As for that little Ukrainian family, what do we do in the wake of their tears? Mortal tongues and angels say: Alleluia! Our kinship warmed me as I imagined their delight at our Suns sensuous self-giving display as it set. My words are not up to the task of describing CHRIST weeping in this way. Today, is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. As we enter this season of Easter, we ask that the warm winds of the Spirit encircle this table and accompany us on our journey. You sent Jesus, your Son, to walk in the way of Lifethat we might follow. For there is no division within the divine. "Our Father". Imagine if you will, trying to understand the life of Martin Luther King, or Mahatma Gandhi simply by focusing upon their death. Frame 15: Honor the Divine in everyone and in all creation. Gardens often provide a space for worship in a neutral setting outside the church for people to gather and share a faith experience. Risen Christ, The world despised and rejected you. First of all, I hadnt been born again, and then there was the dancing, and as for my serving beer to the crowd at the Legion, well, my roommates were concerned. Im not talking about some Pollyanna notion of passivity in the face of violence, and I know that we are not going to solve our addiction to violence anytime soon. There is so much more we can do and offer our readership with your support! This week, two events stand in stark contrast to one another. See if you can pick them out. } we gratefully receive the Easter offering. Weve heard these interpretations of Jesus life, death, and resurrection so many times that they have almost become indistinguishable from the idol that we have created to stand in for the Mystery that we call God. Many of the pages are "decorative" but material can simply be cut and pasted into a word-processing program. Just as Jesus empowered the people he encountered to believe in themselves, we want you to walk away with an awareness not of how ordinary you are not of how unworthy you are but an awareness of your greatness and lovability. The agency connects leaders with needed resourcing, training, consulting, and networking that support spiritual We are not fallen creatures. For Paul, like Jesus, lived as a Jew in Palestine under the oppression of Roman Empire, which insisted that peace could only be established and maintained through violence. This dear friends is what it means for you and me to sit at Jesus side. So, this morning Id like us to take our focus off Jesus death and all we may have heard, or learned about why Jesus died so that we can see what it was about Jesus life that endeared him to his followers. More Worship Resources. var thisact = jQuery('#submission-action').val(); Today, it is Easter Sunday for orthodox Christians. The vibrancy of the vision is only exceeded by the discovery thatones spirit has a home everywhere. McCourt asks: Who says its an egg?, Of course, its an egg. Easter Sunrise: Outdoor Worship. Yes! I was prepared to move out on my terms, but not on some jumped up pastors terms. He urged them: Remember me. When he placed his hand on my forehead, I stiffened my entire being, because there was no way I was going down. read more More Poetry Week of February 5, 2023 "Less is more." If you have not donated yet, please do so today. Sadly, far too many of us have been conditioned to look for what we have been conditioned to see instead of what is all around us, if we could only see beyond our conditioning. Sign up for an account and get your newsletters right away! Why they decided to cut your off before you made your point, well thats a sermon for another day. Crystal had always been told that one day the magnificent vase would be hers. We can wrap our heads around GOD embodied in a shepherd, and even GOD embodied as the woman who losses her coin. Amen. In the past he was patient and overlooked peoples sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. So, there could have been half a dozen or there could have been only one whale. Where truth has left its sketches on the slate below the ground. After spending far too long cornered by Steve, who preached a gospel of not very good news, I was desperate to silence him, so, I reluctantly agreed to attend a Tuesday night youth service. Deep in flower and in flesh, in star and soil and seed, It is an image which will not leave me. TODAY! 