But it does have the power to transfigure. My youth and inexperience allowed the more ornery side of my nature to come to the fore. And our Creator needs us to pay for our sinfulness. } Others, they looked confused and terrified as they are loaded on board trains. Dying you destroyed our death, Stephen Fearing /. Welcome to Contemporary Liturgy website. My friend and radical theologian Peter Rollin says it much better than I ever could. The truth has left its fingerprints on every living thing. Close with quote from Michael Morwood: In nature we see superb aspects of transformation in supernovas exploding and in their dying giving birth to new possibilities resurrection producing abundant life. jQuery.noConflict(); Anna explained that unless, I was prepared to be born again, under the tutelage of her pastor, I would need to find someplace else to live. by our unbelief and lack of understanding of Gods presence in us. I had just moved up to Jasper, Alberta, determined to make enough money during that summer, so that I could continue my backing excursions in Europe. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body.". My brother didnt stand a chance. Send us your: ResourceEventNewsIdeasnow [on the night before he died, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Living the Questions is happy to join other Michael Morwood fans in welcoming the arrival of Michael's newest book, Prayers for Progressive Christians. Leader: Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has prepared this table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. Rejecting the concept of original sin or sin nature. By the way, theres much more in Chapter 15 of Pauls letter to the followers of Jesus Way in Corinth. Whether your interpretation of the resurrection is literal or metaphorical, Easter morning is always welcome. We are an Easter people! endobj
A Liturgical and Devotional Guide for Lent. There are times when risks must be taken. Free from misguided struggles to appease the idol god of our design, we are free to see beyond our blind self-centered desire for a life beyond this life, free to see the face of DIVINITY in our neighbours face, free to see DIVINITY in the majesty of the Cosmos, and in the beauty of the Earth. The eradication of poverty is the work of LOVE in the world, this world, here and now, on this wonderful bountiful planet, upon which there is already more than enough to nourish abundant life for all. Longing to experience and share the fullness of Life that you offer, In Jesus they saw CHRIST. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). Yes, the woman should have been content with her 99 coins. He had the extraordinary capacity to recognize the Divinity in all human beings. we take these gifts that you have given us, this bread and this cup, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc. The endless loop projects many faces of CHRIST. Risen as he said! Lectionary sermon for 2 October 2022 on Luke 17: 5-10. We are sent out with these words Frame 13: I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I am here than a whole truckload when I am gone. jQuery('#submit-action').click(); jQuery(document).ready(function(){ Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. I can see on that endless loop little families in Jerusalem, fleeing to the safety of the countryside, passing endless crucifixion sites. Pachena Bay with its warm Pacific waters, heated even more by virtue of its shallow depths, attracted schools of salmon, ling cod and halibut, who make up a veritable smorgasbord for the pods of whales, that continue to visit the bay to this very day. Scholars tell us that the letter was written between the years 53 and 57. Welcome to the liturgy of The Namaste Church! So the question about the kind of body the risen Jesus had was, as Paul puts it, quite simply, stupid. jQuery.noConflict(); The face of CHRIST which must be seen if we are to end this madness. give us the new joy and justice of Easter, Responsive Chant Psalm 118: 1-6, 15-18, 24, Anthem, or Creed, Prayers or other Response of Faith here. Easter is the sky that encloses the broken egg. You created the world by speaking life into being. if ( thisact == "contact" ) { What seemed lifeless now abounds with life, new possibilities and delights. We may watch and study or may shudder and deny, Jesus lived for this. pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and cup. Well, as time passed, the situation became more and more serious. A Prayer for Sad Days of the Pandemic. Whenever the news became more than I thought I could bear, I just switched it off. He lives, and presides at this Feast! Forgive us, Merciful One. Practicing resurrection happens when we empower one another to rise.Practicing resurrection happens when we build communities of compassion that live fully, love extravagantly, and empower people to be all that they were created to be. Prayer of Communion Progressive Christianity USA's Liturgy Project The USA-based Liturgy Project provides hundreds of liturgical posts by authors around the globe. Anna had copied it from the Good News for Modern Man paraphrase of New Testament. In an instant I wiggled free, spun around and connected with what I