Praying and Working for the Conservation of Creation

This morning I was privileged to meet Rusty Pritchard, editor of Creation Care: A Christian Environmental Quarterly (visit Your Family Blog for details). I've placed a link to this fine publication and urge you to subscribe. An article by Greg Pitchford, "The Restoration of All Things," is especially fine reading, a superior piece of work; when it becomes available online, I'll alert you to it.

My prayerbook sets aside every Tuesday as a day wherein we might pray for Creation and Providence; it includes this collect for the conservation of natural resources:

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you make us workers with you in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Our Parishes: Six New Links

This afternoon I thought it might be a good to add six links to our list of places to visit. Five of these links are to local churches to which friends in our daily-prayer group are communicants: First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, St. Thomas Lutheran Church, and Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington. In hopes that some friends from St. Mark Roman Catholic Church may soon take an interest in our community of daily pray-ers, I’m also placing the parish on our list. You may wish to look around. If you know of another parish we should include in our Praying Daily list of churches, let me know.

April 13: The Fourth Sunday of Easter

By way of a prefatory personal note, our trip to Haiti, scheduled from April 10-17, was canceled because there is considerable civil unrest in Port au Prince and elsewhere on the island. Our friends at Hospice St. Joseph and in Ranquitte, Haiti, strongly recommended on Wednesday, the night before our Thursday flight, that the risk of violence to visitors is too great to ignore. All of us--Pastors Ron Luckey and Barry Neece, along with Dr. Greg McMorrow--are saddened that we are not able to go at this time. We will try to visit Haiti sometime in July or August. Please pray for the people of Haiti that in spite of their poverty, they may receive food to nourish their bodies and the Bread of Life to give them hope and heal their spirits.

I also encourage you to visit Journey with Jesus; Daniel B. Clendinen's commentary on the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday are especially trenchant and on the mark, especially as you become aware of the poverty in Haiti.

Finally this "afterward": my wife June, thinking that I'd be away for the week, had months ago arranged to go on a cruise with her daughter Becky, a mother-daughter outing which I hope will be a wonderfully memorable time for them. Their cruise means, however, that I will be in Georgia by myself for the week. During this time I've decided to enter into a quiet retreat, cultivating and wrapping myself in a good bit on longed-for silence, self-reflection, and prayer. I'm asking therefore that you include me in your intercessions, asking God to bless me with a strong sense of His presence and love so that I may discern what kind of a future God has in store for me as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

April 9: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today is the anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death.

On this day in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken by his Nazi captors from his cell where he had been imprisoned for treason, and was hanged. Bonhoeffer was a remarkable man -- a brilliant theologian and extraordinary pastor. From the first days of the Nazi accession to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer was involved in protests against the regime, and especially its policies of anti-Semitism.

He was a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church -- the center of Protestant resistance to the Nazis -- and worked tirelessly for a peaceful end to the Second World War. After an attempt on Hitler's life failed, documents were discovered which revealed that Bonhoeffer had played a minor role in the assassination conspiracy. He was duly arrested, and spent the remainder of his life in various prison camps, including the infamous Buchenwald.

While imprisoned, he continued to write, to teach, to minister to other inmates, and even to preach and administer the sacraments, as he was allowed. As he was taken to the scaffold on April 9, 1945, he turned to one of his fellow prisoners and said: "This is the end. For me, the beginning of life."


For more information about this life and writings, visit The International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society.

Prayer

Gracious Lord, in every age you have sent men and women who have given their lives for the message of your love. Inspire us with the memory of those martyrs
for the Gospel like your servant Dietrich, whose faithfulness led them in the way of the cross, and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives to your son's victory over sin and death; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Linglestown, Pennsylvania, USA

April 4: Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Although the Church, with our nation, remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 15, the date of his birth in 1929, this year many churches also commemorate the fortieth anniversary of his death on April 4, 1968. In your remembrance of Dr. King as Martyr and Renewer of Society, you may wish to pray this prayer:

Almighty God, who created us in your own image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and that we may reverently use our freedom, help us, like your servant Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your name; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Make a Weekly Pilgrimage to Journey for Jesus

Every week on Monday, Daniel B. Clendinen provides commentary at Journey for Jesus on matters of faith and life, often writing about the lectionary readings appointed for the coming Sunday.

Those of you who make the psalms the centerpiece of your prayer life will appreciate this week's offerng, a solid reflection on what happens in the Psalms.

One of the great "extras" that Daniel B. Clendinen continually provides is his top-of-the-page "Think about it," a quotation often so good that I copy it into my chapbook. Here's one that I found this morning:

Those who once delighted in fornication now embrace chastity alone...we who once took most pleasure in accumulating wealth and property now...share with everyone in need; we who hated and killed one another and would not associate with men of different tribes because of their different customs now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them and pray for our enemies. — Justin Martyr

Hildegard of Bingen's Hymn, "About the Blessed Virgin Mary"

During our Evening Prayers last night as we began our commemoration of the Annunciation of our Lord, my wife June read this beautiful hymn, written by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179); it so wonderfully announces what happened at the Annunciation (and, of course, the Incarnation) that we thought you might like to sing it (however, you might):

Greetings, noble, glorious and chaste beloved.

You image of purity,

You ground of sanctity,

Pleasing to God.

Certainly a heavenly infusion

Pour into you,

Because the highest Word

In you took on flesh.

You are the radiant white lily

Whom God perceived

Prior to all creation.

You the most beautiful and loveliest;

God so delighted in you that he pressed within you

The passionate embrace of his own heat,

So that his own son was suckled by you.

Truly has your body contained joy,

Since without you every heavenly harmony sounded,

Because, Virgin, you carried the son of God,

When your own purity became illuminated in God.

Your womb contained joy

Just as the grass was infused with

Greenness, when the dew sank into it;

Therefore Mother everything joyful has been

Created through you.

Now let the whole Church, dawning rose-red, break the day in joy

And sound in harmony because of the loveliest Virgin

And most praiseworthy Mary, Mother of God. Amen.

