These prayers are inspired by the great Psalm of contrition, Psalm 51. These prayers are designed to be used each week in Lent, except for the closing prayer which will reflect each week’s Gospel lesson. These prayers will work best if a brief pause is observed before the couplet. All churches have express permission to use, modify, or adapt these prayers in a way that best serves the individual community. Celebrant Have mercy on us, […]
John, the author of the fourth Gospel, is being anything but subtle in the beginning of the fifth chapter. Jesus came near the plot of land that JACOB had given to Joseph. A well, was there – JACOB’s well. The woman who meets him there asks him if he thinks he’s greater than JACOB. Oh, and did I mention a well? Like the well where JACOB met his wife Rachel? The mother of Joseph. To […]
These prayers are inspired by the great Psalm of contrition, Psalm 51. These prayers are designed to be used each week in Lent, except for the closing prayer which will reflect each week’s Gospel lesson. These prayers will work best if a brief pause is observed before the couplet. All churches have express permission to use, modify, or adapt these prayers in a way that best serves the individual community. Celebrant Have mercy on us, […]
What does being “born again” mean? How does it work? Being born a first time seems like enough of a miracle – how can a second time be any better? And, if being born again is absolutely necessary, do you get to have another baby shower when it happens? Or, maybe another belly button? Jesus tells Nicodemus, a curious Pharisee who comes to Jesus during the night, that “no one can see the kingdom of […]
These prayers are inspired by the great Psalm of contrition, Psalm 51. These prayers are designed to be used each week in Lent, except for the closing prayer which will reflect each week’s Gospel lesson. These prayers will work best if a brief pause is observed before the couplet. All churches have express permission to use, modify, or adapt these prayers in a way that best serves the individual community. Celebrant Have mercy on us, […]
The version of the Creation in Genesis chapter 1, as we know, shows a remarkably ordered world, with an unfolding plan of creation that springs forth from the words of our Creator God. There is a place for everything, and everything is in it’s place. The creation story in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 is a little different. God is still creator, but he’s hands-on, digging in the earth and collaborating with others in the […]
One of the interesting features of Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary, is that Ash Wednesday’s traditional year-after-year Gospel lesson comes after five Sundays in Epiphanytide of Gospel lessons from The Sermon on the Mount. Unlike years B and C, we get to see the Ash Wednesday Gospel after hearing from the Great Sermon for over a month. We’ve been well-steeped in the Sermon this year, and it provides an interesting vantage point. The […]
After a person is baptized in an Episcopal Church, there is a prayer said for the newly baptized, which concludes like this: “Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.” The gift of joy and wonder in all your works. We’ve […]
Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of […]
We are so familiar with Jesus’ command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. What many aren’t as familiar with though, is that this command is a redaction of two Old Testament laws: Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Leviticus 19:18 Love your neighbor as yourself. We typically think of Jesus transcending the laws […]