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…