Our prayerbook cites Medieval Women's Visionary Literature by E. A. Petroff (Oxford UP, 1986) as the source.

Image source: Heather Williams Durka, Icons and Sacred Images.

April 1: The Annunciation of Our Lord (transferred)

Because the traditional day for the Annunciation, March 25 (nine months before Christmas Day), came this year within the first week of Eastertide, many churches (my Lutheran included) have transferred the celebration of the Annunciation to April 1. If the calendar of your prayerbook provides pages for this day, please join those of us who remember and honor the Blessed Virgin as she says "Yes" to the overshadowing Spirit and so conceives the Word of God as flesh of her flesh. Those who need lectionary readings, special psalms, and prayers for this day may visit Textweek for assistance.

James E. Kiefer is his Biographical Sketches of Memorable Christians of the Past articulates the Church's understanding of this day with the following commentary:

In the first chapter of Luke we read how the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Christ, and how Mary answered, "Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me as you have said." It is reasonable to suppose that Our Lord was conceived immediately after this. Accordingly, since we celebrate His birth on 25 December, we celebrate the Annunciation nine months earlier, on 25 March.

For many centuries most European countries took 25 March, not 1 January, as the day when the number of the year changed, so that 24 March 1201 was followed by 25 March 1202. If you had asked a Christian of that time why the calendar year changed so awkwardly partway through a month, he would have answered: "Today we begin a new year of the Christian era, the era which began X years ago today when God was made man, when He took upon Himself a fleshly body and human nature in the womb of the Virgin."

The following paragraph is from Chapter 14 of the book Miracles, by C S Lewis.

...ONE of those features of the Christian story which is Repulsive to the modern mind. To be quite frank, we do not at all like the idea of a "chosen people". Democrats by birth and education, we should prefer to think that all nations and individuals start level in the search for God, or even that all religions are equally true. It must be admitted at once that Christianity makes no concessions to this point of view. It does not tell of a human search for God at all, but of something done by God for, to, and about Man. And the way in which it is done is selective, undemocratic, to the highest degree. After the knowledge of God had been universally lost or obscured, one man from the whole earth (Abraham) is picked out. He is separated (miserably enough, we may suppose) from his natural surroundings, sent into a strange country, and made the ancestor of a nation who are to carry the knowledge of the true God. Within this nation there is further selection: some die in the desert, some remain behind in Babylon. There is further selection still. The process grows narrower and narrower, sharpens at last into one small bright point like the head of a spear. It is a Jewish girl at her prayers. All humanity (so far as concerns its redemption) has narrowed to that.

The following quotation is from Martin Luther's sermon "On the Magnificat" (the Song of Mary, Luke 1:46-55).

"For He that is mighty hath done great things for me, and Holy is His Name." (Luke 1:49)
The "great things" are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed upon her as pass man's understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among whom she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in Heaven, and such a child.
She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is Too exceedingly great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry: "They are great things," impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God.

No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though He had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God.

Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 326, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Concordia Publishing House, 1956.

PRAYER (traditional language)

We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that We who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Almighty God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine Incarnate Word: Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord; that we who have known The incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Almighty God, whose love has poured upon us the new light of Your Incarnate Word: Grant that this light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eastertide

On Easter Sunday we gather as a community of faith to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Our worship is filled with festive alleluias, and songs of praise and thanksgiving. Even nature seems to join in the celebration as signs of new life surround us. There are the first flowers of Spring pushing their heads above ground, the smell of new leaves on the trees, the song of birds filling the air, the warm breezes signaling the coming of bright days and pleasant nights. Drawn into the joy of Easter and the beauty of new life, we tend to forget what has gone before. Our memories of the gray winter days and long cold nights fade as we see signs of new life and know again the hope of Jesus' resurrection. Yet Easter is a celebration of life coming out of death, of hope arising in the face of suffering and struggle. The joy of Easter is having come through the darkness of Good Friday and emptiness of Holy Saturday.

It is believing that from suffering and death can come new life. This interplay of death and life is a mystery that we all experience in our daily lives. We are all familiar with times of darkness as well as times of light. We have experienced both the death of a loved one and birth of a child. We have felt the fear around the impending surgery of a family member and the joy of knowing that someone is recovering from a serous illness. We know the anguish when a loved one has been injured in an accident and the gratitude that wells up in us when someone who struggles with an addiction can celebrate a year of sobriety. Times of depression, experienced like a dark cloud hanging over us, weigh heavily upon us and times of hope and expectation fill us with energy and new dreams and hopes.

Maria Tasto, OSB. Easter: The Interplay of Life and Death.

Image: Resurrection by Solomon RAJ, India
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The Resurrection of Our Lord

The Prayer for Easter Evening

Almighty God, you give us the joy of celebrating our Lord's resurrection. Give us also the joys of life in your service, and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.


Image source: Empty Tomb, by He Qi, China.

Tonight's Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil, held tonight at 7:30, is one of my favorite services of the church year. At my home church, we gather outside for the lighting the New Fire, bless a new Paschal Candle, and slowly proceed--led by cantors singing "Light of Christ" with candles in our hands--into the still darkened sanctuary . As we go through the doors into the sanctuary, we are greeted with the smell of lilies. We pause at the back of the sanctuary to hear readings from the Old Testament and join the cantors in singing of more psalms. As we listen, we know that all is ready: the bread and wine, soon to be for us the Body and Blood of Christ, wait our arrival. Again in procession we move further into the sanctuary to offer prayers for those who will be baptized throughout Christendom, hear the story of the Resurrection, and begin the ancient Eucharistic Liturgy. As the most intensely beautiful liturgy in the Church's year, having prepared ourselves during Lent for this Day's celebration, we are eager to this year's first announcement that "Christ is risen!"

During the liturgy June and I will be in prayer for all of you who are trusting in the faithfulness of the Father who loves us in Christ. We will ask the Holy Spirit to bless you. And, if you have asked us to pray for you, we will offer our intercessions for you by name. We will especially remember those of you who have been praying with us, mornings and evenings, throughout the year.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.!

