Walking Together 2010

Holy Saturday, April 3

2010-04-03T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts - Psalm 95:6-8

Reflection – Ed Happ

The Yearning

I long for

the God who

dabbles in chaos,

puts His finger

into my hard heart,

a thorn to

stir my doubt;

pokes through

my hands

when I dare

to take up

the pen of a wagging tongue—

the God

who speaks to me

in the slow time—

the outages

in a flurried life—

when even

a blowing

wisp of a

spring spore

can sing.

30 Apr 00

Holy Saturday is a day that does not make sense. We are stuck between the times, in a limbo much like a man late in life getting laid off before he realizes the dream, before it has taken him by surprise. Yesterday all the plans and hopes died with the finality of a nail in a coffin. How do we go on from here? What will I tell my friends, my children, my family? I am a fool without a cause, without a purpose, without a job. Our hopes are scattered to the wind like the disciples in hiding. This did not go as planned; this did not end well. I’ve been shaken up with no foundation on which to place my feet and stand. I bolt the door, curl up in my bed and wait; doubt and despair stirring left and right, I dream of an elusive knock on the window.

Good Friday, April 2

2010-04-02T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others;

a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;

and as one from whom others hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God,

and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:1-5

Reflection

Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

(1987, North Point Press, San Francisco)

To sit and look at light-filled leaves
May let us see, or seem to see,
Far backward as through clearer eyes
To what unsighted hope believes:
The blessed conviviality
That sang Creation’s seventh sunrise.
Time when the Maker’s radiant sight

Made radiant every thing He saw,
And every thing He saw was filled
With perfect joy and life and light.
His perfect pleasure was sole law;
No pleasure had become self-willed.

For all His creatures were His pleasures
And their whole pleasure was to be
What He made them; they sought no gain
Or growth beyond their proper measures,
Nor longed for change or novelty.
The only new thing could be pain.

Maundy Thursday, April 1

2010-04-01T18:45:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Reflection – Kate Heichler

Why is this night different from all other nights? I don’t know if that question was part of the Passover observance in Jesus’ how different this night would be from all other nights that ever had been or ever would be.

Maundy Thursday is for me the most sacred night of all the sacred nights. It is a threshold from regular chronos time into God’s kairos time, a night when the membrane separating heaven and earth becomes wafer-thin. We gather and celebrate and commemorate a meal at which everything became subverted, no expectation met unchanged. Jesus takes the familiar prayers of blessing and distorts them with shocking words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He takes a ritual of hospitality with which a host would normally greet guests and enacts it after the food, lowering himself to wash his disciples’ feet, an act of intimacy and humility that challenges our self-sufficiency as much as it did theirs. And after supper he goes into the night to accept the most intimate of humiliations, not fighting, but subverting human pretensions of control with love and truth.

And so we eat and wash and bless and pray, and walk together into the three-day dream sequence we relive every year, in which God and humanity meet on a cross of brutality,

in which heaven and earth come crashing together and the whole mortal order of things is overturned, once and for all. Death swallowed up by life. Here it begins, our sacred mystery. Stay awake. Watch and pray.

To ponder and pray:

¨ Will you accept the gift and discomfort of allowing someone else to wash your feet tonight? Someone who stands in for Jesus?

¨ If not, in your prayer today tell Jesus why you won’t allow him that privilege. How does He answer you?

If yes, invite Him to open your heart to God’s transforming life in the encounter.

Wednesday in Holy Week, March 31

2010-04-01T18:42:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved - was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:21-35

Tuesday in Holy Week, March 30

2010-03-30T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” – John 12:20-26

from Wendell Berry's A Timbered Choir, 1998

What hard travail God does in death!

He strives in sleep, in our despair,

And all flesh shudders underneath

The nightmare of His sepulcher.

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;

All night the cold wind heaves and pries;

Creation strains sinew and bone

Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bend, pent in seed, grows straight

And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising

The merely dead, graves fill with light
Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

Monday in Holy Week, March 29

2010-03-29T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” - Mark 14:3-9

Reflection – Kate Heichler

We have, for the past five weeks, been modeling something of this woman’s act of extravagant worship – we have been offering our time, the most precious commodity most of us possess.

Few things are more costly than giving a whole day to something or someone. In the spiritual practice of Sabbath-keeping, we offer God a whole day per week, empty, for God to fill.

The practical, earthbound voices in and around us might say, “Wouldn’t God rather we worked for those hours? Got something done? Made money so we could give more away? Produced something? Done volunteer work? Why was this time wasted in this way?”

But a voice in our spirit cries, ‘Yes! Break open the alabaster jar of precious minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years… break it open and offer it all in worship to our Lord; pour it over his head and watch our precious time drip down his face.

For who gave us the time, but He, the Maker of all time, and the One in whom all time will end?

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-03-28T04:00:00.001-04:00

Song When I survey the wondrous Cross Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the prince of glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ my God

All the vain things that charm me most

I sacrifice them to his blood

See from his head, his hands, his feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did ever such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-03-28T04:00:00.000-04:00

Song: When I survey the wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Saturday, March 27

2010-03-27T04:00:00.000-04:00

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reflection – Ed Tucker

Early weekend mornings when I am in Stamford and not commuting to New York City, you will find me walking at the Cove. As day breaks I check on the tide, see if the sky in orange, observe what the geese, swans and other birds are doing and let my mind wander. This is when new ideas for my research program pop into my mind, when I get a more accurate and balanced understanding of what is important to me, my family and my friends, and when I plan for my biology lectures. Importantly, this is when epiphanies come to me. Everything becomes fine with me and the world. I then stretch, drive home and have breakfast while reading The Advocate. I highly recommend unstructured free time and invite you to join me any time of the year - 6:00 to 7:00 a.m at Cove Island Park.

Friday, March 26

2010-03-26T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

- Philippians 4:4-8

Friday, March 26

Reflection –

In this scripture we are reminded to see the Lord at the “Helm of Life.”

Through the mystery of asking, seeking and praising, we are able to “Let God handle the matter at hand.”

In truth, our requests are already known by God, we are encouraged to speak up and feel comfortable, faithfully offering our concerns to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving. He is not surprised nor is any thing really kept from the Divine.

We are asked to offer, surrender our problem at hand, by asking for help and with praise! While we are waiting, we may not understand exactly what is happening, but in that moment of surrender and offering, the promise is written, “We are given the Peace of God that surpasses our mortal understanding.”

So, we may not understand why or how this peace and protection takes place, but we don’t have to. We just have to trust and have faith and release our prayers to Father God completely.

We are also advised to shift our attention from negative worry, towards a more conscious awareness of all the blessings of beauty, natures simplicity, harmony with loved ones and goodness the God continuously supplies.

Become aware of what surrounds you with the utmost gratitude. We can take a few quiet moments and meditate or contemplate the many times God has been there for us and the many breakthroughs and miracles taken place..

Whatever is great about my life, I give thanks. Everything I have is because of Grace. Everything I don’t have is also because of Gods Grace. I may never know what I was protected from because of Grace , or when I have been spared undue pain. Give God the Glory and keep looking upward and within, stay focused on the pureness of life.

Thursday, March 25

2010-03-25T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week:

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath… Therefore the Jewish leaders started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God

. – John 5:1-9, 16-18

Who makes a clearing makes a work of art,

The true world’s Sabbath trees in festival

Around it. And the stepping stream, a part

Of Sabbath also, flows past, by its fall

Made musical, making the hillslope by

Its fall, and still at rest in falling, song

Rising. The field is made by hand and eye,

By daily work, by hope outreaching wrong,

And yet the Sabbath, parted, still must stay

In the dark musings of the soil no hand

May light, the great Life, broken, make its way

Along the stemmy footholds of the ant.

Bewildered in our timely dwelling place,

Where we arrive by work, we stay by grace.

- Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

North Point Press, 1987

Wednesday, March 24

2010-03-24T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

– Psalm 23

Reflection –

One of my favorites Psalms, often heard at eulogies, is mysteriously full with life-affirming words if we look more closely.

Just imagine, Gods’ Shepherd, leading and beckoning us to take repose in Spirit. Realizing that we are welcome to experience calm waters instead of restlessness. Allowing ourselves at any given moment to take rest in Him.

To me this means “fully” the promise of restoration and wholeness. Even if we experience a “dark night of the soul” we are promised regeneration and comfort.

Fear does not have to consume us. Fear has no place any longer, because we are told that He is our comforter, showing us the path ahead.

Further blessings abound as we are anointed with fresh oil and with divine guidance led to rightful decisions and insights. Isn’t it wonderful to know we can be led and shown the path ahead for the highest best and good for all concerned?

God also wants us to know that we are promised a place of sanctuary in the midst of foes and hardships, we have a special reservation, seated at the table of life.

“Our cup runneth over” is the outpouring of blessings upon us! A reminder when the Heart is filled with Spirit, the Cup of Life overflows. Aren’t we fortunate to have goodness, mercy and abundance, not just for today, but for all the days of our lives.?

Tuesday, March 23

2010-03-23T04:00:00.000-04:00

Reflection – Ed Happ

Before the scream

She sees the tail

of the mouse

already gone.

If scurrying could be rewound,

would she hear the little feet of time

that taps in her ears,

see the blur of the white under-belly

sweeping along the polished oak floors

in her life?

Will she slow it down

before the scream

and give thanks?

