tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69814088322905134872024-03-12T21:24:30.523-07:00Padre's PostAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-17333168181998978842018-09-09T05:35:00.005-07:002018-09-09T05:35:35.825-07:00The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 232</em></div>
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1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111;<br />Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58</div>
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Dear gentle readers, my Emmanuel Church family: we come with this offering to the last installment of "Padre's Post." The time to say good-bye has come. This Sunday is my last day with you.</div>
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Words fail me to express my gratitude to you for the honor of letting me be your pastor, priest, and teacher these nine-plus years. When the 2009 Vestry called me to be your rector, none of us knew what our life together would be like -- though we all certainly had hopes and dreams.</div>
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I am here to tell you that the privilege of being your rector has been for me a joy and delight beyond my wildest dreams. We have walked in love with each other, worshipping God in beauty and holiness, through good and hard times, in joy and in sorrow, and as a people who are "forgiven, loved and free" (Hymn 304). We have prayed that God would make us instruments of God's peace. We have cared for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ; and we have also sought to care for those beyond the circle of our fellowship who are in need in this community.</div>
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Thank you for being who you are. Emmanuel is graced with people who strive to love God and to love their neighbor. You are a strong Christian community. You have taken on the mission of embracing and welcoming all whom God loves. To practice unconditional love is to know the heart of God.</div>
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To love God, to love one another, and to love our neighbor as ourselves: this is the mission that Jesus has entrusted to all who follow him. It is God's mission. Therefore, it is far greater than any one person's involvement in that mission because it is grounded in the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God!</div>
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Thank you for striving to be better people and for working to become a better community while accepting one another as we are. The Rev. Dr. Tony Lewis, my Greek and New Testament professor as well as an amazing human being, frequently reminded his students that, "Sin being what it is and people being who we are," we are far from perfect.</div>
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Or as our former Assistant Bishop, Francis Gray, once told us at diocesan convention, "If I ever found the perfect church, it would cease to be perfect the moment that I joined it." We have been together long enough to know that none of us is perfect and that as a community we are not there yet. Thank you for your patience with me about my own imperfections. I ask your forgiveness for them. Forgive each other's failings as well. We all have a lot of room to grow into the likeness of Jesus.</div>
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This week's collect sums up my prayer for you: May God continue to grant you grace to receive all the goodness that God has prepared for you and may you be strengthened to walk each day in the blessed imitation of Christ that will make you the full and complete human beings you can be because God desires and dreams your becoming like him. (See Philippians 1:6).<br /></div>
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God will provide you with a rector whose own contributions will enhance your spiritual growth, strengthen you for service, and lead you to greater deeds that grow God's reign than you thought possible. Remember your name: God is with you.</div>
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"All will be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." -- <em>Dame Julian of Norwich (c.1417)</em></div>
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I take you with me in my heart and in my prayers.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><strong>Father Daniel+</strong></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-33974679863002635072018-09-09T05:35:00.002-07:002018-09-09T05:35:18.106-07:00The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 232</em></div>
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2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33; Psalm 130;<br />Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35, 41-51</div>
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Emmanuel is about to start a ministry new to us: Eucharistic Visitors. The Bishop's licensing guidelines describe Eucharistic Visitors this way:</div>
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<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="font-size: 14.6667px; height: 24px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 300px;"><em>A Eucharistic Visitor is a lay person authorized to take the Consecrated Elements in a timely manner following a Celebration of Holy Eucharist to members of the congregation who, by reason of illness or infirmity, were unable to be present at the Celebration. A Eucharistic Visitor should normally act under the direction of a Deacon, if any, or otherwise, the Member of the Clergy or other leader exercising oversight of the congregation or other community of faith.</em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">We are blessed by the ongoing ministry of Deacon Ed, who faithfully makes weekly pastoral visitations in nursing homes, homes, and hospitals. In the course of this work, of course, he often administers the Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament. I also take the Holy Communion to our people from time to time. Our new Eucharistic Visitors will provide a substantial expansion of the ministry of the parish by taking the Holy Communion to people whose "illness or infirmity" renders them unable to be present that day, from the Blessed Sacrament consecrated on that Sunday's services.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">We are already blessed to have Lay Pastoral Visitors, people who trained for pastoral ministry through the Community of Hope program. They are spiritual friends who listen to and pray with our people who are in the midst of transitions in their lives, thereby extending to them the love and support of the whole people of God.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">(The ministry of the Lay Pastoral Visitors, in addition to the pastoral work of the clergy, helps us all grow more in the likeness of Jesus. Until now, Deacon Ed and I made the referrals for these visits; he will carry on after my departure and then will work with the next long-term priest (Interim Rector) or permanent priest (Rector) the Vestry calls.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">I am delighted that Weldon Bagwell, Dee Childs, Maggie Kyger, Annette Paxton, Preston Sudduth, and Ann Yager are now licensed by the Bishop to take the Consecrated Elements to our ill or infirm parishioners as well. Deacon Ed has trained them to administer Communion on Sundays, directly after the day's celebration. As indicated by the Bishop, Deacon Ed is in charge of their supervision, making assignments, and coordinating with parishioners who, within the parameters established by the Bishop, cannot be present on that day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">We are what we eat. The Holy Eucharist is essential and indispensable to our spiritual life, as the 6th chapter of John's Gospel tells us. We hurt ourselves when we choose to be absent from church on Sunday. (I pray that we may say, "Give us this bread always," as people said to Jesus.) How much more, therefore, do our folks who are ill or infirm and thereby unable to attend, need the Bread of Life! I thank God that the Holy Spirit has put into the hearts of our Eucharist Visitors to help us make sure that none go without receiving the Holy Communion.</span></span></div>
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Talk to Deacon Ed if you'd like to be considered to have Eucharistic Visitors or if you know of someone who could benefit from receiving the Holy Communion at home on Sundays.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">See you in Church.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><strong>Daniel+</strong></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-69730923187518784792018-07-28T19:52:00.003-07:002018-07-28T19:52:39.369-07:00The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 231</em></div>
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2 Samuel 11:1-15; Psalm 14;<br />Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21</div>
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The sixth chapter of John's gospel is a long narrative on Jesus as the Bread of Life. We will be covering most of it in our Sunday readings from this Sunday through September 2nd. I encourage you to read the whole chapter (as well as the text preceding and following it!) to get an idea of how it holds together, to appreciate the way that John weaves stories with the teachings of Jesus in a series of encounters and confrontations.</div>
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John's gospel highlights the centrality of the Eucharist --Jesus is the Bread of Heaven who gives life to the world-for the Beloved Community of this gospel. Paradoxically, the fourth gospel does not have a story about Jesus instituting the Eucharist on the night he was betrayed -- that's in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Instead John tells us that on Maundy Thursday Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. That is something worth meditating about: the parallel to making Eucharist is to love one another in lives of mutual servanthood.</div>
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As a sort of Cliff Notes, let me here give you an overview of the chapter as a whole.</div>
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John 1:1-14 begins with the growing popularity of Jesus due to his healing ministry. It then tells the story of the feeding of the five thousand. It is the only miracle ("sign," in John's language) that is recorded in all four gospels. The event takes place on the east side of the "Sea of Tiberias," [the Roman name for the lake of Galilee] around the time of the Passover. However this is not the one around the time of the death of Jesus.</div>
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John 1:15 makes a transition. Jesus gets away from everyone because the crowd wants to make him king. John 1:16-21 has Jesus walking on water -- not the same story in which Peter tries to walk on water too. In verses 22-24, the crowd chases Jesus back to the western shore to Capernaum, which was his base. The rest of the chapter, verses 22-71, is the not-so-friendly discourse/confrontation on Jesus as the Bread of Life.</div>
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The section starts with Jesus refusing the flattery of the crowd: you're only chasing after me because I fed your bellies; would that you took "the food that endures for eternal life" (v.27); i.e., Jesus, the Bread of Life (v.35).</div>
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At verse 41, the Judeans ("the Jews," as opposed to the Galilean people of the region) object on the grounds that only the manna in the desert was the bread from heaven. Jesus responds with a larger claim of universality: "the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh" (v.51). Then in verses 52-59, Jesus doubles down against his Judean detractors.</div>
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In verses 60-66, many of his disciples have problems with Jesus as well and most choose to leave him. In verses 67-68 he asks the Twelve if they too wish to leave and Peter says, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life," and affirms Jesus' identity as the Holy One of God. The narrative concludes with Jesus pointing out that one of them will betray him.</div>
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There is so much to ponder in this chapter! I suggest that we take time to ask ourselves two questions: (1) What brought me initially to want to follow Jesus? He makes it clear that following him is not a walk in the park. So: (2) Will I remain walking in his footsteps?</div>
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In The Mercy,</div>
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<strong>Daniel+</strong></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-30370063996013010382018-07-28T19:51:00.003-07:002018-07-28T19:51:19.734-07:00The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 231</em></div>
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2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Psalm 89:20-37;</div>
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Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56</div>
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<em>This week we welcome guest columnist Loretta Dredger, older daughter of Robert and Katie Dredger. Loretta, a sophomore at Spotswood High School, gives an account of her participation in our recent mission trip. -- DDR+</em> </div>
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During my time at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota I learned so much about the native people, God, and myself. On Tuesday, June 12, the 2018 mission team met at the church at 3:00 a.m. to catch our flight from Richmond to Rapid City, South Dakota. I have to admit, that morning was rough, but when we reached Rapid City, rented a car, and started driving my mood lifted entirely. Southwestern South Dakota is a beautiful place, with rolling prairie, abundant wildlife, and multiple National Parks. On our way to the Rosebud, we drove through the Badlands, where we saw beautiful views of eroded rock forming steep slopes. The drive took about three hours until we got to the reservation.</div>
