tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91955520419334479482024-02-08T11:13:14.498-08:00St. Paul's Lenten Reflections 2014The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-20222996000587234842014-04-19T21:00:00.001-07:002014-04-19T21:00:01.915-07:00Easter Sunday<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 •
Jeremiah 31:1-6 • Colossians 3:1-4 •
John 20:1-18</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">“Early on the first day of the
week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the
stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and
the other disciples . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and said to
them, ‘they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they
have laid him.’” For Mary Magdalene the day begins in darkness, confusion,
sorrow, fear, suspicion and flight. The other two disciples confirm her story
and then simply return home. But Mary Magdalene stays by the empty tomb
weeping. There in that empty, barren place of death she is met by Jesus . . . not
resuscitated to his former life but raised to new life, and he speaks to her
words of reassurance, words of new life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As citizens living in a world of
technological marvels that make time and distance trifles to be overcome, we
are uncertain what to make of Mary Magdalene’s experience. We are uncertain
what, if any, place this narrative can have in our own life of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is a narrative of new life
overcoming places of death, and it is a summons to each of us to take part in
it here and now. All around us are places of darkness and death, of fear and
confusion. All around us are places where hunger, sickness, homelessness,
violence, prejudice, and neglect entomb us in darkness. Just as for Mary
Magdalene, as disciples we are called to do more than weep helplessly.
This Easter morning and every morning is our invitation to bring God’s
healing, empowering life into every dark corner of death. The Alleluias we sing<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">today</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">are our promise to accept that vocation,
to become disciples, to help God’s light and life overcome the darkness of our
world. Alleluia, Christ, the light of the world, is risen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond; text-align: right;"><i>— The Rev. Paula Kettlewell</i></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-77292606229432731472014-04-19T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-19T21:00:00.258-07:00Holy Saturday<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 31<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Job 14:1-14<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1
Peter 4:1-8<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 19:38-42</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The
celebration of Palm Sunday is long gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bittersweet sharing in breaking of bread and drinking of wine has
passed. The intimacy of foot washing has faded. The agony of the Garden and the
desolation of betrayal linger in memory. The last breath is no more. The
torturous death on Golgotha is over. The weight of dying has been released. The
lifeless body lies in the tomb. Quiet descends with the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">In
the stillness God is, but God is not still. God has descended to the grave,
trampling down death by death. As day dawns, the quiet breaks, first with a few
sounds, then crescendoing as the sun rises into yet another day. But it is not
any other day. It is Sabbath, a day of being, a day of being holy on the holy day.
It is a day to be centered in the mystery of God’s holiness even in the face of
death. And God in God’s holiness is not still. Out of human sight, from Sabbath
sunset to sunset, on this particular Sabbath, God who is love and life
continues to love and live not overcome by death. God stirs in the depths and
heights of existence, and this is particularly true on Holy Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Unlike
the original disciples long ago, for those of us who live after Christ’s
resurrection from the dead, Holy Saturday has its unique arc. It is a day that
begins in the quiet wake of the crucifixion but becomes increasingly marked by
a growing restlessness for the proclamation of the good news of resurrection at
the Easter Vigil and on Easter Day. This day is a “time between”—between the
intensification of events that led to Christ’s atoning death on Good Friday and
the exuberant celebration that will erupt over his resurrection. On this day,
in this “time between,” we would do well to take a deep breath and embrace the
words of Psalm 31:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“let your heart take
courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> </span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>― The Rev. Heather Warren</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-41301183895387758872014-04-17T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-17T21:00:02.853-07:00Good Friday<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 22 •
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 • Hebrews 10:16-25 •
John 18:1 – 19:42<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Good Fridays<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Ukraine barricades,
smoldering, stinking, flaming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Men in green helmets, old uniforms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Snipers in black, kill with a snap<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The dead dragged bleeding<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Drones over Pakistan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Men with a mouse, kill with a click<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Drug cartels, gangs,
Border wars<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Crips, Bloods, shivs, guns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Bitcoins collapse, who
even knew what they are?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Greed with a click<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Olympic Bitcoin gold<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Putin’s happy Olympics<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The homeless man asleep
on the doorstep<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He survives the night, layers of clothes stinking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Good Friday surrounds,
abounds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The Cross officially
unceasing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>“Why
were you searching for me? Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them
and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these
things in her heart.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>— The Rev. Jim Richardson</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-39989194424143606882014-04-16T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-16T21:00:04.838-07:00Maundy Thursday<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 116:1, 12-19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">1 Corinthians 11:23-26<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>John 13:1-17, 31b-35<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Remember Steve Martin, the comic, before he was “Father of
the Bride,” before he was in countless movies; he was the “Wild and crazy
guy.” Well, this could also be God’s subtitle, God: “A wild and
crazy god.” Here, in this moment, we are prepared to enter the Triduum of
Maundy Thursday through Easter Vigil. We remember today this wild and
crazy God who became human in the form of a baby in an occupied land,
vulnerable and weak in many ways, but through vulnerability and weakness, God,
in Christ shows us that even our lives can be healed, redeemed, saved, blessed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -3.25pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Today, on
Maundy Thursday, we remember; we remember in the sense that we look back to
this night when Jesus was with friends, and when he did this wild and crazy
thing of likening the bread they were eating to his very body and the wine they
were drinking to his very blood. What a wild and crazy thing to do. For
his followers who were well-aware of the sacrificial theology and praxis of the
Temple, these words of flesh and blood surely reminded them of the lambs and
birds put up for sacrifice. Here, Jesus offers himself, as a full and
sufficient sacrifice.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We remember that night on this night,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and we also re-member, that is, we re-create,
or re-form, God’s gift to us as we celebrate the Holy Communion, when we offer
thanksgiving in the Eucharisto—the Eucharist. In this moment we
embrace the full and abundant way that God has removed our spiritual amnesia,
and has instead filled us with anamnesis, that great and wonderful technical
Greek word which means to reconstitute and remember the first Communion, the
first “Last Supper,” not merely as a mind-trippy remembering, but actually that
God is truly present within the bread and within the wine we are about to share
together. Setting aside our spiritual forgetfulness and our amnesia, God
has filled us with his wild and crazy and Amazing Grace as he offers to us this
feast, injected with this deep and abiding sense of anamnesis and remembrance
as we celebrate and share the real presence of God in our lives today, in this
hour, in this place. Thank God that God is a wild and crazy and
wonderfully amazing God! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond;"><i>―</i></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><i> The Rev. Peter Carey</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-32733109633110142382014-04-15T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-15T21:00:01.322-07:00Wednesday in Holy Week<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 70<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah 50:4-9a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hebrews 12:1-3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 13:21-32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">I
try to imagine the scene described in John 13:21-32, in which Jesus is gathered
with his beloved disciples and announces that one who is present will betray
him and thus, bring an end to his life and his teaching as they have known it.