Sharon Olds recently said “Poetry, as in therapy, is about backing up the mouse that just ran into the hole in the wall.” Stop! What just happened? Roll-back the tape and do an instant replay in your mind. Write down what you saw. This is often my thought process in writing a poem. The most important word in the sequence, however, is not “write” …it’s “stop!”

When we pause, focus, stop the chatter, we are open to listening, to asking “what just happened?” The writing is then recording, like relating a dream after you woke up. That’s a kind of paying attention in reverse to what has just become “past” and a new openness to what may be coming around the corner.

– from an Advent sermon November 30, 2008

WEEK 5 : Being Still: Cultivating Attentiveness -- Monday, March 22

2010-03-22T04:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week:

That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don't you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

- Mark 4:35-40

Reflection –

After a full day of Jesus teaching parables to the multitudes, it was time to rest. Evening was approaching and he decided to be alone with his disciples instructing them to cross over to the other shore. The disciples surrounded him in the boat and there they sailed.

Undoubtedly, Jesus was silent and eventually went to sleep. Perhaps his lesson being taught that night was not a parable but a lesson of commanding words in total faith.

After the violent churning of waves and turbulent winds began, the disciples panicked, forgetting the lessons of the parables learned that day. They awoke Jesus stricken with terror and claimed, “He didn’t care about them!” After all, how could he be asleep when so many of their lives were in peril?

Now, I suspect Jesus knew what he was teaching them that night, perhaps in a different way than parables. Jesus woke from his slumber and stood up commanding nature with full power of the spoken word, “Be Still.” Then the winds ceased, the waters calmed and truly the disciples were amazed. That day they saw Faith and Power work in unison. The result of faith and the spoken word transformed nature, ;Gods powerful alchemy was at work. That day, the lesson might have been that or simply, “Only he who obeys, can command.”

Sunday, March 21 – Lent V (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-03-21T04:00:00.000-04:00

To be in Your presence

To be in Your presence
To sit at Your feet,
Where Your love surrounds me,
And makes me complete.

This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.
This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.

To rest in Your presence,
Not rushing away;
To cherish each moment,
Here I would stay.

Noel Richards © 1991 Thankyou Music

Sabbath Poem VII (1982)

The clearing rests in song and shade.

It is a creature made

By old light held in soil and leaf,

By human joy and grief,

By human work,

Fidelity of sight and stroke,

By rain, by water on

The parent stone.

We join our work to Heaven's gift,

Our hope to what is left,

That field and woods at last agree

In an economy

Of widest worth.

High Heaven's Kingdom come on earth.

Imagine Paradise.

O Dust, arise!

- Wendell Berry (born 1934)

Saturday, March 20

2010-03-20T20:40:00.002-04:00

The Lord is My Pace-Setter

The Lord is my pace setter … I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals

He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity

He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind

and his guidance is peace

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day,

I will not fret, for his presence is here

His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance

He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity

by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility

My cup of joyous energy overflows

Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours

For I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord

and dwell in his house for ever.

- Japanese version of Psalm 23

Friday, March 19

2010-03-20T20:40:00.001-04:00

Reflection

I struggle with being still. I always have. Because it has been such a burden in my life I have had to perfect some ‘exercises’ that I do on a regular basis. It is due to these ‘exercises’ that I am able to attain some degree of stillness, peace and order in my life. Were it not for them my life, emotions and lack of balance would sometimes be unbearable. I know this is true because whenever I waver, whenever I forget and whenever I succumb to feeling self-sufficient, life in all its manifestations are quick to remind me. At those times I may feel like a hamster running on its exercise wheel, becoming exhausted and having nothing to show for my effort. I may see no way around a situation. I may become obsessed with all I have to do when measured against the energy and time with which to do it. Of course, demons work very well at night and that is often when I need to put into practice the affirmations of faith that I have committed to memory.

I would like to share some of them with you.

Here is a copy of ‘The Lord Is My Pace Setter’, a Japanese version of the 23^rd Psalm.

(See Saturday, March 20)

As a little girl my mother taught me a prayer that has been a mainstay in my life. It is:

The infinite love of God ever enfolds me bringing harmony, order and peace into my mind, body and affairs.

I have found that it covers everything I have ever worried about. Whether it is health, work, relationships, financial concerns or feelings of inferiority this prayer seems to hit the nail on the head for me. There have been many times that I substitute me/my and put in the name of a daughter, a friend, a relative, my husband, a grandchild, my job, my husband’s business or a world concern. It works with every apprehension I have ever encountered and it makes bearable the pain I experience when dealing with things I feel powerless to improve.

I also like words of wisdom, such as:

¨ Carefully choose what you nurse and rehearse.

¨ Magnify the problem—or magnify God. You can’t do both.

¨ The tiniest of coins, when held close to the eyes, can blot out the sun.

¨ Gratitude can change my attitude.

¨ Count your blessings—name them one by one.

¨ Sometimes we need to be in God’s PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.

¨ Use beads on a bracelet or necklace for counting blessings or for turning over worries—one by one.

¨ If Satan controls my thought life—he controls me.

¨ God can not mend a broken heart unless you give Him all the pieces.

To ponder and pray:

¨ When are you still?

¨ Name a time when you experienced the holy, the sacred, when you felt near to God.

¨ What are the enemies of stillness in your life?

Thursday, March 18

2010-03-20T20:37:00.002-04:00

Scripture for the Week: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:38-42

Reflection – Peter Romersa

In this parable Martha was becoming frustrated by her sister, Mary, as Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him rather than taking part in the laborious dinner preparations that were being planned for the evening.

Surely we have felt during certain moments of busyness and haste while working with family members, or coworkers that maybe one person was doing more work than other people may have been doing. Maybe you've been frustrated that other people surely were not “pulling their own weight.” Or maybe you have been on the receiving end of such criticism.

Jesus’ lesson is clear. We need to take time out, not just for ourselves, but also to spend time with Jesus himself. Jesus recognizes the power of Sabbath. When you spend time with yourself, deep in prayer, mediation, and renewal, you also spend time with Jesus, the source of continuous peace, renewal, and rejuvenation for ever and ever.

To ponder and pray:

¨ How did you feel about that word “Stop?”

¨ What happens for you when you do slow down, or when you’re forced to stop?

¨ How do you define “rest?” What is restful for you?

¨ What most disturbs your rest?

Wednesday, March 17

2010-03-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week:

For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

You sweep us away in the sleep of death;

they are like the new grass of the morning –

though in the morning it springs up new,

by evening it is dry and withered.

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Psalm 90:4-6, 12

Reflection –

Isaiah 26:3 inspiration:

I lay all my cares upon You.

I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.

And any time that I don’t know what to do

I will cast all my cares upon You.

When the door between a dark room and a brightly lit room is opened darkness does not flood the lit room.

In my daily journal I often record the prayer that God will take over my thoughts, actions and priorities. I pray that God will sit in my driver’s seat and maneuver the vehicle I call my life. I pray that He will be the brakes, the accelerator and my GPS. I pray for the humility to allow Him to control me, my journey, my day and my schedule. I pray that He will allow me only to see straight ahead, like a horse with blinders on, so that I will not become distracted or discouraged.

I am always amazed at the change in my outlook and the how the road in front of me seems to smooth out when I allow Him to be in charge. At the end of many days I am truly astounded at how He has enabled me. At those times I wonder what gets into me at other times when I think I can go it alone, know better than He and want or need to be in control.

I also keep another journal in which I jot down 3-5 things I feel grateful for at the moment. It may be as simple as NOT having any pain, having the energy to put one foot in front of the other or having the ability to bathe myself. When I review it I give praise and thanks to the One who provides. This has proven to be beneficial before going to bed at night.

These are just a few ideas and affirmations that may help others to be still and cultivate attentiveness.

Tuesday, March 16

2010-03-16T04:00:00.000-04:00

Sabbath Reflection

This is the Sabbath to-day. This is the day set apart by a benignant Creator for rest – for repose from the wearying toils of the week, and for calm and serious (Brown's dog has commenced to howl again – I wonder why Brown persists in keeping that dog chained up?) meditation upon those tremendous subjects pertaining to our future existence. How thankful we ought to be (There goes that rooster, now.) for this sweet respite; how fervently we ought to lift up our voice and (Confound that old hen – lays an egg every forty minutes, and then cackles until she lays the next one.) testify our gratitude. How sadly, how soothingly the music of that deep toned bell floats up from the distant church! How gratefully we murmur (Scat ! – that old gray tom-cat is always bully-ragging that other one –
got him down now, and digging the hair out of him by the handful.) thanksgiving for these Sabbath blessings. How lovely the day is! ("Buy a broom! buy a broom! ") How wild and beautiful the ("Golden Era 'n' Sund' Mercry, two for a bit apiece!") sun smites upon the tranquil ("Alta, Mon' Call, an' Merican Flag!") city! ("Po-ta-to-o-o-es, ten pounds for two bits – po-ta-to o-o-es, ten pounds for quart-va dollar!" )

- reprinted Mark Twain's San Francisco, edited by Bernard Taper
(McGraw Hill, 1963), pp. 199-200
Reflection –
Peter Romersa

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” In this commandment, God prescribes people work for six days out of the week, but on the seventh day God proscribes any work to be performed by anyone. This is a special day out of the week that is reserved for quiet time, and no work should be done at all. God, as the final authority, even gives the prohibition of work to slaves and animals that work on the farm.
This advice just as timely today as it was back when in ancient times, when the world was beginning to form. Today we live in a twenty-four hour news cycle virtual reality world.
We are constantly being bombarded with the latest scandals from Hollywood celebrities to
high-profile superstar athletes. We need one day to take a break from Twitter, Facebook, a
nd Gmail: the scandals can live to wait another day. We need to take a break from all this information, so we can recharge our spiritual batteries and we can start the world anew the next day and be ready for any challenge that faces us during the week ahead.

