Sunday, March 31, 2013 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

Sunday, March 31, 2013 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

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

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am; Carry-in Breakfast  between Festive  Liturgies

Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Holy Saturday

Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Holy Saturday

Vigil of Easter: 8:30 pm

Rom. 6:3-11; John 20:1-18

• Visit someone. Take them some hot cross buns for their Easter feast.
• Bring a votive candle in a canning jar to church to take home the new fire of Easter.
• Bring a small bell with you in your pocket to ring at the Easter Proclamation at the Vigil this evening.

Friday, March 29, 2013 - Good Friday

Friday, March 29, 2013 - Good Friday (from “God’s Friday”)

Worship: 12 Noon Stations of the Cross & 7 pm Adoration of the Cross

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

• Bake hot cross buns to break the fast. Turn off the radio, television, computer, phone.

Hot Cross Buns

375° oven      Yield: 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.

Thursday, March 28, 2013 - Maundy Thursday

Thursday, March 28, 2013 - Maundy Thursday (from “Mandare” – to command) First Day of Triduum (Three Days)

Worship: 7 pm

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

From a 1923 sermon by Bishop Frank Weston:

You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle, if you do not

pity Jesus in the slum.

...I am talking the Gospel, and I say to you this: If you are

Christians then your Jesus is one and the same: Jesus on the Throne

of his glory, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus received into

your hearts in Communion, Jesus with you mystically as you pray, and

Jesus enthroned in the hearts and bodies of his brothers and sisters

up and down this country.  

...Go out and look for Jesus in the ragged, in the naked, in the

oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, in those who are

struggling to make good. Look for Jesus. And when you see him, gird

yourselves with his towel and try to wash their feet.

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

March 27, 2013 - Wednesday in Holy Week

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - Last Day in Lent

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 70; Heb. 12:1-3; John 13:21-32

Full moon

Psalm 70:4 "Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

            Lent in the early days of the church was a time of learning and preparation for new converts awaiting baptism at the Easter Vigil. In the darkness of the spring night, the converts faced the west and three times renounced all forces that would separate them from God. Then they faced east, faced the direction from which the Easter dawn would soon break upon them, and three times were immersed, naked and vulnerable, into flowing water or pool. Thirsty souls began a new life in water and God’s Word. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come!

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for the waters that nourish the earth, for the springs in the desert, for the waters of new life. Amen

• Take a walk. Look for signs of spring.

March 26, 2013 - Tuesday in Holy Week

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 49:1-7; Ps. 71:1-14; 1 Cor. 1:18-31; John 12:20-36

Passover

John 12:24 "[Jesus answered them,] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

From the First Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians:

Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits (1 Cor. 15:20) by raising him from the dead. Let us contemplate, beloved, the resurrection that at all times is taking place. Day and night declare to us a resurrection. The night sinks to sleep, and the day arises; the day again departs, and the night comes on. Let us behold the fruits of the earth, how the sowing of grain takes place. The sower goes forth (Luke 8:5), and casts it in the ground, and the seed being thus scattered, though dry and naked when it fell upon the earth, is gradually dissolved. Then out of its dissolution the mighty power of the providence of the Lord raises it up again, and from one seed many arise and bring forth fruit.

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for the bursting forth of new life. May we die to all that keeps us from bearing the fruit of your Spirit. Amen

·       Plant spring flower or herb seeds.

March 25, 2013, Monday in Holy Week

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 42:1-9; Ps. 36:5-11; Heb. 9:11-15; John 12:1-11

Feast of the Annunciation

Passover begins at sundown

            When the early Church finally set a date for the Festival of the Nativity of Christ, it chose (or ceded to) the time of the Winter Solstice, the time of the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the "Birth Day of the Unconquered Sun", December 25, a time when light was gradually coming into the dark of winter. As a result of the setting of a specific date for Christmas, the festival of the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary was placed exactly nine months earlier, on March 25. Thus, although the Annunciation gospel reading from Luke 1:26-38 is generally heard as a part of the Advent pericopes, the actual festival usually falls during Lent. As we approach the Triduum, the Three Days, it may be poignant to call to mind Simeon's words to Mary when Jesus was presented in the Temple: "This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel… - and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

·       Find the text of the Stabat Mater and use it for your prayers. Listen to one of the Choral settings - by pergolesi, by Szymanowski, Dvorak, Palestrina, Poulenc, Pärt.

