February 11th, 2013. He had the extraordinary capacity to recognize the Divinity in all human beings. If you have already donated, thank you! My first conscious memory of hearing the BAT KOL, the Daughter of a Sound, the still small voice of DIVINITY happened on a sojourn into a Thin Place during a summer camping trip when I was just 13. But when I became an adult, I put childish ways aside. So, how is it that I deny the resurrection. }); Join thousands of others like you who are contributing their voice to Progressive Christianity and list your church, organization or yourself in our global directory. That left my chamber-maiding at a local lodge where the housekeeper was always kind enough to keep my Sunday mornings free so that I could go to church, while hung-over colleagues struggled to clean up. No wonder Jesus took Peter, John, and James up there to pray. What a stupid argument. If there is a natural body, then there is also a spiritual body., Theres more, lots more, but lets just stop and catch ou breath. In the tears of that little Ukrainian family, I began to see yet another face of CHRIST, a face I had refused to see before. Sign up for an account and get your newsletters right away! We have been distracted by violence into compliance with systems which threaten our existence as a species, as we loot our planet of its life-giving resources so that we might increase our abilities to perpetrate violence on grander and grander scales. I confess, I was in denial. Bert Polman (bdp5@calvin.edu) is a hymnologist who is a professor and chair of the music department at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scholars tell us that the letter was written between the years 53 and 57. So, let us see the wounds inflicted by violence, and practice resurrection. Thanks be to ALL that is HOLY! CHRIST was sent to die for you!. We covenant to love as Jesus the Christ loved us- loving our neighbors as ourselves. Resurrection is beauty appreciated, love shared, justice implemented. Or better still, let me cling to the promise of a Saviour who will carry us out of this world and into the next, at no cost, free of charge because Jesus paid the ransom for my soul. For the journey that life has been, Amen. We pray with faith and confidence. ProgressiveChristianity.org : Easter Prayer Easter Prayer Week of April 3, 2022 Christos Aneste! and to the one in the 1789 English Moravian Hymnal. Their pastor had warned them that my countenance was putting us all in danger. What mechanisms do I use to attempt to tame the untamable wind of Gods Spirit? to give our thanks and praise. And there was no official campsite back then. Dont try to see yourself as a character in the story. We dont have to travel to Europe or Afghanistan, or Syria, or Myanmar to catch a glimpse of the EMPIRE of DIVINITY, for the not yet REIGN of LOVE is already here. You provided wise men and women as judges for your people to show them the path to Life. If you look into the dust for long enough and contemplate its mystery, you shall find a resurrection. Does attending worship make my heart dance? Some walking away to become refugees, joining the endless flow of the displaced. Now, O God, with grateful hearts we remember Jesus. Send us your: ResourceEventNewsIdeasnow Whether your interpretation of the resurrection is literal or metaphorical, Easter morning is always welcome. It is time for us to be LOVE in the world. I rented a small room in a basement apartment, which I shared young couple who worked in the same grocery store as I did. But let me assure you that you are looking at someone who used to be a champion wrestler. Congregational Prayers (may be solicited), which may be preceded by other joyful and appropriate responses to the Easter Gospel. The Gospel this morning comes to us from the anonymous Gospel storyteller that we know as John. Just like the people in the story, I want to be transformed by the story of Jesus; transformed from someone who cowers in a place of safety, filled with fear and doubts, into a powerful member of a movement to create peace through justice. Let us confess our sins. 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. 3:6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. It is not our beliefs about what happened in history that transform us but the extent to which we allow these glimpses into the heart of God to energize our lives. window.location.replace('https://progressivechristianity.org/paupress/?rel=contact&pau_form=contact_form'); Just like Thomas, who had the good sense to doubt the resurrection, most of us have been conditioned to look for the physical resuscitation of a corpse; a bonified, pardon the pun, a bonified, actual physical body, complete with wounds and all. These days they are called orcas. I suspect that even offering all you have to a wastrel and a scoundrel is worth a shot if it means finding peace. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, Most of us have travelled far above the Earth, we have sailed through the clouds and we know that there is no heaven up there. As the night lengthened, Jesus took a simple portion of bread. Especially when what was lost is restored. McCourt was a schoolteacher, and he tells this story about a particular class in which he was challenging the assumptions of his young students. Only a foolWould sweep and sweep and sweep, leaving her purse unguarded, to search for one lone coin. I affirm the resurrection when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees,I affirm the resurrection when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out,I affirm the resurrection, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed. For a very long time, the story of Jesus appearance in the upper room where his followers were huddled in fear, conditioned me to focus my attention upon Jesus wounds, Thomas doubts, and back again to Jesus wounds, and then to Thomas belief. Repent: Metanoia: to think new thoughts Let us repent, metanoia Let us think new thoughts. Jesus experienced that. My point is Paul was just warming up. Contact Us. To believe in the historicity of the resurrection is one thing. Thoughts on Readings, Prayers & Hymn Suggestions. Then he said to them, Today, in your hearing, this