Monday, March 15

2010-03-15T20:52:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Week: Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. – Genesis 2:1-3
Reflection – Paula Hanson

When Kate first mentioned the idea of Sabbath keeping, I pretty much tuned out – it seemed to be one of those ideas that could work for others but not for me. Yes, I know there are people who keep the Sabbath, but “Sabbath keeping in Fairfield County” seems like an oxymoron. Take a day to rest every week? You’re kidding, right?

As I started to look at Sabbath keeping, though, I was impressed with the long tradition of people who have kept it. For the spiritual descendants of Abraham – Jews, Christians, Muslims – time flows in seven-day cycles, and there is always a day to rest and reflect and worship. The lives of these peoples have not been simple or easy, and yet many of them have kept the Sabbath. Sometimes they had to really fight for it, for example, when anti-Christian leaders tried to weaken religious traditions by abolishing the seven-day week during the French Revolution. But the people valued the Sabbath idea enough to resist that change.

Why did our ancestors think that Sabbath keeping was so wonderful? For them, the Sabbath was not meant to be a day of relaxing, really, but rather a day to spend time thinking, meditating, praying, and worshipping. So it was intended to be productive time that produced “results” – guidance, security, peace, hope and other gifts from God. And I think that God offers us these gifts, and this experience, even today. As with many elements of the Christian life, we just have to choose to say “yes” to it – to stop doing and start being – and then see where it can take us.

Sunday – March 14 – Lent IV (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-03-14T04:00:00.000-04:00

Holy as a Day is Spent

holy is the dish and drain

the soap and sink, and the cup and plate

and the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile

showerheads and good dry towels

and frying eggs sound like psalms

with bits of salt measured in my palm

it’s all a part of a sacrament

as holy as a day is spent

holy is the busy street

and cars that boom with passion’s beat

and the check out girl, counting change

and the hands that shook my hands today

and hymns of geese fly overhead

and spread their wings like their parents did

blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep

to chase some wild and elusive thing

holy is the familiar room

and quiet moments in the afternoon

and folding sheets like folding hands

to pray as only laundry can

i’m letting go of all my fear

like autumn leaves made of earth and air

for the summer came and the summer went

as holy as a day is spent

holy is the place i stand

to give whatever small good i can

and the empty page, and the open book

redemption everywhere i look

unknowingly we slow our pace

in the shade of unexpected grace

and with grateful smiles and sad lament

as holy as a day is spent

and morning light sings “providence”

as holy as a day is spent

—Carrie Newcomer

Saturday, March 13

2010-03-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

Suggestions for a Great Sabbath

A great cup of coffee, with hot milk, in a great big mug, to savor it.

¨Breakfast with your favorite breakfast foods – make it, and then eat it in bed!

¨A hot bath, with fragrant bath oil and a candle or two –

¨And your cup of morning coffee/afternoon tea/evening wine?

A facial massage – using fragrant oils or lotion; use your fingertips and start with your forehead and move out to the temples, repeat; down to the nose and out to the cheeks, repeat; around your mouth and chin and jaws, out to your ears and hairline – wherever t’s working! Finish by tapping your face lightly all over with your finger tips.

Read in bed, as long as you want to.

Write a real letter to a real friend on real stationery or a beautiful card.

Or write a letter to yourself, or write in your journal.

¨Treat yourself to a great book, or a movie, in the house or out.

¨Take a long, slow walk, and take the time to notice the trees and flowers, to hear the birds chattering to each other, to see what wonders God has made. Take the time to notice what’s going on in your own heart, too.

Prepare a wonderful meal for family or friends – if you like to cook;

¨If not, plan a wonderful meal out with family or friends!

(some suggestions taken from A Perfect Day, Ryland, Peters and Small)

What would you add to this list?

Friday, March 12

2010-03-12T04:00:00.000-05:00

Reflection – Kate Heichler

Life Unplugged - What Happens When We Stop?

Friday is my Sabbath – when, that is, I manage to honor the day that has been given to me.

It is a challenge to take a day of non-productivity in our society – so many things conspire to trip you up. The mad dash to get things done by the night before that can be exhausting.

And then there’s the question of what to do, and what not to do.

I find that loneliness can be a big obstacle to Sabbath-keeping. It is generally a good idea not to turn on a computer or check email on the Sabbath – it too quickly leads us into our work/ productivity mode. But for many of us computers are also how we keep in touch with our social networks, through email, Facebook, checking links, reading news online. As a person who is single, I feel quite attached to the connectivity I experience through my computer.

And yet, the laptop is also where I work. And I seem unable to read and respond to some emails, and not to others. So there are a few things I’m trying–

1. to set up some social activity for the day set aside as my Sabbath, so I know there will be some human connection, and not just feline. Then maybe I can forego checking email for a day.

2. to use the discomfort of feeling “disconnected “to allow some feelings to float up that my incessant connectedness can distract me from.

3. and then to let that discomfort lead me into prayer, to open myself to the one essential connection in my life that is eternal, and could be most life-giving.

That is part of the wisdom of Sabbath – like fields that lie fallow, like trees that take on nutrients for new growth during their season of wintry bareness, we need to disconnect a little and live with more space and time than we’re used to, in order to be receptive to the nutrients God has for us.

Once, during a prayer time, I sensed Jesus saying, “Come, every day. Let me water your roots every day.” That’s what can happen in the unpluggedness of Sabbath – we can allow our spirits to be replenished by the Living Water; our thirsty souls revived.

Thursday, March 11

2010-03-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

Scripture for the Week:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of

the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs

in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.

“You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day

honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own

way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."

The mouth of the LORD has spoken. - Isaiah 58:6-14

Reflection – Carol Rice
Sabbath time can be any time we intentionally embrace quietness and solitude.

We breathe.
We notice.
We savor.
We reflect.
We ponder.
We rest.
If we cultivate Sabbath time, we will be like a
"well watered garden." (Isaiah 58)
We will bloom.

Wednesday, March 10

2010-03-10T04:00:00.000-05:00

Scripture for the Week:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For God says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. - II Corinthians 5:17 – 6:2

Reflection – Sara Tierno

We often think of the Sabbath as a remedy for the constant pressure we feel in our modern society to be always at work, always doing something to better ourselves. It should be clear, though, that this need to “do,” to work on seemingly more important things, is as old as man itself. A very different group of people from us received the Sabbath Commandment thousands of years ago, in the middle of an inhospitable desert. There is no commandment to work; we push ourselves that way of our own free will. There is a commandment to rest, and it seems to me that it is as relevant today as it ever was. Setting some time aside for reflexion allows us to better steer the ship of our lives.

To ponder and pray:

What things in our own life are threatened and/or set free by the discipline of Sabbath?
How might we become agents of freedom for others through this discipline?

Tuesday, March 9

2010-03-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest; Lay down, O weary one, and lay your head upon my breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, so weary, worn and sad; I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad. - Hymn 692, v. 1 Words: Horatio Bonar, 1846

Reflection:
Kimberly Miller,
Observing the Sabbath
I can’t remember the last time I was totally conscious of the Sabbath as it is spoken in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, reminding us that we should keep the Sabbath Holy. I am mostly just
Semi-conscious. We have our six days to work and be productive but the seventh should be a day of worship, rest and contemplation. As God freed the slaves from Egypt with open arms he expects that we will honor him by keeping the Sabbath. I do remember as a kid that there were Blue laws and stores and businesses were closed on Sunday in my town. That was a long time ago and in many states those laws have been repealed and claimed unconstitutional. But I understand, we are a country based on freedom. We have been given free will (by God) so it is our choice alone, not imposed by any law. Is he (God) testing us?
My mother loved God. She sent us to Sunday school as kids because she wanted us to learn about the love of God and his son Jesus. Early on we went to church as a family and observed the Sabbath as I remember. Living in a resort town for most of my life the weekends were when most businesses made there money and I mostly always worked on Sundays until just a few years ago when I moved to Stamford. However; as I grow as an imperfect Christian I can see the need (for myself) to try to keep the words of the faith alive in our culture. It seems that in the race to (I’m not really sure where) be the richest, most powerful, smartest country in the world we have lost sight of some of the basic Christian principles that our great country was built on. That said, this Lent along with my fellows, I will venture to honor my commitment to being more faithful in pursuit of a stronger relationship with God and my fellows by keeping the Sabbath.
So to answer the question what happens when everything stops? I think more. I listen more. I laugh more. I talk more. I rest more. I pray more. I eat more. I spend more time with my family. Just maybe something in my spirit will connect to the rope that God has left dangling gently near me to lift me from the quicksand I never seem to see and always fall into. When I choose to really grab it and hang on for dear life, my hope is that I will experience a freedom that I only dreamed of, exists.