Sunday, March 24, 2013: Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am; No Adult Forum

Luke 19:28-40; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16;Phil. 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56

Commemoration: Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980)       

O Jesus Christ,

            for the world's sake

                        you did stand against the world;

            you did empty yourself,

                        that you might fill all things;

            you were a curse,

                        to bless all creation.

O Christ, forgive our ignorance, blindness, stupidity;

            our vainglory and cruelty,

            all sin we do in darkness,

            all our additions to the sufferings of others.

O Christ, let me stand alongside you

            for cleanness of hand and pureness of heart;

stand after your example,

            against the small, the shallow, the spiteful and cruel;

stand for the world,

            against the world;

stand for you and your righteousness and love;

            who live and reigns with the Father and

            the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.   Amen

(Dean Eric Milner-White)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

 

Luke 19:28-40; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16;Phil. 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56

 

Philippians 2:9 "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,…"

 

            The path out of the desert now comes into view. The church approaches Palm Sunday and the Three Days.  These Lenten days, which began with ash and confession, reach their culmination in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his new commandment, his death, and – behold! I am doing a new thing! – Christ’s rising from the grave. Out of winter, spring. Out of the wilderness, a river. Out of darkness, light. Out of barrenness, fruit. Out of sorrow, joy. Out of death, life.

            Christ will step out into the spring morning with a new day and a song of joy for all those who have experienced trials, dust, dryness, fear, sorrow, death. “Rise, heart, thy Lord is risen; Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise with him mayst rise.” (George Herbert)

 

O God, our springtime, blessed are you, for you fulfill your promise of new life. May we all, baptized in your living water through Christ, live as radiant signs of your grace, mercy, and steadfast love, for your glory shines through all ages of ages. Amen

 

• Place a candle at the grave of someone you love. (A tradition of Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday)

Friday, March 22, 2013

 

Luke 19:28-40; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16;Phil. 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56

Commemoration: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

 

Philippians 2:5 "Let this same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…"

 

            In order for something new to come into being, something has to exit or change. The word associated with this in the Christian tradition is kenosis, or "emptying", whose verb form is used in the Greek of the Philippians text we just read. Emptying is a part of the becoming of the universe, a step in the creative process, a necessary part of gestation and birth. It has been a part of our journey through Lent. The wilderness can be a metaphor for that empty place where there is now room for the divine energies of God. The motto of the Carmelite Order is Vacare Deo, roughly, "vacate yourself, or, empty yourself for God." Any Lenten disciplines we have taken on during these weeks have not been to show how faithful, how pious, how righteous we are, but to help us to let go of those things - belongings, attitudes, habits, values, beliefs - that prevent us from being the living abode of God.

 

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for the promise of newness. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Amen

           

• Eat no meat or oil today.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

 

Luke 19:28-40; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16; Phil. 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56

Commemoration: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556)

 

Psalm 31:14 "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hand…"

 

            Throughout Lent we have been entering the Sunday liturgy by chanting the Litany, an ancient form of prayer using call and response and the repeated phrase Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy). It has ancestors in the Jewish Alvinu Malkeinu and the Orthodox ektenia (prayed by the deacon, in similar form to the current Lutheran Kyrie of the Eucharistic liturgy.) During the time of Gregory the Great (6th c.), the Litany was used in public processions, often to counter pagan festival processions. Martin Luther considered it a beautiful prayer, translating the Litany of Saints into German, while also omitting the direct petitions to saints. This is essentially the form we chant yet today, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury at the time of Henry VIII, used it, along with the Sarum Processionale, as a model for the first English language liturgy, the Exhortation and Litany of 1544.