Jesus knows the heart of his beloved disciple, understands his weakness,
predicts his betrayal, and yet feeds him bread, and dispatches him with love. I
cannot imagine a more powerful, and transformative response to Evil. Because,
Evil has a way of leading us down the dark corridor of forgetting our
relationship with God, and of how radically we are held by Love, regardless of
our weakness, fears, and perpetual missteps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">When
I allow this story to resonate inside of my own life experience, I’m reminded
that the greatest gift of becoming a parent is finding that my life is no
longer my own, and I am thereby enriched in ways I could never have imagined.
My life is enriched because I am called by Love, again and again, to serve
Love, and I am pulled from that dark corridor of forgetting. My mother once
said that the fact that my young child took me for granted indicated the
goodness of my parenting. I would have preferred an ongoing display of
adoration and appreciation for my efforts, but the point is that I have felt
called to Love in the face of another’s humanity, even when it might be
unpleasant, painful, or heartbreaking. In the face of his own death, Jesus
offered this gift to his disciple. Though Judas fell out of relationship with
his community and teacher, followed his fear and lost his way, in Jesus’
radically loving response, he was given a light by which to find his way back.
Thanks be to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>― Jenny Gladding</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-71563514685914663552014-04-14T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-14T21:00:06.380-07:00Tuesday in Holy Week<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 71:1-14 •
Isaiah 49:1-7 • 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 •
John 12:20-36</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">The
thing about the grain of wheat is that it doesn’t really die, not
ultimately. Just as we take refuge in the Lord in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="background: white; color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">today</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">’s Psalm, the grain
takes refuge in the earth, which warms it, shelters it, and nourishes it,
enabling it to transform from its nascent form into a tall, vibrant plant,
providing sustenance for the world around it. In the same way, we appear,
to the rest of the world, to die, to age, to diminish. Instead, however,
we take refuge in the Lord, shedding the hard shell we wear to protect
ourselves from the world, from our fears, from our sins. Strengthened and
protected by God’s nourishing love, we “die” to our past selves, our incomplete
selves, and become our new, best selves, the people God creates and calls us to
be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i>― <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Beth Molmen</span></i></span><!--EndFragment-->
</div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-40574326048016798352014-04-14T12:23:00.000-07:002014-04-14T12:23:49.366-07:00Monday in Holy Week<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 36:5-11<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah 42:1-9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hebrews 9:11-15<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 12:1-11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The
readings today led me to think of Judas. Jesus rebuked him for important
reasons and often we dismiss him in this story to focus on Mary, Martha,
Lazarus, and Jesus. Is it possible that we are sometimes like Judas? I’d like
to ask you to think past the portrayal as thief and think of it as though his
suggestion was to genuinely benefit the poor. His timing was lousy but imagine
just for a moment that his motives were not to fill his own pockets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">I’m
thinking of a fellow that could just be making an altruistic suggestion then
walking away from the situation for someone else to work out the details. Maybe
this fellow sounds like a colleague of yours, a friend, or a sibling. You know,
that person loaded with one noble suggestion after another who doesn’t quite know
or care about the underpinnings involved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">It
is easier for me to make sense of Judas by taking him out of context than
comprehending his heinous behavior during that moment in Mary and Jesus’
relationship. I can think of examples when I’ve been quick to suggest the high
road when I may not be so good at following my own advice if the tables were
turned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">It
is here where our reading of today’s Psalm, the book of Isaiah, and the letter
to the Hebrews may bring some solace. In closing, I offer a prayer using
elements of today’s other readings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Oh Lord, we open our hearts and
minds to our eternal redemption and your glory. May our faith guide us to a
consciousness purified by Jesus. May we find freedom in our hardships. May we
open our eyes to love and our ears to your quiet voice. May we humbly discern
your appeal for justice and righteousness through our fellowship with the Holy
Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-22044857788956849032014-04-14T12:21:00.002-07:002014-04-14T12:21:43.178-07:00Palm Sunday<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 31:9-16 •
Isaiah 50:4-9a • Philippians 2:5-11 •
Matthew 26:14 – 27:66</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">Today</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">’s readings portray two individuals
wracked by guilt. Peter, ever passionate, declares that he will “not deny or
disown” Jesus (Matthew 26:35). But when the moment comes and his safety is
threatened, he fails—and again, and again. The cock crows, and
Peter descends into bitter tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">Shortly thereafter, Judas, overwhelmed
by the enormity of “betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4), returns his
payoff of silver to the chief priests. They give him neither solace nor
recourse: “What is that to us? See to that yourself.” He does so by hanging
himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">I transgress every day, in ways small
and large. Faced with my iniquity, I join the psalmist in feeling like “a
reproach . . . a dread . . . a broken vessel” (Psalm 31:11–12). My
transgressions betray Christ, hurt people, and leave me subject to
guilt—sometimes pinpricks of conscience, sometimes bitter tears. Then I want in
vain to give back the silver, to turn back time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">What is to come of the likes of me?
