Journey Into Lent 2020

Holy Saturday April 11, 2020 Vigil of Easter, 8:30 pm Romans 6:3-11; John 20:1-18 Jesus is laid in the tomb Here at the centre everything is still, Before the stir and movement of our grief That bears its pain with rhythm, ritual, Beautiful useless gestures of relief. So they anoint the skin that cannot feel And soothe his ruined flesh with tender care, Kissing the wounds they know they cannot heal, With incense scenting only empty air. He blesses every love that weeps and grieves, And makes our grief the pangs of a new birth. The love that's poured in silence at old graves, Renewing flowers, tending the bare earth, Is never lost. In him all love is found And sown with him, a seed in the rich ground. Malcolm Guite,  ( Sounding the Seasons , p. 43) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen Visit someone. Take them some hot cross buns for their Easter feast. 

Good Friday April 10, 2020 (from “God’s Friday”) Way of the Cross, 12 noon; Adoration of the Cross, 7:00 pm Is. 52:13-53:12; Ps. 22; Heb. 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42 Commemoration of Michael Agricola (1510-1557), Finnish reformer and translator of Bible into Finnish Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross See, as they strip the robe from off his back And spread his arms and nail them to the cross, The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black, And love is firmly fastened on to loss. But here a pure change happens. On this tree Loss becomes gain, death opens into birth. Here wounding heals and fastening makes free, Earth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth. And here we see the length, the breadth, the height, Where love and hatred meet and love stays true, Where sin meets grace and darkness turns to light, We see what love can bear and be and do. And here our Saviour calls us to his side, His love is free, his arms are open wide.

Maundy Thursday   (from “Mandare” – to command) April 9, 2020 Eucharist, 12 Noon: Eucharist with Footwashing, 7:00 pm Ex. 12:1-14; Ps. 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Commemoration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), martyred German theologian Maundy Thursday Here is the source of every sacrament, The all-transforming presence of the Lord, Replenishing our every element, Remaking us in his creative Word. For here the earth herself gives bread and wine, The air delights to bear his Spirit's speech, The fire dances where the candles shine, The waters cleanse us with his gentle touch. And here he shows the full extent of love To us whose love is always incomplete, In vain we search the heavens high above, The God of love is kneeling at our feet. Though we betray him, though it is the night, He meets us here and loves us into light. Malcolm Guite,   ( Sounding the Seasons , p. 36) Create in me a clean heart, O God, a

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 Worship: Noon Reading: John 13:21-32 FULL MOON, SUPER MOON PASSOVER BEGINS O Adonai Unsayable, you chose to speak one tongue; Unseeable, you gave yourself away; The Adonai, the Tetragrammaton, Grew by a wayside in the light of day, O you who dared to be a tribal God, To own a language, people and a place, Who chose to be exploited and betrayed, If so you might be met with face to face: Come to us here, who would not find you there, Who chose to know the skin and not the pith, Who heard no more than thunder in the air, Who marked the mere events and not the myth; Touch the bare branches of our unbelief And blaze again like fire in every leaf. Malcolm Guite,  ( Sounding the Seasons,  p. 8) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen Take a walk. Look for signs of spring.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 Worship: Noon Reading: John 12:20-36 Grain of Wheat Oh let me fall as grain to the good earth And die away from all dry separation, Die to my sole self, and find new birth Within that very death, a dark fruition, Deep in this crowded underground, to learn The earthy otherness of every other, To know that nothing is achieved alone But only where these other fallen gather. If I bear fruit and break through to bright air, Then fall upon me with your freeing flail To shuck this husk and leave me sheer and clear As heaven-handled Hopkins, that my fall May be more fruitful and my autumn still A golden evening where your barns are full. Malcolm Guite,  ( Parable and Paradox , p. 68) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen Buy and eat a fruit that has many seeds.

Monday, April 6, 2020 Worship: Noon Reading: John 12: 1-11 Commemoration of Albrect Dürer (1471-1528), Lucas Cranach (1472-1553), Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528) Michelango (1475-1564), artists The Anointing at Bethany Come close with Mary, Martha, Lazarus, So close the candles flare with their soft breath, And kindle heart and soul to flame within us, Lit by these mysteries of life and death. For beauty now begins the final movement, In quietness and intimate encounter, The alabaster jar of precious ointment Is broken open for the world's true lover. The whole room richly fills to feast the senses With all the yearning such a fragrance brings, The heart is mourning but the spirit dances, Here at the very centre of all things, Here at the meeting place of love and loss We all foresee and see beyond the cross. Malcolm Guite,  (S ounding the Seasons , p. 35) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen