For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. Romans 4:13-14
Faith not Law. Religion not Sicience. Right Brain not Left Brain.
We order the world with human constructs that conceal our ignorance, hide our failings, and mask the fallen and broken state of our lives. The secular clouds the divine.
In this Lenten season, we seek to witness Your Truth, a morning without clouds.
Loving God, we thank you for your steadfast love. We ask you to bestow upon us the vision to see the path that you have laid before us and the courage to follow your call, wherever your voice leads. We beseech you to grant us the strength to look inward, to know in our hearts the brokeness and fraility of our lives, so that we may, in such humble and humbling reflections, get closer to you. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Elder David Tennant
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friday, March 6
"No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations... As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name." Genesis 17:5, 15
"The Guest-House" is a poem that my physician introduced me to during a meditation and mindfulness class he taught some years ago. Since then I've used it as a personal mantra that is especially useful when unexpected events surface and throw me off course.
The Guest-House
from "Say I Am You" poems of Rumi
translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks
This being human is a guest-house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Elder Jean Coco
"The Guest-House" is a poem that my physician introduced me to during a meditation and mindfulness class he taught some years ago. Since then I've used it as a personal mantra that is especially useful when unexpected events surface and throw me off course.
The Guest-House
from "Say I Am You" poems of Rumi
translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks
This being human is a guest-house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Elder Jean Coco
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, March 5
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:31-38
The scripture above is among the most clear descriptions of what being a Christian entails. To not only believe in Jesus’ words, but to consciously and dutifully live according to His directions is very difficult. It very much confronts us with the everyday dilemma of faith versus living a secular life. Do we trust or do we not? How deeply do we believe? How do we balance the love of life, family and friends, the ambitions of life, justice to strangers and so many more everyday challenges with the faith and belief in Jesus and His words as expressed above? Are we prepared to give up what we love for Him? Nothing simple about faith when viewed through that lens.
Most of us fall short in some ways on some days. The magic and wonder is to know that Jesus has accepted us and loves us without regard to our blemishes. He has said that the road to salvation lies in the honesty of striving to take up his cross. Jesus knows the difficulty of these matters. He has lived and experienced them Himself.
I am reminded that even Mother Theresa was filled with doubts and continued to strive to live up to Jesus’ strictures. She was fulfilled by the spirit. She made a difference. For us, we too make a difference. Jesus showed us the way. Jesus showed us that physical death and physical pain may come but in the end if we are faithful we shall find life and joy forever. He keeps us covenant with us. Thanks be to God.
Dear God, we thank you for the gift of life. You have shown us how we can change the world by changing the world within our own hearts. You have given us life for each and every day, as well as the promise of life eternal. You sent your Son to show and teach us how.
You sent Jesus as your renewed covenant with us. We give thanks for such a remarkable and life changing gift. You have kept your promises to us while we have fallen short, and yet you love us still. In this Lenten season, we give thanks for your love.
We pray for steadfastness, humility, and awareness as we strive to walk the path that Jesus has so clearly laid out for us. We pray for renewed energy and commitment. We pray that we are good stewards. We pray that someday all persons will believe and live according to Jesus’ words to us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Elder Dale Maddock
He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:31-38
The scripture above is among the most clear descriptions of what being a Christian entails. To not only believe in Jesus’ words, but to consciously and dutifully live according to His directions is very difficult. It very much confronts us with the everyday dilemma of faith versus living a secular life. Do we trust or do we not? How deeply do we believe? How do we balance the love of life, family and friends, the ambitions of life, justice to strangers and so many more everyday challenges with the faith and belief in Jesus and His words as expressed above? Are we prepared to give up what we love for Him? Nothing simple about faith when viewed through that lens.
Most of us fall short in some ways on some days. The magic and wonder is to know that Jesus has accepted us and loves us without regard to our blemishes. He has said that the road to salvation lies in the honesty of striving to take up his cross. Jesus knows the difficulty of these matters. He has lived and experienced them Himself.
I am reminded that even Mother Theresa was filled with doubts and continued to strive to live up to Jesus’ strictures. She was fulfilled by the spirit. She made a difference. For us, we too make a difference. Jesus showed us the way. Jesus showed us that physical death and physical pain may come but in the end if we are faithful we shall find life and joy forever. He keeps us covenant with us. Thanks be to God.
Dear God, we thank you for the gift of life. You have shown us how we can change the world by changing the world within our own hearts. You have given us life for each and every day, as well as the promise of life eternal. You sent your Son to show and teach us how.