Holy Saturday: The Great Sabbath

I'm writing just a few minutes before three o'clock on Good Friday, and according to the Gospel accounts, it was at this time that Jesus, "God of God, very God of very God" (as the Nicene Creed says) died on the cross. Perhaps like me, on this Good Friday you have envisioned God in our flesh, Jesus, being taken down from the cross and carried on a bier to the tomb where hastily his friends are placing him on a stone slab before the Friday sun sets and the sabbath begins. In an hour or so, the tomb will be shut and sealed.

In my prayerbook, I'm asked to remember--with Christians everywhere--that this evening is Holy Saturday because tonight begins the day that Christ "rested" physically in the tomb. Anciently, it is also believed that it was on this day Our Lord performed in spirit the Harrowing of Hell and raised up to Paradise those held captive there.

Beginning this evening and nearly all of tomorrow's Saturday/Sabbath, I will be resting a good bit, simply waiting (sitting quietly outside if the weather is good, perhaps reading) for the day to pass so that on Saturday evening, June and I will, along with our daughter Chelsea, can drive up to Lexington for the 7:30 p.m. Easter Vigil, the first stirrings of Easter, the Day of the Resurrection of Our Lord. As I wait, I plan to listen to Henri Nouwen's wonderfully insightful talk on “The Spirituality of Waiting,” which you can read online, or hear via a recording of Nouwen himself. I owe this listening opportunity to Ben Witherington's comments in which he says,
During a difficult season in my Christian life, Henri Nouwen provided me with manna from heaven, water in a weary and dry place and guidance on spiritual formation that I still live out of. I would say he is certainly one of the greatest spiritual formation writers of any age. The picture on the left is from one of his books which deals both with slowing down and listening to God, and also being honest with God and waiting upon the Lord.

After thanking James Howell for the initial link to Nouwen, Witherington continues:

It will be worth your time [reading Nouwen]. "For those who wait in the Lord will renew their strength,They will mount up like eagles with wings of great length. They will run and not get weary, they will walk and not faint. Giving strength to the weary, and power to his saints."

Dona nobis pacem

I plan to to read Nouwen tomorrow. Perhaps you'd like to join me. In addition to praying the Daily Offices, I will also visit Daniel B. Clendinen's Journey with Jesus to read as my lectio divina Clendinen's commentary on the lectionary readings for the Feast of the Resurrection. Perhaps you too would like to visit Clendinen; that also will be well worth your time, your waiting time.

Entering Holy Week

Yesterday we received our palms. It's a tradition in many churches, my Lutheran parish among them, for those who waved their newly blessed palms in the procession to and through the church doors to take their palms home and place them behind icons, pictures, and crosses so that throughout the year, they may remember that on Passion Sunday, our Lord entered Jerusalem with the enthusiasm of his followers. Palm waving for Jesus, all of us discover, is fairly easy. Going with Jesus to the cross, however, is much more difficult, often dangerous. During the year, as the leaves on the palm branches dry up and sometimes turn brownish-green, we are reminded that beyond the enthusiasm, Jesus walked the Hard Road, the road He invites us to take with him. As we walk our way through this Holy Week, remembering day by day how Jesus shows us the Way, may our eyes be rivited on His commitment as He walks in front of us. May we look hard and long at the Way he chooses for Himself--and asks us to journey with him.

Our Lenten Psalmody Studies

Hats off to our Lenten psalter studies! Beginning last January 24, we met seven out of eight Lenten Thursdays so we might know how to sing the Psalter. While studying our way through six chapters of Cynthia Bourgeault’s Chanting the Psalms, we taught ourselves psalm tones and practiced chanting the Psalter in Evening Prayer. At last evening’s gathering, we took a good look at the Psalter for the Christian People and decided that we’d encourage ourselves to purchase copies so that when we come together as a group, we’ll have a common Psalter with which to sing to God. Based on “inclusive-language revision of the Psalter of The Book of Common Prayer 1979, this Psalter is very inexpensive (about $6.00 when purchased as “nearly new” from Amazon's new and used booksellers. Using this ecumenical psalter means that anyone from any Christian tradition, both at home and in our gatherings, can join us in our psalm-singing prayer life.

Special appreciations go out to all who came to our Thursday evening meetings at First Presbyterian Church, and especially all of you who traveled considerable distance on dark and often chilly nights to encourage one another! As we go forward into Holy Week, the Vigil of Easter, Eastertide, Pentecost, and the days afterward, may all of us remember one another in our prayers, especially in the evenings when we make intercessions for one another in the Church. For each one who came, shared, studied, learned, and prayed, our group is grateful to God for your presence and your prayers.

From Andy's Chapbook: Merton on humility

To the truly humble man the ordinary ways and customs and habits of men are not a matter for conflict. The saints do not get excited about the things that people eat and drink, wear on their bodies, or hang on the walls of their houses. To make conformity or non-conformity with others in these accidents a matter of life and death is to fill your interior life withconfusion and noise. Ignoring all this as indifferent, the humble man takes whatever there is in the world that helps him to find God and leaves the rest aside. He is able to see quite clearly that what is useful to him maybe useless for somebody else, and what helps others to be saints might ruin him. That is why humility brings with it a deep refinement of spirit, a peacefulness, a tact and a common sense without which there is no sane morality.

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. (New Directions, 1961) 84-85.

Good news about Sister Judy!

Sister Judy's Benedictine sisters just sent this email update:

Just a quick note to let you know that Sr. Judy's surgery on her thyroid went well this morning. They only needed to take the right lobe and it looks benign. If things go as planned she will be home tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers!

That's wonderful news. Now we can all thank God that all went well!

