Frontpage, Feb. 24, 2019

February 24, 2019 – Epiphany 7

Top – Gospel theme, Future choir member, Spring is coming – buds growing amidst the rain. Bottom- Reenacting Joseph Coat of Many Colors, The Peace

Pictures and text from this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019

---

The Week Ahead…

Feb. 27 – 10:00-12pm – Ecumenical Bible Study

---

March 3 – 10am – Children’s Education Living the Good News

March 3 – 11am – Holy Eucharist, Last Epiphany, the Transfiguration

Sunday, March 3 Readings and Servers

---

What’s New with the Village Harvest ?

Read the story…

---

From Epiphany to the Transfiguration

This week we are moving to Last Epiphany on March 3, the last Sunday before Lent begins.

Epiphany is about 2 revelations – Christ to the world through the wise men as well as revelation of Christ to us through baptism. On the first Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. His baptism is seen as the primary baptism, the one on which all baptisms follow, the recognition that his followers belong to God as “Christ’s own forever.”

During the three to eight weeks after the Epiphany, we learned in the gospel lectionary readings about Jesus’ miracles of healing and his teachings. This is a continuation of the theme of the revelation of Christ to his followers. “Come Follow Me”. Jesus has not only arrived but through him the kingdom of God as one who fulfills and extends God’s teachings through the Sermon of the Mount. The last Sunday in Epiphany, the transfiguration can be seen as the bridge between Epiphany and Lent.

At the beginning of the Epiphany season, at the Baptism of Jesus, the liturgical color was white. In the Gospel reading in Matthew at his baptism said, “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In the Transfiguration which we will celebrate on March 3, the 8th Sunday after Epiphany, the Gospel of Matthew records, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” The liturgical color once again is white.

Transfiguration serves as the culmination, the climax, of Jesus manifesting his glory and his identity as the Son of God. From this point on, Jesus sets out to Jerusalem, to suffer, die and be resurrected. We will see this story during Lent beginning March 6. This same glory he will return to, once he has completed the saving mission for which he came. Coming full circle, we will one day be in life with Christ as “Christ’s own forever.”

---

Epiphany Eucharistic Prayer

As we draw to the end of Epiphany on March 3, this is the Eucharistic Prayer we have been using during the season. It is drawn from several sources noted at the end of the text link

Text is here

---

Lectionary, March 3, 2019

I. Theme – How we can be empowered by our relationship with God

“ The Transfiguration ” – Fra Angelico (1440-1442)

“About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” –Luke 9:28:29

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm – Psalm 99
Epistle – 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Gospel – Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]

Today’s readings help us see how we can be empowered by our relationship to God. The Gospels speak about experiences with God and Jesus. In Exodus, we witness the physical transformation of Moses after spending time in God’s presence. In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of being transformed into the likeness of God. In the gospel, Jesus is transformed, his glory revealed and his mission affirmed by a voice from heaven. Ultimately the disciples will need transformation also.

The season after the Epiphany concludes with one of the most powerful epiphanies of all – the Transfiguration. This story comes at the center of Luke’s story, between Jesus’ baptism and his resurrection.

Luke’s account of the transfiguration points back to Old Testament parallels and forward to Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. As is such it brings in a new dimension of Jesus and a new relationship that the disciples would have with him. Their experience so far has been of Jesus the teacher, the healer, the miracle-worker. Now they are seeing a new vision of Jesus, a new understanding of him as the Christ – as one who would venture to Jerusalem , be killed but then resurrected .

They are still not on board. Peter, however, still wants to avoid the difficulty of the journey to Jerusalem and its ultimate consequences. The mission of Jesus is not about worshipping at shrines or even the practice of religion. The mission of Jesus is about death and resurrection.

The disciples found the journey in the beginning was easier—they left everything to follow him, and to follow meant to learn his teachings and to live his ways. But now the journey will become much harder

Even faithful Christians wonder if God is absent at times, or busy somewhere else. Massive evil, brutal violence and rampant greed seem to smother any slight glimmers of spirituality. Luke’s audience may have had similar concerns, so he stresses for them the necessity of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and eventual passion there. The transfiguration offers the disciples an experience of hope and confidence that will sustain them while they wait for Jesus to return.

As Christ laid down his life for us, so we are called to give of our life to him, to give up being first, to give up our wants and desires to serve others. And like Christ, we will be called to give all for the sake of God’s love of the world. How do we live this transfiguration in our lives? How do we share what our faith means to us? It is more than a conversation that can be controversial. This is our very lives. Do we let it shine, or do we hold it back? Do we still misunderstand? How will you live out your faith differently this Lenten season?

Read more..

---

A Poem for the Transfiguration – “Flow Winds of Time”

Flow winds of time
Whilst the night takes a spin
Stars are falling in deep prime
As the darkness comes in
Feelings like river going
All is within dream reach
Night sky is now glowing
In its twinkling glow bleach

Flow on to a daybreak’s light
Reach the awaken call
In dreams blue and height
As the night must fall
Silvery dress of the day
Awaken in its true reality
Every dream’s now on its way
To become once more free

Flow to the sounds I heard
Whispers in the deep dark
Like ravens of a winged bird
Shadowed dancing embark
Life is like merry-go -round
Deep into their whole make
Until the light’s again found
As new cock-crows’ awake

Now is the night in its dancing
Humming a breeze melody
Dreams of bedroom romancing
For a new tomorrow to be

– Peter S. Quinn

Bruce Epperly writes of Transfiguration Sunday in broad strokes:

“God knows, there’s healing to be done, and quickly. But, healing is for abundant life and celebration not just release and relief. Transfiguration Sunday says “take off your sad rags,” “ditch the frown and the furrowed brow,” “fire the thought police and arbiters of orthodoxy,” “give the inner police officer the light off,” and invite in imaginative “lovers, lunatics, and poets” to give us visions of new selves and new heavens and earths. God knows, we need them if we are to be God’s partners in transfiguring ourselves and the world.”