 

• Chant the Great  Litany (ELW, Hymn 238) as a part of your Prayers.

Wednsday, March 20, 2013

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Spring Equinox 6:02 a.m.

John 12:3 "Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair."

 

            In a 2002 sermon at Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College, professor Jenifer Ward said: "When I think back over my own life and conjure up memories of anointings, I have to confess that I can find no costly perfumes or alabaster jars. My anointings were much more humble. I think of my mother Betty. When I was sick as a child, she would come into my room, bearing a jar of the dreaded Vicks Vap-o-Rub to slather over me. On the one hand, the overpowering swirl of camphor and eucalyptus…my flannel nightgown sticking to the ointment and to me…my own feverish, congested discomfort. But on the other hand: my mother…sitting on the edge of my bed, present to me, only to me, there to soothe, to tell me it would be all better, as her hand gently circled around my face and chest.…[She] exemplified the sacred and blest thread which binds us all: that to touch one another, to serve one another, to be truly present to one another, is to reflect the light of Christ."

 

(Copyright©2002 Jenifer K. Ward. The sermon in its full form is here.)

 

O God, our springtime, anoint us with your ever presence that we may embody your love in the world.  Amen

 

• Think of someone who needs the blessed anointing of your presence. Call, write or visit them.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

 

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

 

Isaiah 43:19 “I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

 

            Wilderness times are like wandering in the Negeb, a desert in southern Israel, west of the Dead Sea. The Negeb receives less than 8” of rain in a year. And God is going to make a river? Here?

            What is so amazing is what happens in the desert when water does come. The silvery, spiny, low-growing plants bloom. Cactus puts out leaves and flowers. Desert frogs emerge after spending ten months burrowed underground. Even 3,000 year old peas found during excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb have blossomed and produced purple pods of edible peas.

            “Behold, I am doing a new thing,” proclaims God. What miracles could happen when water flows into our wilderness?

O God, our springtime, may we never lose hope in you. Amen

 

• Plant seeds of spring flowers or herbs and begin to water them.

Monday, March 18, 2013

 

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Commemoration: Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386)

John 12:3 “Mary took a pound of costly perfume… anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.”

 

A reading from Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, XXI, 4: "On Chrism":

[To those who have just been baptized:]

… while your body is anointed with the visible ointment, your soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit.

And you were first anointed on the forehead, that you might be delivered from shame, …Then on your ears; that you might receive the ears which are quick to hear the Divine Mysteries…Then on the nostrils; that receiving the sacred ointment you may say, "We are to God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved. " (2 Cor. 2:15) Afterwards on your breast; that having put on the breastplate of righteousness, you may stand against the wiles of the devil.…saying, "I can do all things in Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

 

O God, our springtime, may we be anointed with the sweet fragrance of your Spirit. Amen

 

• Take a small amount of olive oil and anoint your hands (eyes, lips, ears!) to do God's work in the world.

 

Sunday, March 17, 2013 - Fifth Sunday in Lent

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am; Adult Forum: "Symbolism in J.S. Bach's Mass in b-minor", Art Halbardier

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Commemoration: St. Patrick (390-460)

 

Forgive me, O God,

O God, forgive me my sins,

            the sins of my youth,
            the sins of the present;
            the sins I laid upon myself in an ill pleasure,
            the sins I cast upon others in an ill example;
            the sins which are obvious to all the world,
            the sins which I have labored to hide from my companions,
                        from my own conscience,
                        and even my own memory;

            my crying sins and my whispering sins,
            my ignorant sins and my willful;
            sins against my superiors, equals, servants,
                        against my lovers and benefactors,
            sins against myself, my own body, my own soul;
            sins against you, O almighty God, O merciful Christ,
                        O blessed Spirit of God.

Forgive me, O God, forgive me all my sins;

Say to me, Child, be of good comfort,
                        your sins are forgiven
            in the merits of your Anointed,
                        my Savior Jesus Christ.   Amen

(Dean Eric Milner-White)

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Philippians 3:13 “Forgetting what lies behind, I press onward.”

