Lent VI/Palm Sunday, March 25: Listen to Him (Jean Campbell+)

How unusual to be reminded of the Transfiguration in the context of Palm Sunday. Isn’t there enough to think about this day? Today we move from the exuberant shouts of “Hosanna” to the heart wrenching cry of “crucify him”. Now you ask me to ponder the words of God: “Listen to him.” But I find all these phrases remarkably linked.

In the opening sentence of the Rule of St. Benedict, one is invited to listen with the ear of one’s heart to the instructions of the master. For many years I pondered what the ear of the heart might meant. Finally I discovered the Latin word for obedience, “obedire” meaning to listen or lend an ear. “Obedire” comes from “ob” meaning “to”, plus “audire” meaning “to hear”. To listen is to receive an invitation; to respond is to be obedient. To listen with the ear of the heart invites us into a response of acting on what we have heard. Benedict understood a link between listening and obedience. To listen with the ear of the heart entails hearing, discerning, and acting.

On the Mount of the Transfiguration the Beloved Son heard and responded, and it took him to the cross. For Peter and James it meant taking the journey with him to Jerusalem. They thought that they were ready to suffer and die with Jesus, but it was not what God asked of them; and what their fear denied them. The journey never seems to be what we think it should be; it is never straight forward or easy. There are questions, sufferings, hesitations, fears, desolation, even death. Yet we are invited to take up our cross and follow; to hear, discern, and to act.

In faithful obedience, we find it is only through the cross that we discover the empty tomb. We are reminded that the Resurrected Christ will go before us. We are invited to listen, to persevere in faithfulness, to take the journey. In our willingness to enter into the journey, we find the courage, the patience, the love, the forgiveness, the faithfulness, and the obedience to move forward through the cross to find a future filled with new life and hope.

This week we will journey through the cross to the hope and promise of Our Lord’s Resurrection. As a diocese we journey together in our discernment for the next Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. In the silences of this Holy Week may we bend the ear of our heart to the voice of the Spirit. Pray that we may discern the path that God invites us into, and to give us insight, courage, and hope to follow in faithful obedience.

Activities and Prayer for this Week

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. (Matthew 17:1-8)

God tells us to listen to, and follow Jesus.
Discuss the points of interest to you, and your group.
Peter, James, and John wanted to stay on the mountain with Jesus. Instead, they followed him to Jerusalem where he was betrayed and crucified. It is tempting to want to stay in the same place, the same ministry, the same status quo.
Where is God leading the Diocese of the Rio Grande and what is your part in that, as an individual and as a group or parish? Discuss this as a group.
Prayer: God of Transformation, show us the direction you are leading us as individual members, and as the community of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Help us to be willing to follow where you lead us in the coming days, months, and years. Amen.
Share: Comment on this post to share directions God could be leading the diocese, which you, or your group, noted. 

Lent V, March 18: Surrender to God (Morag Smith)

"That was dumb." "Boy, I wasn't thinking when I did that." "And that's when I really #$%^ed up." I've only said the latter to my boss once, but it was a major mistake. Carelessness, lack of knowledge, overconfidence, and so on lead us into making mistakes all the time. As a professional, I've been taught the best thing is to admit the mistake and figure out how to fix it. In the short run my pride doesn't want to admit I failed professionally, but I've learned that confessing and then repairing the damage is almost always the least painful thing to do in the long run. Further, until I am willing to say I didn't know enough or wasn't careful enough, I am not able to learn from my mistake and will make it repeatedly. The most respected of my colleagues are the ones who don't need to protect their pride and instead can admit their mistakes and in doing so create trusting relationships where everyone is learning to do things better.

Do we practice admitting our failures to God? We can hide some of our failures from other people, but God's nature doesn't give us the option of hiding them from Him. He knows what happened so not admitting to it doesn't make us look better to Him. It can only increase the damage we're doing to our relationship with Him. Why then is it so hard to admit to God that we failed? Perhaps one part is that acknowledging our failures, our sins, to God hits us right at our weakest point, our pride. We were made in His image, but are not Him. Every admitted sin emphasizes the gap between God and us and between us and our images of ourselves.

The Pharisee hid behind his pride and avoided seeing the distance between him and God. The tax collector could set aside his pride and ask "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!". Acknowledging the gap between God and us, acknowledging that I am a sinner, is the opening God uses to "be merciful." Until we surrender our pride and instead offer it to God, we continue to turn away from his mercy. When we finally offer ourselves to God, He reflects our small offering in His great offering of His Son to mend the damage to our relationship with Him. 

