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Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week and the time we hear of our Lord’s passion for us and remember the last week of his human life: the culmination of his life of self-emptying love and obedience. We enter into Jerusalem with our Lord and progress toward the last meal, the garden, the cross and the tomb. (Palm Sunday. Matthew 21:1-11 and 26:14-46; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-18; Philippians 2:5-11) Sentence: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, tho

What a wonderful foretaste of the life that emerges in the midst of death – the hope that is stronger than fear and despair. (Lent Five. John 11:1-45;  Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; and Romans 8:6-11.) But these readings do not deny the depths of grief and loss that we endure. Rather resurrection emerges in the very midst of suffering. Sentence: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him

This week we are invited to explore how God sees us; how well or blindly we see; and how this process of being seen, of being exposed to the light, can transform us. (Lent Four. John 9:1-41; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; and Ephesians 5:8-14.) Sentence: “ … for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9   Collect: Gracious God, Long ago your Son

In the busyness of our world, especially in the long journey of Lent and Easter, it can be very hard to find the time, frame of mind, and openness of heart to enter into the spacious uncertainty, challenging encounters, and the harrowing story of our Lord’s passion for us.   This year I am exploring with you a contemporary version of Novena – the discipline of praying for nine days the same prayer as a way of opening our hearts more fully to the Divine and to seek greater cla

We are a thirsty hungry people, hard to satisfy for long, and so many of us are prone to restless searching. One of the gifts of Lent is the invitation to sit, even in the midday sun, by a well and meet the one who offers more than we knew we needed or was possible. (Lent Three. John 4:5-42.)  Sentence: “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I wi

There are many stories about Jesus physically healing those who are blind and there are also many teaching moments about spiritual blindness – often aimed at the disciples or in this case the learned Pharisee, Nicodemus. (Lent Two. John 3:1-17) Sentence: “Jesus answered him. ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ ” John 3:3   Collect: You who made everything and everyone and saw that it was good. Your beloved Son knew our fl

Lent always begins this way - with us accompanying Jesus into the wilderness. We come to witness his journey towards Jerusalem and the cross for us. And we come to learn how and where we too must travel through life and death into new life. Sentence: “Therefore just as one person’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one person’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” Romans 5:18   Collect: Compassionate God, We step out on the path your Beloved S

The journey of Lent and Easter is a remembering and discovering that life comes out of death and it begins with Ash Wednesday and the solemn reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return! We remember that this was the journey of Jesus for us and as one of us. And we discover that this is our journey also. An interior journey that we make in the company of others. Sentence: “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces t

As Jesus gets closer to Jerusalem there is an increasing sense of destiny and urgency whirling around the Teacher and his disciples. And...

Of all the ways to enter into our texts this week the sense of the turning point, or awakening, or turning towards home, or the process...

If we are treating Lent as not only the journey Jesus went on but also as the journey of our souls then this week, nearly half way...

As Jesus continues on the journey of his few short years of teaching and his progress towards Jerusalem, he encounters obstacles and...