Monday, March 8

2010-03-08T04:00:00.000-05:00

What Happens When Everything Stops ? Sabbath, Justice and Peace…

Scripture for the Week:

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maid-servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
- Deuteronomy 5:12-15

“When we keep a Sabbath holy, we are practicing, for a day, the freedom that God intends for all people. We are practicing life outside the frantic pace set by financial markets and round-the-clock shopping and entertainment venues. We are practicing independence from the forces of injustice. We are trying on a new way of life as we begin to allow our weeks to be changed in response to God’s promises. We are practicing – pun intended. Like a novice learning to play a musical instrument, we may be off-key at times. It may be years before we are in harmony, and we will never get it perfect. But that need not stop us. Besides, stopping is less a problem than getting started.”

- Dorothy C. Bass

Receiving the Day, p. 63

Sunday – March 7 – Lent III (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-03-07T04:00:00.000-05:00

Receive this poem as a poem –

or set it to the tune of Hymn 655 (O Jesus, I have promised) and let it sing to you:

Unless This Day Be Holy

Unless this day be holy

all days shall blur to one,

as orderly but empty

they march from sun to sun.

But if we keep the Sabbath

through prayer and rest and praise,

we’ll find the sacred meaning

of all our working days.

Our Sabbath, like the lightning

that lifts the curtained night,

shall cast before us shining

what darkness hides from sight:

the wonder and the glory

we dimly sense and feel,

the circling sacred presence

our busy lives conceal.

O let this day be holy

and rich in strength and peace,

and when the day is over

its meaning shall increase,

as day by day we labor

to shape our work and art

to fit the holy visions

that thunder in our heart.

- Thomas H. Troeger, alt by poet 2006

From Borrowed Light

© 1996 Oxford University Press

Saturday, March 6

2010-03-06T15:14:00.002-05:00

Scripture for the Week: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. -2 Peter 3:8-9

Reflection – Peter Romersa:

A Day with the Lord is like a Thousand Years. And a Thousand Years are like a Day!!!

This gives a great deal of perspective to the nature of time. We need to be patient and give ourselves permission to take the time off that we need to become refreshed, renewed, and spiritually recharged. Things on our never-ending "to-do list" such as doing the laundry, paying bills, reading email, and reading stacks of piled-up newspapers can wait another day.
After all, one day with the Lord is like a Thousand Days. There will be another day to tackle all those mundane tasks we make for ourselves to negotiate the world.

To ponder and pray:
¨What activities do you feel you should cease from – one day or week, or longer?

What fears or concerns arise when you think about ceasing that activity?

¨What benefits might you receive?

Friday, March 5

2010-03-05T04:00:00.000-05:00

Reflection

I am a Sabbath-keeper drop out.

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a book about Sabbath on the new book shelf at the Turn of River Library. I had never considered keeping a Sabbath but I checked out the book and read it anyway.

The book made sense to me both psychologically and spiritually. Who doesn’t need rest and renewal? Who couldn’t use more time turned toward God?

I resolved to try to keep Sabbath on Sundays. But first I had to define what that would mean for me. The author of the library book suggested an incremental approach to getting started. That seemed like the only possible way for me to start. I determined first of all that I would not engage in any commercial or financial activities on Sundays. No more grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon. Not even stopping for a quart of milk on the way home from church. No sessions of paying bills and balancing the checkbook. I would even write the check for my pledge on Saturday evening. Then I added laundry to my prohibited activities. For years at our house the dryer had buzzed signaling that a load of clothes was dry just as we were sitting down to Sunday dinner. No more. Then I added obsessively checking news websites. This is something that I should seriously give up every day – I thought I could manage it one day a week.

The giving things up turned out to be easier than finding things to do on my Sabbath. I went to church, of course. In the afternoon I read – sometimes even spiritual or religious books. I wrote in my journal. And I napped. Time dragged. I was not rested or refreshed. My spirit was dulled and I was not turned toward God. Somewhat paradoxically, I found that I needed a Sabbath project and a plan for what I would do when I was doing nothing. Gradually, keeping Sabbath slipped away. A distaste for shopping or paying bills on Sunday lingers. And whenever I can manage it, laundry is done on other days. The dryer buzzer no longer disturbs our Sunday dinner. Checking news websites? Well, Sunday is a slow news day and there’s not much point, is there?

Lent seems like a good time to try Sabbath keeping again. This time, however, I know that I need to think about what I will do on my Sabbath as much as I think about what I will not do.

Thursday, March 4

2010-03-04T04:00:00.000-05:00

Reflection – Georgette Scott

Fear, guilt and stress – in my opinion the three predominant forces dictating our behavior in today’s society. We fear for our jobs, our safety, our families, our finances, our future. We feel guilty we don’t have more time to be better parents, better care-givers to our own aging parents, better workers, better friends. We are all so over-burdened with tasks and responsibilities we stress over what we should do with the time we do have, then stress over how we might get to the things that didn’t make the “A” list. Most of us don’t eat right, don’t sleep right, and don’t treat ourselves (body, mind, and soul) right. But solace is found in the fact that just about everyone we know is in the same boat. It’s just how life is in the 21^st century.

I believe honoring the Sabbath is the way up and out of this downward spiral. God emphatically established a Sabbath by including it in the commandments given Moses. It mirrored the seventh day of creation when God himself rested after all he had done creating the universe.

It was not to be simply a “day off” for us, it was to be honored, hallowed, and considered holy. No work was to done by you, your servants, the guests in your gates. In other words, it was to be taken quite seriously. Your mind, body, and soul were to be quiet, at rest, so you could commune with your creator and the universe around you.

On the other hand, Jesus made it clear that we should not go to the other extreme and deify the Sabbath either. This means that there are sometimes circumstances that intrude on keeping the Sabbath. My Mom and sister are both nurses, working on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, is necessary and understandable for them. Many other professions require Sunday work. I’m quite confident these workers are not incurring the wrath of God. So what about the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy? Is it simply out-dated ?

I believe we have been asked in no uncertain terms to carve out a day (at the very least, most of one) to put aside the work, the tasks, the responsibilities that consume our lives. But how do we do that today without fear there will be serious repercussions for such “idleness,” without guilt over all the things that we “should” be doing, without stressing over the fact we won’t get this time back and may simply be digging ourself a deeper hole? We do that by celebrating the Sabbath with FAITH.

Faith that God really knows what is best for you, for mankind; his creation. Faith that what he said back then is still to be honored today. Faith that he is truly omnipotent and would not tell us to do something (weekly!) that would harm us, our lives, in any way. Faith that we need quiet times, so we can hear Him speak to our hearts to better understand the paths He wants us to take. Faith will help you keep a Sabbath; and, trust me, a Sabbath will keep you sane and serene.

Wednesday, March 3

2010-03-03T04:00:00.000-05:00

Scripture for the Week:

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. - Matthew 12:1-10

To ponder and pray:

¨ Why is Sabbath such a threat to the order of things in Jesus’ time?

¨ Why and how might it be a threat to the order of our own society?

¨ Are there areas in your life in which you feel enslaved to something? To what?

Tuesday, March 2

2010-03-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

Reflection – Ralph Nazareth

Palestinian men, fatigue and anxiety in their faces, waited at the checkpoint to return to their families in Bethlehem. I couldn’t help but squirm with discomfort at the ease with which the magic of my American passport had helped me sail through. Weighed down by this experience of terrible disparity, I struck up a conversation with a Franciscan monk on the bus back to Jerusalem.

He and his two young companions had spent the day in the trauma wing of the Catholic Relief Services Hospital in Bethlehem with children who, terrorized by constant violence and war, had become deaf and mute. I asked them about the “situation” in the occupied territories, my obsessive concern. Their sensitive faces reflected deep pain and understanding. They were at a loss for words. It seemed as if they’d rather be silent.

“But is there no political solution?” I asked again. “That cannot be our main concern,” the monk said to me gently but with conviction. “All we’re called to do is to be with these people, just be with them.”

My Jewish hosts were getting ready for Sabbath. The spirit of quiet descending on the house and on the whole neighborhood was palpable. Everywhere the ordinary was being surrendered, as it were, into the hands of God. The parting words of the young monk were still with me. “Just be with them, just be.”

My ceaselessly agitated political self was being invited to become still, to enter the silence of the children in the trauma wing, to open myself to the silence of God.

To ponder and pray:

¨ What activities do you often not “get to” during the week that you’d like to?

¨ What kind of preparation might enable you to have room for them on your Sabbath?

¨ How does it feel to buck the tide of our society?

¨ What does your perfect Sabbath look like?

Write a Sabbath plan in your prayer journal.

Monday – March 1

2010-03-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

Scripture for the Week:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. - Exodus 20:8-11

One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word kadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?

It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word kadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.

This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place – a holy mountain or a holy spring – whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sunday – February 28 – Lent II (The First Day… and the Eighth)

2010-02-28T04:00:00.000-05:00

To ponder and pray:

¨ What’s the difference between seizing the day and receiving the day?

¨ Can we trust that God has given us enough time?

Try reading Exodus 16:4-31, with time substituted for manna.

Exodus 16:4-31 – Adapted

Then the Lord said to Moses, I am going to rain hours, time from heaven for you, and each day the people shall rise up and have time enough for that day…

On the sixth day, when they gather up time, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, who has heard your complaining about lack of time…’”

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “At twilight you shall eat with plenty of time, and in the morning you shall have your fill of time stretching out before you; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” In the evening time came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of time upon the camp. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” Moses said to them, “It is the time that the Lord has given you. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take as much time as you need for the day.’”

