Prayers of the People: The End of the Beginning ~ The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday '21 Yr B

For Sunday, March 28, 2021, Readings: Mark 1:1-11, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11, The Passion according to Mark 14:1-15:47

     Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!" [Mark 11:9]

          Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. [Isaiah 50:8]

         But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD, I have said, "You are my God, my times are in your hand... 

[Psalm 31:14-15a]

        Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus...and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:5, 11]

   Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard." So when [Jesus] came [the betrayer] went up to him and said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. 

[Mark 14:44-45]

       [Peter] began to curse, and he swore an oath, "I do not know this man you are talking about." At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept. [Mark 14:71-72]

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

        What a day it was! The palms, the cloaks, and branches on the road with cheering and exuberance for this Jesus, heralded as a prophet and a known miracle worker, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey [a donkey was symbol of peace, a warrior king would have ridden a horse]. It was all being carefully watched by the Roman occupiers and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council who had its own police force and trial court. 

       Just as suddenly as the air fills with joyous gusto, the week turns deadly and the same crowd’s Hosannas turn to shouts of Crucify him! And this is the Sunday we revisit, re-enact, and relive it all through the appointed readings.

      Decades ago the celebration of Palm Sunday and the commemoration that was Passion Sunday were two separate successive Sundays. These were later combined into the one-Sunday, two-part Liturgy we have now. At first thought it seems a shame to shortcut the two experiences and yet, I think, it can truly heighten the experience of both parts ~ if we let it. It highlights the stunning speed at which any and many of us can be manipulated into changing what we think we believe, and by virtue of who is telling us, we can be artfully redirected to know that we want to believe whatever he/she/they are saying. 

       Yet, whether we are attending church in person this Sunday, or more likely watching online once more, how much of the combined readings do we really hear, feel, or think about? We’ve heard them all before, or at least we know the story. The readings are long, even if acted out more than simply read. Where am I in this? Am I listening, or watching the clock, warming the coffee or tea in the microwave, answering texts, or thinking about the grocery list for Easter baskets and Easter Dinner and peeps, jelly beans, and chocolate bunnies? 

     Am I willing to look at the world as it is now, how many examples of crowd-manipulating, politically- and religiously- and racially-motivated-murders take place every day in my country and around the world? Am I willing to wonder what it is that I could possibly do about it now? Or, at the very least, am I even considering who and what Jesus is to me? 

    When my younger grand-daughter was 4 she loved singing a little happy-clappy ditty she learned in Vacation Bible School, "I am following Jesus" and her volume increased exponentially ~ as she also learned ~ with the line he changed my life forever. So, wise and self-proclaimed Christian grandmother that I think I am, the hard question for myself, again, is how am I following Jesus? Has he changed my life forever, or, more to the point, have I let him? When have I betrayed and deserted him ~ or if that's too hard for me to willingly acknowledge ~ when have I ignored him? Yes, Palms AND Passion today, and it's here all week! And, it's here every day of every year that I choose to profess my faith in all that I think and do ~ often uncomfortable, unpopular in places, but oh so redeeming. 

    Anticipating the Gospel events as they arise this week, I resolve to start over, re-read the lessons, pray with them, and seek the courage and confidence to live into and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God [Phillipians 2:11]. It is time for me to look at each day in this Holy Week, again, as if for the first time, as a sincere period of reflection, penance, and re-commitment. There's no Easter without Good Friday, and when I am following Jesus ~ the real Jesus ~ my life does change, and the rising joy is palpable. Holy Week is the end of the beginning of Jesus, as Christ takes us forward into Forever.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
 
Leader:  ~ Jesus, Light of God, today we begin with Hallelujah and Hosanna and end with Heartbreak and Hostility. How quickly the crowds turn, prodded by intentional distortion of truth, political manipulation, and betrayal. Grant us the courage to listen deeply, to walk the path to Your coming death as if for the first time, to stand with You through it all now, and to never deny that You are our Messiah, our Lord.
 
                                                Hosanna! Messiah!                                          
             RESPONSE:        Our Strength and our Redeemer
 
~ Jesus, Light of God, embolden us to earnestly engage the leaders of this World, this Country, and this Community, to confront and eliminate the fear mongering, treachery, and racism that lead to cruel deaths like Yours. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                Hosanna! Messiah!
                                                Our Strength and our Redeemer
 
~ Jesus, Light of God, enfold with Your loving arms all who are ill, desperate, or hopeless, and all who worry and care for them. We now join our hearts to pray aloud for those in need… We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                Hosanna! Messiah!
                                                Our Strength and our Redeemer
           
~ Jesus, Light of God, You came to lead us all into the glory of eternal life through Your gift of Salvation. We rejoice in knowing that those we mourn are alive again with You, in everlasting peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                Hosanna! Messiah!
                                                Our Strength and our Redeemer
 
~ Jesus, Light of God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
 
                                                Hosanna! Messiah!
                                                Our Strength and our Redeemer
                       
~ Jesus, Light of God, as we begin this sacred week, endow our spiritual leaders with extraordinary grace, that we may all be drawn together, to be opened and accept the same mind in us that was in You, and live always aware of Your continuous life-changing embrace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                Hosanna! Messiah!
                                                Our Strength and our Redeemer
 
The Celebrant adds:  O God of Enduring Mercy, guide our experience this day and the fullness of the week to come with awareness of the times when we, too, have deserted and betrayed Jesus by turning first to the ways of this world. Grant us the willingness to confess through our thoughts, words, and actions that Jesus Christ IS Lord, to the Glory of You, our God. We ask this through our Savior Christ, Your Holy and Sanctified Son; and the Most Holy Spirit, Your Breath and Wisdom within us; who live and reign with You, One God, now and forever. Amen. 