You sent Jesus as your renewed covenant with us. We give thanks for such a remarkable and life changing gift. You have kept your promises to us while we have fallen short, and yet you love us still. In this Lenten season, we give thanks for your love.
We pray for steadfastness, humility, and awareness as we strive to walk the path that Jesus has so clearly laid out for us. We pray for renewed energy and commitment. We pray that we are good stewards. We pray that someday all persons will believe and live according to Jesus’ words to us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Elder Dale Maddock
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4
Abram threw himself down on his face, and God spoke with him and said, “I make this covenant, and I make it with you: you shall be the father of a host of nations.” Genesis 17:3-5
For [Abraham] is the father of us all, as Scripture says: “I have appointed you to be father of many nations.” This promise, then, was valid before God, the God in whom he put his faith, the God who makes the dead live and summons things that are not yet in existence as if they already were. Romans 4: 17-18
What does it take to believe in God’s promises? Sometimes it feels like a real stretch to me. It’s hard to envision the kind of leap of faith that God was asking Abram to make. In today’s passage from Genesis, God tells Abram to basically forget everything that he knows about his own reality and the shape of his life. The future’s going to be different from what Abram anticipated. Based on the covenant that God promises, Abram and his wife Sarai find themselves given completely new identities. God rewrites the story, assigns them new names, and changes the plot of their lives. Now this elderly, childless couple is going to have a son and become the foundation for “a host of nations.” It certainly sounds overwhelming and hard to accept.
I know that there have been points in my life when I have felt myself stumped, unable to imagine the circumstances that will serve as a bridge to get me from the present “here” to the future “there.” It seems impossible to envision what it would take to find the path to the future, let alone see the individual steps that it will require to travel that path. But as Paul writes in the verses from Romans, God is not only with us on the path, God is way ahead of us. As Paul puts it, this is our God who “summons things that are not yet in existence as if they already were.” What a faith that is, to take God’s implausible promises at face value and not to quibble over the path from here to there but, like Abraham to accept God’s unexpected future as a present reality.
God, strengthen me in faith this Lenten season. May I find myself inspired by the continuity of your covenant and equipped to place my trust in the promises that will uphold me on the path into the future. Amen.
Chris Bensch, Clerk of Session
For [Abraham] is the father of us all, as Scripture says: “I have appointed you to be father of many nations.” This promise, then, was valid before God, the God in whom he put his faith, the God who makes the dead live and summons things that are not yet in existence as if they already were. Romans 4: 17-18
What does it take to believe in God’s promises? Sometimes it feels like a real stretch to me. It’s hard to envision the kind of leap of faith that God was asking Abram to make. In today’s passage from Genesis, God tells Abram to basically forget everything that he knows about his own reality and the shape of his life. The future’s going to be different from what Abram anticipated. Based on the covenant that God promises, Abram and his wife Sarai find themselves given completely new identities. God rewrites the story, assigns them new names, and changes the plot of their lives. Now this elderly, childless couple is going to have a son and become the foundation for “a host of nations.” It certainly sounds overwhelming and hard to accept.
I know that there have been points in my life when I have felt myself stumped, unable to imagine the circumstances that will serve as a bridge to get me from the present “here” to the future “there.” It seems impossible to envision what it would take to find the path to the future, let alone see the individual steps that it will require to travel that path. But as Paul writes in the verses from Romans, God is not only with us on the path, God is way ahead of us. As Paul puts it, this is our God who “summons things that are not yet in existence as if they already were.” What a faith that is, to take God’s implausible promises at face value and not to quibble over the path from here to there but, like Abraham to accept God’s unexpected future as a present reality.
God, strengthen me in faith this Lenten season. May I find myself inspired by the continuity of your covenant and equipped to place my trust in the promises that will uphold me on the path into the future. Amen.
Chris Bensch, Clerk of Session
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tuesday, March 3
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16
Awe….Amazement…and…RESPONSIBILITY
Have you ever had one of those moments when you felt awe, amazement and responsibility? I imagine that is what Abraham must have felt. Here he was, an old man, when God appeared to him and shared the news that he would be the “ancestor to a multitude of nations.” Abraham would become a father at ninety-nine. I’m sure he felt awe…(Wow)….amazement…(Really!?!?!)…then responsibility…(Oh my goodness). I know that these are feelings I experience every day as a parent. I feel awe when my kids do something really special, amazement as they grow and become more independent, and responsibility as I help to show them what is important and right. All of these things must have been going through Abraham (and Sarah’s) mind.
Gracious God, Thank you for the gifts of awe, amazement and responsibility. Let us share your word and these gifts with the next generation, and generations beyond. Amen.