Those who had too much time on their hands measured it in hours and had nothing left over., and those who had little time discovered they had no shortage, they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of the time over till morning.” But they did not listen to Moses; some used up the hours of the night until morning, and the time became to them foul; for they were tired and irritable. The house of Israel called it “time”; it was a new gift every day.

Taken from study guide for Receiving the Day, by Dorothy C. Bass.

Saturday – February 27

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“Speed is God, and time is the Devil.”[1]

“One day, when I timed an annoying [computer] delay and found that it constituted all of ten seconds, I had what I would call a ‘monk moment,’ a quick slap that told me Pay attention, watch yourself. I had let technology and its attendant idol, efficiency, make a fool of me.”[2]

To ponder and pray:

Take the “Speed Questionnaire” in the back of this booklet … how do you score?

Reflection

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day...

We are not finished with our work on the seventh day. Monday follows Sunday every single week. We are not finished with our work in seven weeks, or seven months, or seven years. By the time we get to seventy years we may have retired or may be thinking about retiring.

Of course God could rest on the seventh day. Doesn’t Genesis say that He had finished with his work? But had he? Our collect for the second Sunday after Christmas begins, “O God, who did wonderfully create, and yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature.” The work that He did on the sixth day, creating his troublesome creature, mankind, ensured that God’s work is never done either. He is constantly, everlastingly restoring us to the relationship that he created us to have with him.

[1] David Hancock, chief, Hitachi Corp portable computer division;

quoted in Addicted to Hurry Spiritual Strategies for Slowing Down, Kirk Byron Jones, p. 1)

[2] Kathleen Norris (quoted in Addicted to Hurry p. 1)

Friday – February 26

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Scripture for the Week:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. - Mark 6:30-32

Reflection – Eleanor Christensen

Saying no has always been hard for me. I know people who don’t have this problem, who know how to set boundaries and priorities, who can gracefully say no without offending; but I am still a learner. I usually have a guilty conscience when I refuse to help out, so I am an easy touch.

Fill in for an absent teacher at school, even when I have a huge load of things to accomplish? Sure. Give a student extra tutoring outside of school? If he needs it. Serve on the Admissions Committee, which meets several days a week after school? Of course. Then there are get-togethers with friends…..church activities…… All of these are good things, right? But the downside of always trying to participate and be helpful is that I get overtired and have headaches, and when I take on too many things I can’t enjoy the activities or do them as well as I would like.

So the idea of keeping the Sabbath every week in Lent sounds like a good goal for me.

Six days to meet all of my obligations and run all of my errands, and one day a week for stepping back and resting, recharging my batteries by doing simple, enjoyable things like walking, reading for pleasure, keeping a journal, taking time to reflect and be thankful. What sweeter invitation could there be than Jesus’ invitation to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” I will do my best to accept.

Thursday – February 25

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The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

- R. S. Thomas, Welsh Poet and Priest

To ponder and pray:

¨ What fields in your life are fallow at the moment? By choice or not?

¨ What fields in your life are worn out and in need of Sabbath rest?

Wednesday – February 24

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Scripture for the Week:

For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.

Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed. – Exodus 23:10-12

Reflection – Mark Lingle

Sabbath and the Land

The north forty just outside of our house in northern Minnesota teemed with crops from summer to summer. Corn, oats, barley, and alfalfa respectively filled the barbed-wire-fenced-in forty. Early in the season the rolling plot of land looked like a sea of green, blades breaking through soil seeking the sun’s light. Come September, the grains created an amber wave over the field, and come October, the field became a veritable Halloween patch of tassled and curled corn stalks.
Every year something sprouted from the rich loam soil and grew before our very eyes. Every year, that is, except for the seventh year. That year the field would lie fallow. Rest. Stop producing. The land would put its feet up, as it were, and kick back for a summer of nothing-to-do-but-just-lie-there. Nothing happened. Nothing.
But we also know that Everything happened. Everything.
Because the next year, the field would put forth a bunker crop, rested and enriched as it was.
The author of Exodus 23:10-12 was millennia ahead of her time. She understood the need for rest, and not just humans resting. All of creation was to rest at some point (in Exodus, the counsel was the Sabbath year, the seventh year). Farmers have long since taken this counsel to heart. Hard-working and hearty as they may be, they recognize the importance of rest and will gladly give it to the land before they take it for themselves. To live this close to the land, to recognize the fragility of the earth, to see the salutary salutation in slowing down—in stopping, offers a tiny window into the heart of our being.
Sabbath, you see, is not counsel for getting ahead or completing the various habits of highly effective people. Sabbath is grace. For when we stop, we recognize all that exists outside of our control, we see how vast is the universe and the inter-connections that create and sustain life, and we pause long enough to glimpse how good it feels not to have to do anything. And that is the heart of grace: everything is already done. All the lists, all the agendas, all the planning, all the mental gymnastics to make everything “fit” ultimately are second order activities. The first order activity—God engaging the world in love—is the primary order. In the grace of Sabbath, the fields of heart and our mind and our spirit are rested and enriched, and we, hopefully, develop a practice that prepares us for the fullness of grace to be expressed in life. Indeed, Sabbath is practice for the rest we will one day share with—and in—the north forty.

Tuesday – February 23

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Scripture for the Week:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones

and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Reflection – Bridget Bilgrei

“Time is my enemy.” My brother-in-law once said this during one of those conversations we’ve all had about having too much to do and too little time in which to do it. It’s a phrase that often pops into my mind when I’m feeling overwhelmed and unproductive. Time keeps passing whether I’m getting things done or not. Now we are being encouraged to think of time as a gift.

Time is a gift for us to receive, but it is also a gift that we should give. It’s what our friends and families want most from us. It is what we tend to regret the most when someone passes away, that we didn’t give them enough of our time. I’m making a conscious effort these days to spend more time with my children. I’m with them all the time when they’re not at school, but we often spend our time doing our own things. But they absolutely love it when we all play board games or do an art project together. Today they were thrilled when both my husband and I played in the snow with them. It was such a simple thing, but it made us all so happy. Time spent with my kids is not just a gift to them, but a gift to me as well. Time is no longer my enemy, it is my gift.

To ponder and pray:

¨ When does it feel like time is your adversary?

¨ When does it feel like time is your friend… or when does time stop for you?

Monday – February 22: Breathing Exercise for Lent – Mark Lingle

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Today, let’s just start with breathing…

Take a long, deep breath in. . . And breathe in peace.

Allow a long breath out. . . And breathe out stress and anxiety.

Breathe. . .and come into the fuller presence of God.

Best when done at least 10 times...

Or a Lenten practice can be to increase your breaths throughout the season.

Come into the Quiet, a hymn by Diane Davis Andrew, 2001

Come into the quiet, be one with God's breath,

Rest in this waiting place, peace will be there.

Rest, rest, peace will be there.

Repeat, substituting other words like love, truth, hope, for “peace will be there.”

What other words come to you as you sing?

Sunday – February 21 – Lent I (The First Day… and the Eighth)

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Our Sundays during this Lenten journey are going to be light (in keeping with the theme of Sabbath). Just a poem or a hymn to contemplate and enjoy. Today's hymn is an invitation to "turn, turn" till by "turning, turning we come round right." That is in fact the invitation of Lent - to turn back to God in fullness of heart, till by turning, turning we come round right.

Simple Gifts, by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr.

'Tis the gift to be simple,

'tis the gift to be free,

'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.

To turn, turn will be our delight,

'Til by turning, turning we come round right

Are You Addicted to Speed? What is your “Pace Quotient?”

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1. You are behind a driver who has not noticed that the light has turned green.

How do you respond?

Give the person a moment to notice the light has changed.
Blow your horn immediately.
Blow your horn and express your irritation verbally.

2. You are in a slow-moving grocery line with time to spare. How are you most likely to do?

Engage in a conversation with someone else.
Look repeatedly at the person at the register to see how fast things are going.
Become irritated.

3. In conversing with others, how often do you interrupt them in mid-sentence?

Not very often.
Some of the time.
Very often.

4. How much time during the day do you devote to prayer, pondering, mediation, and/or just taking it easy?

At least an hour.
At least half an hour.
Less than half an hour.

5. Someone/thing has interrupted your planned activity.

Select the word that best describes your feeling.

Interested.
Disturbed.
Aggravated.

6. Which word best characterizes your mood at the beginning of an average day.

Select the word that best describes your feeling.

Excited.
Burdened.
Depressed.

7. Which word best characterizes your mood at the end of an average day.

Select the word that best describes your feeling.

Contented.
Fatigued.
Stressed.

8. When you see a rainbow, how long does it hold your attention.

Many minutes.
Several seconds.
Just a second.

9. When was the last time you paid serious attention to a child.

Today.
Within the past few days.
I can’t remember.

10. How often do you feel joy in your work?

Frequently.
Often enough.
Are you kidding?

11. How often do you hurry one activity to get to the next activity.

Not often.
Regularly.
All the time.

12. How often do you move fast when there is no reason to?

Never.
Sometimes.
I confess, I have rushed through this test.

A. Review your responses.

B. Which responses do you wish were different?

C. Think of other questions that you will help you gauge your present living speed.

D. Note the behaviors identified in each question. Develop one or two modifications in your behavior that will contribute to your being able to check off (a) more responses the next time you take the test, a month or two from now.