Thankfully, I am not left to “see to that myself.” Christ did not say, “What is
that to me?" He “abased and humbled Himself” (Philippians 2:8) to
meet me where I live, in the brutishness that so often marks human life—and all
too often is of my own making. He submitted Himself even to the extreme of death
on the cross, where His blood was “poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins” (Matthew 26:28).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">I hope that Judas, like the repentant thief crucified beside
Jesus, opened his heart even as he died hanging. Peter, of course, lived
through his repeated failure. Having followed Jesus as best he could, having<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">sat</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">at Jesus’ last meal, he then<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">sat</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">with his guilt-ridden grief until he
could move forward. He had failed, but he had also drunk from the cup of
salvation, and he became a rock on which the church was built. I am no Peter,
but the church is still getting built, and rocks―large and small―are still
needed. Praise to you, Lord Christ!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><i>— Tom Tiller</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-16827192060934319662014-04-14T12:20:00.003-07:002014-04-14T12:20:32.688-07:00Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10.5pt;">Psalm 42<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Exodus 10:21 – 11:8<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 Corinthians 4:13-18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mark 10:46-52</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The
readings spoke to me of faith. Longing for faith (my soul thirsts for God),
trusting and having faith (Moses doing as God bids and finding that it is as
God said), faith spoken of in a letter (It is written I believe. . . since we
have the same spirit of faith), being healed simply by having faith (Rabbi, I
want to see . . . Jesus said, ‘Go, your faith has healed you’) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">And
so I wonder—what of my own faith? It is easy to believe and have faith when
things are going smoothly. I am full of thanksgiving and simple prayers for
others. Perhaps this is not so when faced with a challenge. Then I am feeling
abandoned by God, often lost in anger, fearful of the outcome. Yet this is when
I find I most deeply get in touch with my faith. When I cry out to the Lord and
He gives me direction, leading me out of the darkness. When I can articulate my
faith and am assured that all will be well even if it may not appear so. When I
feel whole once again, simply because I believe. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The
storm comes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Without
warning <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">A
torrent of <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Despair
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Anger
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Fear
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Faith
falls <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Shattered
by the power <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Lost,
I grasp for hope <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Seeking
answers <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Finding
none <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Finally
EGO turns away <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Exhausted
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Allowing
God <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">I
see at last <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Faith
standing by the door,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Welcoming
me home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>— Anne Cressin</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-9508794819856669932014-04-14T12:19:00.003-07:002014-04-14T12:19:34.417-07:00Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">Psalm 143<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exodus 9:13-35<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2
Corinthians 4:1-12<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark 10:32-45</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Quoted and adapted from<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">the readings<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">A Servant’s Prayer <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Hear my prayer, O God; in
your faithfulness, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>let me hear of your steadfast love in the
morning,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for I put my trust in you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Teach me the way I should
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">There is no one like you
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your power and your name resound through
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Show me the light of the
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for I put my trust in you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Betsy Daniel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-49079777986792432132014-04-14T12:17:00.002-07:002014-04-14T12:17:57.234-07:00Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">Psalm 133<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Exodus 7:25 – 8:19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 Corinthians 3:7-18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mark 10:17-31</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">The gospel reading for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="background: white; color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">today</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">from Mark is a storehouse of hard sayings,
perhaps particularly hard for prosperous Episcopalians. “It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.” Not being particularly prosperous myself may make it too easy
for me to look past this saying, yet it speaks to all of us, as does this later
statement: “But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">The context of the passage is the young man who
asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life but was not willing to give
up his possessions to help the poor. I suspect that Jesus saw through him
immediately. (“Why do you call me good?”) Don’t ask a profound question unless
you (we) are really serious about receiving an answer!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">We should not pretend to resolve this passage in
any comfortable way. Certainly it is asking where we have placed our hearts.
And what are we willing to put at risk for the sake of the gospel? Money?
