Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ~1 John 4:8 Christ Jesus is the true vine…and we are the branches. We are the branches. How easy it is to get this backwards! We spend our days being busy and productive, occupying ourselves with good works, putting ourselves back into the center of the story. We are the branches. And there are other branches. Truthfully, we are later grafts, to the vine. We have more in common with the Eunuch of Acts 8 than Philip the deacon, one of the first to proclaim the Good News outside of Jerusalem. But for the love of God, our lives would be fruitless. But for the life-giving Spirit abiding with us, we would be without hope. Though vine nor fig tree neither their longed-for fruit should bear, though all the fields should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there, yet God the same abiding, his praise shall tune my voice; for while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice. Enter into worship. Readings: Acts 8:26-40 † Psalm 22:25-31 † 1 John 4:7-21 † John 15:1-8 About the Art: Koenig, Peter. Christ the Vine, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58500 [retrieved April 15, 2024]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/.
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“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ~John 10:11 Israel was unique in its experience of God as shepherd. Unlike other ancient civilizations with their religious systems, God came to the world not as a raiding king or ruler, but as a shepherd who acts pastorally, who keeps and oversees God’s people, who is constantly looking to minister to lonely sheep. This is one reason why, when Israel, like the other nations, wanted a king, God refused and resisted (I Samuel 8). Kings lord over; they corrupt; they take. Shepherds care, protect, lead. So when God finally relented, it is no wonder that the king after God’s own heart was David, a shepherd. A shepherd’s power is not exercised over a territory, but over a flock, and the movement of that flock. While other gods are territorial, Israel’s God moved from place to place and appeared (and appears) in those times of greatest need. Israel’s God was a God who wanders, a God who directs the flock down new paths, who is never more powerful than when the flock, when God’s people are on the move. A shepherd is responsible to, ministers to the whole flock. The shepherd understands that each sheep is under her care so that, when it needs finding, she will risk it all in search of the lost ones. In this way, according to this godly math, 1>99. Moses, a shepherd, is looking for a lost sheep when he encounters God in the bush that burns but is not consumed. It is no wonder he was called to lead his people out of Egypt. God arrives to Abram, a wandering Aramean, and leads him and Sarai down new pathways. In our secular age, with an increasing sense that there is no God active in our time and experience it is easy to be impatient. Our waiting quickly turns into disbelief. But God is and has always been a shepherding God leading us through trials and temptation to quiet waters and green pastures. Enter into worship. Readings: Acts 4:5-12 † Psalm 23 † 1 John 3:16-24 † John 10:11-18 About the Art: Koenig, Peter. Good Shepherd and the Leviathan, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58607 [retrieved March 26, 2024]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces… ~Isaiah 25:8 Keep your proclamations of grandeur. Give me an easter as small as a seed. One that can be planted while it’s still cold outside. One that can be watered with tears, and demands time and patience to grow. I don’t need to know how large it will become, how long until it blossoms, or even if it will be pretty. I only want it to grow roots that dig deep down, striving for life in the underbelly of the world. Spare me the cosmic promises of other-worldly escape and point me to the Sacred possibilities within reach. Tell me again about how the nutrients born from decay keep even the saddest places brimming with potential for life. - Rev. M Barclay, enfleshed Enter into worship. Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9 † Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 † 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 † Mark 16:1-8 About the Art: Weyden, Rogier van der, 1399 or 1400-1464. Mary's Tears, detail from Descent from the Cross, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55988 [retrieved March 18, 2024]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weyden,_Rogier_van_der_-_Descent_from_the_Cross_-_Detail_women_(left).jpg. About the artist: Rogier van der Weyden was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits.