figured would be a fatal blow. Hosanna in the highest. Pete said it this way, and I couldnt agree with him more: I deny the resurrection of CHRIST every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of CHRIST when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and the oppressed. Our count was based on the number of spouts that emanated from their blowholes. But we must honour the suffering of generations, by doing something now, so that generations from now little families wont have to cry all over again. I remember flying out of there in a hot rage. If we fix our gaze upon the surface, we limit the power of these parables to do what parables are designed to do, to turn worlds and lives upside down and inside out. Lutheran good order can and does ensure that such ecstatic behavior never happens in worship. towards ourselves and towards all living beings. A SERVICE OF WORD AND TABLE II. And when she got stuck she did what all small children do, when they have gotten themselves into a situation that the cant get out of, little Crystal cried for help. Let us begin the difficult, painstaking slow, work of wiping away every tear from the eyes of our sisters and brothers. (from Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 45). Crystal sobbed. Our kinship warmed me as I imagined their delight at our Suns sensuous self-giving display as it set. These tears will wash away our illusions of a quick fix and wipe away our delusions that by violently enforcing the status quo we can create peace. Frame 4: A smile from you can bring joy to anyone and everyone you encounter. I dont know about you but when that giant phallic ship was trusting into the wild blue yonder, I became somewhat indignant. We give thanks for Jesus of Nazareth who inspired us to put our hope and trust in the spirit of Life and Love moving in the depths of our being. and the capacity to give people an experience of God. Frame 6: You are a special and unique image of God. So much so that they confessed their desire to stay with Jesus in the splendor of that mountaintop. A neighbour suggested Vaseline. One morning when I was about 13 and my brother was 9 and a half, we were going at it, and to his credit my bother had me in an ingenious hold. Violence, how long will we put our faith in violence? This knowledge has to change the way in which we see our relationship with the MYSTERY that lies at the very source of our being; our Creator if you will. It is time for us to be LOVE in the world. Grant that being joined together in him we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things unto him who is the head, Christ our risen Lord. Metanoia is an invitation to think new thoughts. You called forth prophets who dared to speak the truth of Life to worldly powers that promoted death. What can we see in the wounds which are depicted in this story? This knowledge has an impact on how we interpret the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If a few well-placed bullets could reunite and restore that little Ukrainian family, maybe Jesus was wrong about non-violent resistance. My rail-pass covered all of Scandinavia, which before I had the opportunity to ride the Scandinavian rails, I had only seen on distorted maps which made it look ever so small in comparison to Canadas vast land mass. Not if it means risking all that we have for the sake of Jesus vision of peace through justice. Only a fool would rejoice with such extravagance. Lets try to focus on what is actually happening in the story. I do know that the followers of Jesus held dear their vison of Jesus, in whom they saw the CHRIST. What mechanisms do I use to attempt to tame the untamable wind of Gods Spirit? God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all:everyone has sinned and is far away from Gods saving presence. Even though Jesus knew he would be betrayed and deserted by those at this supper, he still continued to join them at the table, sharing time and space with whom he grew closest. Non-violent resistance is dangerous. Although she has never been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church she is venerated in both the Lutheran and Anglican churches. with the Son, God the Father praising;"Alleluia!" When humankind struggles, we all struggle together. Or study cells, or living things, seek truth with open hand. Thats at least 20 years before the Gospel according to Mark, 30 to 40 years before the gospels according to Matthew and Luke and probably nearly 50 years before the Gospel according to John. This page features the work of the Liturgy Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia. and to the one in the 1789 English Moravian Hymnal. When all the people have received, they rise to give thanks.]