Power? Prestige? Even family (see verses 29-30)? We are all imperfect, with
feet of clay, but that does not excuse our falling short.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Various attempts have been made through the
centuries to ignore or explain away the hard sayings of the New Testament. The
simplicity and love for the poor shown by Pope Francis come across as a fresh
renewal of the gospel. But it does not follow that Jesus would tell each of us
to sell all we have and give everything to the poor. We see through a glass
darkly. It is often hard to know what we are called to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">This Lenten season should remind us to seek
discernment, to strive to do God's will in ways that are challenging and
self-giving. But if we can grow in acting out of gratitude to God and
compassion for others, we may also remember that our imperfections are not the
last word. That word is God’s reconciling love for his whole creation: the Word
of Easter morning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /><i>
—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Zuck</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-5940208152032954742014-04-08T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-08T21:00:11.371-07:00Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 128 •
Exodus 7:8-24 • 2 Corinthians 2:14 – 3:6 •
Mark 10:1-16</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Today’s
readings in Exodus and 2 Corinthians give examples of needing to find external
validation and “proof” in order to act or believe in something. This is still
commonplace today, whether it is seeking approval from a boss or mentor, a
loved one or stranger, or looking for a sign that something is meant to be or
not meant to be. We often look outside of ourselves for direction that informs
our actions and beliefs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">In
Mark’s passage we receive a reminder about how to escape that sometimes
damaging and often exhausting quest for confirmation. We are instructed to
receive the kingdom of God like a child. Imagine if we went through life with
the lens we have as children: unbiased and open to all truth and possibility;
an outlook of abundance rather than scarcity; and certainty rather than fear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Today
is my baptism birthday and I am reminded of the gift we are all given in
baptism: the holy waters of baptism, the promise of God’s eternal presence
among us. Stardust and Spirit that we can turn to inside of ourselves—what
greater validation do we need?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Creator God, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">You have blessed us with
your love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You have brushed us with stardust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You have called us to live for others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You have given us the challenge of plenty,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>resources beyond our needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Instruct us how to be a
blessing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>how to usher in a world of peace,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>how to craft from the stardust<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>a bright future for all of our children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Thank you, God, for your
blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Teach us to bless one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Joan Brown Campbell, “Prayers from
Chautauqua”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>— Erika Viccellio</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-78667320975777711342014-04-07T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-07T21:00:04.977-07:00Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 123 •
Exodus 5:1 – 6:1 • 1 Corinthians 14:20-40 •
Mark 9:42-50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Undoubtedly, these readings leave much
to consider—if for no other reason than they occasionally do not make very much
sense. (Side note: if 1 Cor. 14:34-35 infuriated you, please note that they
were likely added by some unscrupulous people far after Paul penned his
letter.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Mark especially has many
interpretations. Some scholars reasoned that Jesus was castigating sexual abuse
of children and multiple forms of sexual dalliance. This did not seem the case
to me; rather, the central point of this passage, I believe, regards
distractions—things that get in the way of our relationship with God and Jesus.
For Pharaoh, this was not knowing the Lord—a fault which caused him to
ultimately unleash the Plagues. For Paul’s Corinthians, they were arguing among
themselves about whether or not speaking in tongues was the most valuable
spiritual gift. The disciples, before this passage, argued about who was the greatest
among them—and not far enough away that Jesus did not pick up on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Distractions are sins; distracting
someone was causing them to sin. Jesus gives as clear as a solution as a
warning of not following it: remove those distractions from your life, an
especially appropriate message in this season of fasting. If TV gets in the way
of your relationship with God, sell it; if coffee or wine impedes it, stop
drinking them; if church obscures it, reform the church. Paul’s Corinthians
loved to speak in tongues for the perceived importance, but as Paul told them,
tongues are useless without an interpretation because the community goes
unedified, their minds distracted, and any nonbeliever who walks in will think
them crazy as a hoot owl. The community suffers—the church suffers—because the
members have lost the very thing that gave them purpose and meaning, like salt
that somehow goes salt-less: the relationship with God through Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; text-indent: 0.5in;">This relationship was never going to
be easy. We will be “salted with fire”—purified and preserved, as with salt,
through the trials—trials we may from time to time fail—of a life following
Christ. But if we can carry Christ in our hearts and refuse to suffer
distractions, if we “have salt among ourselves,” then we are well on our way to
earning the Kingdom of Heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>— Adam Lees</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-17612081493809634142014-04-07T18:02:00.000-07:002014-04-07T18:02:36.543-07:00Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm 35<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exodus 4:10-31<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1
Corinthians 14:1-19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark 9:30-41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">In<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">Mark 9</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">:30-41, Jesus says whoever desires to
be first shall be last. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">So, I’ve been first and I’ve been
last. Wherever I perceive myself to be (first, last, in the middle), I feel
better about the place I’ve landed when I’ve been myself, when a desire to
please or impress wasn’t present. But, just like feelings, our sense of
placement is temporary and it is always in our head, whether or not our
“standing” is something observable by others. It just doesn’t matter. God
doesn’t ask us to be first, just to be. From<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>that</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>place of accepting our self, as
imperfect as we are, and knowing we are worthy and loved by God, we can love
and serve others, can see them as who they are—and, that is what God desires
for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">There is great freedom in just<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>be</i>ing. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The relief can be tremendous when we
stop trying to be something we’re not. And, in being, we can more easily enter
into relationships with, and serve, others. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who
works with gang members in Los Angeles, suggests, “Our choice is not to focus
on the narrow, but to narrow our focus. The gate that leads to life is not
about restriction at all. It is about an entry into the expansive. There is a
vastness in knowing you’re a son/daughter worth having.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> Don Miguel Ruiz encourages us to