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On the reservation, we were greeted warmly by Mother Lauren, a strong, fierce, loving woman who showed us where we would be staying. The building had many dorm-like rooms, a kitchen, and two meeting areas. It was also un-air-conditioned, however it felt mostly comfortable. During the week, the mission team completed many projects for the Rosebud Reservation. We built and painted an arbor outside the Episcopal center which we also painted. We mopped out a flooded basement; we mowed grass and weed-whacked, we moved wood chips to create a mulch pile, and so much more. We had lots of help from local men who ate meals and shared their lives with us for the week. We had a good amount of free time, in which we did a number of things including chatting with each other and calling our family back home. Every evening, we worshipped in the small chapel near where we stayed.</div>
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Some other things we did included visiting the local university's cultural center -- where we learned much about the people on the Rosebud -- attending a Lakota church service presided over by Mother Lauren, shopping for local handmade goods at the Rosebud Exchange, and traveling to Chamberlain to see the magnificent statue called Dignity on the Missouri River. We were also visited by two local men, one native and one from New Jersey. The native man, Sage, showed us tribal dances and regalia used in pow-wows. Learning the dance was a highlight of the week, because we were laughing and having a wonderful time. The older man from New Jersey told us about his life and how he came to the Rosebud as a young man and never wanted to leave. He told us about some of the religious customs of the Lakota people, including sweat-lodge ceremonies, which seemed very extreme. Another thing we did was go to a pow-wow, which gave us a glimpse into native life. The singers and dancers captured our ears and eyes -- it was incredible.</div>
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The mission trip to the Rosebud Reservation showed me how much one can learn doing God's work, and the variety of ways in which to do it. On our way home, we stopped by Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore, but couldn't see a thing because of the fog. However, that was one of the best parts of the trips. I think we all found happiness on the trip, even during the hard times. This mission trip made me appreciate the little things and how blessed I am in life. I hope to go again next year.</div>
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<em>-- Loretta Dredger</em></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-31467231188524857482018-07-28T19:50:00.003-07:002018-07-28T19:50:35.687-07:00Padre's Post<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
July 12, 2018<br /></div>
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The Wardens, Vestry, and People of</div>
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Rockingham Parish</div>
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Harrisonburg, Virginia<br /></div>
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Dear Friends in Christ:</div>
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A little over nine years ago, on May 1st of 2009, I came to Harrisonburg to serve as your Rector. I am thankful and humbled that God called me to be with you and that the Search Committee and the Vestry discerned that God was calling us to grow together in grace and to share God's love with all around us. Being with you as your pastor, priest and teacher, and the accomplishments that we have made as fellow servants of Christ are for me sure signs that God indeed called me to be with you for this time and that the Holy Spirit has blessed us in this shared ministry.</div>
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Today I write to you to tell you that my call to serve as Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Rockingham Parish, is coming to an end. I respectfully request that the Vestry of Emmanuel Church release me from the obligations and privileges of being your Rector, effective on September 1, 2018. In conversation with the Wardens, August 19th is set as my last Sunday in the parish.</div>
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I have accepted a call from The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman to serve under the bishops as Missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries of the Diocese of North Carolina. I make this decision with an intense mixture of emotions. These include profound gratitude for the many blessings that we have received here at Emmanuel Church and for the privilege of knowing and ministering to the splendid people of this church. I am also aware of a great deal of sadness because I will be with you no longer. You are very dear to me! It is not easy to leave. I cannot thank you enough for the honor that you have given me in welcoming me into your lives to share your joys and sorrows and to pray together that we all might become more faithful followers of Jesus. I am also thrilled with my new call. I have a lot of excitement and joy in anticipation of the possibilities before me to serve God with the bishops and people of the Diocese of North Carolina.</div>
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The Wardens and I will work attentively during the days left to ensure a smooth transition. The Vestry, in consultation with the Bishop's Office, will determine the way forward. Emmanuel is a strong and healthy parish. Know that you are capable of creating a much brighter future. You have answered an awesome call to proclaim and live the Good News of God's love in Jesus Christ to every person-no exceptions! You work for the well-being of all people and to the greater glory of God. You are wonderful indeed.</div>
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I thank you all: current and past vestry members, all leaders, and all parishioners. What an honor and joy it has been for me to serve the Lord in this beautiful corner of God's creation and in this extraordinary community of faithful people. To our stupendous staff: words cannot express the depth of my gratitude. Wendy Filler, Linell Gray Moss, Brad Lehman, Eva Aguiriano, and Peggy Roy serve Emmanuel week in and week out with great professionalism, effectiveness, cheerfulness, devotion, and love. Deacon Ed is the most faithful and caring pastor anyone will ever have. Bar none. We are so blessed to have you, Ed! I thank all of you and I thank God for you from the bottom of my heart.</div>
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Emmanuel Church, I will take you with me in my heart and in my prayers. God bless and keep you.</div>
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Under The Mercy,</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-25653272036384636512018-07-28T19:47:00.002-07:002018-07-28T19:47:50.582-07:00The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">
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Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">As we approach the 242nd anniversary of the founding of our nation, I am reflecting on my 34-year-long commitment never to preach politics from the pulpit. That is part of my compact with myself, my God, and my Church. I abhor the stances of preachers who tell their congregants who to vote for, endorsing candidates from their pulpits and telling their people that voting for the other candidate means that they are not Christian. I am very clear, for gospel as well as for constitutional reasons, that this is improper, abusive, and wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Once in a while someone has taken me to task because he or she thought a sermon was "too political." Indeed, there have been times when I dealt with current events, e.g., after a mass shooting or during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. While I grant that I could possibly go too far on any given occasion, my commitment has been unwavering.</span></div>
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Clarity about not preaching politics from the pulpit does not mean that our faith is apolitical. Not preaching politics is about not being partisan in the pulpit, which is very different. I believe with all my heart that everything is political. Politics is not just the art of the possible -- that is the "how" of politics. The what-for is that politics is all about human relationships -- how a community chooses to live together, and the values, laws, policies, and actions that it embraces as a result.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Michael Gerson is an evangelical who served as a top aide to President George W. Bush. I commend to you his June 21 opinion piece in <em>The Washington Post</em>, titled "A Case Study in the Proper Role of Christians in Politics." He argues that, "The proper role of Christians in politics is not to Christianize America; it is to demonstrate Christian values in the public realm."</span></div>
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<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14.6667px; height: 24px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 301.7px;"><em>... religious leaders have a moral duty to oppose the dehumanization of migrants -- something that violates the vision of human dignity and equality at the heart of the Christian faith (and other faiths as well). Human beings, in this view, are not merely arrogant hominids, programmed for sex and death. They bear God's image -- and, in the Christian view, their flesh somehow once clothed God himself. This means that cruelty, bullying, and oppression are cosmic crimes.</em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333;">He also hazards a sermon suggestion for the "audacious borrowers" that preachers are. I have to tell you, he didn't sound very different from what I preach!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">I make no claims to originality, to be sure. My preaching and teaching are about Jesus and his example, his grace, and the power of love he gives us. The only question is sorting out how to follow faithfully in his footsteps in our own time. This is not always obvious, though there are times when the options are very clear.</span></div>
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As we celebrate the birth of our nation and pray for its well-being (note the third verse of <em>America the Beautiful</em>: "God mend thine every flaw"), I invite us to reflect on who we are as God's beloved children in Jesus and how we may help our country live more fully its foundational commitment to the proposition that all persons are created equal.</div>
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<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="font-size: 14.6667px; height: 24px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 301.7px;"><strong>A Collect for the Nation</strong> <em>(BCP, p. 258)</em><br /><br />Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Fr. Daniel+</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-53989421107210060742018-06-25T04:05:00.005-07:002018-06-25T04:05:55.486-07:00The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your lovingkindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"... and Jesus said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" (Mk 4:38-39)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake, fed by the Jordan River at the north end of the lake and then continuing on south at the other end. It is relatively shallow, with mountains on its east side and a plain that stretches out west to the Mediterranean. Its particular geography also means that fierce wind storms can and do appear quickly, with hardly any notice, turning its blue waters into a churning and treacherous death trap. Those who first heard the story would not have been surprised at this turn of events for the disciples on their shallow, small boat.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">That Jesus was asleep in the stern -- now, that's a surprise! What sort of person sleeps calmly through a storm like that? "Do you not care?" I hear their immense fear in that question, as they shake him awake. Sometimes, for some of us, anger and blaming is our response to fear. We lash out. We lose it.</span></div>
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I wonder if the internal calm of Jesus -- his quieted spirit-is what makes possible his external, physical calm as he sleeps through the storm without a care in the world. (Pun intended -- you know me by now). I wonder if this is why he can calm the storm on the outside, transferring his inner peace to the raging whirlwind.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">It seems to me that his commanding words, "Peace! Be still!" are more a conferring than an order. Jesus transmits his peace to the world around him.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">The story of the calming of the sea resonates deeply for us. In the middle of life's storms, we wonder if it will ever end; we wonder if we will make it in one piece to see the light of day. That fear can lead us to angrily lash out at the people around us, as the disciples did with Jesus, as we long for clear blue skies and gentle breezes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">What if instead of praying directly for a change in our circumstances -- the storm out there -- we prayed instead for the peace of Jesus to be instilled in our hearts? What if we turned to Jesus and asked him to calm the storm that is raging inside us instead? Perhaps we focus our prayers so often on wanting a change in our situation, on fixing the circumstances outside ourselves, that we miss the opportunity to experience </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">and live in the calm and peace of Jesus, whose soul was still and quieted "like a child upon its mother's breast" (Psalm 131:3).</span></div>