March 13: our final Lenten Thursday evening meeting

On Thursday evening, 7:00, our little community of Daily Office pray-ers will meet at First Presbyterian Church. Stephen Locke will lead us in Evening Prayer. Before Evening Prayer, we will discuss what's new in our thinking about a Psalter to meet our needs. And we will practice singing the appointed psalms for the evening with this double tone that is beautiful and easy to sing. And--O yes!--this: on Monday evening Andy spoke with Wayne, one of the cantors who leads congregational psalm-singing during Sunday Eucharists at Faith Lutheran Church, and Wayne has agreed to come and visit us at the end of May when we'll have our annual picnic together at June and Andy's home. You'll really like Wayne! That's he in the center of the photograph.

Pray for Sister Judy

Sr. Judy (that's she, the second from the left) , for some of us our Oblate Director at The Monastery on Mt. Tabor, will be in Central Baptist Hospital on Wednesday and Thursday of this week for thyroid-related surgery. Please remember her in your prayers, perhaps by offering this intercession:

Lord Jesus Christ, by your patience in suffering you hallowed earthly pain and gave us the example of obedience to your Father's will. Please be with Sister Judy in her time of weakness and pain; sustain her by your grace, that her strength and courage may not fail; heal her according to your will; and help her always to live within your faithfulness to us. Be with all who love her, especially all her Benedictine sisters and most especially those at her monastery. In your love protect all of us us as we seek to do your will, sharing your divine hospitality with all whom we meet. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

A Pope whom many Christians remember with gratitude

On Wednesday, March 12, numerous Christian churches, notably the Roman Catholic, but also including many in the Protestant tradition (especially Lutherans and Episcopalians), will remember and give thanks to God for the life of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, who died in 604 a.m. Remembering that he labored during an extraordiany dark time in the history of the Europe (and long before there were any serious divisions of the Church), do take time to read this short biography of his life and thank God for his tremendous witness to Christ.

As James E. Kiefer reminds us in his short biography of Gregory the Great,

English-speaking Christians will remember Gregory for sending a party of missionaries headed by Augustine of Canterbury (not to be confused with the more famous Augustine of Hippo) to preach the Gospel to the pagan Anglo-Saxon tribes that had invaded England and largely conquered or displaced the Celtic Christians previously living there. Gregory had originally hoped to go to England as a missionary himself, but was pressed into service elsewhere, first as apocrisiarius [a delegate or deputy; especially, the pope's nuncio or legate at Constantinople] and then as bishop of Rome. He accordingly sent others, but took an active interest in their work, writing numerous letters both to Augustine and his monks and to their English converts.

Gregory served the Christian church well, although he was not perfect, (who among us is?).

As an aside: in my chapbook, I've placed this quotation, attributed to Gregory by Aquinas in his Catena Aurea: "The highest, the only proof of love, is to love our adversary."

After you read about him, you may wish to offer this prayer to God:

Almighty and merciful God, who raised up Gregory of Rome to Be a servant of the servants of God, and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people: Preserve in your Church the catholic and apostolic faith they taught, that your people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

More from Andy's Chapbook: Lewis on Temptation

I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience, etc. doesn’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v. muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, & the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the v. sign of His presence.

C.S. Lewis, letter to Mary Neylan, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Vol. II, ed. Water Hooper (San Francisco: Harper, 2004), 507.

From Andy's Chapbook

I'm always on the lookout for quotations that I want to copy into my chapbook. I find them in journals and magazines, newspapers, books and commentaries, roadside graffiti, brochures, advertisements, comic strips, the lives of the saints, Internet postings, postcards--in short, from anything written (and sometimes spoken). When I find something that I want to chew on, I scribble it into a little leather chapbook, usually with an old-fashioned fountain pen; and then--now and then--I turn back on the pages and read what I thought was good and worth preserving for a rainy spiritual day. So tonight I thought I might start to share some of them with you periodically. Here's one:

Truth rises from the silence of being to the quiet tremendous presence of the Word. Then, sinking again into silence, the truth of words bears us down into the silence of God. Or rather God rises up out of the sea like a treasure in the waves, and when language recedes His brightness remains on the shores of our own being.

From Thomas Merton, Thoughts In Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1956) 86.

Preparing for Next Sunday, Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday

Here are the lectionary readings for Palm Sunday, March 16:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9–16
Philippians 2:5–11
Matthew 26:14–27:66 or Matthew 27:11–54

Spend some time with them. And again, as ususal, here is Daniel B. Clendenin's commentary, well worth a good reading

Image Source: Corinne Vonaesch, 2001. L'entrée de Jésus a Jérusalem,

Leslie doing fine!

Yesterday Leslie wrote to say that the surgery on the back of her neck went well. The procedure, she says, was "just at two hours"; the surgeon worked on four nerves so that in the future they won't produce nearly as much pain. But for now, Leslie says that she's "rather sore and brused, and will feel worse before [she] gets better . . . . With luck, [she] should be back at work on Wednesday. Right now it's ice packs, warm compresses, tea and toast, percet and asprin. " In closing, she sends her "love to all." And we send ours to you, Leslie!

Pray without Ceasing

Have you ever wondered what St. Paul means when he encourages us to "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5.17)? Consider this understanding of that imperative by an Orthdox writer:

Usually in the Holy Scriptures, the word always is used in the sense of "often." For instance, "The priests went always into the first tabernacle at certain fixed hours, not that they went there unceasingly by day and by night; they went often, but not uninterruptedly." Even if the priests were all the time in church, keeping alight the fire which came from heaven, and adding fuel to it so that it should not go out, they were not doing this all at the same time, but by turns, as we see from St. Zacharias: "He executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course' (Luke 1. 8). One should think in the same way about prayer, which the Apostle ordains to bedone unceasingly, for it is impossible for man to remain in prayer day and night without interruption. After all, time is also needed for other things, for necessary cares in the administration of one's house; we need time for working, time for talking, time for eating and drinking, time for rest and sleep. How is it possible to pray unceasingly except by praying often? But oft-repeated prayer may be considered unceasing prayer.

Source: The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology. Compiled by Igumen Chariton of Valamo. Edited by Timothy Ware. (Chatham, Kent: Machays PLC, 1997), 49.

Praying for Haiti

As some of you may know, I have a special love for the people of Haiti, especially those living in and around the village of Ranquitte, located back in the mountains of upper north-eastern Haiti.

