The Story
Feast of the Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’

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Something to Do

Gather your nearest and dearest

While I’m sure Jesus loved all his followers, he seems to have had a special relationship with Peter, James, and John and often took them with him when he needed some quiet time.

Who are your Peter, James, and John? Connect with them this week, whether in person or with the wonder of technology.

Offer a prayer for them and don’t forget to say thank you to both God and them for their friendship.

“Get up and do not be afraid”

These were the words Jesus spoke to his disciples. They are the words Jesus speaks to us.

Is there something you are afraid of? How might you face that fear this week?

Get Ready for Lent

This Sunday is the last before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 26). We will be burying the Alleluias, not to be returned to us until Easter Day. Bring your own Alleluia to include in the box.

This also means it’s time to get ready for Lent, the great season of purification and preparation through the practices of fasting, prayer, study, and generousity. How will you focus your attention on God’s will for you and for the world so that you are more ready to respond in courage and faith?

Consider joining in some shared practices.

• Fasting: How much single-use plastic can you give up? Whenever you are inconvenienced, pray for strenght. Whenever you find yourself needing to use some, pray for transformation.
• Prayer: Say morning and evening prayer each day. Rhonda will be at the church at 9:30am on Mondays-Thursdays but you can always join in wherever you are. Use this simplified prayer service and know you are not praying alone.
• Study: Join the Thursday Bible Study and Communion (10 a.m.) or the Story at the Rectory (March 5, 19, April 2 at 7:30) for a close read of (different) passages from the Gospel according to John. Attend the Lenten Quiet Day to read the entire book.
• Acts of Generousity: Choose an amount of money to set aside each day for giving to the Ascension Refugee Ministry or another ministry you feel called to support.

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Something to Wonder

Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus

What do you think they were talking about, as Jesus prepares himself to head to Jerusalem and all that awaits him there?

Do you think Jesus had questions for them? What might they have been?

If you could choose two people from the Bible to meet on a mountaintop for a conversation, who would they be?

“It is good for us to be here”

What are the places where you have felt close to God and wished you could just stay there; places where is was good for you to be? What were those places like? How did they feel?

What was it like to leave those places? Have you been able to go back?

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Something to Learn

Looking to Lent

The history of Lent is, of course, long and complicated. These three articles offer you a brief overview from a few perspectives.

“The Early History of Lent” by Nicholas V. Russo from The Centre for Christian Ethics at Baylor University is about 6 pages of very readable scholarship.

“A Short History of Lent” by Norman Tanner SJ offers a Jesuit’s perspective on the history.

“A Short Version of the Long History of Lent” by Christopher Hunt offers a perspective from the Evangelical tradition.

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.

The Story
February 16, 2020

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh.

For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 

Gospel reading for Feb 16: Matthew 5:21-37

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Something to Do

Bring the image to life: solid food or soft

Paul uses a wonderful, concrete image in this passage of his letter to the church in Corinth, comparing the full complexity of faith to solid food and the immature faith of the people to food that even babies can handle. Take advantage of this strong image by bringing it off the page, especially if you have children in your household.

Compare baby food to solid food. You could go out and purchase a jar or just purée up a well-cooked sweet potato. If you have the resources, you could whip up a serving of infant formula or pablum. Then talk about the pros and cons of the kinds of food. Notice that they are all food – maybe even the same kind of food – but made suitable for different people with different needs.

Bring the image to life: how does a garden grow?

Sadly, it is not the season for outdoor planting activities. You could still plant something indoors, though, and share in the work of caring for a little piece of God’s creation. No matter who plants the seed and no matter who waters it, the growth belongs to God.

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Something to Wonder

I belong to Apollo

The letters to those early Christians are so tantalizing! They point to such rich and wonderful stories full of complicated people with interesting lives and communities rife with drama but never give us the complete tale. Who was Apollo, exactly? Why was the community playing at factions? How did they feel about being called immature? Was Paul really as relaxed about his importance to the community as he claims?

Let your imagination run a little wild and tell yourself a story or two about what led to this letter.

Where – in the actual text or in your imagination – are there parallels with situations in your own experience?

jealousy and quarrelling

Some things are timeless. What brings out the jealousy and quarrelling in you? In your family? In your communities?

How do these behaviours or inclinations interfere with your spiritual growth? How might you avoid triggering them? Or how might you better manage them once they are triggered?

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Something to Learn

Flesh and Spirit

Paul frequently uses flesh and spirit as opposing terms and, as a result, created a good deal of anti-flesh bias in Christian thought. As is often the case, however, things are more complicated than they seem.

Fr. Richard Rohr has a brief piece tackling this dichotomy on the Centre for Action and Contemplation website: Paul’s Dialectical Teaching: Flesh and Spirit

This piece, by the Rev’d Morgan Guyton, a United Methodist pastor, takes us deeper into the sources of our confusion by looking at both Greek philosophy and Paul’s influence on how we hear the words “flesh” and “spirit”: “What is the difference between spirit and flesh” on Patheos

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.