            In personal lives, as in churches, as in countries, as in cultures, we can easily get trapped in the past – either in a sense of regret (if only…) or in a sense of grandeur (“those were the days”). The apostle Paul here reiterates what the Second Isaiah reported in this week’s text from the prophet: God is always at work creating newness in our lives, and we need to press on. Change is the only constant in life. We can choose to progress or decay, but we cannot remain the same. Let us press onward, writes Paul.

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for you create surprising wonders around us and in us. Grant us courage, endurance and openness to all that you cause to grow. Amen

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

Friday, March 15, 2013

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

 

Psalm 126:4 “Restore our fortunes, O God, like the watercourses of the Negeb.”

            Each of the fifteen psalms between Psalm 120 and Psalm 134 is titled “A Song of Ascents”. The prevalent thought is that these psalms were sung by pilgrims during the ascent to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built on a tableland at one of the highest points of the central limestone ridge of Israel, 2400 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. In ancient Jerusalem, surrounded on three sides by ravines, the main approach was from the north, and pilgrims arriving for the three pilgrimage festivals – Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot – would make the gradual climb up to the City of Peace. Jesus went up to Jerusalem from Galilee for the festival of Passover, possibly singing psalms with the disciples, and as we draw nearer to Palm Sunday, we also begin our ascent out of the wilderness, singing psalms.

 

O God, our springtime, restore our fortunes, like the watercourses of the Negeb. Amen

 

·         Memorize one of the Psalms of Ascent.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Is. 42:16-21; Ps. 126; Phil. 3:4b-14; John 12-:1-8

Commemoration: St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547)

 Isaiah 43:18 “Do not remember the former things; I am about to do a new thing.”

 

From the Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 49:

The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent. Since few, however, have the strength for this, we urge the entire community during these days of Lent to keep its manner of life most pure and to wash away in this holy season the  negligences of other times. This we can do in a fitting manner by refusing to indulge evil habits and by devoting ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and self-denial…In other words, let each one deny themselves some food, drink, sleep, needless talking and idle jesting, and look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.

 

O God, our springtime, help us to honor the past and also live fully and abundantly in this present moment. Amen

 

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

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Psalm 32:12  “Be glad, you righteous and rejoice in the Lord.”

            Prodigal means wasteful, extravagant.  But interestingly, the word prodigal does not occur anywhere in the parable in Luke 15 – in fact, nowhere does the word prodigal appear in present English translations of the entire New Testament.  It is first found in margin notes in 16^th century English Bibles, possibly based on a gloss in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of 432.  The story in Luke 15 follows after the parable of the lost sheep and the story of the lost coin, so perhaps this parable is best called “The Lost Son”.  But the common thread in all of these stories is the shepherd, the woman, the father  - who waits, who searches, who will not rest until the lost has been returned.  The shepherd says “Rejoice with me!” The woman calls to her friends “Rejoice with me!”  The father says to the older son, “We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours . . . was lost and has been found!”

 

O loving God, you always search us out with a heart of relentless forgiveness. May we reach out with the same forgiveness to ourselves and others and rejoice each day in the gift of newness.  Amen

 

• Call or write a relative you haven’t spoken to in ages. If they have died, write them a letter and place it at your place of prayer.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Commemorations: Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), Gregory the Great    (540-604)

 

Luke 15:18b-19a "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

 

From Symeon the New Theologian:

    
            …if we genuinely love [Christ],
            we wake up inside Christ's body
            where all our body, all over,
            every most hidden  part of it,
            is realized in joy as Him,
            and He makes us, utterly, real,
            and everything that is hurt, everything
            that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
            maimed, ugly, irreparably
            damaged, is in Him transformed
            and recognized as whole, as lovely,
            and radiant in His light
            we awaken as the Beloved
            in every last part of our body.                                        (tr. Stephen Mitchell)

 

O loving God, your love far surpasses human knowing. May we awaken each day, full of the presence of your love. Amen

 

• Listen to Debussy's "L'Enfant Prodigue" (see Introductory pages).