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” ~Mark 11:9 Hosanna! The cry means, “Save us!” But from what do we need to be saved? This is an essential question. It seems the answer these days is as varied as our individual hurts and hungers, as our political and cultural divisions. Is it fair to say we all long for deeper connections, for more days of peace, intimacy, and well-being as did those who welcomed Jesus as he entered Jerusalem? Can we say together we long for the distribution of resources—of food and clothing, shelter and safety—so that no one is hungry or exposed or disconnected from human well-being? Can we agree on our common desire for belonging? For dignity? For meaning? How to get there, of course, opens us to all sorts of polarities. How might we shape the work to draw on diverse wisdom and varied perceptions? In what ways do “all the law and the prophets” and the hope of our scriptures speak into this longing, into our cry for salvation? Is there a possibility of alignment here that might open us to a better way? Mark’s Palm Sunday entry signals another entry for us in the church—into Holy Week, and its concentrated attention to what does and does not save us, what makes for life and well-being. Enter into worship. Enter into Holy Week. Readings: (Palms) Mark 11:1-11 † Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 † (Passion) Isaiah 50:4-9a † Psalm 31:9-16 † Philippians 2:5-11 † Mark 14:1-15:47 or 15:1-39 About the Art: Koenig, Peter. Palm Sunday, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58531 [retrieved March 4, 2024]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/. About the artist: Peter Koenig is a Catholic artist whose goal in life is “to paint the drama, romance and poetry of the sacred book” (https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/).
The opposite of an ordinary fact is a lie. But the opposite of one profound truth is complemented and given life by another profound truth.” ~Nils Bohr, Nobel Award winning physicist This Sunday we are doing something different. While we will not worship in our traditional manner, we are following the Lenten invitation to open ourselves to a spirit of learning and discovery. Led by experienced presenter Yarrow Durbin, we will learn about polarities and how to map them and explore how they play out in our own life together and shared mission. Polarity maps allow us to explore tough, persistent dilemmas that are not actually problems that can be “solved” - but ongoing polarities which can be navigated constructively. They involve a polarity—a relationship between two opposing ideas that each have some good in them. In fact, you need both sides to achieve your goals. And guaranteed, if you overdo one side, you get trouble. The good and bad news is that you can’t get rid of a polarity – ever. Based on the work of Barry Johnson, Polarity Management is a powerful yet very accessible model of thinking, assessing, planning, and acting that moves individuals and teams from resistance and conflict towards embracing the complexity of their challenges and working together towards their common purpose. When groups learn it, they are more able to work effectively with “opposition”, build stronger teams, make better decisions, and focus their energy where it will make a bigger positive difference. Come and join us Sunday morning beginning at 10:00am. We will finish at noon. If you can't make it in person, you can join us online on our livestream. About the Presenter: For 35 years, Yarrow Durbin has been creating stimulating, powerful and engaging learning experiences for individuals and groups, integrating state of the art approaches from many disciplines. Yarrow works with individuals, small and large groups in a wide variety of settings, committed to making a positive difference for children, families, and our diverse communities. Her focus is on transformational learning for leaders and groups facing conflict or breakdowns in trust, rapid change, and those desiring truly equitable and supportive environments in which everyone feels included. She launched CourageWork in 2005 to offer individual leadership coaching, team retreat and workshop facilitation, and change consulting in education, human services, government, health care, law, and social justice-oriented not-for-profits and businesses. She built on skills gained teaching high school for 18 years, working in adult professional development, and founding a non-profit based on the work of Dr. Parker Palmer. Yarrow has a master’s degree from the University of Washington in Curriculum and Instruction, as well as certification as a Courage & Renewal® facilitator, Integral® Coach, Certified Polarity Management® trainer, Immunity to Change® consultant and coach, Leadership Circle Profile and EQ in Action Profile, and many others.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” ~Numbers 21:8 This obscure and even troubling story of the wandering Israelites finds new life amidst our preoccupation with health and well-being. It is no accident that both the American Medical Association and World Health Organizations have adopted the Rod of Asclepius—a snake on a pole—as the symbol for medical healing. One of the great wonders of modern medicine is that scientists have learned how to replicate viral forces, render them nonlethal, and return them back to the body as vaccines. The only sure cure for infection is exposure (and inoculation), which allows the memory to be activated to destroy what would otherwise kill us. The disease is used to cure the disease. The image carries well to our human condition more broadly. There is something essential at looking closely and squarely and lovingly at our stories. Like the snake on a pole, like the Christ on a cross, we must not look away, but steel ourselves for the story of who we truly are and what saves us. Attending to our choices and their results is an essential act that enables us to correct, redirect, and ultimately find our way to the new life Christ proclaims. Enter into worship. Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 † Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 † Ephesians 2:1-10 † John 3:14-20 About the Art: Fantoni, Giovanni. Brazen Serpent, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55664 [retrieved March 3, 2024]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brazen_Serpent_Sculpture.jpg. Atop Mount Nebo in Jordan, this serpentine sculpture represents the Old Testament story of the serpent on the pole in Numbers 21:4-9 integrated with the New Testament cross of Christ.
Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ~John 2:15-16 No animals were harmed in the making of this scene. When Jesus overturns the tables, he drives out both the sacrificial animals and the merchants. Both groups are liberated—the sacrificial victims and their victimizers and the religious system of sacrifice to feed the appetite of a vengeful God is effectively shut down. “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings,“ says the prophet Hosea. Jesus preaches a similarly revolutionary message, but in this case, no words are necessary. As we consider in our own time the disruptions within our own religious and institutional systems, how are we to think about the uses of our buildings and our resources? How are they being used for liberation and freedom from the bondage of our own age? How might they? Enter into worship. Readings: Exodus 20:1-17 † Psalm 19 † 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 † John 2:13-22 About the Art: Koenig, Peter. Christ Overturns the Tables of the Moneylenders, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58520 [retrieved February 26, 2024]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/. About the artist: Peter Koenig is a Catholic artist whose goal in life is “to paint the drama, romance and poetry of the sacred book” (https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/). In this modern representation of the cleansing of the temple, Jesus holds a whip as he drives away the sheep being sold for sacrifices. The doves have been released and are chaotically flying around above the people, whose expressions are mixtures of shock, horror, irritation, and anger. Jesus has turned over the tables and money is scattering all around the moneylenders. This painting inspires viewers to reconsider what it means to be a church in today’s society. Should the church be a place of profit (a den of thieves) or should it use its resources for the good of people? Should it exploit the needy or should it help them? Should the church be an exploitative economic institution or one devoted to alleviating the suffering of all oppressed peoples?
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ~Mark 8:34 This is tricky—an invitation spoiling for misuse. Slippery ground. An abusive relationship, a medical affliction, racial and economic inequity, unnecessary suffering of any kind. Could any of these ever be described as a cross a disciple, or anyone, should bear? We pray not. The scriptures insist not. Suffering due to abuse of power is never redemptive and is antithetical to the character of God. Indeed, to bear one’s cross is first about the elimination of suffering by following the trail Jesus blazed. We resist evil as he did, rather than accept it. We join in solidarity with the crucified; even when it unsettles and inflames the status quo. To do these things, to follow in this way is to go the way of mutual blessing, the way of Abraham and Sarah, a promised way to flourishing for humanity and creation alike. This is, simply, the way to life from the one who calls all creation beloved. The Lenten way: new life comes through the denial of our worst selves, of what destroys us. In his very next breath Jesus says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” What are we to make of this in this season of strife and inequality and the unavoidable truth that suffering, and denial seems to be borne by some far more than others? What are we to make of this call for the healing not only of this heartbroken and luminous world, but for our own selves...for we who would dare be disciples? Are these not one and the same question? Enter into worship. Readings: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 † Psalm 22:23-31 † Romans 4:13-25 † Mark 8:31-9:1 About the Art: Bergner, Joel. Global Refugee Mural, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56930 [retrieved February 20, 2024]. Original source: https://joelartista.com/about/. About the artist: Joel Bergner is an artist, educator and organizer of community art initiatives with youth in conflict-affected and marginalized communities around the world, from Syrian refugee camps to American prisons; the favelas of Brazil to an orphanage in South Africa. His elaborate, large-scale murals weave smoothly between realism with an urban art sensibility and the honest expressions of children and community members. In each project, he guides participants through the process of exploring issues that are important to them, designing their own composition and then collaboratively painting a public mural in their community. Joel travels the globe with his wife, CJ Thomas, who leads dance and theatre workshops, and their two young daughters. Based on actual interviews, the Global Refugee Mural tells the story of three refugees who live in Maryland. Donation by photographer Anne Richardson.