---

Voices of the Transfiguration

1.  Transfiguration is transformation. No one and no situation is “untransfigurable” – Dawn Hutchings

In his book, God Has A Dream: A Vision of Home for Our Time, Desmond Tutu tells about a transfiguration experience that he will never forget. It occurred when apartheid was still in full swing. Tutu and other church leaders were preparing for a meeting with the prime minister of South Africa to discuss the troubles that were destroying their nation. They met at a theological college that had closed down because of the white government’s racist policies. During a break from the proceedings, Tutu walked into the college’s garden for some quiet time. In the midst of the garden was a huge wooden cross. As Tutu looked at the barren cross, he realized that it was winter, a time when the grass was pale and dry, a time when almost no one could imagine that in a few short weeks it would be lush, green, and beautiful again. In a few short weeks, the grass and all the surrounding world would be transfigured.

As the archbishop sat there and pondered that, he obtained a new insight into the power of transfiguration, of God’s ability to transform our world. Tutu concluded that transfiguration means that no one and no situation is “untransfigurable.” The time will eventually come when the whole world will be released from its current bondage and brought to share in the glorious liberty that God intends.

Read more..

---

---

Origins of Lent

Lent begins on
March 6 with Ash Wednesday which will be celebrated in a 7pm service at St. Peter’s. What were the origins of Lent?

Over the centuries Lent accomplished two basic purposes:

1. Recommit ourselves to Christ and Deny Satan through various practices.These included prayer, fasting, merciful works (corporal and spiritual), praying with the Bible, frequent confession, the Eucharist.
2. To prepare ourselves to renew our baptismal promises

It grew in the early Christian period to bind the Christian community together to withstand various external pressures.

The practice of Lent as we know it can be traced back to the Old Testament. New Testament writers drew upon the earlier Scripture and Tradition to develop a penitential characteristic aimed at helping Christian cleanse their hearts and unite their sufferings with those of Christ on the cross. Over the past two millennia the season has remained rooted in biblical traditions and popular devotions and its development has crystallized. Yet its origins remain unclear, despite how firmly ensconced it is in Christendom.

The word “Lent” is derived from the words lencten or lente, Anglo-Saxon for “spring,” and lenctentid, or “springtide.” The Lenten structure comprises a penitential season that begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Thursday with Vespers followed by the Mass of the Last Supper. It has been refined throughout the ages to what we now know as the forty-day period of abstinence, fasting, merciful works, and prayer.

Read more..

---

Lent – Getting Started

• Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, March 5, 5pm-6:30pm. Dave Fannon will be doing the cooking.
• Lent begins Wednesday, March 6. The Ash Wednesday service with the imposition of ashes and Holy Eucharist will begin at 7PM.
  
• Lent at St. Peter’s Includes the background of Lent, the Lenten calendar with readings, resources, etc.
• Adult Christian Ed on Sundays in Lent – spend some time in 1st century Corinth. Meet (and become) one of the people who would have lived there and were Christians, and who would have inspired Paul’s letter to them.
• Lenten Quiet Day, March 13. The Rt. Rev. David C. Jones will lead the program “Here I am, Lord” on Wednesday, March 13th at Roslyn Conference and Retreat Center. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the meditations at 10 a.m. The day will end at approximately 2:30 p.m. Cost for the day is $35 and includes lunch. The sign-up sheet is in the Parish House.

---

Lent Christian Ed – Sunday Preview 1st Corinthians

Around 50AD a woman named Chloe was the leader of a house church in Corinth. But she was very upset because, like some churches today, her church was splitting apart. There were those who said there is only one true apostle, and that’s Paul. The wealthier, more educated people said, “Nah, Paul’s just a poor tentmaker who can’t even speak well. We follow Apollos, the teacher of wisdom.” The Jewish believers said, “Paul’s too liberal. Peter follows the law and he is our leader forever!” And the charismatic group of slaves said, “You’re all wrong. We should be following Christ alone!”

Creating a Scene in Corinth:A Simulation explores 1st Corinthians through a book by Reta Halteman Finger which provides an introduction to the Greco-Roman setting of Corinth and a chapter-by-chapter survey of Paul’s letter and in turn leads to a simulation of a church.

The participants divide into four factions – those favoring Paul, Apollos, Peter, and the Christ group (1 Corinthians 1:12). A brief description of the background and nature of the groups gives the participants a sense of their role in the recreation. The characters represent a cross-section of Corinthian society: they include slaves and freeborn, widows and singles, and a number who have suffered deprivation and sexual abuse – much like typical society in that day. The authors encourage the readers/actors to respond to the oral text of 1 Corinthians as if the church hadn’t yet solidified its authority as God’s revelation (as the original listeners did).

The book and class will be a unique way to understand the Corinthians 1 as text and the environment in which it was created.

---