Questionnaire taken from "Addicted to Hurry: Spiritual Strategies for Slowing Down," byKirk Byron Jones (2003, Judson Press, Valley Forge, PA)

HOW DO WE DESIGN A SABBATH?

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The Lenten reflections are going to formally begin on the first Sunday of Lent, February 21st... stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some thoughts about how to design a sabbath from Kate Heichler:

If you’re going to take this Lenten leap of faith, here are some things to consider as you design the Sabbath that works for you. There is much freedom; the only thing we strongly recommend you hold to is a 24-hour period. You can’t do Sabbath in 4 or 6-hour chunks. It takes us at least 12 to come to resting. Take the day!

Choose the Day of the Week

Sunday is the traditional Sabbath for Christians, because it is the day for communal worship, but you can choose any day that:

You don’t go to work
You don’t have to do chores beyond the basics
You can spend time with friends or family, OR,
You can spend time alone, if you crave solitude

Choose What Activities You will Avoid

The overall “rule” for Sabbath is to rest from being productive.

So plan to avoid:

Anything related to your paying work – that may mean you don’t check e-mail or voicemail on your Sabbath
Anything that is on your “to-do” list
Anything that is productive or achievement-oriented – this is a day to rest in who you are, not in what you can do
House chores that can be done the day before or the day after. Obviously, children and pets must be fed! But keep it simple.
Errands or highly commercialized activities

Choose What Activities You Will Embrace

Choose activities that are restful and life-giving to you:

Reading
Prayer or worship
Taking a walk or exercise (if it’s not on your to-do list!)
Cooking a meal for friends – if you enjoy cooking! If you choose that as a Sabbath activity, take time to enjoy it, to smell the spices and delight in the colors, to stir love into the pot.

That’s the main thing: choose things that give you life, and don’t over-structure your Sabbath.

What About the Kids?

If you want to keep Sabbath as a family, there are wonderful ways to introduce it to your children. You might try the Jewish tradition of lighting candles and a festive meal at sundown the night before your chosen Sabbath day. Some families keep a “Sabbath candle” burning all through their Sabbath day (except when they’re asleep, of course) as a reminder to the household that this is a different day than normal.

If your children are small, part of your Sabbath should be enjoying their company and giving them a break from “to-do’s.” Just play on this day – clean up the toys the next. If your children are older, talk with them about what it means to be loved just for who you are, not how well you do things – find Sabbath activities that appeal to them.

If your children are not interested in this project, don’t push them. You need to try this discipline on for yourself first. Design a Sabbath that is as restful for you as possible, factoring in time with the kids, and see what happens once it becomes a habit.

What About Your Spouse?

One question you will face right away is whether or not you and your partner will take a Sabbath together, and plan it together, or whether you will take separate Sabbaths because your work schedule or the children’s needs don’t mesh. If your partner is not interested in trying the Sabbath on, plan a day when you can be as free from family distraction as possible – and ask your family to support you in this discipline.

What if You’re Retired?

Many people seem to get busier when they retire – so setting aside a day that is less structured, more restful, more worshipful, is just as important for retired folks. Plan activities that are out of your usual routine – perhaps a long lunch with a close friend, or a longer time of prayer and Bible study.

Sabbath is an invitation for you to notice where and how God is at work in your life. Take the time to be attentive.

An Invitation

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Welcome to the season of Lent, 40 days, give or take a few Sunday “feast” days.

These 40 days can be just like the 40 that came before, and the 40 that will follow...

or we can experience them differently. We can take the invitation to go into the wilderness where the elements are more intense, the familiar is stripped away, where we are confronted by our truer selves: our fears and longings, our hurts and petty dislikes – and by the strengths we forgot we possessed: resilience, courage, compassion, a wondering eye, an unexpected faith, a capacity for love.

This year our reflections focus on the spiritual practice of Sabbath-keeping. If you’re so inclined, we invite you try out this discipline of being unproductive one day out of seven. Counter-intuitive, counter-cultural, yes… but it works when we give ourselves over to it.

And if we manage to live into that invitation to step off the treadmills of our lives for one day a week, most of us will experience some Lenten “desert” time in new ways. You don’t have to leave home to go to the desert… sometimes you just have to unplug and open yourself to the silence and the feelings that come up when we’re not distracted 24/7.

And so we invite you to walk into wilderness this Lent. You will take this journey alone – and in the company of wonderful walking companions, some of whom you’ll know well, and others not at all. There will be times of silence, and times of conversation (a blog page is being set up for those who will enjoy discussing the day’s reflection). Some days you’ll wish you never came, and others you may wish that this journey never end.

Our hope is that you will be regular and intentional in taking on this discipline each day.

Start with five minutes (set a timer…) and maybe increase the time as Lent goes on.

We suggest you keep a notebook with this booklet, and write down insights or questions that come to you as you spend this quiet time each day. If the reflection leads you into prayer,

go with it. If God says something in your prayer, write it down.

In the Bible, the wilderness is always a place where people think they are lost, and come to find God present. It is our prayer that you will find God present in ever new and deeper ways as we walk this Lent together.

Your companions in the Way,

The Rev. Mark Lingle, St. Francis Church

The Rev. Kate Heichler, Church of Christ the Healer

Ash Wednesday – February 17

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Reflection – Kate Heichler

God says we can do it all in six days. Could God be right?

Ash Wednesday is traditionally a day of penitence. This year, I invite us to consider one sin that is at the heart of many others: Being too busy for God.

How many times when you ask, “How are you?” do you hear this: “I’m okay, but I’m just so busy. I’m doing too much.” I say this a lot. God has an answer to that: STOP! This Lent, you are invited to take on an unusual spiritual practice: Keeping a Sabbath day each week. That’s right. Each week, one whole day.

Sabbath-keeping is both an invitation and a command – an invitation most of us refuse, a command most of us ignore. I came to realize that my refusal to accept God’s invitation of rest lays bare the root of sin in me:

Greed – trying to get more than I need, whether it’s money, stuff or accomplishments;

Pride – believing I can do it all.

Lack of trust – believing I have to do it all, that God will not take care of what is needed.

Control – believing I’m in charge of my time on this earth.

God says differently. God says are days are like grass – flourishing one day, gone the next. That our days are in his hand. This day reminds us that in the end we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Our days belong to God, and God has ideas about how we should order our time.

God says: “Your time is mine to give and mine to take away. And of every week I give you, I want you to rest one day out of seven. Why? Because it’s good for you. Because it allows us to refresh our connection. Because it’s a radical act of trust that I will provide for you.”

The Sabbath comes from the very beginning of creation, and it is both a command and a gift from a loving God who knows best how God’s creatures thrive. Sabbath keeping teaches our children about life in balance. Keeping one day set apart, holy, sanctifies the whole week.

We don’t thrive on 24/7 frantic busy-ness, and yet that is how most of us live. We work and hustle and bustle, and maybe crash in front of the television and numb ourselves at the end of the day, but we don’t take the time we want for rest, for recharging, for nurturing relationships, for attentiveness, for just being. Sabbath is about Being, not Doing, and this Lent, I invite you to try that on like a new suit.

Is this a crazy idea? Absolutely. But if we do this together, we have a shot at making a change. Sabbath keeping is a radical response to a world in which time seems to enslave us.

To keep Sabbath is to hand control of our time and our lives back to God, to be ordered

in a way that is good and life-giving for us. Can we risk this for six weeks?

Scripture for the Day:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

Lent 2010 - Keeping the Sabbath

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Christ the Healer and St. Francis Church are joining together again this year to to put out a Lenten booklet collecting the spiritual reflections of our members, and the daily reflections will be published to this blog, for your review and comments. We hope this will be a daily spiritual resource. Our theme for Lent this year will be Sabbath-Keeping - which brings up all kinds of issues of rest, recreation, faith, control, obedience, freedom, justice, self-worth, balance... Try this on for size:

"When we keep a Sabbath holy, we are practicing, for a day, the freedom that God intends for all people. We are practicing life outside the frantic pace set by financial markets and round-the-clock shopping and entertainment venues. We are practicing independence from the forces of injustice. We are trying on a new way of life as we begin to allow our weeks to be changed in response to God's promises. We are practicing - pun intended. Like a novice learning to play a musical instrument, we may be off-key at times. It may be years before we are in harmony, and we will never get it perfect. But that need not stop us. Besides, stopping is less a problem than getting started." (Dorothy Bass, Receiving the Day)

We will have a focus for each of the weeks in Lent:

Week 1: Slowing Down - Recovering Time as a Gift
Week 2: What Happens When Everything Stops?
Week 3: God, Sabbath and the Bible
Week 4: Doing/Being;Giving/Receiving (Sabbath Obstacles)
Week 5: Being Still: Cultivating Attentiveness
Holy Week: Lectionary readings for each day

Stay tuned for our daily posts, and please offer your own reflections and comments!

The Gospel of Mark, 16:1-8

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When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But He said to them, "Do not be alarmed: you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'" So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Holy Saturday, April 11

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Scripture for the Day:

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. – John 19:38-42

At Black River

All day

  its dark, slick bronze soaks

    in a mossy place,

       its teeth,

a multitude

set

    for the comedy

      that never comes--

its tail

  knobbed and shiny,

    and with a heavy-weight's punch

      packed around the bone.