“. . . Be authentic. Be the presence. Be happiness. Be love. Be joy. Be yourself;
that’s the main point. That’s wisdom.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">So, as I wake up<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="background: white; color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">tomorrow</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Garamond;">morning, what if I asked, “Do I want to be first
or be myself?” I think that if I allow the latter, which is what God intends,
then being “first” or “last” will not matter because I’ll be in relationship
with God and others and that’s a place that will always be just fine in the eye
of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>― </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><i>Tim
Rambo</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-19643601994561206772014-04-05T04:39:00.000-07:002014-04-05T04:39:01.913-07:00Fifth Sunday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611633">Psalm 145</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611666">Exodus 3:16 – 4:12</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611700">Romans 12:1-12</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611731">John 8:46-59</a></span><b><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: FrutigerLinotype-Roman;">As I write this, I am returning
from a global conference on marine conservation in California, where I spoke on
three panels about my work in Virginia. Many colleagues who have PhDs and are
leaders in the field of marine conservation were also on these panels. It did
not take me long to start fretting that my contributions were trifling and
pedestrian compared to the innovative and dazzling work of my august and
ambitious peers. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">I felt like an imposter, on verge of full exposure and
expulsion from the club. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Moses also struggled with imposter syndrome. In the
Exodus reading for today, he desperately tries to convince God that he is
unworthy of his call, consumed by anxiety of public speaking and being perceived
as a fraud. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">God will have none of it.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">God tells Moses to get over himself and his insecurities—as if to
say:</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">“Moses, this is NOT about
you!”</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">God does not call Moses to succeed
as a leader or public speaker, but rather, calls Moses to bear faithful witness
to God’s will. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">In fact, Moses never actually made it to the Promised Land; his
unwavering faithfulness along the epic journey is what made him the great
prophet of the Hebrew Bible. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Mother Teresa said, “We are not called to be
successful, but faithful.” How do we heed this call in a society that
obsessively worships the false gods of career achievements and success? Father
Gregory Boyle, S.J., said, “If you surrender your need for results and
outcomes, success becomes God’s business.” How true! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">However, we can only
surrender if we truly believe that God adores and delights in our true selves
and that any—and all—gifts we have to offer are enough, without exception. The
call to faithfulness then is the call to freedom and authenticity where none
are imposters and all belong to the club called God’s Kingdom on Earth.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-68385603294995949132014-04-04T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-04T21:00:09.321-07:00Fourth Saturday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611268">Psalm 108</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611309">Exodus 2:23 – 3:15</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611346">1 Corinthians 13:1-13</a><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611346"> </a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263611382">Mark 9:14-29</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">In
today’s Gospel, the father of a boy who was possessed by a demon asked Jesus,
“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus told him,
“Everything is possible for one who believes.” The father responded by saying,
“I do believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!” Jesus then commanded the impure
spirit to come out of the boy. When his disciples asked, “Why couldn't we drive
it out?” Jesus answered, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">But there is no indication in Mark’s
story that Jesus prayed at all, and it seems likely that if Mark had intended
the point of the story to be that you have to pray before an unclean spirit
will listen to you, he would have included that detail. Instead, the only
prayer is from the boy’s father—“Help me overcome my unbelief!” He did NOT
pray, “Dear God, heal my son.” He prayed for faith—for help in believing in
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">I struggle with this story, for two
reasons. First, knowing what we know about medicine and psychology, it is hard
to believe that this is an accurate description of Jesus actually casting out a
physical demon. Second, it presents faith as almost like bribery, as a </span><i style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">quid pro quo—</i><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">if you believe in Jesus,
you get a free “heal your kid” card. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">Perhaps the miracle stories in the
Bible were supposed to inspire faith; for me, they were obstacles to faith.
(Bishop John Robinson’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But That I Can’t
Believe</i> resonated with me.) If being a Christian meant having to disregard
the laws of physics, it didn’t work for me. And I used to think that those
“unbeliefs” meant that I couldn’t be a good Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">Scott Peck, author of </span><i style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">The Road Less Traveled</i><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11pt;">, believed that
“One of the great sins of the Christian church is the discouragement of
doubting. There’s a limit to doubting. If you become really good at doubting,
you begin to doubt your own doubts.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">I hope Peck is right; I am really
good at doubting. But I think I’ve hit the limit. I stopped fighting in my mind
over the miracle stories, and I found that, in words quoted by Bishop John
Spong in his latest book, “The older I get the more deeply I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i>, but the less <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beliefs</i> I have.” I still don’t believe
that Jesus suspended the laws of physics, but I have decided that I don’t need
to believe in the literal truth of the miracle stories to believe in the
divinity of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;">Fewer
beliefs, more believing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>— </i></span><span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><i>Lloyd
Snook</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-5754842816347301522014-04-04T04:29:00.002-07:002014-04-04T04:31:32.859-07:00Fourth Friday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263610859">Psalm 107:33-43</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263610910">Exodus 2:1-22</a><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263610910"> </a>
• <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263610945">1 Corinthians 12:27 – 13:3</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263610974">Mark9:2-13</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">I keep an icon of the Transfiguration pinned to the wall over my
desk. Occasionally when I am reading or writing something, it will catch my
eye. On the best days, it offers a brief moment of grace, a time when I’m
stopped in the midst of my work and called to remember God’s presence in the more
mundane parts of my life. This is how I tend to think of the
Transfiguration—as a break in the relentless action of Mark’s gospel in which
the power of God comes to visibility, a moment in which we are granted a vision
of the hidden glory of Christ. I can see something of the beauty of God peeking
through the world, and am moved by it; I imagine Christ’s body burning white,
