Easter is the eternal moment that supersedes all time;the vision that puts into perspective all visionless living. For he is risen, and nothing separates us from Gods love! Grandma took a good look at the vase that used to sit on her mothers kitchen table all those years ago. You responded with grace, humility, and welcome. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. But we live in the 21st century and we have access to all sorts of information that the generations who have gone before us did not. O God, who gifts us moments of amazement, help us to accept the rhythm of the ordinary and the extraordinary that we may retain a steady awareness of your presence both in grey days and in bright. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of our God is upon me: because the Most High has anointed me to bring Good News to those who are poor. Certainly, in the church the Bible is considered to be the supreme authority of the nature of God. by acting as if we were disconnected and separate from God, our neighbor, and our world. Before the congregation hears the weekly scripture readings, the Prayer for Illumination turns our attention to God to ask that we hear God's word in order to better know God's will for our lives. good times, bad times - give me some of that: blogging on faith and life. If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiful of all the human race. jQuery(document).ready(function(){ 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? As a whale gently brushed the underside of the dingy, a strange calm came over me and I was not afraid. Let us do everything we can possibly do to challenge our own assumptions, to see beyond our own violent tendencies, our own selfish desires, and slowly, painfully slowly learn to love our enemies. Hosanna in the highest. The Risen One comes with hands full of love. Traditionally, the season of Lent is a time of repentance. Easter (250) Easter 2 Year A (102) Easter 2 Year B (114) Easter 2 Year C (122) Easter 3 Year A (49) Easter 3 Year B (29) Easter 3 Year C (50) Easter 4 Year A (120) Little did I know that in 1977 it would take me almost three days to travel the more than 1,000 km; a trip which included disembarking over and over again to lend a hand to the conductors as we worked together to clear the tracks of snow. To experience the liveliness of the resurrection is something quite different. Imagine trying to understand who Dr. King was and focusing your attention upon his assassination. In the 17th century, Galileo Galilei a personal friend of the Pope, published a paper demonstrating that the sun could not possible revolve around the earth. Jesus vision of peace through justice, what he called the BASILEIA ton THEON, the Empire of GOD, is the already but not yet SHALOM we long to find. The sun has one kind of brightness, the moon another, and the stars another. window.location.replace('https://progressivechristianity.org/paupress/?rel=contact&pau_form=contact_form'); I dont know. Just before my blow connected with its victim, I realized that I was doomed. If we look at the stories that have been told about Jesus, the stories that have contributed so much to the creation of the idol that masquerades as the Mystery we call God, we discover a narrative that seems preoccupied with Jesus death. 2023 ProgressiveChristianity.org, A Joyful Path, Childrens Curriculum Sample Lessons for Years One, Two and Three, Find Faith Communities Using A Joyful Path, The Core Values of Progressive Christianity, Bishop Spong Newsletter Progressing Spirit, Advertising on ProgressiveChristianity.org. So, if Jesus isnt describing the characteristics of a personified deity, is Jesus actually teaching us how to embody the LOVE which is DIVINITY here in the world? This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. My words are not up to the task of describing CHRIST weeping in this way. So, when the possibility arose to actually travel up to Narvik in Norway to see the mid-night sun I was off. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (I have searched for the source of this story, withoutsuccess. Through this meal, make us the body of Christ, that we may join with you in promoting the well-being of all creation. That Paul didnt much care about a physical resurrection ought to give us the courage to see the notion of a physical resuscitation of Jesus corpse for the late first century development that it was. Today, we, ourselves and our neighbours, no longer live captive to the contours of the very tiny universe in which our ancestors confined their thoughts. Liturgies. I know that we wont solve it in time to save Ukraine. Welcome to Contemporary Liturgy website. We all must take care of ourselves. Winter, with its cold and dark days has gone, just as Good Friday has passed to Easter and beyond. ELOHIM, the GOD who is the feminine plural of MAJESTY, said to Elijah: Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of YHWEH, for YAHWEH is about to pass by. Imagine the MYSTERY, which is the I AM, the very essence of BEING is about to pass by. I assumed that it had something to