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all…in order to bring [us] to God. —1 Peter 3:18 In order to bring us to God. Here is the invitation of Lent in a nutshell—the gift of a season journeyed toward God that comes by way of…dying. Don’t let this be a morbid thought. Life has always come this way—a virtuous circle of life that is always brought on by death. Our own suffering, then, is not meaningless. Just look outside and let the tree buds and crocus and daffodil shoots testify. How did they get there, if not by way of a previous death? Consider the gospels and their slant toward faith. Mark was the first, written sometime around the year 65. John was the last of the four, around 90 or 100. Two full generations between them. And how different they are as the souls who shaped them tried to figure out how to respond to shattered expectations that Jesus had not returned, as they shaped a new coherence, an enduring faith amid radically shifting times! Today we have the benefit of wisdom across cultures that is easily available to us. That’s what Cindy Lee is offering in her book Our Unforming. This is, of course, not new to us. We’ve already been doing our work. Here Lee captures some key observations that may help us in our own reforming. From a linear to a cyclical understanding of time. From a default toward sameness to difference. From the transcendence of the individual to the collective and communal. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts of the unraveling of the moment and this season of history, perhaps the greatest gift of this Lent is the gift of moving us toward metanoia, conversion, the changing of our minds. That we would lean on God instead, that we find God once again for a new generation. …in order to bring us to God. Enter into worship. Readings: Genesis 9:8-17 † Psalm 25:1-10 † 1 Peter 3:18-22 † Mark 1:9-15 About the Art: Moyers, Mike. Reminder, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57154 [retrieved February 11, 2024]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/. About the artist: For years, I have illustrated, designed and directed many book covers, ads, logos, commercials and campaigns. However, my deeper side is the life of a fine artist. I love to paint with the palette knife to keep my work loose, textured and bold. You will see that I paint all kinds of subjects. My deepest passion, however, is to use fine art to communicate matters of faith. I firmly believe that art is a communion with the soul. Through my art, I strive to make known the beauty and wonder of life and faith. The pieces are inspired by things that have touched my life in a meaningful way. They range from plein air and impressionism to abstract and conceptual. My hope is to successfully communicate those inspirations so that you might be touched as well.
“Thus it is written, ‘The first human, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam became a spirit that gives life.” ~1 Corinthians 15:45 Humility, vulnerability, authenticity. Three words that draw us into this ancient practice of Lent, of lengthening, of extending and filling out our lives with newness in the same way that the light of day lengthens in Lent. Plants emerge from winter’s rest to explore new growth, new forms of possibility. Humility, comes from hummus—dust, earth, soil—from which we became and to which we return according to the stories of our elders: Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes. Vulnerability. From the Latin vulnus: wound. Indeed, to live is to be wounded, and to (be) heal(ed). To be subject to power and designs greater than ours. To be creature. Authenticity. From the Greek authentes: from two words, autos or self and hentes or doing. One acting on one’s own authority. We are agents with agency, actors with purpose to enact. We are powerful. So here we are, at the doorway to Lent, dusty, wounded, wondering, powerful ones seeking to be all that we are, all that we are created to be. Enter into worship. Enter into Lent. Join us this Wednesday evening at 7:00pm in person or online. Readings: Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12 † Psalm 51:1-17 † 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 † Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 About the Art:[i] An abstract painting depicting the words of the psalmist, “Let my prayer be set before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.“ Mike Moyers loves to paint with the palette knife to keep his work loose, textured and bold. His deepest passion is to use art to communicate matters of faith. From his website: I firmly believe that art is a communion with the soul. Through my art, I strive to make known the beauty and wonder of life and faith. The pieces in this exhibit are inspired by things that have touched my life in a meaningful way. They range from plein air and impressionism to abstract and conceptual. My hope is to successfully communicate those inspirations so that you might be touched as well. [i] Moyers, Mike. Prayer, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57148 [retrieved February 6, 2023]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/. |
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