Monday, March 11, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

 Luke 15:11  “Then Jesus told them this parable:  There was a man who had two sons…”

 

            Jesus was gifted as a storyteller.  He told parables to teach the people who crowded to hear him.  Parables are symbolic stories, open-ended, ambiguous, and rich.  The human brain hears and stores stories in a different area than it does concepts.  And that which is not explained, that which is open-ended, causes us to wonder, to puzzle, to contemplate.  Jesus could have said, “God is love”, but instead he said,  “There was a man who had two sons…”.  How deep is the story, how rich in possibility.  Because it is unexplained, because it is open-ended, there is room for all people of all backgrounds and all places in life to enter the story.  Because it is unexplained we ponder it:  Who am I in this story today?  Because it is open-ended it rattles around in our memory.  That which we think we understand, we rarely again contemplate.  So Jesus told parables.

 

O loving God, you are always revealing your love to us.  May we learn to listen, to wonder, and to ponder.  Amen

 

• Enter the Parable of the Lost Son using Lectio divina.

Sunday, March 10, 2013 - Fourth Sunday in Lent

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am; Adult Forum 9:30: "The Exodus From a Different           Perspective", Earl Schwartz

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Our Savior's Meal

 

O God, who alone teaches us knowledge,

            lead me back to the one beginning
                        that I may learn your Truth.

After I have journeyed through the years, through the months,

            (not less, at the end of every single day,)
                        let me return to the one beginning.

After I have read many books,

            and sought wisdom by study;
after much experience of joy
            and some of sorrow;
after long search for beauty,
            unsatisfied by the outward eye;
after exercising what authority has been entrusted to me,
            after performing the humble duties at hand;
in all perplexity of mind, vexation of heart, weariness of spirit,
            after failure and sin -
make me return to the one beginning,
            that I may begin again.

Yes, after I have loved the Faith,

            and the place where your honor dwells,
            and your Scriptures and Sacraments,
            and have watched in prayer,
            bring me back always to the one beginning,
            to Yourself,
            my Father, my Savior, my Life, my Glory, world without end.  Amen
 
                                                                                     (Dean Eric Milner-White)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

 

Joshua 5:9  “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you’.”

 

            After wandering in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years, the Israelites, with forty thousand armed for war (forty again…), crossed the Jordan into Canaan. Just as the exodus from Egypt was marked by the parting of the waters, here the waters of the Jordan River stop north of the crossing, allowing the Israelites to enter Canaan with dry feet.  The generation that enters the land God promised to Israel, however, is not the one that left Egypt.  God had declared that the older generation would not enter the land flowing with milk and honey, because they had not listened to the voice of God, and over the forty years of wandering, that first generation gradually passed away.  God makes a way in the desert; God makes a path through the waters; God leads into a land of milk and honey,  those who listen to God’s voice.

 

O loving God, may we always listen to your voice, that we may enter the life  you have promised us.  Amen

·         Read  Joshua 3-5, a story we rarely hear in worhip. Attend Vespers at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

 

Psalm 32:5  “Then I aknowledged my sin to you, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

            The Greek word for repentance used in the Christian writings is metanoia,  which means "go beyond the mind that you have".  Repentance is not simply a change of mind, but an expansion of mind, a deep change in the way one approaches life.  It is a leaving behind, a change of the entire being. A tradition among our Orthodox sisters and brothers is the Jesus Prayer, a simple prayer said  repeatedly with the breath, like a mantra. It is: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me. Theophan the Recluse said that in prayer we should stand before God "with the mind in the heart", the heart being that place where intellect, emotion, spirit, and body all come together. Repentance is thus a life-threatening act.  Repentance is thus a life-giving act.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. Amen

 

• Take a walk; notice shadows. Use the Jesus Prayer as you walk.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Josh. 5:9-12; Ps. 32; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Commemorations: Perpetua and Felicity and companions, martyrs (ca. 180-203)

II Corinthians 5:17  “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.”

