his brokenness left behind, and with compassion in his eyes, he reaches to us and bids us rise to the compassionate life he lived.

As you sent the Christ, O God, to show your compassion for all creation, may our lives be transformed into his image. Amen

·       Identify something that lures you away from your true identity as a baptized person. Pray about it.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Commemoration of Perpetua and Felicity

Reading: Romans 5:12-19

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned…”  Romans 5:12

A look at the fossils embedded in limestone quarries shows that thousands of species of animals lived, died, and became extinct before humans ever developed in the Great Rift Valley of east Africa. Stars that are 10 million light-years from earth need 10 million years for their light to reach us, in which time they may have died, far before humans ever walked the savannahs. Everything in creation comes into being, lives, and dies – mountains, deserts, brachiosaurs, galaxies, humans. It is a part of the great becoming of the universe. So what do we do with a statement like Paul’s, who alone among Biblical writers seems to regard death as the result of human sin? Better, perhaps, to focus in on what Thomas Long calls “big ‘D’ Death,” rather than “little ‘d’ death”: that is, death as spiritual separation from all that gives us life and wholeness and joy.

Surround us with your steadfast love, O God, that we may be glad and rejoice. Amen

• Create a small Lenten group to study together: perhaps one book of the Bible, a novel, a devotional …

Monday, March 6, 2017

Monday, March 6, 2017

Reading: Psalm 32

“While I kept silence, my body wasted away.” Psalm 32:3

The rubrics for morning and evening prayer in this devotional instruct us to chant aloud, to pray aloud, to read aloud. Speaking or singing words out into the physical universe is a powerful act. Speaking aloud our faults, our shortcomings, our failings brings mere idea out into the body, into the world of space and time, where change can happen. Brain researchers estimate that more than 80% of our thoughts are old, repeated day after day. Getting the negative thoughts that are rattling around and around in our brain out into the physical world frees the mind, readies the heart. For repentance, for confession, for transformation, speak aloud - to a pastor, to a therapist, to a loving friend, to the trees, to an empty room, to God. "I acknowledged my sin…and you forgave." (32:5)

Let all who are faithful offer prayer to you, O God, for you surround us with glad cries of deliverance. Amen

• Read Psalm 32 aloud.

First Sunday in Lent: March 5, 2017

First Sunday in Lent

March 5, 2017

Eucharist: 8:00 am and 10:45 am

Lenten Processonal 4:00 pm

Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Ps. 32, 9-16; Rom.5:12-19; Matt. 4:1-11

O God, with hope I enter in

And call to mind your desert grace:

To wayworn people you have been

A presence in the wilderness. +

+The stanzas for each Sunday are from the hymn "O God with hope I enter in".* It is based on St. Ignatius Loyola's Examen described in the Ash Wednesday meditation.

*[Copyright ©2001 Susan Palo Cherwien, admin. Augsburg Fortresss]

Dave Brubeck wrote his first large-scale jazz choral work, A Light in the Wilderness, in 1968, to address the climate of racial exclusion and intolerance in the United States at the time. It begins with Jesus' temptations and wandering in the desert, and climaxes with the movement, "Love Your Enemies". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsEJJiMVXfU&index=4&list=PLxFVkD_OKHa2iLzH7mkjEalclnitm7YIO

Program notes: https://masterworkschorale.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/the-light-in-the-wilderness-concert-notes/

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Reading: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made … then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”  Genesis 3:1, 7a

The Hebrew scriptures are full of wordplay, ambiguity, and multiple meanings, and here in the garden story of Genesis we see an interesting example: the serpent was arum – clever, sly or crafty, and Adam and Eve saw that they were arum – naked. Or did they indeed discover that they, like the serpent, were crafty? Or, crafty and naked? The Berakhot Sanhedrin says every word of Torah splits into 70 languages – as many interpretations as there are people. Imagine the challenge to the translator, especially considering that written biblical Hebrew has no vowels! So - what do you think? Are we naked or crafty?

Open our hearts to your word, O God, and give us understanding. Amen

• Invite friends or family to bake pretzels (see recipe below).