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: Peddle Toward Forever ~ 5th Sunday in Lent '21 Yr B

For Sunday, March 18, 2018, Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-13, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33

    ...I will make a new covenant...I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts...I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. [Jeremiah 31:31, 33b, 34b]

      Have mercy on me, O God...in your great compassion...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...Give me the joy of your saving help and sustain me with your bountiful spirit. [Psalm 51:1,11, 13]

     Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered...he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him... [Hebrews 5:8a, 9b]

     Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [John 12:24]

       From the beginnings of formal Christian/Church Liturgy until the late 1950s, the 5th Sunday in Lent was known across many liturgical denominations as Passion Sunday, and it marked the beginning of a two-week Passiontide. The 6th Sunday was Palm Sunday with the Passion cycle culminating on Good Friday, as we are to then solemnly await the news of the Resurrection on Easter Day. There are a few traditionalists that still follow that liturgical line but these days in our corner of Episcopal/Anglican Land, the official two weeks of Passiontide is no longer observed in that way. The 6th Sunday in Lent is the combined Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.

      The readings for this 5th Sunday and for all of Lent have been preparing us for what lies ahead for Jesus, as he was preparing those who were following him in that time. Of course, we know the rest of the story, and his real-time followers did not at this point. But what does it all mean to me now, in my daily life?

      In this second year of virtual liturgy per pandemic, in this 5th week in Lent, I find myself, as much as possible, wanting to suspend my "knowledge" of the biblical events to come and letting the Scripture and Liturgy carry me as if I were going through them for the first time. I will strive to pay attention to each reading, each moment of the Liturgy, and think about what is being said to me, and what it is teaching me. What will I experience? What will I learn? How might living into the spirit of these readings change the direction of my life? Will I let them?

     Jeremiah is teaching us of a New Covenant, not in content so much as in form, that is, God has written on, inscribed upon, fully internalized The Law in our hearts; we know it; it is ours. The Psalmist brings us the beauty and poignancy of David’s remorseful and repentant voice after his unlawful taking of Bathsheba and the killing of Uriah. And Paul heightens our awareness of Jesus as our Great High Priest [see Hebrews 7:1-22 for more about Melchizedek].

     This week, Jesus tells his disciples about the grain of wheat that must die in order to bear fruit. The cycle of this grain’s death begets new life that bears fruit, is harvested, planted, and dies, to beget new life as this cycle repeats. 

     As we move through these remaining two weeks of Lent, we are to begin to crack open the grains of Christ’s truth and God’s Law within us, to die to the unnecessary of this Life, that we may blossom into the fulness of Christ, and live on to harvest the fruit of our souls in the bounty of eternal life. Now is the time to crank up the Life-Cycle and peddle toward the best of forever. 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O God of Loving Kindness, You have written on our hearts, granted us unlimited pardon, and still we look away toward earthly wants. Let us see and hear again, through the faith we have and the faith we want, that we will blossom into the full fruits of eternal life in Christ.

                                                      O Lord, our God

RESPONSE:       Your Saving Help is our Joy

         

~ O God of Loving Kindness, create clean hearts, renew right spirits, and awaken Your written Law within the hearts of all political leaders on this Planet, so that their actions will restore all people to their rightful justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our God

                                                       Your Saving Help is our Joy

~ O God of Loving Kindness, calm the fears and pain of all who are afflicted by illness, turmoil, or doubt, and refresh the energy of all who give them care. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our God

                                                       Your Saving Help is our Joy 

~ O God of Loving Kindness, we offer our praise and unending gratitude for the joy and gladness of those we love, now alive again forever in Your glorious and bountiful Spirit.  We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our God

                                                       Your Saving Help is our Joy

~ O God of Loving Kindness, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our God

                                                       Your Saving Help is our Joy               

~ O God of Loving Kindness, grant special grace and blessings to all who are anointed to bring us Your Word and Sacraments, that we all may know and live in the reconciling love of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our God

                                                       Your Saving Help is our Joy

The Celebrant adds: Almighty and Eternal God, break us out of our self-protecting shells to die to temporal distractions, that, rooted in the holy ground of Christ, our spiritual fruitfulness may nourish our souls as You guide us all into eternal life. We ask through Jesus, our great High Priest; and the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier; who together with You, live, love, and reign as One God, now and forever. Amen.