In the northern hemisphere, we are moving toward springtime, a time of greenness and fertility.  In the Jewish calendar, we are moving toward Passover, festival of deliverance and new beginnings.  In the church year we are moving toward Easter, festival of resurrection and new life.  The church year grew out of the Jewish calendar and pagan festivals, all of which sprang naturally from the seasons of the earth.  We are ready to be done with gray days, with dormancy and cold.  We are ready for the green of newness, the smell of sod on the wind, the warmth and light of sun on face.  Christ promises us that in the life of the Spirit, new life will follow gray dormancy, that spring will follow winter, that forgiveness will follow repentance, that Easter will follow Good Friday.  God is always creating in us clean hearts and renewing in us right spirits when we return to God with outstretched arms and contrite hearts.

 

O loving God, you raise us up in forgiveness and new life.  May we always be open to the new creation you offer us through Jesus Christ.  Amen

 

• Start making Ukrainian eggs for your Easter celebration²

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Worship: Noon Eucharist, soup meal follows; 7 pm Vespers, soup meal at 6 pm.

Is. 55:1-9; Ps.63:1-8; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, says the Lord.”

             St. Augustine wrote:  “If you think you understand, it isn’t God.”  The Lakota word for God – Wakan Tanka – often translated “Great Spirit”, actually means “Great Mystery”.  This passage in Isaiah reminds us that we cannot know the mind of God, no matter how much our age may take pride in having so much knowledge and in providing so many answers.  God is simply not name-able,  not contain-able, not know-able, not tame-able, not package-able, no matter how much our present Christian culture may try to do so.  God is spirit.  God is mystery.  God’s thoughts are higher than ours.  God’s ways are higher than ours.  Thanks be to God.

O God, fountain of life, eagerly we seek you, our souls thirst for you.  May we walk fearlessly in this gift of daily life.  Amen

 ·         Memorize a Psalm.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Is. 55:1-9; Ps.63:1-8; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:2 "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No."

             Here in our time, we still are tempted to attribute the misery or tragedy befalling others - or ourselves! - to some sin, something they did to anger God. At times of disasters, the newspapers are full of quotes from people proclaiming the tragedy not only to be the work of God, but the retribution of an angry God. Jesus says,"No." Twice he says, "No." In the Isaiah text for this week, God proclaims, "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways."

            One day Abba Mios was asked by a soldier whether God would forgive a             sinner. After instructing him at some length, the old man asked him: "Tell             me, my dear, if your cloak were torn, would you throw it away?" "Oh, no,"       the soldier said. "I would mend it and wear it again." And the old man         said to him: "Well, if you care so much for your cloak, do you think God    does not care as much for a creature?"

O God, fountain of life, you sustain our lives with your patient love. Fill us, made in your image, with the same grace and forgiveness you show so generously to all. Amen

• Place a clipping from today’s newspaper on your altar; pray about it.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Is. 55:1-9; Ps.63:1-8; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

 Luke 13:8 “Let the fig tree alone for one more year.”

            In truth, every normal human being wants to be of value, wants to offer something of value to the world, either through career or family or volunteering or art or through myriad quiet and invisible ways. Children rise to the task when presented with responsibility. Adults can be energized by a challenging task. God is always offering us second chances, third chances, fourth, fifth and sixth chances, to bear fruit for the life of the world. Every act of love increases God’s sway in the world. God is ever granting us another chance. Now it is up to us to greet opportunity and risk being loving and compassionate and trusting and…hardest of all: vulnerable.

             "Let us therefore bear fruit as we should! Let our fate be not that of the barren fig tree;… As then it is God's part to plant and to water, so it is yours to bear fruit; it is God's to grant grace, but yours to receive and guard it. "

(Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, I,4)

O God, fountain of life, may we set aside all that prevents us from bearing fruit in our lives – the fruit of new life from your living water. Amen

• Write in your journal about the type of fruit God might desire you to bear. Eat a fruit with many seeds.