In April four of us from central Kentucky (Dr. Robert McMorrow, along with two Lutheran pastors, Ron Luckey and Barry Neece, and I) will be making a trip (April 10-17) to build a home for "the poorest of the poor," in our hemisphere. If you'd like to look at some photographs of our last trip, made in October, 2007, visit Faith Lutheran Church as follow the links. If you'd like to join us, let me know,

Praying Daily meets again on Thursday, March 6

Our community of Daily Office people will meet again this Thursday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in the Parlor Room. Inasmuch as we concluded our discussion last Thursday with considerable talk about a common Psalter for us, Leslie Ferris sends the following list of Psalters for our consideration:

1. A New Metrical Psalter by Christopher Webber (Lectionary Psalms)
2. Hymntune Psalter by Daw & Hackett Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Lectionary Psalms)
3. Anglican Chant Psalter Alec Wyton - (all 150 Psalms)
4. Plainsong Psalter - James Litton - (all 150 Psalms)

If you have a Psalter you'd like for us to look over, please bring it to our "show and tell." By way of support for our discussion, we'll use Chapter 6, "Psaltersand Sourcebooks," in Cynthia Bourgeault's Chanting the Psalms, as our text for study. We'll begin Evening Prayer at 8:00 p.m. After our March 6 meeting, we have one more Lenten gathering on March 13.

Image Source: http://www.artfund.org/images/artwork/2004108_1.jpg

The Lectionary Readings for Next Sunday, March 7, The Fifth in Lent, 2008

As promised, here is where to go on your Journey with Jesus as you prepare to listen to, contemplate, and live by the Word in next Sunday's lectionary readings: Ezekiel 37:1–14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6–11; the Holy Gospel to be read for next Sunday is the story of the raising of Lazarus from death. You will appreciate reading Daniel B. Clendenin's commentary.

Image Source: http://kids.christiansunite.com/images/Bible_Stories/143.jpg

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds deserve to be punished, by the comfort of your grace may mercifully be set free; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Source: The Gregorian Sacramentary (Rome, 8th cent. mss.); qtd. The Daily Prayer of the Church, 984.

Two Icons to Share

On Friday I received a large wooden crate containing two icons that June and I had commissioned as gifts to The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) in Covington, GA. On Saturday morning I photographed them so that you might enjoy looking at them. And tomorrow I will re-crate them and send them on to Fr. Tim Graham, the rector of The Church of the Good Shepherd.

The icon on the left is called "Theotokos and Child"; the icon on the right is "The Good Shepherd." The icons will be installed in the narthex of a new church sanctuary and will be blessed at the consecration of the building by the Bishop of Atlanta on April 20.


Both icons were "written" by Mel Ahlborn, about whom you may wish to learn more. You may also wish to listen to an interview with Mel Ahlborn in a RealAudio slide presentation.

The Marvel of the Psalter

Among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given. Elsewhere in the Bible you read only that the Law commands this or that to be done, you listen to the Prophets to learn about the Saviour's coming or you turn to the historical books to learn the doings of the kings and holy men; but in the Psalter, besides these things, you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and down, its failures and recoveries.

From St. Athansius, Letter to Marcellinus (included in an edition of On the Incarnation, St. Vladimir's Press, 1998); qtd. Lutheran Forum, 37:2 (March 2008).

In Our Prayers

Last night at Evening Prayer, Leslie Farris let us know that she will be in Lexington for neck surgery on Monday, March 3. Please be sure to include her in your daily prayers and intercessions. And from Mt. Tabor Monastery, Sister Judy writes:

Dear Oblates,

Oblate Marie Miller had surgery several weeks ago and is in rehabilitation. Oblate Pat Bentrup had surgery on both her knees , the second one was done yesterday. She also is in rehab. Please pray for both of them. I will have thyroid surgery on Wed. , March 12. Please tuck me into your prayer list also. It is snowy and icy today 28 degrees. The scraper has not gone down yet so the sisters are weighing their options on getting to work.

Peace to everyone. Judy

Let's all be sure to remember Leslie, Marie, Pat, and Sr. Sister in our prayers, asking God to protect, bless, and have mercy upon each one. Perhaps you might pause now and offer this prayer:

O Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve your servants--especially Leslie, Marie, Pat, and Sr. Judy--for whom we offer our supplications; look upon them with the eyes of your mercy; give them comfort and sure confidence in you; defend them from the danger of the enemy, and keep them in perpetual peace and safety; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

During the days ahead, intercede often for those who have asked for our prayers.

Dick Staub's Culture Watch

A few months ago I read Dick Staub's The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in a Age of Christianity-Lite. As Martin Marty says, "Dick Staub is an imaginative and realiable guide through the maze of popular culture. He has a rather worked-out world view, which helps him make judgments, but listen patiently to other voices. Then he interprets, especially in ways that young people--a generation often overlooked by leaders in communities of faith--to find meaning, direction, and vocation." Well, I'm not so young, and yet I found The Culturally Savvy Christian to be bracingly fresh--as is his daily commentary available at Culture Watch. You'll find it interesting, provocative, informative. I've added to our list of place to visit.

We're Meeting Thursday, February 28, at First Presbyterian Church

Although the ice storm kept us from meeting last Thursay, we'll see each other tomorrow evening in the Parlor Room at First Presbyterian Church, 7:00 p.m. During our last meeting, we discussed Chapter 4, "The Psalms as Psychological Tools" (38-48) in Cynthia Bourgeault's Chanting the Psalms; tomorrow evening we'll take a strong look at Chapter 5, "The Psalms as Soul Music" (49-58). This is an especially exciting chapter in which Bourgeault contends that "the real power of the psalms lies in their uncanny ability to awaken the unitive imagination." Be sure to come and explore that provocative possibility!