 

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: The Saving Antidote ~ 4th Sunday in Lent '21 Yr B

For Sunday, March 14, 2021, Readings: Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10,  John 3:14-21

    The Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea...but the people became impatient...[and] spoke against God and against Moses...Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents...many Israelites died...So Moses prayed for the people. 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 21:4-5a, 6, 7b-8]

        Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever...Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. [Psalm 107:1, 19]

       But God, who is rich in mercy...made us alive together with Christ...For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast. [Ephesians 2:4a,b; 8-9]

      Jesus said, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life...the light has come into the world...those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." [John 3:14, 19a, 21]

      Even God gets tired of grumbling. After all the grand displays of glory ~ pillars of cloud and fire, parting of seas, manna (what no salt and pepper?), and more ~ the grumbling Israelites still had no confidence in the eventuality of God's deliverance. So, God sends poisonous snakes that kill, and suddenly chastened, the people begged Moses to pray and intervene for them, and he did. God delivered ~ not an end to the dangers, but relief.
    Moses, on God's orders, made a bronze snake to hang on a pole. All the Israelites had to do was look at the snake on the pole when bitten and they lived. God is not predictable, but God is faithful. The Psalmist tells us that God’s mercy endures forever. And, Paul tells us we are saved by God's grace.
       We ALL have God's grace. We don't have to work for it ~ no one does ~ it comes to us by faith. Yet how have we harnessed it, especially after we have been bitten by the snakes of our own trespassing behavior, or that of someone else's?
       Have you ever thought or said that old expression: There but for the grace of God go I? It is mostly well-intended, and at once unintentionally thought-less and even care-less. It's an instant reaction to reduce our own fear and to comfort ourselves against the dangers of life as in: “Whew! Dodged that! There's that poor guy who was run over in the same intersection I just crossed, and there but for…" Even well-meaning, the unconscious thought is: "I have more grace than that guy."
       As we are deep in this Lenten season, let us work to be more conscious, more aware of even our most random reactions and instant thoughts. God is "rich in mercy" and loves and understands each of us as only our Creator could; certainly better than we understand ourselves or each other. Our lives are filled with danger, there are all sorts and conditions of "snakes" that bite us, many of which we invite into our own space by striving for ever-more earthly material.
      The poison of sin can be quite tempting as well as lethal to our souls. God doesn't promise our earthly life will be easy or safe and John 3:16 isn't magic or just for signs at football games. It is for us to know, deep down, in every day of this life, so that everyone who believes in Christ may not perish but may have eternal life.        
      We are to be steadfast and faith-filled in the knowledge of the Light of Christ within us. Our conscious acts are clearly to be of and for God. As the Israelites were directed to look up to the pole, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Son of Man is also to be lifted up. We are called to look to Christ and the Cross, in faith, for our salvation, before we are bitten by the snakes of sin, as well as after. With meaningful prayer and practice over time, even our unconscious thoughts and actions may be less poisonous to ourselves and others. And, maybe, we could even stop grumbling quite so much. Meanwhile, let us strive to grow in faith, to accept and feel the infusion of the ever-flowing Grace within us that is a saving antidote to the darkness of sin.

T'was Grace that taught
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
the hour I first believed.
 
Through many dangers, toils and snares
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far
and Grace will lead us home. 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O God of Enduring Mercy, awaken us to the snakes we invite into the wilderness of our own making by impatient striving for mere earthly advantage. Open the eyes of our souls to the light of Christ that stems the poison of sin and lifts our desire for eternal salvation.

                                                      Lord of Eternal Wonder

RESPONSE:                   By faith we accept Your grace

~ O God of Enduring Mercy, amplify our voices to all who hold power on this Planet, in this Nation, and in this Community, as we combat and clamor against ordinary and catastrophic injustice toward all who are endangered by the darkness of deliberate human trespass. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord of Eternal Wonder

                                                       By faith we accept Your grace

~ O God of Enduring Mercy, deliver from their distress all who are suffering through life-threatening illness, addiction, or homelessness, and give rest to all who provide support. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need…

                                                       Lord of Eternal Wonder

                                                       By faith we accept Your grace    

~ O God of Enduring Mercy, we shout for joy in thanksgiving for all who are now made alive again and gathered forever into the immeasurable riches of Your unending love. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       Lord of Eternal Wonder

                                                       By faith we accept Your grace

~ O God of Enduring Mercy, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                                       Lord of Eternal Wonder

                                                       By faith we accept Your grace                  

~ O God of Enduring Mercy, guide the souls, the minds, and the hearts of all who bring us together into our Living Christ through their service of Pastoring, Preaching, and Prayer. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord of Eternal Wonder

                                                       By faith we accept Your grace

The Celebrant adds: Good and Redeeming Lord, invigorate our faith and inspire us in our repentance to acknowledge and accept Your free gift of Grace, that our souls may not perish in sin, but thrive in Your eternal life. We ask through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ; and the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit; Who live and reign with You as One God, now, in the ages to come, and forever. Amen.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com