4 0 obj All tears are part of the river of life. It was just politicians doing what politicians do, rattling sabers like little boys, stomping their feet, and insisting on their own way. Easter (250) Easter 2 Year A (102) Easter 2 Year B (114) Easter 2 Year C (122) Easter 3 Year A (49) Easter 3 Year B (29) Easter 3 Year C (50) Easter 4 Year A (120) It is right. Unlike our ancestors who succeeded the writers of the bible and went on to develop the theology of the church, we dont believe that the round earth is the center of the universe. You see the Pentecostal church was located down in the neighboring town of Hinton, about an hours drive away. Faith and EthicsKaren Armstrong is amongst a group of religious scholars who have noted that the essential teaching of each of the major religions usually includes some version of "love your neighbour". Holy Scriptures about Communion. Nor can I believe that Jesus saw YAHWEH, the GREAT I AM as a fool. Lutheran good order can and does ensure that such ecstatic behavior never happens in worship. We need to reach our year-end fundraising goal that will determine what we can do for 2023. I dont know about you but for most of my life I have been taught that the place to learn about God is the Bible. Congregational Prayers (may be solicited), which may be preceded by other joyful and appropriate responses to the Easter Gospel. Or break the very atoms down to see how they are made, Bit by bit, hope has begun to build upon hope as we look forward to Spring when we call launch forth into fuller more robust living. He rose again in victory because the powers of death cannot overcome the Divine power of Life. All crosses can be transformed into trees of life. We pray with faith and confidence. Let it be so. Well, as time passed, the situation became more and more serious. It wasnt until Christianity moved beyond Judaism that it came into direct conflict with the Greek understanding of reality, which insisted upon the dualism of body and soul. Beginning with the traditional opening from Charles Wesley, this moves into a progressive Christian expression of resurrection. Resist the empires to which we have lost the justice which has the power to create peace. good times, bad times - give me some of that: blogging on faith and life. Continue reading . It was a very quiet little voice deep down inside of me, at least I think it was inside of me. So, the thing about stories, really good stories is that they have a life of their own. Anna and Steve were Pentecostals who were convinced that my slack Lutheran ways simply werent serious enough to earn me a coveted spot in the Heaven of their dreams. We must put aside our expectations of a quick and easy fix and settle in for the difficult generational evolution of our species. DONATE NOW! The EMPIRE OF DIVINITY is not yet here. Alleluia! The moss, the kelp, the zebrafish, the very mice and flies, Im in real danger of losing my ability to follow Jesus on what appears to all the world to be the foolish path of non-violent resistance to empire. It empowers us to hope in the coming resurrection and new life. Even though Jesus knew he would be betrayed and deserted by those at this supper, he still continued to join them at the table, sharing time and space with whom he grew closest. This despite the fact that the biblical author of the book of Joshua wrote that God stopped the rotation of the sun around the earth in order to provide Joshua with an extended period of daylight in which to kill his enemies. Only a foolWould sweep and sweep and sweep, leaving her purse unguarded, to search for one lone coin. Christ's peace is ours forever! I confess, I was in denial. Continue reading . If you look into the dust for long enough and contemplate its mystery, you shall find a resurrection. The liturgy wasdeveloped for use during Lent. *Leader: O sing unto the Lord, for he has done excellent things. Beatitude Nine: Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. O God, how many times have we sought to bury you again, for fear of what you might do to our predictable grayness? After what seemed like hours but was probably just a few minutes, the whales moved on and I was left to clumsily put words onto the depth of my experiences, in what the ancient Celts would call a Thin Place; a place where the lines between the ordinary and the sacred are thin, and we can see, feel, touch, hear the MYSTERY which lies at the very heart of reality. Support our mission with a tax-deductible donation! Remember the precarious nature of the lives of the people who first heard these parables. Included here are just a few calls to worship, prayers, Scripture passages, and songs you can use in your Easter worship. If we look at the stories that have been told about Jesus, the stories that have contributed so much to the creation of the idol that masquerades as the Mystery we call God, we discover a narrative that seems preoccupied with Jesus death. Living the Questions is happy to join other Michael Morwood fans in welcoming the arrival of Michael's newest book, Prayers for Progressive Christians. Still no luck. These parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons, point us in a direction of a way of being in the world characterized by foolish and passionate abandon. Sacrifice one for the sake of the many. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.. All glory and honor are yours, eternal God, now and forever. EASTER WORSHIP SERVICES The liturgy, and particularly the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, are never a re-enactment of the events that happened two thousand years ago. Through this meal, make us the body of Christ, that we may join with you in promoting the well-being of all creation. At Easter all the themes of the Christian Gospel are held together in one great burst of life. }); we take these gifts that you have given us, this bread and this cup, accept our lives as holy offerings to you, Maybe Jesus was wrong about justice as the only way to peace. (LogOut/ As we recall the trusting of impotent rocket ships escaping for mere moments the confines of the empires we thrive in, do we have the courage to see our own hypocrisy? 4810 Pt. and celebrate with joy the eternal Life offered to us through Jesus Christ. Here's a call to worship and opening prayer for Memorial Day or Remembrance Day. 4810 Pt. This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. with the Son, God the Father praising;"Alleluia!" United States So the question about the kind of body the risen Jesus had was, as Paul puts it, quite simply, stupid. Practicing resurrection happens when we empower one another to rise.Practicing resurrection happens when we build communities of compassion that live fully, love extravagantly, and empower people to be all that they were created to be. We share this bread and drink, as Jesus shared a Passover meal with his disciples, and we partake of it together as our pledge of openness to the Spirit of Love in our midst, and as our remembrance of Jesus who invited us to do even greater things than he did. healing, overcoming divisions, welcoming all. When the complete vine suffers, we all suffer together. Now, talk of the mid-night sun always took me back to my childhood memories of my Dad reciting the Robert Service poem, the Cremation of Sam McGee. Apparently, some Lutherans are in this Pentecostal pastors opinion, a bit losey-goosey when it comes to atonement theories. (1 Kings 19:1-12) It is about a prophet named Elijah, who was struggling to understand the will of the they knew as YHWH, the HEBREW name for the MYSTERY we call God, which can be translated as I AM, WHO AM or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE or the GREAT I AM. Youre not a lost sheep, or a lost coin, or even a lost child. Jesus was steadfastly committed to non-violent resistance to the abusive powers of empire. The Third Sunday of Easter - April 18, 2021 Acts 3:12-19 Psalm 4 I John 3:1-7 Luke 24:36b-48 You can't manage or control a resurrection. Your mommy told me that you reached into the vase for candy. Im not so sure however, that Jesus response to his disciples indignation is all comforting. Not because I had been driven out of my home. Disappointed I resigned myself to abandoning our plans to camp on the hillsides which envelope the port of Narvik. Our very freedom from ancient ways of knowing and being sets of a chain-reaction of freedom which can, if we let it, become Good News for the poor, as we finally begin to understand what Jesus knew all along, when Jesus insisted, I and the ABBA are ONE. For if Jesus and the ABBA are ONE, the Good News is that you and I and our neighbours, we are ONE with ABBA. And all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldnt put Humpty together again. now we cry to our King immortal, who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb'sdark portal; "Alleluia!" You can peruse my notes for the service in the pdf of my missal here. Christs peace is ours forever! Lift up your hearts. This bread and drink represents our life and all the giftedness that each of us bring to the table. Jesus lived for this. 'It is always Springtime in the heart that loves God.'. Holy, gracious, God, I am the only one left, and now theyre trying to kill me, too. Elohim (thats an ancient Hebrew word which we translate simply as God or Lord. if ( '' != thisact ) { There is so much more we can do and offer our readership with your support! These parables have an air of foolishness about them, if we see them as simple stories told by Jesus about the way a personified god loves us. Thoughts on Readings, Prayers & Hymn Suggestions. Lectionary Liturgies, Easter B, 2015, Thom M. Shuman, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We remember that he was laid in a borrowed grave. /* Comments about the content or usability of this site? Alleluia, amen. The pastor is often on vacation; the choir scales back. Thich Nhat Hanh. The unknown gospel-storyteller which we call Mark, captured something of the pathetic human condition of hubris when he wrote: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus and said, Teacher we want you to grant our request. What is it? Jesus asked. 