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The Peace of Christ is a gift that he is ready, willing, and able to bestow on us, because he indeed cares for us. It surpasses all understanding. It is not whether-dependent and cannot be taken away by circumstance. It is a peace that will quiet our souls, empowering us to deal with our situation knowing that we are as safe as a breastfeeding child, that nothing can ultimately destroy us. It is a peace that will hold us together through thick and thin.</div>
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And it is a peace that, by God's grace and, precisely because it is the peace of Christ, we can transmit to those around us who are ready to receive it. Christ's peace is transmissible -- contagious, in the best sense of the word. When Christ's peace dwells deeply in our hearts, we cannot help but share it and give it away.</div>
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May the peace of Christ quiet your soul and mine today.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-57982560206244033672018-06-25T04:05:00.002-07:002018-06-25T04:05:23.501-07:00The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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<em>Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</em></div>
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1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20;<br />2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 11-13,14-17; Mark 4:26-34</div>
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Today's collect asks (1) that "we may proclaim your truth with boldness," and (2) "minister your justice with compassion." These are daring petitions that, when practiced and granted by grace, transform our lives and the lives of those around us.</div>
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1. Proclaim God's truth with boldness. Mention Truth and we start stumbling. So many of us immediately think that this is about having the most accurate information -- right doctrine -- and most complete ideas about God.<br /></div>
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But Jesus said, "I am the truth." God's truth, while encompassing propositions about God, is primarily and most fundamentally personal and relational. Want to know God's truth? Look to Jesus, who in his person uniquely embodies God for us. Pay attention to what Jesus did, to what he said, how he lived, and how he died. Look to Jesus, and find resurrection in him, in this life and in the life to come. I came across this quote, attributed to John Ortberg:</div>
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<em>Some people would rather debate doctrine or belief or tradition or interpretation than actually do what Jesus said. it's not rocket science. Just go do it. Practice loving a difficult person or try forgiving someone. Give away some money. Tell someone thank you. Encourage a friend. Bless an enemy. Say, "I'm sorry." Worship God. You already know more than you need to know.</em></div>
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<br />2. Minister God's justice with compassion. How strange! I suspect that not many of us see this as part of our Christian job description. I mean the "justice" part. Compassion is not itself the objective, according to this collect, but rather the manner in which we pursue the mission of ministering God's justice.</div>
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We stumble again, don't we, because our notions of Justice imply making sure that individuals get their due reward or punishment -- and, who am I to give that? Isn't that the job of the courts and God? But Justice in the biblical sense is so much larger, deeper, and wider than our retributive notions. Justice is first and foremost about the restoration of right relationships with one another, so that all may live in the righteousness and peace of God. It is relational -- about how we deal with one another. It is communal -- not merely for individuals but constitutive of community. It is restorative -- aiming to repair the broken bonds of dignity and trust without which our humanity cannot exist, live, and thrive. When we minister God's justice with compassion, we are participating in God's dream of a reunited and restored humanity.</div>
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In last week's post I relayed to you the current work of Faith in Action, our interfaith network of 26 congregations. Please review it again. Then write to our city council (for those who live in city) and the sheriff, or the board of supervisors (for those who live in the county). We want to do three things that, while they will not usher the Kingdom of God, will make us a more just community. Our local elected authorities hear from us that:</div>
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(1) The $1 or $3 per day charged to inmates' families has to stop;</div>
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(2) We need the city and county to hire a community justice planner, so we can best use the data we'll be collecting with our new multimillion dollar system to save money and reduce incarcerations;</div>
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(3) Make restorative justice (not merely punishment) the first consideration in our juvenile justice cases.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-78859392874918556482018-06-25T04:04:00.005-07:002018-06-25T04:04:47.504-07:00The Third Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 229</em></div>
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1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15); Psalm 138;<br />2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Faith in Action is a Harrisonburg City/Rockingham County multi-faith and multicultural organization that Emmanuel helped to launch. Karen Ford and I are currently our congregational representatives and I serve as Vice President.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">What follows is excerpted from Faith in Action documents.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">After great deliberation and with the support of its 26 congregations, Faith in Action has committed to work with the relevant policy makers and stakeholders in 2018 to achieve the following in our campaign for local criminal justice reform:</span></div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Eliminate the financial burden of the $1-a-day fee currently paid by families of inmates at our local jail and the $3 charge for local inmates transferred to the Middle River Regional Jail (as permitted, but not mandated, by VA Code Section 53.1-131.3).<br /> </li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Engage in a careful and open selection process for the hiring of a well-qualified Community Justice Planner. This person would evaluate all criminal justice programs and practices, make strategic recommendations for the best allocation of resources, and coordinate the legally mandated biennial update to the Community Criminal Justice Board's Community Corrections Plan.<br /> </li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Establish protocols for all juvenile justice cases to be screened for a restorative justice process. We will support transparent and community-based steps in implementing restorative justice alternatives for adults and juveniles alike.</li>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Faith in Action sees these three issues as vital movement toward making the criminal justice system a model for rehabilitation, reducing incarceration and recidivism within the community, and making room for more restorative rather than punitive justice practices.</span></div>
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Here are some of the reasons for these three asks:<br /></div>
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<em><a alt="http://files.constantcontact.com/ce231d2c401/d52e4d54-230b-4c24-aba6-73be3ca1a539.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D001j4we2IuPAsHYznJmOClWzkjFS63asDD1ppuYc3OxSwCxgnnmNZ__H5zRXYxZKHdsUpDY969eV02OnpNmdA7Lzh7Xcj3P6gfPLFYfEWvdjKIYs5PkA4_1jUiYz31latwjfKGMkHMTATPlPCREr5gzIhccjjmRy_MIPD4rinYG-KwL-QQZ9im9JA5G-FMHxxWnSlmJYer3TbxSmAiXpNZguDYn1yAa7yJyJsov45r_1DPA7tnRKjT9HZjio9WP-KyC%26c%3Dan7P9XC9AUKIwfVmNSCVo9s4H4UVWbYB1iPcDJUw8QbWAzaAuqP9tg%3D%3D%26ch%3D6hwgM6NYZBBSQJPw1xrLa4pzSCr-FnqoD--ztRBE4JlUBOvCV_D7pw%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1530010676027000&usg=AFQjCNETD9T43catTG7_CPSWOXI5oitWQg" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001j4we2IuPAsHYznJmOClWzkjFS63asDD1ppuYc3OxSwCxgnnmNZ__H5zRXYxZKHdsUpDY969eV02OnpNmdA7Lzh7Xcj3P6gfPLFYfEWvdjKIYs5PkA4_1jUiYz31latwjfKGMkHMTATPlPCREr5gzIhccjjmRy_MIPD4rinYG-KwL-QQZ9im9JA5G-FMHxxWnSlmJYer3TbxSmAiXpNZguDYn1yAa7yJyJsov45r_1DPA7tnRKjT9HZjio9WP-KyC&c=an7P9XC9AUKIwfVmNSCVo9s4H4UVWbYB1iPcDJUw8QbWAzaAuqP9tg==&ch=6hwgM6NYZBBSQJPw1xrLa4pzSCr-FnqoD--ztRBE4JlUBOvCV_D7pw==" shape="rect" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Click here to read further.</a></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-25135681004262342832018-06-25T04:04:00.002-07:002018-06-25T04:04:18.465-07:00The Second Sunday After Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 229</em></div>
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1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20); Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17;<br />2 Corinthians 4:5-12; Mark 2:23-3:6<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Last weekend's solemn observance of Memorial Day got me pondering the meaning of the word Sacrifice. We honored our men and women who gave their lives for the sake of their country, in defense of its freedoms and peace. The word "sacrifice" came up often as I watched on television the Concert from the Mall.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Sacrifice. An appropriate word to describe people who "in the day of decision," died for our freedom, values, and ideals, as our collect for heroic service says (BCP, p. 839). We owe them and their families constant honor, gratitude, and remembrance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">The word sacrifice does not apply exclusively to dying for others, however. At its root, the word means to make an offering. In Eucharistic Prayer A, the celebrant speaks of the Holy Communion as "this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving." Praising and thanking God is an offering, a sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">In that sense, any time we offer anything to anyone, we are making a sacrifice. Parents and teachers who dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of their children are making a sacrifice. As we come this week to high school graduations in the city and county, I am mindful of the sacrifice that parents, students, and teachers have made to make the day of commencement possible. Offering not only knowledge but also encouragement, discipline, and delight (to name a but a few or their offerings), parents and teachers have sacrificed for the education of their children and students. Young people who have labored to complete assignments on time and to master the material also made a sacrifice -- at times placing their personal desires second to their educational requirements, for example.</span></div>
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A sacrifice then is something that requires effort. That is to say, whether the thing we offer is hard for us to do or not, we make a sacrifice when we choose one course of action over another, such as modifying one's lifestyle in order to save for the children's education or doing homework instead of playing with friends. Intentionality and commitment are part of making a sacrifice.<br /></div>
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Making choices then means that letting-go as well as of taking-on are essential dimensions of offering, of making a sacrifice. We let go or give up something in order to take on an activity -- such as a student who curtails leisure time in order to complete homework or a teacher who works well beyond their school hours for the benefit of their students.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">I've used examples that focus on students, teachers, and parents. But the dynamics of sacrifice are there for all of us in any facet of life.</span></div>
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At the core, to make a sacrifice is to offer ourselves for the sake of something greater or for the sake of someone else. It's what Jesus calls dying to self. Sacrificial people are not Me First people. We put others ahead of ourselves. Giving our time, our talents, and our treasure for the wellbeing of others represent the offering of ourselves. Sacrifice is an intrinsic component of service -- not only military service but any form of giving and offering to which we may called in life.<br /></div>
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May you and I be graced with the gift of sacrificial living for the sake of the world and to God's greater glory.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-32878138091543530702018-06-25T04:03:00.002-07:002018-06-25T04:03:42.667-07:00First Sunday After Pentecost: Trinity Sunday<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em>-- BCP, page 228</em></div>
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<em>Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29;</em><em><br /></em></div>
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<em>Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17</em></div>
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<em>Holy Trinity</em>St. Andrei Rublev, c. 1400<br />Gosudarstvennaia Tretiakovskaia Galereia<br />Moscow, Russia</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Andrei Rublev (1370-1430) wrote the most revered icon of the Holy Trinity as Abraham and Sarah's three mysterious visitors (Genesis 18). [Icons are "written," not painted.] The icon depicts three angels in equal dignity as a symbol of the triunity and equality of all three Persons. The angels are engaged in conversation as they bless the Chalice, forming a community of love in full regard of one another.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">What are the implications of our being made in the Image of God, who has been revealed to the Church as "the glory of the eternal Trinity" in whom we "worship the Unity"? [Collect for Trinity Sunday; BPC, page 228] Trinity Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on who we are, in light of the Trinitarian Nature of God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Our vision for community is rooted in the nature of God as One, Holy, and Undivided Trinity, that is, God's revelation as a community of persons, indivisible yet united by the divine nature, which is Love. Human beings, created in the Image of God, are therefore made for community and to be in communion with one another, with the created order, and with God. We are made by Love; we are born to love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Because of who God is, we celebrate the uniqueness and particularity not only of each of us as individuals but in the multiplicity of the cultural and ethnic mosaic of the one human race as a gift of God, as a sacrament of the Holy Trinity. All people are outward and visible signs that declare the glory of God. Though we indeed "fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23), each individual and each part of the human family in its own way participates in the divine image. The richness and variety of humanity are a blessing to be celebrated, a delight to be enjoyed, and a means of coming to a closer appreciation of God's greatness and goodness.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">When we come to worship on Sundays, we learn more about our vocation as a community that glories in the uniqueness and variety of all human beings. Trinity Sunday, in particular, is a time to rejoice and to renew the bonds of affection that unite us to the Father through the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-9676616542840343082018-06-25T04:02:00.002-07:002018-06-25T04:02:58.290-07:00The Day of Pentecost<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
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Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">The following is excerpted and adapted from a letter co-authored by The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">With the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Bishop Curry comments here on the issuance Thursday of a document that addresses the paramount importance of reclaiming the name of Jesus at this moment in our history. -- DDR+</span></em></div>
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<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14.6667px; height: 25px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 316.21px;">You may already have heard about <em>Reclaiming Jesus: A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis</em>, which has been commended to the churches by a group of elders from across the traditions of our Christian families.<br /><br />Conceived and discerned during an Ash Wednesday retreat, written and prayed over during Lent, announced to some colleagues and a few publications at Easter, it will finally be launched to the churches at Pentecost -- when the early Christians took their faith to the streets in the public square.<br /><br />Those who have come together did so on the basis of relationships more than formal representation, are all in their sixties or seventies, and are either current or former heads of churches or church organizations.<br /><br />The declaration, as well as a summary version that has been published in both church and secular publications, <a alt="http://reclaimingjesus.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXLSViTQghDCEZ8Z-70Sbr-sAG9DWX7prpsPKp2f343MXtEVcXrlwhl-wwZJs1tOrpNN8c3z3xvMBzZbSNamWEMVGpNCsR6kb2uz7DKl8yWZgW3OCPkDELMmg%3D%3D%26c%3D16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA%3D%3D%26ch%3DmrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1530010680687000&usg=AFQjCNFrrL5kgBtEjukIHGKaDxse_LMNUw" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXLSViTQghDCEZ8Z-70Sbr-sAG9DWX7prpsPKp2f343MXtEVcXrlwhl-wwZJs1tOrpNN8c3z3xvMBzZbSNamWEMVGpNCsR6kb2uz7DKl8yWZgW3OCPkDELMmg==&c=16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA==&ch=mrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw==" shape="rect" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">are here</a>.<br /><br />We also want to draw your attention to <a alt="https://www.facebook.com/SojournersMagazine/videos/10155595106027794/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXL8tQksesclJV9EHG54NKvloS3xEBSlN-h91AIOBPs_RrnlVfOi8uPBltIDWzPLoGgQ1xKaai1FK0JGfnyzANMsXuh2uxJrl4tY1KgMch6v29UTKSLEB_Vsl9Ox9dTMrpfqbXYqvv0redSEMK0eMdwei6vUXmFDfcmDUtCSrRaa8wS1E10AgCJrw%3D%3D%26c%3D16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA%3D%3D%26ch%3DmrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1530010680687000&usg=AFQjCNGtxVyYYkosrqPgWersnxmTPB4_NA" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXL8tQksesclJV9EHG54NKvloS3xEBSlN-h91AIOBPs_RrnlVfOi8uPBltIDWzPLoGgQ1xKaai1FK0JGfnyzANMsXuh2uxJrl4tY1KgMch6v29UTKSLEB_Vsl9Ox9dTMrpfqbXYqvv0redSEMK0eMdwei6vUXmFDfcmDUtCSrRaa8wS1E10AgCJrw==&c=16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA==&ch=mrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw==" shape="rect" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">a short but moving video here</a>, with several of our elders speaking to the need to reclaim the name of Jesus in a time such as this.<br /><br />The video has just been released. In a little more than a day, it has been viewed by almost half a million people because, we believe, there is a great hunger in the churches and beyond for an alternative faithful Christian voice to what many people are hearing or not hearing at this historical moment.<br /><br />Please join us for a service and vigil in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 24, at 7:00 p.m. It will take place at the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle.<br /><br />Following the service we will lead a candlelight procession to and prayer vigil at the White House. You can find <a alt="https://www.facebook.com/events/2069031439793675/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXLLB5JCvydh8EXj8dStppe1TMMPkqqCjBe1GHrUrs_PcGg9bdeOJf_niKnK60seBpUi2_LZ4Eu2hHTkWqJRsaBGh7PtnHLMYtKG61Hg0NJuhwefDee_I-umC5NEoYT3KNu5D6h1hdN4xrkHR51UQy8Zg%3D%3D%26c%3D16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA%3D%3D%26ch%3DmrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1530010680687000&usg=AFQjCNExs8KfKniOJSbXkkZI_ZWgn31jvw" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015gPCEq3_ade9gjfPkiC-8jn7Hkr8G9kpkiYsFEzuMrQCDAfuluY0Ls6di3p9cfXLLB5JCvydh8EXj8dStppe1TMMPkqqCjBe1GHrUrs_PcGg9bdeOJf_niKnK60seBpUi2_LZ4Eu2hHTkWqJRsaBGh7PtnHLMYtKG61Hg0NJuhwefDee_I-umC5NEoYT3KNu5D6h1hdN4xrkHR51UQy8Zg==&c=16_DG1Oq547FHY_8VVVLdxzOhZugC7lxRDgQOIO-RS1J0gW_S7sLdA==&ch=mrgnKLvh6ARPvnHlhc_QZpDpIzI09D6u2pfgR-5ZuTQ8AZrt6gEfIw==" shape="rect" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">more details about the service and vigil here</a>.<br /><br />We encourage you to share the event details with your churches and networks and encourage them to join you -- either in person or by watching the live stream of the service.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-3891280065222559192018-05-11T17:28:00.001-07:002018-05-11T17:28:20.443-07:00The Seventh Sunday of Easter -- Sunday After The Ascension<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.</em></div>
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Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1;<br />1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19<br /></div>
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"Do not leave us comfortless," we pray in the Collect. In our church calendar, we are living in that odd time between the Ascension of our Lord and the Descent of the Holy Spirit -- the 10 unusual days when the apostles were, according to the verse immediately before our story in Acts, "constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers." (Acts 1:14)</div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">Do not leave us comfortless. I wonder if their prayer was of the frantic, anxious, and near-panic kind? Forget what you and I know -- that the Holy Spirit came upon them. For all they knew, the Descent of the Spirit could be eons away. It was a time of great uncertainty.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">Do not leave us comfortless. Their prayer also takes place in a time of great embarrassment, maybe even shame. They had to come to terms with the fact that Judas, one of Jesus' own hand-picked Twelve, had betrayed their Lord. The community was not at full strength. And the missing one had not honored the cause. I wonder about the urgency in their prayers and their recognition of brokenness and incompleteness.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">Do not leave us comfortless. I wonder if we can identify with that? Uncertainty is indeed part of the human experience. We could easily muse philosophically about the vagaries of existence. And there are times in our world -- maybe even now -- when we can identify with the humorist George Carlin's question: "Where are we going? And what's with this hand-basket?"</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">The reality is that on any given Sunday when we come together to pray, not a few of us are dealing with particular uncertainties or pains or shame or facing hard choices in seemingly intractable circumstances. Or like the disciples, we might be looking at a future without the tangible presence of a loved one. </span></div>
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The 10 days between the Ascension and Pentecost are reminders that our experiences of uncertainty, loss, grief, pain, and even shame are part of the life of our faith community, not just of human life itself. Their euphoria over Christ's resurrection turned to the aloneness that goes with the physical departure of Jesus. There are seasons in life when even God feels absent. The palpable absence of Jesus during those ten days ... I wonder how the apostles and the disciples, including the Blessed Virgin and the brothers of Jesus felt. Have you ever had a time like that? Has God ever felt absent from your life?</div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Lean into it. Denial does no good. Name the anxiety or loss or pain or uncertainty or embarrassment or shame. Whatever the feelings in our own circumstances, let us name and accept that this is where we are, maybe for more than 10 days. We know not how long.</span></div>
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We can learn from that first band of people bereft of comfort: Name it in prayer. And pray in community. Paradoxically, when we least feel God is when we most need to pray. When we least feel comforted, that's when we need to be together to comfort one another. We need each other. We need to come together Sunday after Sunday to pray. To lay the matter before God. To wait for God's promised Spirit to descend on us with comfort and strength.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-18090788046778104612018-05-04T15:54:00.000-07:002018-05-04T15:54:22.302-07:00The Sixth Sunday of Easter<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-originalfontsize="11pt" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">The Collect of the Day asks for God to give us the kind of love towards God that we may love God "in all things and above all things." Loving God <em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">in all things and above all things</em> -- that is the objective.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">Charles Williams, a lay theologian and novelist who was close friends with C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Dorothy Sayers, looked at all creation as embodying something of God's nature. Our human understanding also, however dimly, partook of the divine light. He was not one to discard any thing or notion out of hand but rather took time to look for truth and beauty within them. This collect reminds me of Williams because he had a wonderful saying that can be a guiding post for us in our search for God and all things godly: <em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">This also is Thou; neither is this Thou.</em></span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;"><em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">This also is Thou:</em> Creation itself is the first Scripture we meet. "The heavens declare the glory of God..." (Ps. 19:1). Nature is our first teacher -- our first awareness of a gorgeous full moon or the sound of the sea or the majesty of mountains -- in these and more the world gives us glimpses of God's glory. Everything created partakes of the heavenly DNA. We experience it when we behold beauty and are awed into silence. The material world discloses the spiritual reality of which it participates.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;"><em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">This also is Thou:</em> Mother and Father's first embrace and kiss when we are born; being loved and affirmed, being provided for and kept safe. Experiencing goodness and compassion from anyone, perhaps even in unexpected places and from unknown persons; meeting people whose morals and ethics lift us up; hearing or reading poetry or experiencing all the arts-so many ways in which through other people we experience something of the One whose self-revelation is Love.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">At the end of his letter to the Church in Philippi, St. Paul says: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8) Because <em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">This also is Thou</em>.</span></div>
