Listen to Marta Gómez singing Manos de Mujeres (translation below).
Hands of Women Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Hands of Women
Category Archives: Lenten reflection
Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Wholeness
“Of course, pain or disappointment threatens whatever sense of wholeness we may have reached. This is a fragile balance. Life is a fragile and unpredictable journey; anything can happen. But the wisdom traditions tell us that these trials and tribulations can also be integrated. The suffering can be integrated as a way of deepening and intensifying our experience of wholeness.”
-from Health & Wholeness by Laurence Freeman, OSB
Lenten Reflection from Rev. Angie Wright: The Promise
Today’s reflection comes from Rev. Angie’s parting words to us at her final service with us last month.
I once had a dream that I was given a very sacred duty of safely carrying a very large, very fragile vessel across a fallen log suspended over a raging river.
I dropped it.
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Rev. Angie Wright: The Promise
Sermon from Rev. R.G. Wilson-Lyons: the narrow gate, the hen and the fox
We are still here in the season of Lent. I imagine some of you may be fasting. Some of you may have given something up. All of these are an important part of Lent.
But ultimately, Lent is about Jesus’ journey to the cross. In fact, in the gospel of Luke, from the end of Chapter 9 until the cross, the story is about Jesus going to Jerusalem, going to the cross, and what happens along that road. In 9:51, Luke says that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. And Lent is our time to accompany Jesus on that journey. To journey to the cross.
Of course, this journey begs the question, why did Jesus die?
Continue reading Sermon from Rev. R.G. Wilson-Lyons: the narrow gate, the hen and the fox
Lenten Reflection from Susan Proctor: Presence – Absence – Presence
“Did you mean to die like that, was that a mistake? Or did you know your messy death would be a record breaker?” ! ! ! ! !
– Judas in Jesus Christ, SuperStar
As Easter people, we are called to be in the presence of the Christ.
As present day humans, we did not personally know Jesus as a man. He was not a friend whose presence was felt and then his absence endured. We are asked to know his presence, now, within us.
When those we love so deeply, for so long, or perhaps briefly, change or influence our lives, perhaps even the course of our lives, dies, we have a presence/absence/presence relationship.
Lenten Reflection from Robyn Hyden: Am I Really Doing This?
So, I used to think that I don’t “do” Lent. The part about fasting or giving up something for 40 days is just hard for me to get with.
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Robyn Hyden: Am I Really Doing This?
Sermon from Rev. Chris Hamlin: In God’s presence
Blue Transformation, by Macha Chmakoff
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.
Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. -Exodus 34:29-35
Continue reading Sermon from Rev. Chris Hamlin: In God’s presence
Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Remember you are dust
I was watching a science documentary from NOVA on PBS recently. The topic was the origins of life on the earth. Charles Darwin thought that life would have originated in a warm, shallow pond where all the conditions were right for the first microorganisms to appear. Sunlight was always considered a necessary factor for life to originate so scientists were very surprised when they discovered micro-organisms living in the deepest and darkest areas of the ocean floor near thermal vents that generate temperatures they never thought could sustain life.
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Remember you are dust
Lent at Beloved
Dear Beloved:
Will you submit a Lenten Reflection?
We send out a daily writing by our Beloveds during Lent, and they are as varied as are our Beloveds. There are no rules or boundaries on the kind of thing you can write – just something that you’ve been pondering, wondering about, something that inspires you, gives you hope or keeps you going.
Some people write poems, letters, songs, reflections on the daily scripture or a favorite scripture, or share a story of how they have experienced the presence of God in the heights or depths or ordinariness of their days. Click here for the daily lectionary.
We would love to hear from each of you during the 40 days of Lent (Feb. 10th-March 24th).
Please let Palmer Maxwell know what day (or days) you would like to write, and send what you have written, created or found. He will take it from there. It will be such a blessing to hear your voice among the choir of Lenten Reflections!
Please sign up here to receive the Lenten Reflection daily via email.
Holy Saturday Reflection from Rev. Angie: Claiming Them As Our Own
She is slowly taking her leave,
The painful withering away
Of mind and body
That is Alzheimer’s.
She lies still in her own bedroom
Given the dignity of dying in her own home
By her beloved devoted daughter Lynn.
Grace, who is full of Grace,
Has been at their side
In constant loving care
For both dying mother
And grieving daughter.
Continue reading Holy Saturday Reflection from Rev. Angie: Claiming Them As Our Own
