Sunday, March 22, 2015 (full size gallery)
Today was Lent 5, the last Sunday before Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. We had 37 this Sunday as Mike, Marilyn, Helmut and Susan were back from various trips.
This week featured the Village Harvest Food Distribution feeding a larger number – 76 people. It was a gorgeous spring date before spring began on March 20. We are seeing daffodils blooming and others popping out – iris, day lilies. Spring on Friday, March 20 was was actually cold and rainy.
On Sunday at 10am we had the last session of Lenten Prayer practices. This week was on Silent Prayer and had 7 people. In particular Catherine used praying with a candle which she related to life. The candle wax burns down as does life fade away. The candle as fragile as it life and can be snuffed away. The flame illuminates the darkness and provides focus. There is the Isaiah 42:3 passage about "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;" We think about God’s presence as we are enveloped in prayer with God. It is persistent prayer. She recommended spending 10 minutes a day with a candle as a spiritual practice.
In terms of the lectionary in the 11am service, we are preparing for the New Covenant. We have been reflecting back upon God’s covenants throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, from Noah to Moses, and now we recognize a new covenant that God has written upon our hearts, where we know God, where God forgives our sins and remembers them no more.
The sermon was on the concept of glory from John’s Gospel. The music was closely related with the procession hymn, "Glorious is the Name of Jesus" which was new to St. Peter’s today. The offertory was "Glorious Things." The last hymn was from the Baptist hymnbook, "To God be the Glory" which we had sung in an earlier service.
"Knowing about glory helps us to understand who God is. And knowing about God’s glory helps us to understand who God wants us to be."
She traced the concept of glory back to the Old Testament. "The nature of God’s glory within the tent is “to be conceived as a radiant, fiery substance.”" In the OT, God’s glory is so radiant and fiery that we mere mortals would be consumed by it. This is why OT people believed that no one could see God and live because God’s glory would be too overwhelming.
"In the New Testament, Glory continues to be connected with that divine fiery radiance of God. A familiar example immediately comes to mind from Luke’s Christmas story.
"John emphasizes what it means “to see” throughout his gospel.That’s why we have his statement at the beginning—“and we have seen his glory.”
"Here’s how this idea plays out in today’s gospel. Right before today’s gospel reading, Jesus has triumphantly entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, to the adulation of the crowds. In John’s gospel, seeing is always about more than physical seeing. Seeing is about knowing the truth of things, actually seeing into God’s glory, and so when these Greeks say that they want to see Jesus, it’s about their longing for something deeper than they’ve found so far in their lives.
"When Philip and Andrew tell Jesus about the Greeks, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Notice here that this is not something Jesus does, but God reveals God’s glory through Jesus. The writer of Hebrews says that Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by God. So in Jesus’ crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension, God makes God’s glory visible. So we give God glory in our lives by giving God our total love and by loving one another as God has loved us."
So in our lives how is it important ?
"1. First of all, going back to our Old Testament example of God in the cloud and in the fire—when we hope in glory we go willingly into the clouds in our lives. It’s this idea—to enter into prayer, especially in the clouds in our lives—not with the answers, but to rest in the eternal mystery of God. For me the result of this sort of prayer is that it burns away blindness, and I’m able to see more clearly glimpses of God’s glory all around me on a regular basis. And importantly, glimpses of God’s glory in the midst of all the clouds that come up in life—those negative events that would otherwise drive us crazy—even those things are interlaced with glimpses of God’s glory, if we’ve been willing to enter into the cloud of unknowing on a regular basis
"2. Second, the hope of glory gives us the courage to follow God’s direction in our lives, even when we are scared to do that. So the hope of glory is about discernment based on our awe and fear of God, and our desire to please God. We find that we want to follow God, even when doing so will lead through the valley of the shadow of death, and this process will hurt. To see Jesus in all his glory—this desire in our lives is the thing that gives us the courage to enter the cloud, to discern and to follow."
During the announcements, Catherine pointed out the rose on the altar was in honor or Marie Catherine Duke born this week March 17 to Dave and Carolyn Duke. Barbara thanked the congregation for prayers for her brother who is doing better. Cookie invited members to sign up as greeters for two special days, Tuesday of Garden Week and the Booth Tour on April 25. Johnny invited the ECM to help with the church clean up day this Saturday, March 27, in preparation of Holy Week. We also remembered birthdays for Johnny,. Alex Long VI and Arthur Duke.
This week we are doing a service for the Annunciation on Wed. March 25, 7pm with a covered dish supper at 5:30pm. This is an unusual service for an Episcopal church though it is celebrated with the Catholics. Catherine promised to have angel food cake at the supper.
Commentary by Lance Ousley, Canon of the Diocese of Olympia, Washington
Forgiveness is one of the greatest blessings we can share. God gives it to us freely, doing the hard work of forgiveness, God’s self. But like any blessing we must first receive it and then give it, to appreciate the fullness of the blessing. The steward’s heart rooted in the abundance of God’s grace receives blessings and allows them to flow through them to others. Forgiveness is one of these blessings.
Jeremiah records God’s forgiveness of God’s wayward people, and God doing the hard part for them and us, even giving us all new hearts of flesh that seek God with the very actions of our lives.
The Psalm options focus on our need for God in doing what is lovely and true and gracious and, …Godly. I pray Psalm 51:11 every time before I officiate at the Liturgy of the Table expressing an acknowledgement of my continual need for forgiveness and to be forgiving.
Accepting forgiveness can only be found in humility. One has to acknowledge one’s own sins and shortcomings to receive the forgiveness that is offered by God or any other person. The text from Hebrews illustrates Jesus’ humility to us, and he sets for us a model of how we are called "to lose our lives" in humility and forgiveness.
Jesus understood the power of forgiveness, both our being forgiven of our transgressions and of our forgiveness of others. Holding forgiveness locked inside of ourselves causes our hearts to become like stone, harden by the burden of vengeance that steals away our life. This is the holding-tight to our lives that can cause damage to our souls as we protect against the messiness of relationships that can nourish our spirit with love and grace.
The outside world desperately wants to see Jesus, like the Greeks do in John 12. God has called us, the Church, to reflect Jesus’ glory in and to the world. The blessing of Jesus’ forgiveness of us is both to be received and given away. This is our call to be stewards of forgiveness. In this we find the abundance of the blessing and the gift of life. And, it this, we show the glory of Jesus to the world.