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<em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Neither is this Thou:</em> We do not worship creation but the Creator who is in all things but is never limited to all things. (If you care for the fancy words, our theism is of the panentheistic kind; we are not pantheists). We seek to love God in all things and above all things. Nothing -- not creation itself; not our noblest ideals; not our truest theology; not even our purest beliefs -- can contain God. Flee any religious community or persons who suffer from unassailable certainty in their convictions about what they claim to know. God cannot be put in a box. Any god who could be so contained is not worthy of our worship, allegiance, and obedience. Giving our ultimate commitment to anything other God as God -- who is beyond all our knowing and understanding -- is to fall into idolatry. <em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Neither is this Thou.</em></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;"><em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">This also is Thou; neither is this Thou.</em> May we rejoice in the sacramental quality imbuing all things and all people. May we never mistake anything or anyone for the Divine reality to which they point and in which they participate.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-originalfontsize="11pt" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
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<b data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-80463165305005405312018-04-26T16:56:00.000-07:002018-04-26T16:56:01.919-07:00The Fifth Sunday of Easter<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
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<em data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">-- BCP, page 225</em></div>
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<strong data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;"> Texts</strong></div>
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Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:24-30;<br />1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8<br /></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-originalfontsize="11pt" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">This may be the boldest collect yet for Eastertide. Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus, the Christ, ...that we may steadfastly follow his steps. Wow. It asks not that we may believe things about Jesus but that we may so perfectly know him as to be able to follow him.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">And how may we do that? How can we know Jesus like that?</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">In Luke 24:13-35, Jesus, disguised as a stranger, meets two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus on the evening of Easter Day and speaks to them as they walk. In the story, Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, so they could begin to appreciate the pattern central to true life-suffering, death, and resurrection-that the Messiah would reveal.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">(Messiah, by the way, is the Hebrew word that means "anointed." Its Greek counterpart is the word Christ.)</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.66670036315918" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166687726974487rem;">We are told that though their hearts were burning inside them, they did not know that it was Jesus. The story goes on to tell us that when they reached Emmaus the disciples insisted that the stranger stay the night with them, even though he looked like he was going to keep on walking. It was while he broke the bread at table with them that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. </span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">He then vanished from their sight and they rushed back to Jerusalem that very hour to tell all the others.</span></div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Here is the thing: None of this would have happened had they not insisted that the stranger stay with them.</span></div>
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Our own Carol Sethman pointed this out to me in a conversation a couple of years ago: it was their compassionate action, it was their hospitality to the stranger, it was their insistence that he not spend the night walking in the dark, that gave those disciples the opportunity to know Jesus in the opening of Scriptures and the breaking of the Bread.</div>
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How do we know Jesus? By doing acts of compassion.</div>
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Compassion is the gate to perfect knowledge of Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Compassion is not a sequel to knowing Jesus; it is the entryway. Orthodoxy follows Orthopraxis. Right believing follows from right doing. Ours is a hands-on faith, not a set of statements tucked away in a dusty book. Begin by loving the neighbor and you and I will come to the perfect knowledge of the Christ.</div>
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Begin by doing that which upholds the dignity and worth of the person in front of you.</div>
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Compassion is concrete, not abstract.</div>
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Direct and immediate, not postponed to a better time or more appropriate moment. Compassion is embodied behavior, not pure thought.</div>
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Knowing by doing. Embodied knowledge.</div>
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Rolling up our sleeves and engaging in acts of compassion: This also is, as Eugene Peterson would say, to practice resurrection.</div>
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<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-originalfontsize="11pt" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
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<b data-originalcomputedfontsize="14.666666984558105" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-size: 0.9166666865348816rem;">Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-8569340982061385372018-04-24T09:05:00.002-07:002018-04-24T09:17:58.860-07:00The Fourth Sunday of Easter: Jesus, The Good Shepherd <div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em>
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<em>O
God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that
when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and
follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and
reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
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<em><br /></em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: left;">
<em>-- BCP, page 225</em></div>
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Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23;<br />1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Jesus
calls himself The Good Shepherd, in this week's Gospel. This title, if
you will, is claimed in the context of a conflict with the religious
authorities of his day, whom he bluntly calls hired hands -- earlier in
the passage, he calls them thieves and bandits..</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Let's
back up a minute. One of my earliest book memories comes from an
illustrated children's Bible. It is a picture of a contented ewe lamb,
cute as a button, held in a sweet, all-encompassing embrace by a rather
Scandinavian-looking Jesus. A man and his pet, it would seem. It stayed
with me. As a young child, being cuddled like that was the warmest and
most wonderful of feelings, and I readily identified with the ewe lamb.</span></div>
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Most
shepherds, in any age, would be unlikely to look at their animals as
pets, to be sure. Whether for their wool or their meat, sheep are a
highly valued commodity. At the same time, shepherds are fiercely
protective of their sheep because they are their livelihood. Against
predators of any kind, four-legged as well as two-legged, they stand
willing to do anything for the protection and well-being of their flock.</div>
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</span>
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Jesus,
in a long line of prophetic tradition, calls out the religious leaders
of his day as shepherds who have deserted their duties. His critique is
that the people in their care were to them little more than sources of
power, prestige, and revenue. They cared more about protecting their
place under occupying Rome, preserving their position, and lining their
pockets with the business of the temple while promulgating a burdensome
piety they were themselves unwilling to maintain. Therefore, Jesus calls
them hired hands who flee in the face of trouble rather than protecting
the sheepfold, as proper shepherds would do.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It
would be tempting to turn Jesus into a belief system about who is in
and who is out of the sheepfold. But if we turn the things we believe
about Jesus into Shibboleths that determine belonging, we miss the point
of the parable of Jesus, The Good Shepherd. To Jesus, the sheep are
elevated from mere commodities to the proper position of beloved
creatures to whom he gives life, and for whom he desires and provides
abundant life.</span></div>
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The
Good Shepherd gives his life to empower the safety and wellbeing of the
sheep. Whether we are in his sheepfold is not determined by what we say
or believe about Jesus --important as that is. Rather the decisive
issue is how we relate to other sheep, both in and beyond Emmanuel. Do
we see people as commodities, as so much of the world does in our day?
Are we interested in people as ends in themselves or as means to our own
ends? Do we treat people as persons to be met, cherished, and loved or
as objects to be used and discarded when not useful?</div>
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<br /></div>
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We
are all part of God's sheepfold to the degree that we seek to love and
serve one another, nay, the entire creation and all its creatures, which
is indeed God's sheepfold. This is our motivation to invite other
people to come to Emmanuel. In a world bent on commoditizing human
beings, we want everyone to know that they are cherished and beloved,
that their very existence is a sign of God's delight in them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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At
Emmanuel, the lower-cap shepherds, under the Good Shepherd, are your
rector and vestry. We are committed and strive to do everything in our
power, by God's grace and with God's help, for your well-being.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
All of us are here on God's green earth to help one another grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus.</div>
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<br /></div>
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You
are not the commodities of any institution or enterprise. You are not
objects to be used and disposed of; you are God's own beloved creation,
souls embodying God, holy sacraments of the living God.</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-90819568563740864572018-04-24T09:04:00.005-07:002018-04-24T09:04:40.745-07:00The Third Sunday of Easter<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em>O
God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the
breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in
all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</em></div>
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<em><br /></em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: left;">
<em>-- BCP, page 224</em></div>
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<br /></div>
</em>
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<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<strong> Texts</strong></div>
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<em>
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<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4 or 116:1-3, 10-17;<br />1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48</div>
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</em></div>
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<br /><div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">In his daily meditation for Easter Monday, Fr. Richard Rohr, OSF, writes:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 80%;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 283.609px;"><em>When
God gives of Godself, one of two things happens: either flesh is
inspirited or spirit is enfleshed. It is really very clear. I am
somewhat amazed that more have not recognized this simple pattern: God's
will is incarnation. And against all our expectations of divinity, it
appears that for God, matter really matters.</em><br /><br /><em>This
Creator of ours is patiently determined to put matter and spirit
together, almost as if the one were not complete without the other. This
Lord of life seems to desire a perfect but free unification between
body and soul. So much so, in fact, that God appears to be willing to
wait for the creatures to will and choose this unity themselves-or it
remains unrealized. But if God did it any other way, the medium would
not be the message: God never enforces or dominates, but only allures
and seduces.</em><br /><br /><em>God apparently loves freedom as much as
incarnation. This is the rub of time and history and our interminable
groanings (see Romans 8:18-25). Jesus trusted God's slow process of
incarnation instead of demanding an immediate conclusion. The result was
resurrection and the realization of eternal union between body and
spirit, human and divine.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Resurrection
tells us that "matter really matters." A spirituality that does not
concern itself with the material -- this world, this place, these
creatures, these humans -- cannot be Godly. Unfortunately, it is quite
prevalent in our language (including in the Book of Common Prayer) to
speak of "the salvation of our souls." This could make us think, with
Manicheans and all dualists of ages past, that God only cares about the
spiritual realm and considers only the soul to be worth the hassle.