When we "offer…our selves, our souls and bodies" including our pride to God, we open ourselves to God's mercy. We allow God to work through us to create His Kingdom. 

Activities and Prayer for this Week

‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ (Luke 18:10-14 )

We are called to surrender our pride and our self to God’s will and work.
Discuss the points of interest to you, and your group.
Our pride (hubris) can keep us from full relationship with God. As a group think of ways that the corporate culture of the Diocese of the Rio Grande might be prideful. As individuals think of ways in which your own pride could be an obstacle to loving God fully.
Write these sins on paper and offer them to God in prayer, and/or by burning them.
Prayer: Blessed God, you ask us to humble ourselves and to be aware of our sins. As individuals and as a group, we acknowledge that we have not always been honest about our sins. We here offer those that we have identified. Take them and all others and be merciful. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Share: Comment on this post here or on Facebook, to share  ways that the diocese might be guilty of pride that you, or your group, identified. 

Creating Women of God

Creating Women of God is an event centered around using creativity to make faith-based cards and gifts. Hosted by Kim Madrid at the Cathedral of St. John on Saturday, May 19 from 9-1, this will be a morning of joy, fellowship, friendship, faith-based teaching and creating.  Space is limited, so sign up soon! Cost is $30, which includes all the supplies (except adhesive) and a light brunch  Register and find more info here.

Cindy Davis, (coordinator of Women's Ministry) will present a talk titled "Gifted and Grace Filled"  How often do we not realize how gifted we really are? God has blessed each one of us with gifts and showered us with the grace to live into those gifts. Cindy will introduce us to the heart of Naomi and help us discover God’s gifts and grace in each of our lives and teach us how to start a 'Faith Tree'. She will have copies of her books available for sale. 
Anne Duran (Director of All Angels Episcopal Day School in ABQ) is well qualified to speak to us about "Everyday Blessings".  We will develop a "Blessing Jar" to take home and further reflect on the everyday blessings in our lives.
Kim will also provide supplies to make six faith-based cards using Stampin' Up! products. You will need to bring your own adhesive, but everything else you need will be provided for you.  The cards will be the perfect tool for you to take home and use to minister to and bless the people in your life.  Receiving a hand-stamped, faith-based card with hand-written words of encouragement on the inside?  Well ~ that's priceless!

Lent IV: March 11: God's Heart Loves (Elaine Wilson)

Since Advent, the Sunday scriptures, heard by Episcopalians and many other denominations, are grouped into Lectionary Year B. The focus is on Mark, the earliest of the gospels and the account closest in time to the life of Jesus. Those encountering Jesus carried the stories, passed them on verbally over and over, and finally compiled them into the first of the written gospels. By the time Mark was organizing his work, Christians were determined to have hearing recipients recognize that the man known as Jesus was to be known as The Christ, the true Son of God, who totally shared human life.

In the earliest stage of organizing thoughts about the activities of Jesus, Mark or his scribe probably etched Greek words into wax coating of a wooden slab, the first century notepad. To give them permanence, Mark’s thoughts were transferred to papyrus, the paper of the ancient world. By the time the theology of the early Christians had evolved into the trinitarian understanding that Jesus was not just a human son emanating from a separate supreme being, but was actually truly one with God, Mark’s text became incorporated into a collection of pages bound together. The earliest form of our books today was visually differentiated from the long strips of joined papyrus that formed rolled Hebrew scrolls. From this beginning, Christian scriptures we call the New Testament were obviously different from Hebrew texts. With this change, God’s good news gained new life and was ready to reach out and gather in a whole world. 

In reflecting on how Mark’s message came to us, we must not miss the reason for our four Bible gospels: Gospels are good news telling us of the love of God for all of us. And God’s love is the basis of the unity all of us have in prayerfully living in the Diocese of the Rio Grande today.

In our Come Follow Me Study this week, you will find the meaning of God’s love in the words of Mark 14:6-9 by reading the New Revised Standard Version aloud twice. By making a gender change, you will be challenged to think about how we become conditioned to understanding Bible language that may limit the undergirding meaning of biblical texts.