Elder Peg Rachfal
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16
Awe….Amazement…and…RESPONSIBILITY
Have you ever had one of those moments when you felt awe, amazement and responsibility? I imagine that is what Abraham must have felt. Here he was, an old man, when God appeared to him and shared the news that he would be the “ancestor to a multitude of nations.” Abraham would become a father at ninety-nine. I’m sure he felt awe…(Wow)….amazement…(Really!?!?!)…then responsibility…(Oh my goodness). I know that these are feelings I experience every day as a parent. I feel awe when my kids do something really special, amazement as they grow and become more independent, and responsibility as I help to show them what is important and right. All of these things must have been going through Abraham (and Sarah’s) mind.
Gracious God, Thank you for the gifts of awe, amazement and responsibility. Let us share your word and these gifts with the next generation, and generations beyond. Amen.
Elder Peg Rachfal
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday, March 2
"And I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth." Genesis 9: 11, 13
Like most church-going children, I was introduced to the story of Noah and the flood early in my church school education, and I thought of it often throughout my childhood. That might have had something to do with the painting in my room of Noah's Ark after the flood. I spent a lot of time looking at that painting, comparing the size of the ark and all the animals surrounding Noah, and trying to imagine the insanity of spending 40 days in a rainstorm on a boat with all those wild animals. I loved the symbolism of the rainbow, and I still do—it's a perennial reminder of our relationship with God. Each time I see a rainbow, it takes me unawares and startles me with it's miraculous, simple beauty. In our family, when someone spots a rainbow, they call the others to come a see it. We stop what we're doing to take a moment out of the routine of the day and we watch the rainbow together. When it disappears we return to whatever we were doing, a little more peaceful than before, remembering that God loves each of us.
Loving God, You've taught us so much about your love in the generations since the story of the flood was first told. Thank you for showing me your love, even when it is most unexpected. Prepare me to share your love with others through my words and deeds. And help me to remember that you will always love me. Amen.
Deacon Christie Lutzer
Like most church-going children, I was introduced to the story of Noah and the flood early in my church school education, and I thought of it often throughout my childhood. That might have had something to do with the painting in my room of Noah's Ark after the flood. I spent a lot of time looking at that painting, comparing the size of the ark and all the animals surrounding Noah, and trying to imagine the insanity of spending 40 days in a rainstorm on a boat with all those wild animals. I loved the symbolism of the rainbow, and I still do—it's a perennial reminder of our relationship with God. Each time I see a rainbow, it takes me unawares and startles me with it's miraculous, simple beauty. In our family, when someone spots a rainbow, they call the others to come a see it. We stop what we're doing to take a moment out of the routine of the day and we watch the rainbow together. When it disappears we return to whatever we were doing, a little more peaceful than before, remembering that God loves each of us.
Loving God, You've taught us so much about your love in the generations since the story of the flood was first told. Thank you for showing me your love, even when it is most unexpected. Prepare me to share your love with others through my words and deeds. And help me to remember that you will always love me. Amen.
Deacon Christie Lutzer
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Sunday, March 1
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O, Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Psalm 25 :1-5
For most Christian people, our pattern of piety is somewhat like a see-saw: there are ups and downs, times of good strong seasons and others that feel dry and weak. The emotions of the ancient psalmist are not that far from what some of us may be feeling. There are times of praise as we, like the psalmist, “lift our souls to God.” Then there are truth telling confessions of hardship, loneliness and grief. As we all know too well, life for the faithful is not guaranteed to be without heartache or sorrow. One theme that seems to radiate from this psalm is the notion that the way to address the challenges of life is through further education and instruction. The psalmist asks God to guide, to show, to instruct and teach. If during this Lenten season we see ourselves as disciples, followers, and students perhaps we can devote some extra time to learning more about the One whom we worship and adore.
Pamela Foye, Parish Visitor
For most Christian people, our pattern of piety is somewhat like a see-saw: there are ups and downs, times of good strong seasons and others that feel dry and weak. The emotions of the ancient psalmist are not that far from what some of us may be feeling. There are times of praise as we, like the psalmist, “lift our souls to God.” Then there are truth telling confessions of hardship, loneliness and grief. As we all know too well, life for the faithful is not guaranteed to be without heartache or sorrow. One theme that seems to radiate from this psalm is the notion that the way to address the challenges of life is through further education and instruction. The psalmist asks God to guide, to show, to instruct and teach. If during this Lenten season we see ourselves as disciples, followers, and students perhaps we can devote some extra time to learning more about the One whom we worship and adore.
Pamela Foye, Parish Visitor
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