Tuesday, March 30

by John Wilkinson, Pastor

As Jesus has been teaching, preaching, performing miracles, the crowds are growing. In Matthew 14:22-33, he walked on the water, and Peter didn’t. But note the setting. He had just fed the crowd with loaves and fishes. He needs to get away. He dismisses the crowds. So perhaps our Lenten water can be the lake on which Jesus walked and Peter didn’t. But more so, perhaps it can be the lake shore where we gather to meet Jesus. That thin place between him and us, and our hopes and dreams and desires and fears—our expectations, and how he meets them.

Perhaps it is the same question, now some 2000 years old. Who is he? Who are we? What happens when we encounter Jesus at that lakeshore? How are our expectations of him, and us, met, exceeded, transformed?

So let’s ask the question one more time, as we prepare to meet him, at the lakeshore, at the foot of the cross, at the empty tomb. What are our expectations—of him, and us? Whatever they are, I could make the case that he does not meet them. Rather, he exceeds them, and better than that, he transforms them. We don’t necessarily get the messiah we want, or expect. But we get the one that we—and the world, and the church—need. And that is good news indeed.

Monday, March 29

by Jane Carden

“On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38

My dad was a remarkable man. He was a fun-loving, forth-right, family man. He was a veteran of WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. He loved the University of Delaware Blue Hens, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. And he loved to eat… the simple foods… ice cream, grape nuts cereal, and hotdogs or as my dad called them, tube steaks. Towards the end of his life, he found joy in the little things… petting a dog, singing along with Mitch, and his ice, oh how he loved his ice! During those last weeks, I was blessed to spend hours by his bedside reading, reminiscing and sharing glass after glass of crushed ice with him. I took joy in helping him as he took pleasure in the coldness, the crunching, and the refreshing feel it left him with. And those ice snacks always ended the same way, with a duet of “Ahhh.”

This Lenten season may your thirst be quenched with the Living Water, Jesus Christ. May you drink deeply from His well, be filled to overflowing with His loving Spirit, may your faith be refreshed and may you find yourself saying “Ahhh!” Glory be to God.

Loving God, as we continue our journey through Lent, may our thirst be quenched through the living water. Amen.

Palm Sunday, March 28

Prayer of Water
by Joan Brown, osf, Archdiocese of Santa Fe

"Be praised my God for Sister Water who is useful, humble, precious and pure."

As St. Francis prayed in great gratitude for Sister Water,
we pray in thankfulness for her life sustaining generosity.
Oh, water, in your mysterious beauty you cause the desert to bloom.
One tiny drop spread collected with thousands of drops
waters seeds and future harvests to feed us and all creatures.
One tiny drop multiplied quenches our burning thirst.
Our bodies, like the body of earth, are over 75% water.
We are a water people.
We are a water planet.

Oh compassionate God, Creator who breathed over the waters we seek forgiveness for our mindless use of water. We beg for wisdom to know how to conserve and cherish water, We ask healing for the ways that we disrespect and contaminate our sister. In this drought time we wait and watch for the gift of rain upon earth. We watch and wait for the rain of grace into our souls. Come free us from hatred, greed, fear, and our lack of love for your gifts upon earth. Transform us into living streams of water flowing green and moist with life, hope and love for earth and all peoples. We pray this prayer in the name of God who is gracious Creator, Jesus who is Eternal Word, and Spirit who is Wellspring of Wisdom.

Thursday, March 25

From “In His Hands Are the Depths” by Daniel G Deffenbaugh

Recently I discovered the work of an artist whose depictions of events from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament speak to me in a new and challenging way… Often He Qi uses very vibrant primary colors to give his paintings the impression of complex movement and life, but in some instances he relies on the more elemental shades of green, yellow, and umber, allowing only an incidental tone of red to nuance his canvas, as is evident in this scene. Here Jesus is seated at Jacob’s well and a young woman is standing before him; their red mouths accentuate the improbable dialogue that is about to take place.

An excerpt from today’s sermon for the LENTEN VOICES SERMON SERIES led by Martha Langford. Bring your lunch and join the discussion at 12:00 NOON in Room 103 of the Education Wing (ground floor).

Tuesday, March 23

by John Wilkinson, Pastor

During Lent, the Junior Choir has been offering a 200-year old plus paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm as a worship introit, by perhaps the greatest of hymn writers, Isaac Watts. It is in my top-five of all time favorite hymns, which I actually have. The first stanza is printed on this morning’s bulletin cover: “My shepherd will supply my needs, Jehovah is his name. In pastures fresh me makes me feed beside the living stream. He brings my wandering spirit back when I forsake his ways. And lead’s me of his mercy’s sake in paths of truth and grace.” I learned that hymn as a choir anthem in high school and it has stuck with me, sung at the baptisms of each of our children.

My shepherd will supply my need. We believe that. The theologians call it “providence.” It is one of those theologically jargon-y words that makes religion less accessible in the real world. But it is not that jargon-y. “Providence” and “provide” are related—to see ahead, to know what’s coming, to meet needs. Providence implies a provider who provides—like a health care provider, to use the phrase of the day, who can see ahead of a patient's need and offer the right response.

Isaac Watts concluded his lovely paraphrase of Psalm 23 this way: “The sure provision of my God attend me all my days. O may Thy house be my abode and all my work be praise. There would I fined a settled rest while others go and come. No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” May that be our benediction—may God’s sure provision attend us always, and the people we love, and the world God created and called good.

Monday, March 22

by Martha Langford

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. JOHN 5:2-9

The photo comes from a trip to Jerusalem; we had traveled to its northeast quadrant to visit St. Anne’s Church. Once outside, we saw it... a place where high walls crowd verdant ruins that hold at their center a pool of water. Closer examination confirmed what archeologists had already discovered; the pool at St. Anne’s has five porticoes making it this pool—the pool of Beth-zatha better known as the pool of Bethesda.

In the time of Jesus, two nearby caves were turned into baths dedicated to the Greek god Asclepius as a place of healing. And the healing properties of the water were known to the Jewish people of the day. They knew it as a place where God’s angels would stir the waters and make of them a healing fountain.

The invalid of this passage has lain by the waters for thirty-eight years, waiting for his opportunity to be first into the waters as they stirred; a long wait to receive God’s healing mercy. The days and weeks and years were filled—I am sure—with at least a few “almosts” and “might-have-beens.” But, there he lay, alone and unable to make his own way into the full measure of God’s grace as the first to enter the pool.

But this day, a different kind of stirring was happening in Jerusalem. It was festival time and crowds were on the move into the city; Jesus among them. Heading toward the Sheep Gate, Jesus sees the man—knows his plight—and asks the simple question, “Do you want to be made well?”

After tendering his excuses at his own inability to get himself well, he looks to Jesus who—with a full measure of God’s grace and mercy—makes the man whole once again.

First! He tried for thirty-eight years to be first! It was a competition and the gold medal was God’s grace and mercy. I wonder how often we treat God’s grace as if it was a prize that one might earn. What a burden to carry. I wonder how we would respond, if we were asked to lay such a burden down—to find grace and wholeness through the one who claims us and whose name we bear. I wonder how long it would take for us to find life in Christ’s question, “Do you want to be made well?”

Dear God, through your son Jesus Christ, you share the gift of grace and mercy and wholeness and life. Grant us the courage to accept the gift, to be made whole and wholly yours. AMEN.

Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21