scripture passage is fulfilled., Words 2004 Hope Publishing Company; LiscenSing 1975, When It Comes to Resurrection, We Look For What We Have Been Conditioned to See! Holy Mystery that is Wholly Love, you are beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description. Death, not even violent death at the hands of a powerful empire could keep Jesus commitment to compassionate resistance to the forces of empire from those who longed for the Shalom of the Reign of GOD which Jesus proclaimed with his life. Well, we never did manage to escape. } We are free from the captivity of a way of thinking which insists that we believe what our own experience confirms is no way to live in the very reality our ancestors were struggling to fathom. The SPIRIT of DIVINITY is within us! Life finds a way. Moments when as Paul would say, we put away childish things. Moments in which the Christian short-hand explanation of Jesus death has died in you. We need to reach our year-end fundraising goal that will determine what we can do for 2023. We live a resurrection life. The apostle Paul who was the first to write about Jesus, portrays Jesus as a doorway into the ultimate. They may not want to hurl me off a cliff, although some have wished me dead, or at the very least judged and punished by their god of eternal torment. The story begins with a familiar nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the kings horses and all the kings men Couldnt put Humpty together again. McCourt asks his young students to tell him whats going on in this nursery rhyme. The truth has left its fingerprints on every living thing. *All sing: ("Alleluia, Alleluia! Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. May this meal be blessed as we gather to celebrate together. All rights reserved. The Royalists placed their biggest cannon on the wall which surrounded the city of Colchester. When Grandma finally arrived, both Crystal and her mother were almost hysterical. They were big giant killer whales, and we knew that we were their lunch. 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. and the capacity to give people an experience of God. The liturgy was adapted by Dr. Bert Polman from a form prepared by the Liturgical Committee of the Christian Reformed Church for use during an Easter Service; this liturgy can be used for all Sundays in Eastertide. Strike-slip fault and overthrust and syn and anticline Out or on the Fringe of the Church. You all know this story. Thank you. } By J. Wayne Pratt. Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Sign up for an account and get your newsletters right away! We will never know what actually happened two thousand years ago, we will always. endobj Used thoughtfully and intentionally, the written prayer of liturgy opens doors to an ageless and universal collective spirituality - even when the liturgy is used by an individual alone. Time for quiet reflection: I am eternally linked with the source of all life, Please respond Amen after each of the following affirmations of our Eucharistic Prayer. jQuery('#submit-action').click(); Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.]. Office for Worship, Doctrine and Artistic Matters, Church of Scotland, 2017. The Timeless Psalms: Psalm 148, Easter 5C, Joan Stott, prayers and meditations based on lectionary Psalms, 2016. This weeping CHRIST plays on an endless loop in my mind unravelling my carefully constructed images of the DIVINE MYSTERY which is the LOVE we have the audacity to call GOD. Join Us over Zoom, Tuesdays beginning February 21st at 7pm! So, fellow followers of the Way, if Humpty Dumpty wasnt an egg what was she? We, too, experience new possibilities arising from our failures or disappointments or what has come to an end. Whenever the news became more than I thought I could bear, I just switched it off. Frame 3: Stop and smell the roses everyday. *People sing: ("Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain," stanza 3)"Alleluia!" For years I reigned as the champion of our little world! 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. As individuals, we often find peace, comfort, and a close connection to God in a garden. jQuery('#submit-action').click(); My youth and inexperience allowed the more ornery side of my nature to come to the fore. Christ is risen! If I could, I would comfort the young woman I was by reassuring her that whatever the MYSTERY which we call God is, it is not a vengeful murderer whose thirst for a blood sacrifice, compelled Him and I do mean him, to come up with a plan which required violence, torture, and a slow, painful death. Enjoy! What do you know about the life of Jesus that sheds some light on who and what the MYSTERY that we call God is? Jesus reveals CHRIST. Jesus vision of the BASILEIA ton THEON, the Empire of DIVINITY, is not the world we live in. Ever since they began to practice resurrection, people have been trying to figure out exactly what may have happened. For after the fire came a BAT KOL. A neighbour suggested Vaseline. Easter offers meaning and hope to all people. } Apparently, some Lutherans are in this Pentecostal pastors opinion, a bit losey-goosey when it comes to atonement theories. I say quote to be polite, which is generally not the way these Christians impart these words of Scripture to me. Amen. Beautiful liturgy. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of our God. It is in Jesus life, not his death that we will find salvation. Youll find it in the first Book of Kings. When humankind struggles, we all struggle together. At the time, I didnt know what the word countenance meant. Helping you win loyal friends through your communications, All the stuff I should be writing down for a book someday, Soulful leadership in its many manifestations, A Liturgy for Easter Day (with HolyCommunion), Preaching Thomas on Low Sunday Some PossiblePathways, Reflection and Hymn: The Most DeliciousBread, Encampments: In Situ Poems and Found Devotions, This was the Original Episcopal Cafe site. Comments about the content or usability of this site? It is right. Offering of Gifts(Ordinarily the Lord's Supper will follow; during the offertory the table xoill be prepared. 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