and long for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">Other days, my eyes are cast down, continuing down the icon to
gaze at the prone figures of the disciples at Jesus’ feet. Their faces are
twisted with fear. Even the usually garrulous Peter is reduced to
stammering on Mount Tabor: “He did not know what to say, for they were
terrified” (Mk 9.6). And I know this feeling too. Lent begins and ends
with this fear: on Ash<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">Wednesday</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">we are confronted by our own death; on
Good<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">Friday</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">, we are shown something far worse, a
different sort of icon in which this once-bright body is twisted by the
violence we inflict upon one another every day. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>God dwells with us</i>, we hear on
the Mount of the Transfiguration—but this is a terrible thought for us who have
only begun to be made holy. (Moses knew this; so did Elijah.) Our eyes are
too weak for this sight. We cannot bear to look at it, and so we throw ourselves
down with the apostles. And it is right that we meet them here, bowed in
the dust in humility and penance—for it is precisely by kneeling that we are
healed of our sin, strengthened to contemplate this uncreated light, and fit to
rest in it eternally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">— Joe Lenow</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-20711735914356599212014-04-02T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T21:00:09.739-07:00Fourth Thursday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049467">Psalm 73</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049497">Exodus 1:6-22 </a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049525">1 Corinthians 12:12-26</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049555">Mark 8:27 – 9:1</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><b><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Jesus said: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If any man would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life
will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save
it.”<br /><o:p></o:p></i></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p> </o:p></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Dear Lord, my Jesus, let me hear Your
meaning. What is it to deny myself? What is it to take up my Cross and follow? I
will put the ear of my heart to Your Lips. I will wait and listen. . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Life and Death are at war within me. I
live on the brink of despair. You know this. Your Cross is Life; it is not
sadness and limitation. Your Cross is victory over death. Your Cross is Life.
And yet, I choose death. I choose to spin a fabricated self, a web of futile
concerns and anxieties. I do not trust your Cross. I fear its
implications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I run from its
freedom!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I save myself. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The self that You, dear Lord, have
asked me to deny . . . does it even exist, based as it is on a lie?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What lie?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The lie of a self that believes it can exist apart from God. But I
cannot breathe one breath without You. This You have told me. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Make in me a readiness for change. Make
me supple in Your Hands, dear Lord. Cover me in Holy Ash. Hide me from myself. I
have grown weary living by my own lights (which is no life at all!). Light,
now, the innermost flame no sin has ever touched. Press upon a melted heart
Your Holy Pattern. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Now, in these days leading up to Your
Crucifixion, help me lay bare to You my soul. By Your Grace let me see clearly
my own sin and shortcomings. But let me look upon my own wretchedness as a
mother looks upon her newborn child. And bless me that I may take on the
suffering of those around me, identifying with their pain, transforming all
suffering in the depths of my being where You ceaselessly utter me, my Name. .
. .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Dear Lord Christ, bless us, that we may see Our
Selves through Your Eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eli,
Eli, Lama Sabachtani”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>— A St. Paul’s Parishioner</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-65930660655354222992014-04-01T21:00:00.000-07:002014-04-01T21:00:03.988-07:00Fourth Wednesday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049150">Psalm 119:121-144 </a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049179">Genesis 50:15-26 </a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049221">1 Corinthians 12:1-11</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263049266">Mark 8:11-26</a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm
119: 121-144:</span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond;"> Above this psalm is
written in my Bible “The Glories of God’s Law.” Here the psalmist is not
intellectualizing about the meaning of Torah but declaring in very passionate
terms his love for the law, “with open mouth I pant, because I long for your
commandments.” “My flesh trembles for fear of you.” “My eyes fail from watching
for your salvation.” But I particularly love the last line when the psalmist
asks “give me understanding that I may live,” suggesting that in addition to
love and commitment, we also need to “understand.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Imagining overhearing or participating in the
psalm is both exhausting and exhilarating. It’s like a battle cry for a group
of scholars who then go into their separate rooms and pore over texts, but also
for the rest of us who struggle every day to live according to God’s word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Mark
8:14-28: </span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond;">One’s dominant
impression of Jesus in Mark’s gospel is that this Jesus is a man with a mission
who has no time for foolish questions. Look and see what I am doing! Don’t you
get it? I don’t know the significance of the 12 and 7 baskets left over about
feeding the multitudes, presumably it does have significance, but like the
disciples, I don’t get it. Then we read about the interesting cure of the blind
man. First Jesus takes him by the hand out of the village. He puts saliva on
his eyes and lays his hands on him. When Jesus asks him can you see anything,
the man looks up and says, “I can see people but they look like trees,
walking.” That doesn’t seem to be good enough; Jesus tries again and the man
looks “intently” and sees everything clearly. At the end Jesus sends him away
but tells him not to go into the village. Why in this very fast paced story
does Mark pause to give us this interesting detail? Do the stories connect? The
relationship between the blind man and Jesus is marked by none of the
frustration Jesus shows with his disciples even though it takes the blind man
some time to see as he is supposed to see. Clearly he doesn’t want people to
look like trees, so Jesus heals him a second time. Jesus is like a doctor
wanting to get it right before he sends him on his way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>— Peggy Galloway</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-64031645679165877732014-03-31T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-31T21:00:03.149-07:00Fourth Tuesday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048887">Psalm 100</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048919">Genesis 49:29 – 50:14</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048949">1 Corinthians 11:17-34</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048978">Mark 8:1-10</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>“Examine
yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who
eat and drink without discerning the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against
themselves. . . . But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. . . . So
then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat [the Lord’s
Supper], wait for one another.” </i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>1 Corinthians 11:28, 29, 31, 33</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">One
thrust of Paul’s instructions in this epistle, is that we should come to the
Lord’s Table with “clean and contrite hearts.” In order for the bread and wine