1 Corinthians 15. Only a fool would welcome home with joy and abandon a wayward child who had used, rejected, dishonoured, and then returned only to try to use them again. For a very long time, the story of Jesus appearance in the upper room where his followers were huddled in fear, conditioned me to focus my attention upon Jesus wounds, Thomas doubts, and back again to Jesus wounds, and then to Thomas belief. We lose our capacity for peace and joy, we struggle to show compassion and to connect with others, and we may find ourselves slipping into toxic and destructive attitudes and habits. Easter communion liturgy, involving children Ana Gobledale, UK. April 17, 2022 (Readings on USCCB website) . jQuery.noConflict(); //jQuery('#submit-action').attr('href','/paupress/?rel=pauContent&pau_type='+thisact); Salvation is about making us whole, ONE with one another and ONE with the ONE who is as Jesus taught with his very life is the LOVE we call GOD. */ You created the world by speaking life into being. Think about it, Jeff Bezos net worth is estimated at just shy of 200 billion dollars. As tensions escalated and our world held our collective breath, the fragility of the peace we cling to, the peace built through military might, and threats of violence and mutual annihilation, this illusion of peace was threatened by the ambitions of a powerful oligarch obsessed with delusions of restoring tribal supremacy for his once mighty nation. Let me remind you that a generation before our anonymous gospel-storyteller wrote his account of Thomas doubts, somewhere around the years 50 to 53, the Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthian followers of the Way, that such questions about physical resurrection were in fact stupid. In both Ukraine and in Russia a wounded CHRIST is struggling to rise from death. Long ago, when torture broke the remnant of his will, Neither of us had heard the word atonement before. When I was an amateur wrestler, I was a world-class champion wrestler. Many Christians understand the sacrament of Holy Communion as a means of grace that nourishes and strengthens our faith for life and ministry in the world. Gone are the vestments, the prescribed lectionary readings, and the familiar words. You are invited to this table of life as we join with each other and seek communion with God. Alleluia! If ever we needed to be intentional about preserving and honouring our basic humanity and that of our neighbours, its now. She scooped the vase and her little girl up into her arms and carried them to the kitchen sink. Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. They all knew the dangers of traveling to Jerusalem. God the Holy Spirit, who lled the disciples with the life of the risen Lord, empower you and ll you with Christ's peace. There was work to do. The Gospel this morning comes to us from the anonymous Gospel storyteller that we know as John. Amen. Let me attempt to be kinder than the Apostle, whose willingness to call his opponents stupid, I do not share. Whether your interpretation of the resurrection is literal or metaphorical, Easter morning is always welcome. We need to reach our year-end fundraising goal that will determine what we can do for 2023. */ Maybe if we are unwilling to fight, all we can do is join our tears to the tears of that little Ukrainian family. I expect that whatever needs to be done will be done quickly, so that I can get back to normal. Christ is risen indeed! Lectionary, study and worship resources from Faith Futures Jesus Then & Now. Alleluia! 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. COLLECT PRAYER. To be ransomed from our very selves, ransomed from the fear which holds us captive to empires built on the backs of the poor. No sooner than I felt the freedom of union with the DIVINE, than it was time to seek the confines of my car to warm up. I can hear them tut tutting at the audacity of my taking such liberties with the Gospel. }); Join thousands of others like you who are contributing their voice to Progressive Christianity and list your church, organization or yourself in our global directory. Give us the gifts of this holy communion , [This triple blessing and sending/commissioning may be delivered by three different voices.]. How safe? So, let me get to the point, so that those who like nothing better than to use the Bible to bludgeon anyone who dares to stray from their narrow understanding of the text, they can simply hit ALL CAPS in their keyboards, without having to read any further. I share these tears with you knowing full well that tears wont put an end to war, nor will they end our constant reliance upon violence to maintain a fragile peace. Pain and suffering perpetrated by our species vain conviction that violence is the way to peace. Amen. 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