Good Morning All!
Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that begins the holy season of Lent. Lent is the 6 weeks, 40 days, not counting Sundays, that lead us to the joy of Easter morning. And why don’t we count Sundays? Because as Christians, Sundays are set aside to celebrate the miracle of Christ’s resurrection.
So here we are, embarking on a holy journey; a solemn, soul-searching time; and in the midst of it all, we pause to worship God’s power and triumph over death. The rhythmic pattern we will experience in worship will be a mixture, a blending of both death to self and life eternal. The kind of soul-searching to which we are called has to do with whatever transforms us into new beings through God’s grace. Amid the stresses of everyday life, the economic challenges, the search for meaningful work, the cries of those in need of life’s basics in our own community and around the globe; the maiming and killing in so many places; and in particular, our involvement in the war in Iraq & the escalation of events in Afghanistan, we come to this holy season in need of the rest and renewal that our journey of faith offers each of us. This time in our spiritual quest calls us to intentional times of prayer and meditation.
We are being called to be faithful in our attendance in worship and study as a faith community to seek wisdom and insight; comfort and solace. We are called to be there for one another; to uphold one another; to help each other in times of struggle; and when necessary, to carry one another’s burdens for a while. Through it all, God, as our constant companion gives each of us the strength and courage to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off.
But even more than all this, as pilgrims in the faith, we are called to an even more radical understanding of this holy season; and it has to do with how we choose to live in response to the cries and needs of this life. We are called to identify with Jesus and the same Spirit that led him into and out of the wilderness and back into the everyday world.
According to Marcus Borg, in his sermon, Taking Jesus Seriously, Ash Wednesday is a time for giving one’s own word that we will live with the same compassion and justice as Jesus’ disciples in the everyday world. And in doing so we will indeed renounce our sins of turning away from our responsibilities for those who are marginalized—the poor, the oppressed, those who are discriminated against and devastated; who are rendered powerless and voiceless and who turn to you and me for strength and courage; to give voice to their needs and concerns.
Some of us choose to adopt the Roman Catholic practice to “give up” something we value or desire for the next few weeks, only to gorge ourselves with whatever we have given up, on Easter morning and the days that follow. Personally I have found it far more rewarding to engage in the discipline of “adding” something to my daily life; some one thing that will make my life more fulfilled. Perhaps the one discipline you and I choose to take on can truly make a difference in the life or lives of another. So, who is it who needs to experience our compassion? Who is it who needs us to cry out for justice on their behalf? Who are the hungry; the naked, the homeless, the oppressed, the disenfranchised? “Open our eyes Lord, we need to see Jesus…”
Tonight, we will gather for a brief Ash Wednesday service at 7:30pm (childcare provided). We will be called to move closer and closer to the One who offers us all that is needed to help us drink deeply of the Spirit that brings new life even to the dead. We will receive the sign of the ashen cross upon our foreheads reminding us of our humble beginnings and our common human end. The Journey to Jerusalem begins with a single step…Let’s get started… Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Rejoice!
Good Morning All,
I like to think that Covenant has an ongoing “gratitude journal…” On a daily basis there is so much for which to be grateful. We are truly blessed in so many ways…too numerous to mention them all. But here are a few ways in which we have been most recently blessed:
Yesterday was a great day! I got to meet and hold Charles Warren Linguist, our newest addition to our church family. I was there when he met his 2 big sisters, Lillian & Audrey, and shared in their delight; and to take some family photos.
Rejoice!
It was only 2 weeks ago that I also held Magaina Martha Hamm. Her twin brother, Garrick, needed to remain in the hospital nursery when I was there. And we’re grateful and happy that Garrick and Magaina are now at home together with their older brother and sister, Yavin & Jadzia.
Rejoice!
Just last Saturday, 25 Covenant children and friends met at the NC Food Bank to help sort 3,200#s of pasta that will feed hundreds of families in the area. As a church family we also donated 191# of food for the backpack project, knowing that a lot of children will have nutritious food to eat on the weekends.
Rejoice!
This past Sunday was yet another of those “great getting’ up mornin’s” around here. Marilyn Williams brought a message of “Hope, Trust and Faith,” at the 11am worship; giving us much to think about in our relationship with God and one another as individuals and as a church family. Rejoice!
Immediately following worship, we reconvened the called congregational meeting to consider the call of an Associate Minister. We are pleased to have extended the call to Randy Holste as our Associate Minister with Youth & Children. And we are also pleased that he has accepted this call and look forward to serving with him. :)
Rejoice!