Lent: Pretzels                             425° oven                           Makes 12

(Pretzels were devised in a German monastery because they have no fat. The name comes from “Brezeln.” meaning “little arms” from the shape, which is meant to portray the crossed arms of a monk in prayer.)

Combine:                                          Stir in:

       1 pkg. yeast                               4 c. flour

       1½ c. warm water

       1 T. sugar

       1 t. salt

Knead well. Roll out to 16” x 12”. Cut into 12 strips. Roll strips between palms to about 24”. Shape into pretzels. Brush with 1 beaten egg white. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake at 425° for about 15-20 minutes, until golden. Makes 12.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Friday, March 3, 2017

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2b)

Procrastination takes a toll on our spirits and on our bodies. All the “should do" ‘s, all the “wish I could” ‘s pile up inside us like a cluttered room, hemming us in, hampering our movement, sapping our will. In the Chinese system of healing, procrastination actually causes illness, by barricading the free flow of energy to the organs. Now, Paul writes. Now. “Now is the acceptable time.” Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time for forgiveness. Now is the time for transformation. Now is the time for newness. Lent offers us an opportunity to stop procrastinating, both as individuals and as a community. Lent’s forty days bid us step onto the path to newness in Christ, reading scripture – now, connecting to God through prayer – now, doing acts of love – now. Now is the acceptable time.

Teach us, O God, in the way you would have us go. Amen

• Start a Lenten journal; write even just a sentence, a thought, or a paragraph each day.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

 Thursday, March 2, 2017

Commemoration of John Wesley and Charles Wesley

Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12

“Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke? … Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house?”

                                                             (Isaiah 58:6a, 7a)

Earlier this week, we took the palms from the previous Palm Sunday, burned them, mixed them with olive oil, and anointed ourselves with the humility and compassion of Christ. As Lent begins, we mark ourselves with a cross as people moving toward Easter. And, so that we can create an empty space where newness can take root, we begin with confession and forgiveness, emptying ourselves of life-draining guilt, bitterness and regret. God wants to do a new thing, but a full cup does not have room for newness. And so we speak aloud to God our failures and wrongs, we let go of those things that in silence are causing us to waste away. And, open and emptied, we step into the wilderness path with Christ at our side.

Plant in our hearts, O God, the sure trust in your forgiveness and mercy. Amen

• Make an altar, a place for prayer.

Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Lent - Year of Matthew

Friday-Tuesday – shrovetide

• Have a party, make doughnuts (see recipe).

Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017   

Ash Wednesday

Receive this cross of ash upon your brow,

Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday's cross;

The forests of the world are burning now

And you make late repentance for the loss.

But all the trees of God would clap their hands,
The very stones themselves would shout and sing,

If you could covenant to love these lands

And recognize in Christ their lord and king.

He sees the slow destruction of those trees,

He weeps to see the ancient places burn,

And still you make what purchases you please

And still to dust and ashes you return.

But hope could rise from ashes even now,

Beginning with this sign upon your brow.

Malcolm Guite (Sounding the Seasons, p. 26)

Commemoration of George Herbert, poet/priest

Is. 58:1-12; Ps.51:1-17; 2 Cor. 5:20b-6:10; Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

"You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart." Psalm 51:6

In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola directed his followers to undertake an Examen, a form of prayer, twice daily, perhaps at noon and before bed. One form has this basic movement:

1.  place yourself in God's presence; give thanks for the day;

2.  pray to recognize where God is working in your life;

3.  review your day, moments and feelings;

4.  reflect on your actions: did they lead to, or away from, God;

5.  look toward tomorrow, asking for grace, give thanks.

We are entering into forty days of preparation toward renewed life, the Easter promise of a new dawn, the spring promise of new growth, of truth in our inward being. "Truth happens to the prepared mind,” wrote Bernard Lonergan. Germination of seed is more likely to happen in prepared soil. And so we prepare our heart, through confession, through prayer, through study and reflection. And we begin by making the sign of the cross – with ash – to prepare ourselves to enter the land God has promised, flowing with milk and honey: a right spirit. A land where truth and wisdom reside in the secret heart.

Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Amen

• Veil crosses with deep purple cloth or unbleached muslin, a fast for the eyes.

·       For another form of the Examen, see http://www.diocese.cc/upload/images/originals/Examens070510A.pdf