By way of additional announcements, here are several more notices:

1. By visiting Journey with Jesus, you'll find Daniel B. Clendenin's commentary on this coming Sunday's lectionary readings notably insightful. Highly recommended! (And aptly so in light of our reading St. Andrew of Crete's The Canon)



2. If you've been singing the psalms with one or more of the psalms tones made available several weeks ago, good for you! Tomorrow evening we'll take a small step forward and learn how to sing a psalm with a "double tone." Singing a psalm with a double tone will help you "sing joyfully to the Lord" (Ps. 33.1) and "sing to the Lord a new song" (Ps. 33.3) as "you sing and make music" (Ps. 57.7) to the Lord.

3. Last Wednesday's Taize service at The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour was profoundly beautiful, deeply contemplative in spirit. The parish provides an evening meal at 6:00, and the service begins 6:30-ish. All are welcome every Lenten Wednesday for food and worship together.

4. On Thursday evening, beginning at 7:00, we'll spend an hour in discussion and study and then come together in Evening Prayer at 8:00.

5. Finally, this, posted by Susan Doubet, OSB, on February 4 at Light through Stained-Glass Windows (a site which I've added to our list of interesting and helpful blogs):

Here's a lovely excerpt from Thomas Moore that might be something to consider for the Lenten season. Surely beats giving up candy...it might not make us thinner, but it will make us more whole and holy!

Silence is not the absence of sound. That would be to imagine it negatively. Silence is a toning down of inner and outer static, noise that occupies not only the ears but also the attention. Silence allows many sounds to reach awareness that otherwise would go unheard--the sounds of birds, water, wind, trees, frogs, insects, and chipmunks, as well as conscience, daydreams, intuitions, inhibitions, and wishes. One cultivates silence not by forcing the ears not to hear, but by turning up the volume on the music of the world and the soul.

Lenten Reading: Tuesday after the Second Sunday of Lent

First Fruits, The Canon of St. Andrew, Chapter 13 (51-54)

It's been almost two weeks now since we started to read, study, and pray The Canon, and tonight I spent some time with Chapter 13, learning to discern and appreciate the difference between the Biblical dynamis (power) and energeia (energy), welcoming such insights into my Christian way of thinking.

The previous chapters and the evenings' readings have at times been provocative, unsettling, moments of learning and reflection. For me, Matthewes-Green's "considerations" at the end of each chapter have been times for self-examination, often a review of my some seventy-years of living. Chapter 4 has asked me to confess that from a deeply personal point of view "I alone have sinned against Thee." Inasmuch as I prefer to live in what might called "the comparative mode" of thinking, St. Andrew tells me quite bluntly that I'm in no position to compare my life with those of others. I simply don't know--have no way of knowing!--the depth of others' sinnings. But surely I do know my own; and when I don't engage in comparisons, I find my own worrisome enough, deeply worrisome to say with conviction that "I alone have sinned again Thee"--without equivocation.

Chapter 5 gave me a much better understanding of the New Testament my nous, as the Greek has it, that is, "the perceptive powers of my soul" (20). I became intrigued enough to explore what nous may mean to me as a Christian that, after a little investigation, I discovered this helpful commentary:

The English word “mind” translates the Greek term nous. The etymology of nous can be traced back to the root meaning “to sniff” which suggests a “way of acquiring knowledge” through the sense of smell. In early Greek literature (Homer), nous referred not to an intellectual organ (brain) but to a function which was defined as the ability to realize fully “the true nature or essence of a thing as against its surface appearance.” It was the ability to perceive a camouflaged enemy soldier hiding among the rocks. “In Greek philosophy almost from the beginning it becomes the main function of the mind to discover the ‘real’ world or the ‘real’ character of the world as a whole, in contrast to other erroneous beliefs of most human beings.”

That's helpful. Understanding that my nous, when working well, is something of a "sniffer," I imagine what it must be like, if I were a bloodhound, not to have a sense of smell. As a bloodhound with a nose that doesn't work well, I'd really be "out of my element." So it is with Andy when my nous, my sniffer, my nose for God, is not working well. When I prayed to the Lord with St. Andrew, I told the Lord that, like Andrew, my lusts of passion have darkened the beauty of my soul and turned our whole mind (my nous) entirely into dust. In saying that to God and to myself, I found I was simply admitting that frequently in my life I've lived without much or any awareness of the Divine, without any sense of God; it's as though my eyes have been closed, my hearing impaired, my tasting buds numbed, my sense of touching the Divine hampered, and my ability to sniff out the presence of God wiped out. I'm that bloodhound who can't sniff what's in the air. That's been and still is a large truth about myself that I need to confront and not evade. I need God's mercy in order to live again with feeling for His presence. I need God to make me aware of God.


As I have slowly prayed and labored over the Canon's chapters, I have also become aware of how little I know well the Scriptures. How St. Andrew's knowing of God's Word catches me up short. I'm embarassed to admit that I have almost forgotten the mention of Lamech and Enoch. For St. Andrew, they are part of his vivid memory; for me, such figures are but a dim notion of the past. Surely I need to live more and more in the Scriptures.


These are but a few of the musings in prayer that I find myself entering as I pray along with St. Andrew. My book is now considerably underlined, my notes in the margins urge me go back and re-read. I find myself soaking up a way of praying that is not only new to me, but somehow the "Work of God," as St. Benedict calls our daily prayers; that is, in this way of praying God is working on me, in me, inside me--probing me with His Spirit, His concern that I find out who I am, both apart from Him and with Him.


These past two weeks with The Canon, with St. Andrew, with St. Mary of Egypt, and with the Mother of Our Lord, the Theotokos, have been what I did not expect: dark and enlightening and (in the words of St. Andrew) times and moments of compunction and compassion. I don't remember praying this way before, and I'm not sure if I'm actually ready for it now. It's sort of a spiritual experiment, at times uncomfortable, at times revealing, at times perplexing, at times comforting. Perhaps by the end of Lent, I'll know myself and God better. I hope so.

