Journey Into Lent 2020

Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day Ap ril 12, 2020 Eucharistic Liturgies 8:00am, 10:45 am Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Easter dawn He blesses every love that weeps and grieves And now he blesses hers who stood and wept And would not be consoled, or leave her love's Last touching place, but watched as low light crept Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs A scatter of bright birdsong through the air. She turns, but cannot focus through her tears, Or recognize the Gardener standing there. She hardly hears his gentle question, "Why, Why are you weeping?", or sees the play of light That brightens as she chokes out her reply, "They took my love away, my day and night." And then she hears her name, she hears Love say The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day. Malcolm Guite,  ( Sounding the Seasons , p. 44)

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...

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 ...

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday April 5, 2020 Worship: 8:00 am and 10:45 am Mt. 21:1-11; Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16;Phil. 2:5-11; Mt. 26:14—27:66 Palm Sunday Now to the gate of my Jerusalem, The seething holy city of my heart, The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him? Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start; They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing, And think the battle won. Too soon they'll find The challenge, the reversal he is bringing Changes their tune. I know what lies behind The surface flourish that so quickly fades; Self-interest, and fearful guardedness, The hardness of the heart, its barricades, And at the core, the dreadful emptiness Of a perverted temple. Jesus come Break my resistance and make me your home. Malcolm Guite  ( Sounding the Seasons , p. 32) ·         Listen to either the Matthäuspassion or the Johannespassion by Johann Sebastian Bach.    ...

Saturday , April 4, 2020 Reading: Philippians 2:5-11 Commemoration of Benedict the African (1526-1589), Franciscan spiritual leader and healer Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who… emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Phil. 2:5,7 Out of the womb of wondrous love came the person Jesus wondrous love from wondrous love. All that came to him that was hurt, all that was shame, all that was cruelty all that was spite, - all that came to him he took into himself. All the energy of scorn, of fright of worthlessness, of envy all the energy of hate that came to him he took into himself and did not lash out to return it. All that came to him that was unlovely he took into himself and transformed it, transformed by the wonder of God's love. Wondrous love from wondrous love. So is our beginning. So is our ending. Susan Palo Cherwien, copyright2010 MorningStarMusicPublisher...

Friday , April 3, 2020 Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a "The  Lord  God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward."  Isaiah 50:5 Martin Luther described sin as a person's being "curved in on itself",  incurvatus in se ,  concerned only with one's own needs, desires, one's own puny little world. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, where reaction to his world-upturning teachings and life is building to a deathly confrontation, we see clearly how absolutely faithful he is to his identity as the Compassionate One, open and vulnerable to the world. He set his face "like a flint" (Is. 50:7) and turned not backward. How simple it would have been to disappear into the wilderness ravines east of the city. How difficult, to ignore the deep human instinct toward self-preservation and to continue on the road, in spite of risk, in spite of threat. Merciful God, may we never turn backward from our calling as people of your heart. ...

Thursday , April 2, 2020 Reading: Matthew 21:1-11 "Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road."       Matthew 21:8 The worn, rutted footpaths and roads in Israel were rocky and treacherous, and it was customary for townspeople to "prepare the way" when someone important was approaching, making the ruts level and removing rocks. It was also customary to lay down one's cloak, the outer garment, before a king, as the servants of Ahab did before Jehu in 2 Kings 9:13. What kind of king were the people expecting? What kind of ruler were they hoping for? One who would "smite the world perfect", as Dorothy Sayers wrote? Since we cannot know the thoughts and motivations of the 1st c. Judaeans along the road to Jerusalem, perhaps we should at least return to our own 21st century lives and ask, how do we prepare the way for the coming of Christ into the Jerusalem of our hearts?             Then ...

Wednesday , April 1, 2020 Noon Eucharist with Soup Lunch following 6:00 Soup supper: 7:00pm Evening Prayer Reading:  Psalm 130 Commemoration of Amalie Sieveking (1794-18590, German social activist and educator "My soul waits for the  Lord  more than those who watch for the  morning, more than those who watch for the morning." Ps. 130:6 In the midst of night, floors creak, twigs brush, heart pounds. All that distresses seems nearer, larger, more fearsome. If only the light would break, if only dawn would come. Who will call us out of this marauding night? Earl Schwartz teaches us to watch for repeated words and phrases in Hebrew scripture: "more than those that watch for the morning, more than those that watch for the morning." Twice. The soul's desire for God is stronger than even the desire for the dawn. The heart's desire for Light, for new Life, is even stronger than the yearning to leave that midnight darkness. The soul desires the pre...