do with counting myself out of their way of worshipping. This year, we at Holy Cross are giving up God for Lent. An agency of The United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries helps local church, district, and conference leaders fulfill the shared dream of making world-changing disciples. I first heard it at a retreat on the West Coast a lifetime ago). Well, for now, we weep. Your support is needed to help ProgressiveChristianityorg. Let us repent, metanoia Let us think new thoughts. By J. Wayne Pratt. These perfect humans enjoyed a perfect relationship with their Creator. May the Spirit open our souls in order for us to see humanity, God and creation through the eyes of Jesus. } Hearts to Heaven and Voices Raise," stanza 4) Alleluia, Alleluia! They must have seen me gazing at them, or at least I like to imagine they did. Bert Polman ([email protected]) is a hymnologist who is a professor and chair of the music department at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Winter gives way to sprin Then I discovered the card placed in the center of my bed. Robert Solon Jr. This gospel was written some 70 years after the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. There werent many of us who made the effort. Father, Son, and Holy . Believing, as Jesus believed, that beyond pain and darkness and death, For more than a decade and a half churches around the world have been relying on Sacredise for prayers, liturgies, sermon starters, and devotional materials to help them create worship gatherings that draw people in and that connect them more deeply with God, themselves, others, and our world. Lent is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Oriental . What might we wealthy followers of Jesus be prepared to pay to serve the needs of those held captive to the financial empire of our time? Progressive Christianity USA's Liturgy Project The USA-based Liturgy Project provides hundreds of liturgical posts by authors around the globe. Physics teaches us that nothing dies, everything is transformed. Today, it is Easter Sunday for orthodox Christians. Rile em up! From desert cliff and mountaintop we trace the wide design, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 My youth and inexperience allowed the more ornery side of my nature to come to the fore. */ But it does have the power to transfigure. And also with you. Today, it only matters that CHRIST rises in us, rises in the people of Ukraine, rises in the people of Russia, rises in people wherever they are, who long for peace. Easter or New-life event. Easter is the festival of the irrepressible God whom not even death can contain. and we bless the earth and all that fills it. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. We give thanks and rejoice that Jesus so clearly and courageously linked our loving and our dying with living on in God. Letting go of our carefully crafted and tightly held images of the ONE who IS the SOURCE of ALL BEING is a daunting task. Support our mission with a tax-deductible donation! And we give you thanks. But let me assure you that you are looking at someone who used to be a champion wrestler. World in Prayer, the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Lodi, California. Liturgy - Easter Liturgy Index Next Easter Day In Western Christianity, Easter marks the end of Lent, a period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, which begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts forty days (not counting Sundays). Now greet each other with Easter peace! For all who are striving to form new governments, for thepeople of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine: that God will enlighten and inspiretheir leaders to build structures that will respect rights, promote life andhealth and establish educational and economic opportunities. Pauls description of resurrection does not conflict with our 21stcentury inability to accept the suspension of the natural order of the Cosmos. By John van de Laar|2023-02-22T21:53:14+02:00Feb 22nd, 2023|Categories: Daily Worship|, THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK When it comes to life, the Bible is clear that we can only be most fully alive when we are deeply and meaningfully connected with others. Mishandling scripture to avoid traditional interpretations of it. We remember that the women came, early in the morning, on the third day. Today, during this season of Easter, our doubts about the possibility of resurrection are not as important as our doubts about the possibility of peace. Weve heard these interpretations of Jesus life, death, and resurrection so many times that they have almost become indistinguishable from the idol that we have created to stand in for the Mystery that we call God. He is risen indeed! Practicing resurrection requires that we gather sharing our gifts, talents and treasure for the good of all. This despite the fact that the biblical author of the book of Joshua wrote that God stopped the rotation of the sun around the earth in order to provide Joshua with an extended period of daylight in which to kill his enemies. You and I are the wealthiest followers of Jesus who have ever walked the Earth. My brother didnt stand a chance. Ask congregation if they have any resurrections they would like to share. Breathe forth the goodness that is within you. Add to Bin. Im guessing that in vast majority of the interpretations of these parables, the shepherd, the woman, and the father are usually identified as a symbol for the MYSTERY which we call GOD. Try to hear the word ransom not with ears blocked by centuries of perverse theological atonement theories. 