Getting Ready for Next Sunday, February 24, The Third Sunday in Lent, 2008

Every Monday, Daniel B. Clendenin publishes a commentary on the next Sunday's lectionary readings at The Journey with Jesus Foundation. I like to read his commentaries early in the week so that I may prepare myself for the Church's proclamation on the upcoming Lord's Day. If I stay on the ball, I'll do my best to make sure you too get a weekly Monday reminder to preview the readings and take a look at his rather remarkable weekly essays.

Image source: Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Mario Sironi, 1947. Christus Rex.

Lenten Reading: Sunday after Ash Wednesday

First Fruits, The Canon of St. Andrew, Chapter 3 (11-15)

For the first time, we see that St. Andrew speaks to a Christian saint in his prayers when he says, "Holy Mother Mary, pray to God for us." Now I suspect that most of us are perhaps a tad uncomfortable with such a petition. In her Introduction (xxiv-xxvi), Frederica Matthewes-Green tells us how an Orthdox Christian understands such a prayer. It will be a good idea if all of us read that part of the Introduction, "The Scandal of the Saints," again carefully to make sure we understand the Orthodox tradition well; that is, we don't want to read too much into an Orthdox Christian's speaking to a saint, nor we want to under-value the importance of what she or he is doing when speaking to a saint. After reflecting on her explanation about Andrew's speaking to St. Mary of Egypt, how do you respond and evaluate her clarification? Do you ever speak to a saint who is living now with Christ? If so, might you tell us about such a prayer?

This morning I was attempting to learn how you as readers in ouor group might post comments. To do so, I created a new email address (benjamin.mattews27@gmail.com) and tried to post a comment. To put it succinctly, I got confused. So right now I can't help any of you post comments without getting some clairifcation as to the difficulties you and I are experiencing. As an alternative to posting comments, let's each one of us keep a journal of our responses and then when we meet again on February 21, we can share our responses with one another and have a pretty good discussion. I hope that works for all of us.

In the event, however, that one or more of you can provide assistance with our posting comments, do post a comment yourself and tell us how it is done. Thanks!

Lenten Reading: Saturday after Ash Wednesday
First Fruits, The Canon of St. Andrew, Chapter 2 (6-11)

At our Thursday meeting, Mason reminded us that Eastern-tradtion Christians repeat over and again that the real goal of our life in Christ is to be healed--to be found because we've lost our way. And that, as Frederica Matthewes-Green in her Introduction points out, "is a really long process" (xv).

While reading, praying, and reflecting on Chapter 2 in The Canon, I was struck how St. Andrew tells his Maker that he is wounded, lost as an outcast, a man who has fallen among thieves, and beaten. When he prays, St. Andrew asks for help and mercy. He wants the Savior to come and make him healthy before he gets worse.

Speaking personally and telling you more than you may know about me, in my own life I'm often lost and without a good sense of direction. Whole years have gone by while I lost my bearings. For a good part of my mid-life my headlights were on dim. Today I still drive down wrong streets. I have "fallings-out" with people, with friends, sometimes with strangers--yes, even with June. So this prayer hits home and urges me to examine my own spiritual confusion and illness, my own state of dis-repair. I find that praying The Canon is something like undergoing a spiritual examination, an MRI of my own heart and mental conditioning, making sure I know and get an accurate medical record of my interior life. After time spent in The Canon this morning, I'm aware that I need healing. I need moment-by-moment help and healing--someone to give me a sense of direction.

Lenten Reading: Friday after Ash Wednesday
First Fruits, The Canon of St. Andrew, Chapter 1 (2-5)

Last evening's meeting was exceptionally helpful for our prayerful entrance into Lent, and all of us--such a large group!--appreciated seeing so many of our friends again. Thank you so much, Stephen, for leading us in Evening Prayer.

Inasmuch as we've all begun to read Frederica Matthewes-Green's First Fruits of Prayer, we can also begin to share our reflections and thoughts as we move from chapter to chapter.

The commentary pages to Chapter 1 introduce us to at least three new words: canon, troparion, and irmos. While they are briefly defined in the Introduction, here are definitions of these three words that may prove additionally useful:

• Canon: The hymn typically found in Orthros of the Byzantine Rite
  
• Troparion (also tropar; plural troparia) is a type of hymn in Byzantine music, in the Orthodox Church and other Eastern Christian churches. It is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas; this may carry the further connotation of a hymn interpolated between psalm verses.


• The irmos is the initial verse of each individual ode in a canon, sung by the choir; from the Greek verb "to tie" or "to link."

Although Chapter 1 of the Canon is not very long, it well deserves several contemplative readings, perhaps to be read as your lectio divina for a Lenten day. On page 4, we are given opportunities to consider several questions. Consider choosing one and sharing your responses and reflections. (If you experience any difficulty posting a response, email me, and I'll reply with help.)

Lenten Reading: Ash Wednesday
First Fruits, Introduction (ix-xl) and The Canon, Chapter 1 (2-5)

We now have copies of First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey Through the Canon of St. Andrew (hereafter FF), and we'll make them available at the Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas Lutheran Church and at our Thursday evening meeting at First Presbyterian Church. Once you get your copy of FF and start to read it, you'll find it on the cutting-edge of interesting and provocative Christian thinking, especially for us in the Western Church who have little acquaintance with the spiritual heart of Eastern Orthodox Christians. As soon as possible, read the Introduction (ix-xl) and move on directly to The Canon, Chapter 1 (2-5). Then in a day or so, go to the Appendix and "The Life of St. Mary of Egypt."

My suggestion is that you don't try to capture or understand everything too quickly. You'll find the Eastern way of the thinking about the Faith different enough that you'll need to slowly soak it up. Think of yourself as a brand new dry sponge who is slowly and frequently being dipped into fresh bubbling water. As you enter into the new spiritual territory of the Eastern Orthodox, remember that Frederica Matthews-Green is a wonderful guide, well-respected throughout the Christian world for her insights, love for the Church, and ability to communicate across the traditions. After you read a bit, do a bit of reflecting and share your thoughts by posting a comment or so. When you see someone else's comments, comment on a comment.