In beautiful Florida

  he is king

    of his own part

      of the black river,

and from his nap

  he will wake

    into the warm darkness

      to boom, and thrust forward,

paralyzing

  the swift, thin-waisted fish

    or the bird

      in its frilled, white gown,

that has dipped down

  from the heaven of leaves

    one last time

      to drink.

Don't think

  I'm not afraid.

    There is such an unleashing

       of horror.

Then I remember:

  death comes before

    the rolling away

      of the stone.

Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early

Beacon Press, 2004

Good Friday, April 10

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Scripture for the Day:

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” – John 12:27-35

Reflection – Ralph Nazareth

“Now, don’t you fall asleep with Peter and James and John,” I hear my mother whispering to me. And I’m back there again in that world of shadows.

The hour is late, Jesus sweats blood, pleading with his Father to let the cup of sorrow pass over him, and I am in the pathetic huddle of men, overcome by sleep. This vivid and troubling memory is for me inseparable from the persistence of guilt in my life.

Yet, I’m drawn, although with deep trepidation, by this very same sense of failure, to the Gethsemane of the Synoptics more readily than to the scene outside the temple in Jerusalem that John describes in the reading for the day. The passion and desolation of Jesus in the former penetrate me to the core and vivify me in a way that the apparent triumphalism of the latter does not. Do I then refuse to be counted among the “children of light” if I stay with the man who says, “Now my soul is troubled…”? And know that the only true rising is at the zero hour when he is “lifted up from the earth” on Golgotha?

Maundy Thursday, April 9

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Scripture for the Day:

Reflection – Kate Heichler

Why is this night different from all other nights? I don’t know if that question was part of the Passover observance in Jesus’ time, but Jesus’ disciples could not have imagined how different this night would be from all other nights that ever had been or ever would be.

Maundy Thursday is for me the most sacred night of all the sacred nights. It is a threshold from regular chronos time into God’s kairos time, a night when the membrane separating heaven and earth becomes wafer-thin. We gather and celebrate and commemorate a meal at which everything became subverted, no expectation met unchanged. Jesus takes the familiar prayers of blessing and distorts them with shocking words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He takes a ritual of hospitality with which a host would normally greet guests and enacts it after the food, lowering himself to wash his disciples’ feet, an act of intimacy and humility that challenges our self-sufficiency as much as it did theirs. And after supper he goes into the night to accept the most intimate of humiliations, not fighting, but subverting human pretensions of control with love and truth.

And so we eat and wash and bless and pray, and walk together into the three-day dream sequence we relive every year, in which God and humanity meet on a cross of brutality,

in which heaven and earth come crashing together and the whole mortal order of things is overturned, once and for all. Death swallowed up by life. Here it begins, our sacred mystery. Stay awake. Watch and pray.

To ponder and pray: Will you accept the gift and discomfort of allowing someone else to wash your feet tonight? Someone who stands in for Jesus? If not, in your prayer today tell Jesus why you won’t allow him that privilege. How does He answer you? If yes, invite Him to open your heart to God’s transforming life in the encounter.

Wednesday in Holy Week, April 8

2009-04-08T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” – John 12:20-26

What hard travail God does in death!

He strives in sleep, in our despair,

And all flesh shudders underneath

The nightmare of His sepulcher;

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;

All night the cold wind heaves and pries;

Creation strains sinew and bone

Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bent, pent in seed, grows straight

And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising

The merely dead, graves fill with light

Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

- Wendell Berry, Sabbaths North Point Press, 1987

Tuesday in Holy Week, April 7

2009-04-07T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus. – John 12:1-11

Reflection – Niall McMorrow

Imperfect by design. Unconditionally loved. Perfection.

inspired by: Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers, by the editors of Smith Magazine.

Monday in Holy Week, April 6

2009-04-06T04:00:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.” – John 13:21-32

Reflection –

Jesus is being betrayed by one of His own disciples and then He tells them to love one another as He has loved them. What are the disciples to think? He will be leaving them and they will be left on their own to carry out His mission. Will their faith in His teachings carry them along?

As a high school teenager I was faced with my own question of faith in God. Along came a friend carrying our Jesus’ command to love one another. She wrote the following poem for me when we were counselors at a church summer camp:

Dear child, lift thy burdened thought,
And listen to the Word,
Let not the voice of shattered faith,
Within your heart be heard.

Bind up the wounds of sadness,
Caress the hands of care,
And know that in your trouble,
God’s love is everywhere.

Watch as the fading darkness,
Gives way to heaven’s light,
Lift up your head in gladness,
To worship in delight.

Sweet child of God, be not afraid,
Doubt not the power of love,
Fling wide your arms to happiness,
Seek comfort from above.

And as the clouds are breaking,
To let the sunbeams thru,
Smile up at God and thank Him,
For always guiding you.

Saturday, April 4

2009-04-04T01:00:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Many of the Jewish leaders therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. – John 11:45-53

Reflection – Diane Riffelmacher

After being away from my church for 39 years, and finding myself alone due to the death of my husband, I found that I was missing something in my life, so I decided to reconnect with my religion. I have found it very rewarding and fulfilling meeting new friends with a common goal of growing the church and doing good works for those less fortunate. I now know that I made the right decision. Needless to say, my spiritual life has been awakened, revisited and restored. It has brought me so much solace, tranquility and happiness.

Friday, April 3

2009-04-03T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: The Jewish leaders took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. – John 10:31-39

Reflection – Patsy Whitman

I have shown you many good works from GOD … can you say that the one whom GOD has sanctified …“I am God’s Son” If I am not doing the works of GOD, then do not believe me … so that you may know and understand that GOD is in me and I am in GOD …

Please note that I have changed the word “father” to GOD … he/she is in each of us

But as I write this I find it difficult to understand our GOD who took from us two wonderful people who were so vital to their families, their friends, and their communities. The saving grace was that they were killed instantly and were spared a life of devastating injuries if they had remained alive.

As a small child on a visit from Dallas to Manhattan with my mother & father we went to hear preach Dr Norman Vincent Peale the author of a book that my mother dearly loved called The Power of Positive Thinking. Because of that ancient visit I was compelled to read an article in the Times on Feb 2 about the retirement after 24 years from Marble Collegiate Church of Dr Peale’s successor, Rev Dr Arthur Caliandro. Dr Caliandro “navigated the waters of the post- Peale era.” Among his many accomplishments he made a meeting space for the gay members of the church and put women on the church board for the first time. “Really what it is all about is Love”

The essence of Christianity is Love.

This would have made my mother very happy … she would have smiled.

Thursday, April 2

2009-04-02T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The Jewish leaders said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. – John 8:51-59

Reflection – Ed Tucker

The best way to live is to be honest and open. Rather than keeping to yourself, be outgoing, smiley and helpful. Greet people and be the first to open a conversation with anyone you come in contact with at work, at the gym, and on the street. Be interested in how people are, and what they are thinking about on any subject. If people are having a bad day, listen to what is going on and be supportive. Never be involved in gossip. If someone seems angry with you, listen to what they say, try to explain yourself, and move on. It is amazing how well this approach to life works.

Wednesday, April 1

2009-04-01T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’ They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. – John 8:31-42

Reflection – Mark Ledermann

And we ask: Where is true life found?

Jesus challenges us: Within the truth.

The truth? Where is truth found? Is it found within us? What we have learned, what our traditions have given us? What we have been able to grab a hold of to make sense of life?

Is that life-giving truth?

And we hear in our own fears and uncertainties, and see in the world’s strife, that truth grounded in us is a dead-end. An empty place.

And along comes Jesus who offers us more. And we struggle. And bargain. And insist that the truth we know is the truth to be known. Because to move from even a dead-end truth is hard.

And Jesus persists. He does not give us up: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Jesus reaches out to us as the rescuing truth open to all.

For everyone. Everywhere.

The Word made flesh.

A life-giving place.

Tuesday, March 31

2009-03-31T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ Then the Jewish leaders said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him. – John 8:21-30

Reflection – Madeleine Cheslow

For me Lent is a time for reflection. It is a good time to practice true humility, true modesty and being less materialistic. In my childhood, I remember we did not eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, things I still practice. On the one hand, I do not know if it means something, i.e. like a little sacrifice (privation), on the other hand, I guess I will feel guilty If I don't. If by any chance, I eat meat, on those days, without realizing and being conscious of it, I just say to God, I forgot and ask for forgiveness. In fact, in these instances, I do not feel too guilty because I know the Lord is always ready to forgive and understands that the human being is more inclined to sin.

Monday, March 30

2009-03-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

[Then each of them went home,]while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ - John 8:1-11

Reflection – Brandon and Janice Reyes

Over the past year our life has been full of little else but laying the foundation for our brand new family. We feel incredibly blessed, and most of the time it is full of happiness and celebration. Like any couple with children, however, we have had our moments. We don't always do what we should, and occasionally tempers can rise and thoughtless words are said. Sometimes it's for a very valid reason; sometimes not. It happens because we loose focus on ourselves and begin to put the other under the microscope of spousal perfection. Christ reminds us that it is not our place to condemn, even if the reason is valid and as clear as day. We are to look at ourselves once again through Jesus' eyes, through the microscope of God, and strive with His help to “sin no more.” Only when we are working on this together does our family begin to realize the fullness that God intends for all of us.

Saturday, March 28

2009-03-28T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. – John 7:37-44

Reflection – Joyce Finch

I have a 2-year old granddaughter who I take of while her Mum and Dad work. One day things were going along great, as usual, then Sara let out a terrible cry and screamed, “Nanny, Nanny!” (I think a motor cycle had roared past the house; something loud.) She came running to me, scared and crying. I scooped her up, her little arms shot round my neck, and she really held on tight. I soothed her, told her what the noise was, and she calmed down and toddled back off to what she was doing.

When I thought about this exercise, it made me think of Sara running to me with complete trust that I was going to protect her and keep her safe. Wouldn’t it be great if each time we got scared, we’d run to Jesus and throw our arms around his neck and hold on tight with the trust of a two-year-old?

To ponder and pray: What is your greatest fear? Can you ask Jesus to come and sit by you, and hold it for you for awhile? Stay with that in your imagination… see what happens. (Warning: Fear is icy… Jesus is hot. It may not survive his touch…)

Friday, March 27

2009-03-27T11:48:00.002-04:00

Scripture for the Day: After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. – John 7:1-2,10, 25-30

Reflection – Debra Slade

I sometimes recall the song by Joan Osborne which says: “What if God was one of us?” It is most often in Lent that I reflect on the man Jesus, and what it was for him to be both fully human and fully divine. Jesus, the Christ, was one of us for a short period of time, and in doing so, experienced all of the emotions, the feelings that we have as well. In the Gospel reading, the people doubt that the Jesus they meet in the temple is the Messiah because they know where he is from. Jesus acknowledges that they do know that part of him which is like them, the familiar, knowable, human part. But he also tells them that there is another part – the divine part which is not known by them.

What makes the stories of Jesus so compelling is the tension between these two parts of him – the knowable and the unknowable. In the Gospel of John, the human fate – death, and the God purpose – resurrection and salvation, are spoken of by Jesus before they occur, as the given. He was not arrested in the temple “because his hour had not yet come.” We start off Lent with Ash Wednesday remembering “we are dust and to dust we shall return.” Our human fate, like Jesus’ is certain. Not dying is not an option. But with that knowledge, we can, and should, practice seeing every day, every hour, every minute as a gift; our life as a gift from God.

Thursday, March 26

2009-03-26T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Jesus said, ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. – John 5:30-37a

Reflection - Linda Atkins

If you asked me, I would probably not describe myself as a spiritual person. My faith in God has always been a part of my identity, but it was immature, a function of memorized catechism and rote prayers that were part of my Catholic upbringing. A faith set on the back burner through much of my adult life, until the responsibility of bringing faith to my children interceded. The journey to explore and deepen my faith is still continuing. I can honestly say that the presence of God in my life today makes me feel supported and loved, and blessed in so many ways. Prayer is beginning to be more a part of my life, remembering to thank Him as well as feeling able to ask, too. The bumps in the road don’t seem so scary, because I’m learning to turn to God for help.

Wednesday, March 25

2009-03-25T01:00:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day: Jesus said to them, The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. – John 5:22-29

Reflection – Ed Happ

"For the theme of judgment in the Gospel text I believe the word of grace prevails. Here is a poem that tells such a story, written about my daughter twenty years ago."

Beauty

It is an early day of spring,

the budding daffodil stems

bend and flow with the light

wind and rain sweeping through.

I am going to see my daughter,

the gymnast, of the varsity team.

She has been tumbling since

the age of five.

I come to watch her stretch

and move with grace,

each year more lithesome

than the last.

Yet she tells me at the break,

“I’m overweight.”

I search for the shadow

cast by her wiry frame.

“Really?” I say.

“Yes,” she is serious,

speaking a thousand

voices of subtle judgment.

Being of linear mind

(which men are wont to do),

I ask if she would line up

in her mind

her entire high school class

from thin to thick.

Where would she fall,

among the other girls,

the budding flowers?

With difficulty, head down,

she nods when I say,

“well below the average then?”,

(for a young woman, this is

her entire high school class

the realm of imaginary numbers).

She looks up at me

with eyes that say,

“you don’t understand.”

So I tell her how

beautiful she is,

and her head is down again,

but I see the edges of a smile.

“Dad, I love you.”

I hug her close

and kiss

the top of the stems

of her hair.

Calling for the sun,

I wonder how

so many flowers,

hide as weeds

before the petals

open to reveal

the angel

hiding there.

Tuesday, March 24

2009-03-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

Sabbaths by Wendell Berry

Who makes a clearing makes a work of art,

The true world’s Sabbath trees in festival

Around it. And the stepping stream, a part

Of Sabbath also, flows past, by its fall

Made musical, making the hillslope by

Its fall, and still at rest in falling, song

Rising. The field is made by hand and eye,

By daily work, by hope outreaching wrong,

And yet the Sabbath, parted, still must stay

In the dark musings of the soil no hand

May light, the great Life, broken, make its way

Along the stemmy footholds of the ant.

Bewildered in our timely dwelling place,

Where we arrive by work, we stay by grace.

North Point Press, 1987

Monday, March 23

2009-03-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. – John 4:43-54

Reflection – Kim Henderson

I wonder what Jesus would have to do in these troubled times to convince us that he is the son of God. After all, we have countless who perform miracles every day. Many of us have witnessed miraculous health recoveries at the hands of skilled medical professionals. On January 26^th, we had the miracle births of the octuplets and just 10 days earlier, we had the Miracle on the Hudson. Obama is hard at work on rescuing our economy; that would certainly be a miracle. We even had the illusionist, Chris Angel, walk on water, another apparent miracle. What would convince us that Jesus was really Jesus in his second coming?

He would definitely have his work cut out for him to make us believers. As he said to the royal official the first time around, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” I’m afraid that this would undeniably be the case in today’s world. We are numbed and jaded by all that we have seen and experienced. Maybe the miracle is for us to find Christ and not the other way around. In the little things; the day to day wonders that we all take for granted; a soaring hawk, the quiet sparkle of freshly fallen snow, the kindness of a stranger. Perhaps Christ is already among us and all we have to do is take notice; stand witness to his grace.

Saturday, March 21

2009-03-21T01:00:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ – Luke 18:9-14

Reflection – Joan Warga

This gospel did not make me feel good about myself. I saw myself in it – comparing myself to others. “Is she heavier than me?” “Am I as bad looking as she is?” It brought out how little humility I have. I don’t mean to personalize this reading, but it did make me feel ashamed because I really saw myself in it.

There is a passage somewhere where we are told by God to never compare ourselves to anyone else – “there will always be greater and lesser than you.” I know He loves us all equally, but sometimes it does seem as if He gives more to the “Chosen Few.” They have lots of money, live in perfect homes, with perfectly manicured lawns in picture-perfect neighborhoods and towns. They never have to work out; they can eat what they want, they “forget” to eat (can you believe that??? - I wish God would give me a bad memory in that department. )

This gospel also tells how presumptuous the Pharisee is in comparison with the tax collector.

He believes that he is the better man because he tithes, prays and fasts – but he doesn’t like God’s creatures, i.e., his fellow man.

This is Jesus’ recurring message – the last shall be first and the first shall be last. He came to earth to be a slave, a servant, not to act like the King that He is. Those who serve Him, serve His people.

To ponder and pray: Think of a person you really have trouble with. Now, hold him or her in your mind’s eye and ask God to shower that person with blessing. Lots of blessing. Stay with it for a good 3 minutes – like cooking an egg. Now… do you see anything different about them?

Friday, March 20

2009-03-20T01:00:00.001-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbor as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question. – Mark 12:28-34

Love (III)

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked any thing.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Thursday, March 19

2009-03-19T01:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture for the Day:

When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! – Luke 11:29-32

Reflection – Eleanor Christensen

My time for prayer and reflection is first thing in the morning when I go out for a walk with my dog, Penny. I have to get out of bed early, at 5:30 a.m., to fit it in before I leave for work. I am not naturally a morning person, so I never find it easy. This time of year it is cold and dark as we head out the door, and I am bundled up in many layers with a reflective vest on top; but Penny is so eager and excited that I have to feel my spirits rise. It may be clear, foggy, rainy, or snowy—we go out every morning despite the weather and the darkness. I am a person who loves the light, so as Penny sniffs around and goes about her business, I look for any sign of light—moon, stars, or a faint glow in the East. There I feel God’s presence and thank Him for the start of another day, for my health, for my family and friends, for a warm house and a rewarding job.

I then reflect on any challenges I may face or goals I want to set for myself, and I ask for God’s help in the day ahead.

It has been my habit over the last ten years or so to begin each day with gratitude, no matter how wonderful or miserable life is on any given day. For the first few years I kept a gratitude journal in which I listed five things for which I was thankful every day. I found it often completely changed my focus from dwelling on problems to realizing that every day God sent me not one, but at least five blessings. This stood me in good stead in the darkest days of my life when my sister died and then a few weeks later so did my dad. Even on those days, I could list my five blessings —the love and support of friends, beautiful hymns to be planned for the funeral, sunshine, wonderful food that was offered, my own health, and the strength to support my mother. By now the habit of gratitude has become so much a part of my day that I do not need the journal.

And so in Lent, I continue to walk with Penny each day, seeing more and more light in the early morning sky. By Easter Day, I will be greeted, if not by glorious sunshine, at least by daylight. Thanks be to God for the coming of the Light.