to truly make <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">present</i> for us Christ’s
death and resurrection, we must know and take responsibility for our own
failings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">More
striking to me about today’s passage from 1 Corinthians was the particular sin,
and the amends for it, that Paul was focused on. The Corinthians had been
splitting into factions, some of them cutting ahead in line and getting drunk,
while others were left hungry. To Paul, it is very important that we all approach
the table as equals: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">when you come
together to eat, wait for one another.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Having
drifted from the Episcopal Church <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1979</i>, I had first seen communion offered
in a circle around the altar, only in 2001, at my cousin’s ordination as a
Congregationalist minister. “Standing equidistant from the table makes for a
lovely ceremony,” I thought, “for Congregationalists,” but I assumed that that
sort of thing wouldn’t fly back ‘home’ in the church of Bishops, Priests and
Deacons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">I
am so glad that I was very wrong in that assumption. Standing around the altar
in a circle, as we do here, my new home, is a way of living the instructions of
St. Paul: of waiting for one another. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Lord’s supper feels so much more communal to me, when we stand in a circle,
equidistant from the table and nearly level with the servers, rather than
approaching the altar from below, with a railing barricading the table and the
officials from the people receiving the supper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>― Patsy Goolsby</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-13201692707107194232014-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-30T21:00:01.336-07:00Fourth Monday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048605">Psalm 89:19-52</a> •
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048642">Genesis 49:1-28</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048678">1 Corinthians 10:14 – 11:1</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048708">Mark7:24-37</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">Today</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">the Church reflects upon an episode in
St. Mark’s gospel when Jesus miraculously gives a deaf and mute man the ability
to hear and speak. We ordinarily speak of the episode as, “Jesus heals a
deaf man.” But this is strange. First of all, why “heal” a man of being
deaf? Many<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="object"><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: Garamond;">today</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">, including scholars working in Deaf
theology, do not wish to be “healed” of being deaf, any more than they wish to
be “healed” of being female or “healed” of being smart.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">And the episode is strange on another count, as well. Why “heal”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>this</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>man and no one else? Jesus does
not “heal” all the deaf people whom he meets. He heals<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>this</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>one. For everyone whom Jesus
heals, there are any number whom he does not heal. One explanation may lie
in His words in Luke 4: “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when
the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine
in the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath in the
land of Sidon”—that is, outside Israel. Christ here is making a point
about salvation being extended by God beyond God’s own Chosen People, even to
the gentiles. Likewise, “there were many lepers in Israel in the time of
the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the
Syrian.” These miraculous healings opened new communities to God’s
salvation and opened Israel to new communities. They de-provincialized the
kingdom of God. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">St. Mark does not say
Christ “healed” the deaf man, but rather that he made him to hear and
speak. This would have enabled the man to liaise between the deaf and
hearing communities more effectively, to help them understand each other (not
to homogenize them). This is one reason why Gallaudet University, a great
center of Deaf learning, has chosen this verse of Mark as its school motto:
“Ephphatha,” “let it be opened.” This Lent, let us be opened; let us
learn from each other in Christ’s Church.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Garamond;">— Ashley Faulkner<o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-76731982103258803752014-03-29T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-29T21:00:02.453-07:00Fourth Sunday in Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048289">Psalm 19</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048324">Genesis 48:8-22</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>• <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048358">Romans 8:11-25</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263048387">John 6:27-40</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Garamond;">“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread
of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me
will never be thirsty.’” (John 6:35)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really believe</i> that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Literally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Then
you may lose sight of the promise Jesus made to his disciples<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“that all who see the Son and believe in him
may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(John 6:40)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead you may be a confident supporter of the ‘Prosperity Gospel,’ and
believe in their doctrine that financial blessings are the will of God—and, to
put it bluntly, “if you have it, God blessed you with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if you don’t, well,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what does that say about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this doctrine,
poverty is a curse that can be broken by faith. So, obviously. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">And
if you are among the unfortunate, you may have listened to proponents of this
prosperity doctrine long enough to actually believe that you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deserve</i> your plight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No safety net for you; just pray harder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">I
have great difficulty and dislike for proponents of the prosperity gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do not reflect the teachings of
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I need to spend more time and effort
towards an increase in the minimum wage, show more activism for social justice,
and lobby for more English teachers—to explain the difference between <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">literal, figurative, parable, allegory,
metaphor, illogical conclusions, </i>and perhaps most importantly,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> selfishness</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Diane Wakat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-8941636717353414942014-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-28T21:00:06.087-07:00Saturday in the Third Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883252">Psalm 136</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883298">Genesis 47:27 – 48:7</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883327">1 Corinthians 10:1-13</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883354">Mark 7:1-23</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Psalm
136 is a song of praise to God. The repeated refrain “his mercy endures
forever” is both a memory of the mighty works described in each verse, as well
as a promise of continued mercy into the future forever. The work of creation
is praised in the Psalm along with God’s mercy and continuing love through the
events of history. These repeated words of the refrain echo through the other
readings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">The
Genesis story stresses family commitment and recalls God’s promise to Israel.