Be a sponge, dip, then squeeze (post a comment!) so that all of us--and that includes anyone reading this blog--can dip and squeeze again and again, getting wetter and wetter in all the Orthodox water! It'll be a great way to pilgrimage with an Orthodox friend toward Holy Week and Easter.

Lenten Carbon Fasting

Yesterday evening, while listening to a BBC radio broadcast after Evening Prayer, I heard a report on the efforts of two Anglican bishops who are asking Christians to consider and adopt some form of "carbon fasting" as a Lenten discipline. You may be interested in their call and find out more about carbon fasting by visiting

Lent fast to cut carbon emissions
A Carbon Fast: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repent!*
The Carbon Fast
Church advocates carbon fast for Lent

Image: http://www.blueventures.org/images/Best%20of%20All/smaller/mattmeasures.jpg

February 6: Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we enter Lent. If you need help in determining what you can do to give shape to your Lenten discipline this year, visit Connecting Worship and Daily Living in Lent or Spirit Home, where you can find suggestions.

Our Daily Office community has decided to read and discuss Frederica Mathewes-Green's First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey through the Ancient Great Canon. Here's what she says about her book:

Researching this book immersed me in the Scriptures as no other Christian prayer-text has. I was in awe of the profundity of St. Andrew of Crete's meditation on the biblical text, and the resonances he uncovered in it from one end to the other. It's further astounding that he wrote this around 720 A.D., when there were no study helps available like today's concordances, indexes, and marginal references. Through frequent daily worship, he really had consumed the Bible, and assimilated it. Yet the Canon does not come off as a dry, theological tour-de-force. It breathes with his yearning to be wholly transformed by the light of Jesus Christ, and his courageous desire to root out whatever in him resists that light. St. Andrew's knowledge of the Scriptures, his unflinching examination of himself, and above all his radiant love for Jesus Christ make this a perfect book for study during Lent.

I've ordered ten copies; they should arrive before Ash Wednesday, and I'll bring them to St. Thomas Lutheran Church to give out before or after the Ash Wednesday service. See the January 29th posting for more information!

I'll also have copies to give out on Thursday, when our Daily Office community meets again this

week.

We will be discussing Frederica Mathewes-Green's book on this blog. If you'd like to enter comments and reflections, please do so.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Transfiguration when Jesus in glory appears with Moses and Elijah to a small group of his disciples. Preparing for this day, I was reminded that all of us will be with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, when reading one of the books that Sr. Judy has recommended to our group. This is a good passage for some lectio divina; it's from Chapter 2, "Why Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants?"

One day we will gather at the eschatological banquet, surrounded not only by God's chosen from every nation but also by his chosen from every branch of Christianity.

Dennis Okholm, Monk Habits for Everyday People (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos P, 2007), 30.

Image: http://www.latinmass.bravepages.com/images/all_saints_day.jpg

February 2: The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord.

On this day many Christians--either in their Daily Offices or within the liturgy of Holy Communion--are remembering an important event in the life of Our Lord Jesus, his presentation and the purification of his mother Mary, as prescribed by the Torah, in the temple. You can read the story in Luke 2:22-40, one of Daily Office readings assigned for this day. My Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible provides this commentary on the Scripture reading:

In modern society the elderly are rarely held in high esteem. They are shunted off to senior citizens' homes where they are cared for by professional staff rather than their own families. We seem to be saying their usefulness is past, and the increasing tolerance of euthanasia underscores that belief. This is not God's attitude. Simeon and Anna are the senior citizens of Luke's version of Jesus' birth, and they know and understandmore than anyone else. Of all the people that Jerusalem's streets were teeming with the day that Jesus was named--the rich, the powerful, the young, the holy--only Simeon and Anna are given insight into who is being carried into the Temple courts in his parents' arms. In fact, they know more than Mary or Joseph, who are astonished at what Simeon says about Jesus. It is clear that God has placed great value on Anna and Simeon and that he does not think he is wasting the Holy Spirit on two seniors who have passed the prime of their lives.

The story of the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary is full of good news, so good in fact that many Christians, using the church's "Night Prayer" or "Compline," sing or say the Song of Simeon (often referred to as the Nunc Dimittus, its Latin name) each evening before they go to bed. If you wish to celebrate this day with other Christiains, visit the following:

Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord
Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Presentation of Our Lord: Candlemas
The Presentation (Meeting) of Our Lord in the Temple

After reading the Gospel story in Luke, perhaps you'd like to share your thoughts. Please do so.

Source of images: www.excerptsofinri.com/jesus_of_nazareth_ii.html

At our meeting last evening we learned how to sing the psalms using Psalm tone A, one of eight psalm tones published in Reading the Psalms with Luther (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2007). By way of an introduction to"Singing the Psalms," this little book provides the following prefatory comments:

The psalms are appointed for singing. Each psalm verse in divided into two part, with an asterisk (*) indicating the point of division. Most of the text of each half verse [versicle] is sung to the reciting a reciting tone. At the point of the verticle line (1), the final two or three syllables are sung to the notes provided. Ordinarily there is one syllable of the text for each note. When there are only two syllables, the first syllable is sung to two notes.

Any psalm can be sung to any tone. It is best, however, that the tone, which can range from cheerful and bright to somber and austere, be appropriate to the text.

Before singing Evening Prayer, we practiced singing several psalms to Tone A, and things worked out quite well. Mason helped greatly by giving us the reciting tone at the beginning of every three or four verses (something we observed Sr. Judy doing at our last monastery retreat).

Importantly, we reminded one another of next week's pancake supper at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, the Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, and the Taize services thereafter on Lenten Wednesday evenings (see the previous posting!).

For those who wanted one, Stephen made available copies of Songs & Prayers from Taize, and Andy announced that he will bring ten copies of Frederica Mathewes-Green's First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey through the Ancient Great Canon, our Lenten study book, to our next meeting.

Next week Stephen, using the Book of Common Prayer, will lead us in Evening Prayer. We hope to see everyone at First Presbyterian Church, 7:00 p.m., Thurday, February 7, as we continue to practice singing the psalms, both as individuals in our Daily Offices and as a community in our meetings.