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. We give thanks for the way he opened our minds and hearts to see and appreciate the intimate and never-ending connection between loving and the spirit of love. Come then to the joyful feast of the Lord! And God called thefirmamentHeaven.. endobj To which Jesus responded, From the cup I drink of, you will drink; the baptism I am immersed in, you will share. 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. Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Let us offer a sacrifice in the form of embodied LOVE. if ( thisact == "contact" ) { The conflation with Spring and new life is no coincidence we are grateful for the cycle of renewal in all its forms. Do you still have a hold of that candy? Mmm humm. I was about to hit him again, when for no apparent reason Alan released me from his grip. Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. You are holy, O God of Life, and holy is Jesus Christ, your Son, the resurrected One. As tensions escalated and our world held our collective breath, the fragility of the peace we cling to, the peace built through military might, and threats of violence and mutual annihilation, this illusion of peace was threatened by the ambitions of a powerful oligarch obsessed with delusions of restoring tribal supremacy for his once mighty nation. Paralyzed by their fear, hiding behind a locked door, something happened which gave them the strength to burst forth from their own tomb and change the world. May this meal be blessed as we gather to celebrate together. I like the Apostle Paul, do not believe in the resuscitation of a corpse. When you sow, you do not sow the full-blown plant but a kernel of wheat or some other grain. Frame 17: Look for the resurrections in your life. You would be correct to conclude that I do believe in resurrection. [Meal is shared according to custom of congregation.]. Let us pray for the intentions within our hearts: We know that when we raise our minds and hearts to the Presence among us, extraordinary things happen. What shalom there will be as SHALOM is restored through justice. Easter Sunrise We encourage you to celebrate the Resurrection with your family (and perhaps with neighbors, safely at a distance outdoors) by worshiping the Lord at sunrise using the liturgy below. While greasing her childs wrist like a cake pan, she asked the obvious mother question. How in the world did you do this, child? Crystal carefully explained that she had dropped candy down into the vase to see if she could still see it when it was at the very bottom. Steve carefully explained to me that I was in mortal danger. Im in real danger of losing my ability to follow Jesus on what appears to all the world to be the foolish path of non-violent resistance to empire. We need to reach our year-end fundraising goal that will determine what we can do for 2023. We have rested in the depth of your love; Then it is given the body designed for itwith each kind of seed getting its own kind of body. } He opened the scriptures, explaining everything; and they knew him in the breaking of the bread. This story was written by the anonymous gospel-storyteller we know as John some 70 years after Jesus death, some twenty years after the Jewish war with Rome in which the Empire destroyed the Temple, raised most of Jerusalem to the ground, and sent Jews and the followers of Jesus into exile. and to the one in the 1789 English Moravian Hymnal. The endless loop projects many faces of CHRIST. It was a very quiet little voice deep down inside of me, at least I think it was inside of me. Im a child of my times. Lectionary Commentary Elizabeth Myer April 27, 2021 Progressive Lectionary Commentary, Progressive Christian Resources for Advent, Lectionary Commentary, Progressive Liturgical Resources, Revised Common Lectionary Year B, Revised Common Lectionary Easter 5 Year B, Revised Common Lectionary Easter 5, Lectionary Commentary Easter 5 Year B . In the eating of this bread, as Christs body, and in the sharing of this cup, as Christs blood, But I digress. 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. petitions prayers for strength a selection of modern petitions asking for God's strength to come, with a prayer for those grieving and a prayer for hope. When the complete vine suffers, we all suffer together. Frame 11: When life hands you a lemon make lemonade!*. During his blessing, Jesus reminded them how he would go to the ends of the earth in his love for them. 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