Category Archives: Lenten reflection

Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Davey Williams: Sacrifice

love-your-enemies

So, it’s about 1967 and I’m a teenager playing a record on the stereo in our living room, and I say to my dad, “I love this record!”  He listens for a minute and then says, “You mean you’d sacrifice for it?”

It turned out that love is not primarily a feeling, and despite misinformation from the entertainment industry, love does not always begin as a feeling.  It’s in fact a commitment larger than ourselves.

I bring this up in light of Jesus’ telling us to “love our enemies.”  In theory this is my commitment, but recently this ideal has hit a snag.

Mob mentalities like that of the “so-called Islamic State,” Boko Haram, etc. seem to be an “enemy” that is hard to “feel” love for, let alone “sacrifice” for.  Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Davey Williams: Sacrifice →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: “I was so much older then”

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When Bob Dylan recorded “My Back Pages” for the album ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN he was transitioning from folk artist to folk artist critic with his own  career and his own songs directly in the cross-hairs of that critique.

The next album, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, revealed a much more nuanced and mature understanding of human nature and the role of protest. These albums and others that followed went from being protest songs of injustices in world events to protest songs about conformity to false images and ideals of self, beginning with the his own role of being the “spokesperson of his generation.”
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: “I was so much older then” →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Distracted from Distraction by Distraction

The title of this reflection comes from The Four Quartets by the American poet T.S. Eliot.  Midway through the season of Lent—intended I think to be a period of reflection and prayer on the deeper meaning of our faith and the Easter event—I find instead that my mental state resembles more accurately the description Eliot had of modern life.

And each distraction carries its own passport and identification number marked “Priority 1” and stamped in large letters: A.S.A.P.!!!!
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Distracted from Distraction by Distraction →

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Lenten Reflections: On the Bridge

Last week, several of our Beloveds traveled to Selma along with members of First Congregational Church, Pilgrim Church and Covenant UCC to commemorate the Bloody Sunday Bridge Crossing. Here are some of our reflections.

“As a white women, being in Selma was like reconnecting a bridge between the ignorance that has been my black history lessons, and the reality of 50 years ago. Bloody Sunday is the point of contact for that bridge – a moment in history which embodies so starkly the experience of so many black folks in America for too many years, and too many years which linger into the present.
Continue reading Lenten Reflections: On the Bridge →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Beloved Lenten Reflection from Cindy Jones: Goodbye

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THE BEATITUDES

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

-Matthew 5

Continue reading Beloved Lenten Reflection from Cindy Jones: Goodbye →

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Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Mary Jones: Our Prayer

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Dear Lord,

Mom and Dad and I call on YOU because you are our Keeper.  I love you mom and dad because you taught us the meaning of commitment, justice, respect and how to love each other when you did not understand what the words meant.  But you knew Jesus was in the midst of all that good feeling, all that coming together and caring for the people in the entire community not just family folks.

You taught us what it meant to be present, to show up if you are going to do Jesus’ work.  We had to be present, at Church and in the house.  There was no skipping out.  Everybody had to be there for the meal in order to rejoice in the outcome.  Celebration was for everybody in the house and beyond. Each one had to do her/his part.
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Mary Jones: Our Prayer →

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Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection: The Power of Your Word

handshake-1

In some version of the good old days, a contract could be sealed with a word and a handshake. Children were taught, “Your word is your bond.” This was an agreed-upon community standard that made it possible to trust and be trusted.

After my father’s recent death, I learned that he had a business partner he trusted so implicitly that all it took was one phone call, one word, one handshake, to agree to a new business deal – no lawyers, no spreadsheets, no documentation, no fine print. It worked, for them.
Continue reading Lenten Reflection: The Power of Your Word →

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Selma 50th Anniversary Bridge Crossing Jubilee: God’s Work Continues Among God’s People

Thousands returned to Selma this weekend to remember God’s liberation of God’s people and to rekindle a sense of purpose and unity, to go back into the world with eyes and hearts and minds wide open to those things that stand between the people of God and the justice, mercy and abundant life promised by God

The Selma commemoration is act of remembrance, of gratitude to God and people of faith and courage. It is also an act of recommitment to be about God’s work in the world –

Bloody Sunday brought to light the American state-sanctioned violence against African-Americans and the liberating spirit of God to bring an end to that violence and bondage.

That is the liberating work of the spirit of God even now, and if it is God’s work, it is our work.

As John Legend said, “Selma is Now!”

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, two to three Black people were lynched every week in the American South. The same number of Black people are now killed every week now by white police officers; a Black person is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police.

To end this violence and bondage is the liberating work of the spirit of God today, and if it is God’s work, it is our work.

This we know: Nothing and no one will stand in the way of the liberating spirit of God.

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Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Carolyn Foster: A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Those Who Marched

Gracious God, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the six hundred strong, the men and women who, as one in your Spirit, marched for freedom on Bloody Sunday.

Their way of courage and non-violence remains alive and inspires us to follow them. In our mind’s eye, as we remember their witness, guide us in their footsteps as we march on to a future where all your children will flourish together in your love.

Amen.

 

A Litany for Racial Reconciliation

Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Carolyn Foster: A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Those Who Marched →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection: Let Your Light Shine

light

JOHN 5:30-44

30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. Continue reading Lenten Reflection: Let Your Light Shine →

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