Joseph’s promise to Jacob is an example of honoring a parent’s wishes and is an
image of God’s love for us. The story also prefigures the commandment of filial
honor to be revealed in the wilderness. In the reading from Mark, history (as
religious tradition) is given a different context. Jesus is often critical of
the rigid practices of his Jewish contemporaries, especially when, as here,
religious practice has become an excuse for selfishness. We learn of a peculiar
Jewish religious law and hear Jesus calling out the hypocrites who practice
outward religion for personal gain. They have forgotten the greater message of
the commandment to honor father and mother, in favor of a self-serving false
gift to the temple. Jesus then sharpens and clarifies his message by explaining
that sin (uncleanness) comes from within a person; external practice will not
cleanse an impure heart. Paul recalls Israel’s history for the Corinthians.
Israel’s time in the wilderness was a time of temptation. He tells the Corinthians
that even with temptations all around, a pure heart will convey the inner
strength to resist. Paul thus reinforces Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel reading
by stressing the strength found in a pure heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">History
can be a teacher and example. Tradition can be enlightening or a convenient
mental straitjacket. We know that God’s mercy endures outside history,
throughout eternity. We know that sin and salvation live in the heart.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-64824146117082662672014-03-27T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-27T21:00:04.655-07:00Friday in the Third Week of Lent<div align="center" class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883011">Psalm 92</a>
• <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883041">Genesis 47:1-26</a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883078">1
Corinthians 9:16-27</a><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883078"> </a> • <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262883109">Mark 6:47-56</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Jesus walking on water was not luck. Jesus has
been praying all night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciples
are out on a boat on the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
struggling to row against wind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before
dawn, he goes out to them, walking on the water. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are understandably amazed. Afterwards,
they travel around together and people recognize Jesus. They bring him their
sick and he heals them. These events, walking on water and healing of the sick,
are referred to as miracles, a word that is also of course commonly used today.
I collaborated with my children—Alex, Jack and Amelia—to think about what
miracles are and whether this word carries the same meaning today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">What are
miracles? </span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond;">Miracles are remarkable
ways God makes His presence known in our lives through his son Jesus, holy people,
or everyday life. Though miracles are unexpected or unusual, a “once in a blue
moon” (Amelia) rare occurrence, they can happen to anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with the disciples, often people don’t
understand the miracle or recognize God’s hand in them. Alex says, “[miracles
are] something amazing that God causes to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have many miracles in my life, but I don’t
think of them as miracles.”<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;">What
about modern miracles? </span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond;">We looked
at some “modern miracles,” from the Chilean miners who survived 69 days
underground to science like DNA mapping to Marian apparitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are these miracles?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By our definition, yes and no. These events
are unexpected and rare, but some modern miracles also look very much like
luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as Alex points out, some
modern “miracles” can also be explained by science and the idea that
“everything has to happen for a reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Math has reason too and if there aren’t any miracles in math so why
should there be in science?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s only
a miracle when science finds out a new thing.” As for the Marian apparitions,
my skeptics felt that “people were trying to see her so they see her; they want
to see her, a mirage.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly these
miracles follow a different process than Jesus’ miracles, which people “see,”
if at all, after the fact. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Final
thoughts: “Back then miracles were way different than ours” (Jack). “I think
that there are miracles today like there are in the Bible ―miracles can’t just
stop happening but not as good ones as back then, not as big” (Alex). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>— The Nachbar Family<o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195552041933447948.post-5677687207773729312014-03-26T21:00:00.000-07:002014-03-26T21:00:04.376-07:00Thursday in the Third Week of Lent<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -.1in; margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262715361">Psalm 86</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262715421">Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262715450">1Corinthians 9:1-15</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>•<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=262715480">Mark 6:30-46</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Standard" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><b><i>The Miracle Told in All Four Gospels<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Standard" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><b><i>A Meditation on Mark 6:30-46</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;"><i>BETH-lehem</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Hebrew, it means House-of-Bread (or
Sustenance).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is its literal translation.
I named my daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Lee, BETH, her nickname, for “house,”
and the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Beth, (pronounced “Bait”), and
she is my second child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">This
miracle, the Multiplication of the Loaves, as it is known, is the ONLY miracle
told in all four Gospels. Not only that, here, in Mark, it is recounted
twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now why is that? And how many
women and children were included to the numbers of men counted (5,000 and
4,000, respectively)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Since
I returned from the Holy Land in June of ’99, I have often meditated on a tile
I bought there to display in my kitchen. It is of one of the most famous
ancient mosaics of Jerusalem, artistically balancing some bread loaves and some
fish in circular baskets. It is a beautiful depiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">When
Jesus was asked by his disciples, “What are we supposed to feed the people
here?” he made it so everyone could eat—and also have leftovers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">How
and why did he do this? Perhaps he was more concerned that his listeners would
not be famished while they listened. Or perhaps he wanted us to know that if we
listen to him, his grace will always be abundantly supplied. He came so that we
might have life, and not just life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life
MORE ABUNDANT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">Soften
our hearts, O Lord, do not let our hearts grow hard for any reason. Help us
know that you will provide at all times for us, your servants. Help us to
multiply our faith in exponential numbers, as you did “(in that) deserted
place. . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="right" class="Standard" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Margaret
V. Lee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0