Thanks, Plato.</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">But
the story of our faith in the Scriptures, culminating with the death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, very clearly asserts that the
material world, including our very bodies, matter greatly to God as a
primary concern.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
</span>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">William
Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during World War Two, said that
"Christianity is the most materialistic of the world religions." I don't
wish to get into invidious comparisons, but you get the point. God is
concerned with the whole person. God cares about the well-being of all
created things. After all, God made the world with bursts of delight
that culminated in: "God saw everything that [God] had made, and,
indeed, it was very good" (Genesis <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424591" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">1:31</span></span>).</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">That
"either flesh is inspirited or spirit is enfleshed" is the consistent
insight in the Scriptures. Incarnation and Resurrection are not freakish
exceptions to the rules but rather revelation of the true pattern of
the Divine activity in creation. Incarnation matters. Resurrection
matters.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
I close with a brief poem I wrote a long time ago, paraphrasing my friend and poet Carl Johnson, of blessed memory:</div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
Beyond</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
Space</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
Beyond</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">Time</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
, a flaming bird</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">bird</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
against the</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">clouds</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 22.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
This blood of</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 22.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 22.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">mine</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
feels</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">immortal</td></tr>
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<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
(I can love</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">my toes</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 168.023px;">
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
I dream,</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"><br /></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; vertical-align: middle; width: 164.023px;">indeed, I dream</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="center" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom; width: 362.011px;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom; width: 362.011px;">
<div align="left" style="margin-left: 210px; text-align: left;">
<em>-- DDRH, 1976</em></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 17.0114px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom; width: 362.011px;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-18493888218369494672018-04-24T09:04:00.002-07:002018-04-24T09:04:07.181-07:00 The Second Sunday of Easter and Commemoration of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em>Almighty
and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new
covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the
fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they
profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em><br /></em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: left;">
<em>-- BCP, page 224</em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 270px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</em>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<strong> Easter II Texts</strong></div>
</div>
<em>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133;<br />1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31</div>
</div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em><br /></em></div>
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out
of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your Church,
following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist
oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your
children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.</em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<em><br /></em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 120px; text-align: left;">
<em>-- Lesser Feasts and Fasts, page 227</em></div>
<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 270px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<strong> Dr. King's Texts</strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Genesis 3:17b-20; Psalm 77:11-20;<br />Ephesians 6:10-20; Luke 6:27-36<br /><div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">In an eloquent letter to the clergy of the diocese, our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, recently wrote:</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 90%;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 235.276px;">The
50th anniversary of the martyrdom of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. will occur on April 4 of this year. Of course, Dr. King's story is
now deeply woven into our hearts and minds. The pre-eminent leader of
the Civil Rights movement, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his
prophetic and courageous ministry. Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated April 4, 1968, at age 39 in Memphis, Tenn., where he had
gone to support striking sanitation workers in their struggle for better
wages.<br /><br />Dr. King's life was devoted to encouraging all in America
to stand up for equality, justice, and peace. He wielded those tenets
of the Gospel to lead a nonviolent movement in the late 1950s and 60s
that sought to end racism and provide for legal equality for
African-Americans, to end economic injustices, and to oppose
international conflict. He is enshrined as a "Modern Martyr" in
England's Canterbury Cathedral, one of only two Americans so honored,
the other being Jonathan Daniels, the Episcopal seminarian who died
protecting a young African-American girl from a shotgun blast (you may
remember that the Diocese of Virginia commemorated the 50th anniversary
of Daniels' martyrdom in 2015). Dr. King's words inspired Jonathan
Daniels, and they continue to inspire those who seek justice and an end
to inequality around the world.<br /><br />Therefore, I am permitting, and
indeed strongly encouraging, churches across our diocese to designate
Sunday, April 8, being the Sunday closest to Dr. King's day on our
Church calendar, as our diocesan-wide commemoration of the life and
legacy of one of our nation's most inspiring witnesses to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.<br /><br />Fifty years later, we know that Dr. King's dream of
equality and opportunity for men and women everywhere, regardless of
color or creed, is rooted in the knowledge that we are all God's
children. We also know the dream is not yet realized for all. So, let us
reflect upon, honor, and, with courage, follow the example of a man who
showed us how to live into our Baptismal Covenant. May doing so help us
grow in love and become the "beloved community" he hoped would be
achieved.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Following our Bishop's encouragement, we will commemorate Dr. King this Sunday.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
</span>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I
rang the church bells 39 times on Wednesday evening, as did many
churches throughout the country. No, he was not perfect; none of God's
people ever have been nor will be on this side of the Communion of
Saints. But God used him; and he still speaks to us today with words
that convict and convert us. May we consecrate our lives to love God and
love our neighbor with all our hearts, our minds, and all our strength.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-63947017210441075112018-04-24T09:03:00.002-07:002018-04-24T09:03:27.014-07:00Triduum: 'Stay awake with me'<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first
he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it
none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.</em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 220</em></div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<strong>Texts</strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Acts 10:34-43; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11;<br />Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Mark 16:1-8<br /><div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">"Triduum,"
a Latin word that means three days, refers to the holiest days in the
Christian family's memory. From the time of the Last Supper and First
Eucharist through the Empty Tomb, the story of the Passion and
Resurrection of our Lord is the central narrative that shapes our own
story of faith.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 85%;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 206.07px;"><em style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">[How
do we get three days from Thursday night to Sunday? Liturgical
calendars, following Jewish calendars, mark sundown rather than <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424517" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">midnight</span></span>
as the beginning of a day. So, Thursday night is the beginning of
Friday. Thus, the Eve of a feast, like Christmas Eve and Easter Eve, can
be celebrated as part of the following day.]</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
three days belong together. Consequently, we have a single word,
Triduum, to refer to them as a unit. We rob ourselves of a great
blessing if we simply skip to Easter Sunday. Yes, it is very difficult
to keep them together and to observe them. I wonder if there are deeper
reasons for our difficulty than the practical ones of attending worship
for the long stretch of Thursday through Sunday.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
story of the three days shows us why. After supper and while Judas was
gathering a rabble to arrest Jesus, Jesus went to the garden of
Gethsemane in the Mount of Olives to pray, taking Peter and James and
John with him. He asked them, "stay awake with me."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Which
they could not do. Twice he found them asleep. "Could you not stay
awake with me an hour?" The question rings through the centuries and
resonates in our ears.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">In the face of deep suffering, it is hard to stay awake, to remain present.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Compassion,
which often gets reduced to feelings of pity, is in fact a difficult
deed that requires both an open heart and a resilient will. You must be
there to be compassionate. Jesus was in dire need of compassion --people
who stayed present with him in his anguish and, yes, fear. But his most
trusted friends had a very hard time doing that. In fact, they failed
miserably.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">As
do we. It is very difficult to be in the room with someone who is
suffering, when all we can offer is the seemingly scant comfort of our
presence. Compassion means to suffer with the sufferer. To allow the
pain of someone else enter you and change you. Being there with one who
suffers also most peculiarly puts us in touch with our own
vulnerabilities, our own pain, our own suffering. And this is very hard
to do.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
Three Days are an opportunity to train our souls in compassion. To
attempt to stay awake with Jesus in the Triduum is to work on opening
our hearts and strengthening our wills to sufferings -- in others as
well as in ourselves. The great mystery is that the path of suffering
leads to the empty tomb and the promise of resurrection, of new and
transformed lives.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">We are invited to keep the Triduum. May we stay awake.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-81093914247609604232018-04-24T09:02:00.005-07:002018-04-24T09:02:52.580-07:00Palm Sunday: Mighty Acts<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our
salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those
mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 270</em></div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<strong>This Sunday's Texts</strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
<table align="none" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 177.011px;">
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Liturgy of the Palms</span></div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 178.011px;">
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Liturgy of the Word</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="none" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 177.011px;">
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
Mark 11:1-11</div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29</div>
</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 178.011px;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Isaiah 50:4-9a</div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
Psalm 31:9-16</div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Philippians 2:5-11</span></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mark 14:1-15:47</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
Collect for the Liturgy of the Palms, at the beginning of the
celebration of Palm Sunday, sets the tone as well as reflects the spirit
of this part of the service. We are a happy and expectant bunch,
clutching our palm branches, ready to sing "Hosanna!" "Praise the Lord!"
We enter with joy indeed, as we hear the narrative of Jesus' entry into
Jerusalem. We are ready for good things to happen.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">That's
how it looks at first. Psalm 118, which we recite, looks for the
opening of doors, for the establishment of righteousness, for the
celebration of God's doings. We sing "All glory, laud, and honor" and
remember that God is in charge.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
We are ready, are we not, to contemplate God's mighty acts.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">But
things do not turn out quite as we thought. Gradually the readings take
us down the path of conflict and turmoil-Isaiah shows God contending
with a people unsure of trusting that goodness and grace dwell in God.