We are so very blessed and there are many reasons for great rejoicing in our own lives and families and in our church family. One of the greatest lessons I have learned about rejoicing comes from a young child in the Christmas Pageant at First Presbyterian Church in High Point , NC :
The young children were dressed as the animals, running down the aisles toward the manger. The little brown cow was a 4 year old boy whose costume was waaaaaay tooooo big for him. He had to hold it up from the bottom so he could run. He tripped and fell and got right back up again and again until he arrived at the manger. He was rushing to the microphone to say his speaking part. He gathered his costume up around him, stood up on his tip-toes and proudly shouted out, “We-joice! We-joice!” :)
Yes, we can rejoice and be exceedingly glad on our own…but I believe it is a much richer and more meaningful experience when we We-joice together! We-joice! God is with us…
Blessings, Joanne
I like to think that Covenant has an ongoing “gratitude journal…” On a daily basis there is so much for which to be grateful. We are truly blessed in so many ways…too numerous to mention them all. But here are a few ways in which we have been most recently blessed:
Yesterday was a great day! I got to meet and hold Charles Warren Linguist, our newest addition to our church family. I was there when he met his 2 big sisters, Lillian & Audrey, and shared in their delight; and to take some family photos.
Rejoice!
It was only 2 weeks ago that I also held Magaina Martha Hamm. Her twin brother, Garrick, needed to remain in the hospital nursery when I was there. And we’re grateful and happy that Garrick and Magaina are now at home together with their older brother and sister, Yavin & Jadzia.
Rejoice!
Just last Saturday, 25 Covenant children and friends met at the NC Food Bank to help sort 3,200#s of pasta that will feed hundreds of families in the area. As a church family we also donated 191# of food for the backpack project, knowing that a lot of children will have nutritious food to eat on the weekends.
Rejoice!
This past Sunday was yet another of those “great getting’ up mornin’s” around here. Marilyn Williams brought a message of “Hope, Trust and Faith,” at the 11am worship; giving us much to think about in our relationship with God and one another as individuals and as a church family. Rejoice!
Immediately following worship, we reconvened the called congregational meeting to consider the call of an Associate Minister. We are pleased to have extended the call to Randy Holste as our Associate Minister with Youth & Children. And we are also pleased that he has accepted this call and look forward to serving with him. :)
Rejoice!
We are so very blessed and there are many reasons for great rejoicing in our own lives and families and in our church family. One of the greatest lessons I have learned about rejoicing comes from a young child in the Christmas Pageant at First Presbyterian Church in High Point , NC :
The young children were dressed as the animals, running down the aisles toward the manger. The little brown cow was a 4 year old boy whose costume was waaaaaay tooooo big for him. He had to hold it up from the bottom so he could run. He tripped and fell and got right back up again and again until he arrived at the manger. He was rushing to the microphone to say his speaking part. He gathered his costume up around him, stood up on his tip-toes and proudly shouted out, “We-joice! We-joice!” :)
Yes, we can rejoice and be exceedingly glad on our own…but I believe it is a much richer and more meaningful experience when we We-joice together! We-joice! God is with us…
Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Voice of Authority
Good Morning All,
“You’re not the boss of me!” That’s how I began last week’s message and we all laughed a bit but more than this, we could all relate to the phrase, either having heard children or young people say it or having said it ourselves. And while it sounds more childish than childlike, and we might not say it aloud, my hunch is, we still think it when we come up against people in authority or who at least think they’re in authority!
Which then brings us to yet another other phrase, “Question Authority…” a great phrase to live by as we attempt to discern who we will or will not grant that power over us. And that’s what's at issue here, isn’t it? Who is it to whom we grant or do not grant authority? There are the usual answers like, “parents; grandparents or other older family members; bosses; teachers; law enforcement personnel; newscasters & journalists (the meteorologists obviously cannot be trusted due to their erroneous forecast last evening) :); scout leaders; coaches; the President, as one child said last Sunday…whose voices and what they have to say to us, bring with them, some sense of authority. And we often respond by taking it all in; learning from what is said; searching for the facts; and/or by doing as we are asked or commanded to do so.
Then there are all the other voices in our lives that bombard our space and demand to be heard…commercials and come-ons that try to take money from your pockets; folks who seem a bit shady or untrustworthy; people who speak in convincing ways that seem too good to be true and usually are…people who are simply trying to take advantage of us…and of course our own consciences.