. Anna and Steve were Pentecostals who were convinced that my slack Lutheran ways simply werent serious enough to earn me a coveted spot in the Heaven of their dreams. jQuery(document).on('change', '#submission-action', function(){ But we do know that whatever happened it transformed a people hiding from the endless violence into courageous followers of a Way of Being in the world which death could not destroy. His eyes are too beady. reflections upon the Death of God Lent 3, Giving Up GOD for Lent the Journey Begins Lent 1, Commemorating Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), Lent: Letting Go of Our Tightly Held Piety to See Our Need of Confession, METANOIA the First Words Out of Jesus' Mouth - Mark 1:14-15, Like Nicodemus we have blinders on! I believe that the anonymous gospel-storyteller wrote his story the way that he wrote to address the fears of the people of his community. Lord, help us to make. Yes, the father should never have trusted his sons with all that he had, and when his lost son showed himself to be untrustworthy, he shouldnt have been welcomed with open arms, and as for the faithful, self-righteous son, well sometimes justice demands that we abandon the rules, if we are to achieve peace. And after the fire came a still small voice., A still small voice. Our English translations do not do the HEBREW justice. Our focus upon preserving the church gets in the way of our rebirth! Too, many Hollywood movies, inspired me to flirt with violence as I yearned for some secret agents to take him out. Ever since they began to practice resurrection, people have been trying to figure out exactly what may have happened. And star differs from star in brightness. Revealing your love, radiating your life, Jesus taught those who listened to him, Im a child of my times. Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Think about it, Jesus cant have being trying to teach us that the DIVINE MYSTERY was a reckless fool. O God, let us take in the moment of this day of crucifixion, not remembering it in the context of what came after it, but how it left Jesus' disciples and followers in tragic sadness and heart-wrenched disillusionment. I do deny the resurrection and Im guessing that you do too! I failed to capture the sunset. Let us be reckless in our LOVing, Grounded in our service, outrageously generous in our ransoming life on this planet. Surly, even Putin will come to his senses. So, when the possibility arose to actually travel up to Narvik in Norway to see the mid-night sun I was off. Today is the 35th annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. They thought I was in danger of being tormented in the bowels of Hell for all eternity. ), try clicking on the name of the season or celebration in the list of "Labels" at the lower right side of the page, or see this . Why did they repeat these stories over and over again? When we set aside the institutional narrative of atonement that the church has relied upon to interpret the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the idol that masquerades as god, the idol whose contours are reinforced in our worship services, by our hymns, prayers, creeds, choice of scriptures, and rituals, this idol begins to crumble. . What followed was a long, useless argument about the theories of atonement. For the LOVE expressed in the life and death of Jesus lives in you and in me. Are we prepared to make sacrifices in order to ransom those who suffer the indignities of the hell we have created here on Earth for the one and a half billion people held in the captivity of poverty? John 20:19-31, Parables of Loss Through the Lenses of Resistance Luke 15, CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD THE WORSHIP BULLETIN. If you have not donated yet, please do so today. Repent: Metanoia: to think new thoughts. Paul insists that there are natural bodies, which he equates with earthly bodies what we would call physical bodies and there are spiritual bodies which Paul equates with heavenly bodies. You and I are the wealthiest followers of Jesus who have ever walked the Earth. Im afraid that sacrificing more than just a pittance of my own wealth and privilege wont accomplish much more than landing me among povertys captives. Because when you look at the shepherd, the woman, and the father in these parables, they come do come off as reckless fools, unless they are risking all that they have for the sake of something worth risking everything for. The congregation is encouraged to move around the sanctuary. What is the anonymous gospel-storyteller we know as Luke trying to tell his community with these parables? As frightened as I was, I was determined to get close to these magnificent beasts. One of the authors of the Book of Genesis described creation like this : And God said, Let there be afirmamentin the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made thefirmament and divided the waters which were under thefirmamentfrom the waters which were above thefirmament: and it was so. The liturgy wasdeveloped for use during Lent. Anyway, poor old Elijah suffered in his quest to bring the WORD of YHWH to his people and in the midst of his turmoil, Elijah was lost and fearing for his life. A natural body is sown, and a spiritual body is raised up. The spiritual resurrection which Paul describes gave birth to Christianity, within the Jewish context. For Paul, Jesus was not God but a human in which God was revealed. Weakness is sown, strength is raised up. Let us affirm the resurrection by living as Jesus lived, embodying the LOVE which IS the DIVINE MYSTERY. Amen. In those sepia images of sad, forlorn, frightened faces. <>
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