The Epistle tells us that Jesus willingly entered suffering and even
crucifixion in a total self-emptying of the need to be exalted and
adored. By the time that we reach the story of the Passion in Mark, we
are in total darkness. Betrayed by one of his intimates, his basic
humanity trampled by those who were the best that religion had to offer
and his life taken by the raw power of human empire, Jesus dies on Good
Friday. And with him seem to die all the hopes and dreams of those who
only five days before had been bold enough to call him the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
These are the mighty acts that we are invited to contemplate.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Stop right there.
Let the story sink in. The mighty acts whereby life and immortality are
given to us? A surface reading would tell us that Jesus accomplished
nothing, that he was dragged to his death, and that the religious
leaders who called him an impostor were right on target.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Oh,
but there is so much more to the story! We really need, you and I, not
only this Palm Sunday but the entire Holy Week to walk in the Way of the
Cross. We need to contemplate the whole story in all its horrifying
detail so that we might begin to glimpse what God is doing with all the
nastiness that we are capable on inflicting one another.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Even
though filled with pathos and ambiguity, the Passion challenges all our
notions of how good conquers evil: not by brute force but in the
paradox of a willing agent who freely gives his life, allowing all the
terrors that we might most fear do their worst, thereby unmasking their
ultimate powerlessness because Love, however much trampled, will rise
from the dust.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
grace of Holy Week is this opportunity to contemplate the might acts of
God. Where betrayal and subterfuge would try to force Jesus to die, he
surrenders his life. May we not cling to our life even as we gratefully
live it each day. Open hands, not closed fists, are the path of freedom
and real living. Fear not!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">May we embrace the grace of Holy Week. <br /><br />The Tomb shall not have the last word.<br /><br />Love wins. By losing. Let's ponder that.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-86787617622659911192018-04-24T09:02:00.002-07:002018-04-24T09:02:14.590-07:00The Fifth Sunday in Lent<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills
and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you
command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied
changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true
joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</em></div>
<div>
<em><br /></em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 219</em></div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Texts</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-13,<br />Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">In
our Lenten study group, "Luke for Lent," we have spent quite a bit of
time reviewing a special section unique to St. Luke's gospel called the
Travel Narrative.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">All
the gospels tell us that Jesus travelled south to Jerusalem from
Galilee after announcing that we would die there. But only St. Luke
takes almost ten chapters to tell us what happened along the way,
providing us with the stories and events that we have come to love, like
the so-called parables of the Prodigal son, Dives and Lazarus, and the
story of Zacchaeus. You may follow the Travel Narrative in Luke <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424476" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">9:51-19:28</span></span>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Travel
plays an important role in human formation and development. One thing
we know from our evolutionary history is that from the start, <em>homo sapiens</em> has been on the move.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Biblical
history, properly speaking, begins with God inviting Abraham and Sarah
to travel "to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1). For them,
the journey was as much spiritual as it was a physical movement from
today's northern Iraq to the Holy Land. The process of going from place
to place parallels Abraham and Sarah's growing understanding. Who is
this strange God who goes by the generic name of Elohim?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">God
is revealed in the experience of the liberated Hebrew slaves as
God-on-the-move. God travels with the Israelites out of Egypt, going
before and behind them as a Cloud and a Pillar of Fire. In the words of
Walter Brueggemann, to experience the Divine is to meet an unsettling
God.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
entire Biblical narrative deals with the shifting, changing, growing,
evolving and even at times devolving understanding of God. The
Scriptures contain the record of human experience of God and our
reflection on that experience. The marvelous grace is that God uses that
medium -- human words -- so that we may meet the Eternal Word, the
Logos made flesh of whom St. John's Prologue sings in the first chapter
of his gospel.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Whether
we have been born here and lived here our entire lives or have come to
live here in this gorgeous valley of the Daughter of the Stars, your
spiritual life and mine are in motion, called by a God who calls us in
the deepest recesses of our soul, inviting us into a living relationship
that is redemptive and transformative. As I have said before, God loves
us just as we are and meets us where we are; God also loves us too much
to leave us where we are.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Our
Lenten journey is part of the ongoing movement of God in our souls.
Spiritually speaking, we are always in a state of wanderlust, seeking,
longing, asking, and inquiring about who God is, why are we here, and
where/to whom do we belong -- the fundamental questions of existence
that are embedded in all of us and which are not the exclusive concern
of astrophysicists, philosophers, and theologians.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">St.
Luke's Travel Narrative has me thinking that our most important
learnings occur when we are consciously aware of the movement of God in
our lives. You and I are invited to pay attention. The call of Lent to
prayer and study, fasting, and renewal is yet another gracious gift of
God's steadfast and unconditional love.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-66716927400173530362018-04-24T09:01:00.005-07:002018-04-24T09:01:42.179-07:00 The Fourth Sunday in Lent<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from
heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give
us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</em></div>
<div>
<em><br /></em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 219</em></div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Texts</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22;<br />Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
am pleased to introduce our guest columnist, The Rev. Tom Ehrich, an
Episcopal priest who has served parishes in Indianapolis, Missouri,
North Carolina, and New York. He is also a writer and publisher. <a alt="http://www.morningwalkmedia.com" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0011CM3KMVvksIfCq-4ZBp0F6vCSL9NECUtgtT1B3PrGyoT6Z60Rh38MKGqgAuc_x6Q445lGtpz57YZguz7r1od1LiTuq5gk45PGxehhWzeEeIT3c29KMcSOiNU0nmriPfChSJzSq4HNDEK1tJKRQ5BkY3luiJx_XZEGMSbLwIaBBIi9qwOXwrDaA%3D%3D%26c%3DLnrPkp6Hv41tH9xGrQy36VloftBlS-0Ov76RMv_ccYlJBnuZLU3KDA%3D%3D%26ch%3D8tVxDms-EyKUCvQ_62o22TcJpUtqIrjYTx1izxJkM_fGgkohy_A0ng%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1524671722859000&usg=AFQjCNH5Ktb0nwJsjK8oEfMLynHEkgzRgg" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0011CM3KMVvksIfCq-4ZBp0F6vCSL9NECUtgtT1B3PrGyoT6Z60Rh38MKGqgAuc_x6Q445lGtpz57YZguz7r1od1LiTuq5gk45PGxehhWzeEeIT3c29KMcSOiNU0nmriPfChSJzSq4HNDEK1tJKRQ5BkY3luiJx_XZEGMSbLwIaBBIi9qwOXwrDaA==&c=LnrPkp6Hv41tH9xGrQy36VloftBlS-0Ov76RMv_ccYlJBnuZLU3KDA==&ch=8tVxDms-EyKUCvQ_62o22TcJpUtqIrjYTx1izxJkM_fGgkohy_A0ng==" shape="rect" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Click here</a>.
to view his website. This column first appeared on January 13, 2018, in
his blog "On The Road" and is reprinted here with permission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
</span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>"Abide with Me"</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><em>by Tom Ehrich</em></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 92%;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 273.042px;">In
the year 1847, the Great Famine was decimating Ireland, causing many
impoverished Irish families to migrate to the United States and Canada.
In all, by 1930, more than half the population of Ireland had fled
deplorable conditions.<br /><br />In April of that year, more than 250 Irish
emigrants set sail from Derry, most of them women and children joining
their men on farms in Canada. In a terrible storm, the <em>Exmuth</em> wrecked, drowning all but three passengers.<br /><br />In
that same year, a coal mine explosion in Yorkshire killed 77 men and
boys. The Bronte sisters published novels under male names in order to
avoid rejection.<br /><br />In November 1847 -- and the reason for
mentioning this at all -- a Scottish clergyman named Henry Francis Lyle
wrote a poem entitled "Abide with me," about enduring the deepening
"darkness" in his life. His plea:</td></tr>
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<div>
<em><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When other helpers fail and comforts flee,</span></em></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>Help of the helpless, O abide with me.</em></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
Three weeks later he died from tuberculosis.<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
Paired with William Henry Monk's tune
"Eventide," "Abide with me" became one of Christianity's favorite hymns,
sung often at funerals and state events. It touched the entire world in
2012 when Scottish singer Emeli Sande performed it at the London
Olympics in a commemoration of the 2005 subway bombing in London.<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">At the moment when Sande sang the hymn's final words --</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 85%;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 120.011px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 301.71px;"><em>Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;</em><br /><em>Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.</em><br /><em>Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;</em><br /><em>In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">-- a young boy was held aloft by
dancers representing survivors of terrorism. The message was clear:
There is a future worth straining toward, because "in life, in death"
our Lord abides with us.</span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
Nihilists wanting only to destroy cannot
kill hope. Despots wanting power in order to fill their empty souls
cannot prevent God's light from shining "through the gloom." Though
tragic bullies and cowards bellow their hatred, God's grace will "spoil
the tempter's power," drain the "bitterness" and take away "death's
sting."<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span>We can endure. We can survive even the
worst of men and women who seem to have us in their gunsights. We can
survive the hysteria and terror of our neighbors. We can seek new life
even when custodians of old hatreds ascend our thrones.</span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
Evil cannot withstand the good. Death cannot
prevent life. We might think this moment in world history the collapse
of everything that has kept us sane and moving forward, but God's "truth
abideth still." We have not been left comfortless. The darkness that
captures human souls cannot defeat the light of Christ.<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
We can speak our truth to power, and, in
God, that truth will push through liars and pretenders. We can love our
children, and, in God, that love will change tomorrow. We can embrace
our neighbors, and that welcome will till the soil of justice in a
springtime not yet seen.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 103.011px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 301.71px;"><br /><div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<em>I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; </em></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<em>Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.</em></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<em>Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?</em></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.</em></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-59389794740206545832018-04-24T09:01:00.002-07:002018-04-24T09:01:04.348-07:00The Third Sunday in Lent<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to
help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our
souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to
the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the
soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
<div>
<em><br /></em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 218</em></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Texts</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19;<br />1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
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<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
Back
in my days in Luray before I was called to Emmanuel, my Lutheran
colleague and I became good friends who frequently met to chat, going
across the street to each other's home -- the St. Mark Lutheran's
parsonage and Christ Church's rectory. We backed each other up
pastorally when either one had to be out of town, we assisted at each
other's Good Friday liturgies, took turns hosting the Easter Vigil, and
we traded altars and pulpits at least twice a year. He had an edge on
me, however -- he had previously spent time in Anglican worship and was
familiar with the BCP, while I needed to learn how to celebrate in his
church using the Lutheran Book of Worship. I still count the Rev.