All of this can leave us a bit confused about authority in general. We hear so much about the breakdown in authority at many a turn--within so many homes and family life; in the classroom; on the playing field; in politics and government at every level; and in the Church at large.
Which voices do we listen to? We must take time to listen to all those around in an effort to clearly discern which voice is the voice of authority –a voice that can make a real difference in one’s life.
In Mark 1: 21-28 we are presented with a story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum when he is interrupted by a severely deranged man who cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" "Have you come to destroy us?" “I know who you are, the Holy One of God…” And Jesus responds by speaking to the unclean spirit who has taken up residence within the man. "Quiet! Get out of him!" And with that, the afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out.
It’s easy to readily dismiss demons/unclean spirits in the literal sense, but very few of us can dismiss the presence of evil in this world. Call it what you will; describe it as you will; most of us can attest to the certain influences in our lives; the power of all kinds of voices that speak all too loudly; those that grab hold of us as if holding us hostage; those forces or mindsets that seek to wound or even destroy our spirits; as we allow them to take root and even residence in our minds and hearts.
These forces shout in the voice of arrogance, the voice of fear, the voice of shame, the voice of prejudice and hatred. They replay mental tapes of unworthiness or inability to do anything right; they so greatly influence how we view people who are different from us and allow us to discriminate against them… We can't conquer any of these demons alone…but conquer them, we must; or we will at some point, self-destruct, losing any and all perspective about what it means to be a child of God. We have to lean into our faith: the love, the forgiveness that is not only at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but is woven into the fabric of our faith. Jesus, the Word made flesh, spoke with real authority, a voice that belongs to God…are you listening? Blessings, Joanne
“You’re not the boss of me!” That’s how I began last week’s message and we all laughed a bit but more than this, we could all relate to the phrase, either having heard children or young people say it or having said it ourselves. And while it sounds more childish than childlike, and we might not say it aloud, my hunch is, we still think it when we come up against people in authority or who at least think they’re in authority!
Which then brings us to yet another other phrase, “Question Authority…” a great phrase to live by as we attempt to discern who we will or will not grant that power over us. And that’s what's at issue here, isn’t it? Who is it to whom we grant or do not grant authority? There are the usual answers like, “parents; grandparents or other older family members; bosses; teachers; law enforcement personnel; newscasters & journalists (the meteorologists obviously cannot be trusted due to their erroneous forecast last evening) :); scout leaders; coaches; the President, as one child said last Sunday…whose voices and what they have to say to us, bring with them, some sense of authority. And we often respond by taking it all in; learning from what is said; searching for the facts; and/or by doing as we are asked or commanded to do so.
Then there are all the other voices in our lives that bombard our space and demand to be heard…commercials and come-ons that try to take money from your pockets; folks who seem a bit shady or untrustworthy; people who speak in convincing ways that seem too good to be true and usually are…people who are simply trying to take advantage of us…and of course our own consciences.
All of this can leave us a bit confused about authority in general. We hear so much about the breakdown in authority at many a turn--within so many homes and family life; in the classroom; on the playing field; in politics and government at every level; and in the Church at large.
Which voices do we listen to? We must take time to listen to all those around in an effort to clearly discern which voice is the voice of authority –a voice that can make a real difference in one’s life.
In Mark 1: 21-28 we are presented with a story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum when he is interrupted by a severely deranged man who cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" "Have you come to destroy us?" “I know who you are, the Holy One of God…” And Jesus responds by speaking to the unclean spirit who has taken up residence within the man. "Quiet! Get out of him!" And with that, the afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out.
It’s easy to readily dismiss demons/unclean spirits in the literal sense, but very few of us can dismiss the presence of evil in this world. Call it what you will; describe it as you will; most of us can attest to the certain influences in our lives; the power of all kinds of voices that speak all too loudly; those that grab hold of us as if holding us hostage; those forces or mindsets that seek to wound or even destroy our spirits; as we allow them to take root and even residence in our minds and hearts.
These forces shout in the voice of arrogance, the voice of fear, the voice of shame, the voice of prejudice and hatred. They replay mental tapes of unworthiness or inability to do anything right; they so greatly influence how we view people who are different from us and allow us to discriminate against them… We can't conquer any of these demons alone…but conquer them, we must; or we will at some point, self-destruct, losing any and all perspective about what it means to be a child of God. We have to lean into our faith: the love, the forgiveness that is not only at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but is woven into the fabric of our faith. Jesus, the Word made flesh, spoke with real authority, a voice that belongs to God…are you listening? Blessings, Joanne
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