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.