Nicholas (Nick) Eichelberger a good friend. I am very grateful that
Episcopalians and Lutherans can share ordained ministry this way.</div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">(This
past Sunday we were blessed to have as our guest preacher The Rev. Dr.
Phil Kniss, senior pastor of Park View Mennonite. I had also had the
great privilege of preaching in his church between our two
English-language services. Our weekly ecumenical Text Study Group led to
a number of these pulpit exchanges. The group is organized by my good
friend Patty Huffman, retired Lay Pastoral Associate of Blessed
Sacrament Roman Catholic Church.)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
At a conference at
Shrine Mont shortly after I came to Emmanuel, I once quipped to the
ecumenical officers of both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and the Episcopal Church (TEC) that, thanks to my experience at
St. Mark Lutheran in Luray, I could tell the difference between
Lutherans and Episcopalians. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, I said
something like this:</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 90%;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 25px; vertical-align: top; width: 319.81px;"><em>Lutherans
know right off the bat that they are sinners. When they get in the
church, they can never start worship until the Pastor, from the back of
the church or at the baptismal font, calls them to Confession. After the
Absolution, they are ready to enter into the Presence, and the choir
and clergy process into the church singing.</em><em><br />We
Episcopalians need a little convincing. We have to sing a few things,
hear three readings and a sermon, say the creed and make our prayers
before we are ready to allow that we could use some improvement. Then we
make our Confession.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">We had a good laugh. Nobody disagreed with me.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
truth, of course, is that whatever the order of worship, we Christians
are grounded in the reality that (1) God made us as beautiful
reflections of the Divine Image and (2) even though our sins of omission
and commission have marred the Image, (3) the grace of God made present
to us in Christ sets us free from the bondage of sin and restores our
relationship with God so that we may leave worship ready to love and
serve the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">You'll notice that, in Lent at least, we seem to resemble Lutherans. We start with the Penitential Order (BCP, page 319 at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424436" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">8 a.m.</span></span> or page 351 at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424437" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">10:30 a.m.</span></span>),
which calls us to Confession before the Proper of the Day starts. This
is a good practice. We are always in need of renewing our repentance and
faith, as the liturgy of Ash Wednesday reminds us (BCP, page 265). I
pray that this practice may make us mindful of our need for continuous
renewal as well as grateful for the grace of God by which we stand in
God's Presence wherever we may go.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-13485021548776639572018-04-24T09:00:00.003-07:002018-04-24T09:00:15.322-07:00The Second Sunday in Lent<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to
all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with
penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the
unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and
the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 218</em></div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 150px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Texts</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30;<br />Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
forty days of Lent are counted from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday,
exclusive of Sundays. This is why we have Sundays in Lent, as opposed
to, say, Sundays of Advent.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">We
observe Lent as a Fast -- a time of "self-examination and repentance;
[...] prayer, fasting, and self-denial [...] and [...] reading and
meditating on God's Holy Word," as the liturgy of Ash Wednesday bids us
all <em>(BCP, page 265)</em>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">All
Sundays, however, celebrate the Resurrection. Sundays are always feast
days, even if during Lent give up alleluias. Sundays are not part of
Lent. It is always Easter on Sunday because we enter into the sacred
space of remembering and proclaiming that "Christ has died. Christ is
risen. Christ will come again." <em>(BCP, page 363)</em></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">You might have seen "Church Leaders Reflect on Lent as Spiritual Renewal," in last Saturday's <em>Daily News- Record</em>.
I thought the writer, Shelby Mertens, supplied a pretty good picture of
the meaning of Lent as understood in liturgical churches -- and not
because I'm quoted in it! (Ha-ha!)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Fr.
Miguel Melendez, who serves at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church,
said that, "Lent is about being holistic in life. Renewing your
spiritual life is really the biggest thing that's going on, and
spiritual life being communication or relationship with God."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Lent
is not a downer; it's an opportunity to revitalize our relationship
with God. That said, Lent does require intentionality and discipline.
Intentionality is about making the decision to de-clutter our hearts
from the sins that weigh us down by giving up the ways that are harmful
to ourselves and others and filling our hearts with the love and grace
of God.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Discipline
is the habit-forming practice of repeatedly doing these things
throughout the Lenten season. That's the whole journey from
self-examination and repentance through prayer, fasting, and self-denial
to reading and meditating on the Bible. Lent requires rolling up our
sleeves and going to work.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
first part of Lenten intentionality and discipline -- self-examination,
repentance, prayer, fasting, and self-denial -- is something that we
each make choices about in the privacy of our conversations with our
"Father who sees in secret," as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 6: 1-6,16-18).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
should also mention that I am available for private and confidential
conversation with anyone feels the need to review his or her choices.
The sacrament of Reconciliation of a Penitent (also known as
"Confession") is always available on request. And remember the Anglican
dictum about private confession: All may. None must. Some should. We
must each make our own choices.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The
second part -- reading and meditating on the Bible -- is something we
can do both privately and in community. I invite you to join the <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#m_-8661483054103279409_Luke" shape="rect" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">Tuesday evening group that will focus on the Bible this season</a>.
Participants read the entire Gospel of Luke in small daily portions,
and then we share our learnings and questions on Tuesdays. We are
calling it "Luke for Lent." (Yes, I'm an incorrigible punster -- your
groans only encourage me!) The Rev. Dr. Donna Scott and I will co-lead
the conversations.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">We
would love to have a very large group. We start this Tuesday, Feb. 27,
at 6:30 with a soup-supper. I hope many choose to come.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
May God bless us all with a rich, life-giving Lent.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981408832290513487.post-83175072994536698102018-04-24T08:59:00.002-07:002018-04-24T08:59:39.434-07:00The First Sunday in Lent<div align="left" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">
<div>
<em>Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many
temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one
find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever. Amen.</em></div>
<div>
<em><br /></em></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<em>-- BCP, page 217</em></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Texts</strong></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">
<br /><div>
Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9;<br />1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div align="left" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><em>He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him</em>
(verse 12). St. Mark's gospel, unlike Matthew and Luke, gives no
details about the temptations themselves. We are not told what Satan
said to entice Jesus to break his trust with the Father. Nothing about
stones into bread, nothing about high leaps to safety, much less a word
about worshipping Satan in exchange for worldly power.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">And yet, Mark adds these two fascinating details: Jesus was with the wild beasts and the angels waited on him.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
wonder if Mark is making the point that the time that Jesus spent in
the wilderness was not about self-doubting and second-guessing
himself. Maybe Mark leaves out the conversation with Satan because God's
words in the preceding verse are still ringing in his ears: "You are my
Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." While still in the grip
of the Father's declaration of love, the Spirit drives Jesus into the
wilderness. Jesus doesn't decide to go camping; he is not drawn to the
dessert. Rather, the Spirit picks him up, carries him, and finally puts
him down in the middle of nowhere. The strength of the verb that Mark
chooses tells us that, for Jesus, going into the dessert was
inescapable. The Spirit <em>immediately drove him out into the wilderness.</em>
It is the same verb that Mark uses when Jesus throws demons out of
people. The wilderness is not a place of self-doubt for Jesus because he
knows, in every cell of his body, that he is the Beloved in whom the
Father delights. The power of love sustains him; love alone drives him.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">A
few Sundays ago, in a sermon addressing the beginning section of this
first chapter of Mark, I talked about the perspective of this gospel of a
cosmic contest between God and Satan. In St. Mark, the coming of the
Son of Man is an invasion of enemy-controlled territory. This gospel
sees our world as captured by evil forces that oppose God. To use Jesus'
own terms, he is here to tie up the strong man and plunder his property
(Mk. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_63424400" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">3:27</span></span>).
The wilderness then turns out to be not a place of trial and temptation
but rather a launching pad for the work of freeing the world from the
grasp of evil.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">But what about the beasts and the angels?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
wonder if Jesus being with the wild beasts is a foreshadowing of the
peaceable kingdom that Isaiah says we will have when God's reign is
firmly established, in which no one, beast or human, harms any living
thing. The coming of Christ promises a complete reversal of Hume's
"nature red in tooth and claw" that transforms the world into a place
where all living things honor each other.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
wonder if the presence of angels waiting on Jesus shows us that Jesus
was not a lone ranger all on his own. He was accompanied by the hosts of
heaven, who waited on him, strengthening him for his mission. Mark's
gospel, for all of its jumping from one action to another ("immediately"
is Mark's favorite word), shows us Jesus making time to be alone with
the Father in prayer.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I
wonder if we can choose this Lenten season to focus on the strength of
love to drive us, on the grace of God that transforms us, not merely
into people who harm no one, but beloved children who seek the wellbeing
of all living things, and to make time to receive sustenance and
comfort in our needs through regular prayer.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Under the Mercy,</span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>Fr. Daniel+</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03391076640522819027noreply@blogger.com0