#1

But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

From this passage where Jesus interacts with a woman, let us consider how our thoughts may change, if we have Jesus speaking to a man.

#2

But Jesus said, ‘Let him alone; why do you trouble him? He has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. He has done what he could; he has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what he has done will be told in remembrance of him.’

From the first century onward, Mark’s writing was meant to provoke Christians to understand that Jesus, who we as Trinitarians believe was truly God living among us, was the pivotal change agent for all of human history. Shifting past Old Testament expectations to a clear, new vision, Mark’s Jesus tells us to see the unlimited good possibilities for us in listening to and following Jesus. We serve God by joining Jesus and continuing the work of bringing the good news to our human world. And the good news about Jesus is all-inclusive. 

Mark’s message is a guide we should heed. At this moment in the life of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, all of us, female and male, named and unnamed, are called to leave the past behind and to welcome the new opportunities that are to come. Now, by each of our actions in the body of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, our service following the example of Jesus will be remembered. We will honor God together, as we thank Bishop Vono and welcome our new leader to guide us in proclaiming the good news to the whole world.

Activities and Prayer for this Week

But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’ (Mark 14:6-9)

Jesus reminds us that sometimes what we think unimportant is the most important of all.

Discuss the points of interest to you, and your group.
There are many needs across the Diocese of the Rio Grande. As an individual, or group, identify some of these. Are their ways in which those with what we consider needs or problems can minister to us? 
Make a collage of the things that the ‘needy’ can offer to the world. 

Prayer: Blessed God, we know that you care for each person. Help us to have our eyes open to their needs, their gifts, their hopes, so that we can see all people with your eyes of love. Let us be open to what each person offers. Amen.
Share: Comment on this post or Facebook to share one or 2 of the ways the diocese is ministered to which you, or your group, identified. You could also post a photo of your collage.

Lent III, March 4: God’s Passion Strengthens Us (Dale Plummer+)

In our asking for God’s blessings upon the “gifts and creatures of bread and wine,” we are immediately united into the remembrance of Christ’s “blessed passion and precious death.” Our liturgy uses these words “passion” and “precious” to describe such a horrific torturous event. The strength to endure such torture must be beyond our own ability, but for God, God’s passion and strength is everlasting love and hope of a precious relationship with creation. God’s display of love and hope of preciousness seems to be beyond our total acceptance. For we so quickly return to our worldly presence just as swiftly as we entered into remembrance of Christ. 

In this third week of Lent, God’s strength and passion is presented to the Israelites in legalistic means found in the Exodus reading of the Ten Commandments. Here God’s relationship with humanity is demonstrated through laws of order to establish a right relationship. When the order is broken God’s response is explained in terms of wrath and anger. The question I ask, Is this the result of humanity making laws into idols, and our blindness to God’s passion and precious strength is interpreted as wrath and anger, and freedom from slavery and idolatry is too risky.

In my own journey, I am aware of my own passions by the words I use and the tone of my voice. I am also aware that the same words and tone also display anger. Passion and anger must have similar interior origins, so how do we concede the difference between passion and anger? The only response I have for certain is, “I know it, because I feel it.”

In John’s Gospel this week we reflect upon the story of Jesus encounter in the temple which has been transformed into a marketplace and taken over by money changers. As we visualize this encounter we hear Jesus order all these things to be removed as he goes about overturning tables and scattering the coins of the money changers. Hearing this encounter, do we rush to a conclusion that this is a display of Jesus’ anger rather than a witnessing Jesus’ passion that his Father’s house is to be a house of prayer and not a marketplace, and ultimately, the temple we seek is the temple of the risen Christ, for whom we “await his coming in glory.”

Activities and Prayer for this Week

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40: 29-31 )

God promises that ‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength’.

• Discuss the points of interest to you, and your group.
• Each ministry strengthens the total ministry of the diocese. Consider how God empowers your ministry, both individually and corporately, for the upbuilding of the Diocese of the Rio Grande.
• Send a note or card to another parish in the diocese recognizing one of their important ministries.

Pray for the Diocese using the list of churches on the diocesan website,
or the list of diocesan ministries.
Prayer: Holy God, we lift up to you all the churches and ministries in the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Strengthen them so that they may not grow faint or weary in their work for your glory. We name especially (name the churches or ministries of the Diocese). In the Name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Share: Comment on this post on the website or Facebook toshare parish ministries you, or your group, identified as important.