Church of the Ascension

The Story at Home

On a mountaintop

Feast of the Transfiguration
Feb 27, 2022

Luke 9: 28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah “ – not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. 

Something to Do

…and went up on the mountain to pray

Jesus often goes away to pray – up mountains, into gardens, off to quiet places. Sometimes he goes alone and sometimes he takes friends with him.

Go away to pray sometime this week. Go somewhere that feels like a praying place. Go somewhere that does not feel like a praying place. Go alone. Go with a friend.

What does prayer feel like in those different situations?
 

Stay awake

Peter and his companions were weighed down by sleep but, since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory

Sometimes, the temptation to stop paying attention and just fall asleep is very hard to resist. Challenge yourself to stay awake (not necessarily by not going to bed!) and watch for signs of the glory of God even in the midst of trouble – or of tedium.

Something to Wonder

A conversation with your teachers

What questions do you think Jesus had for Moses and Elijah?
What questions do you think Moses and Elijah had for Jesus?

If you could meet with one or two of your most significant life teachers, what would you ask them? What they ask you? How would you answer?

“This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

What does it mean for us, in 2022, to listen to Jesus?

Are there methods you have found effective in listening to Jesus? What are they? Why are do they work?
Do you struggle with the instruction to listen to Jesus? Why do you think that is?

Have you ever been sure you were hearing Jesus (or, more broadly, God)? What was that like?

Something to Learn

Looking to Lent – Burying the Alleluia

This Sunday is not only the Feast of the Transfiguration, it is also the last Sunday before Lent. As such, it is the last day on which alleluia! will ring out before the joyful celebration of Easter morning.

The practice of fasting from alleluia marks Lent as a season of somber reflection rather than easy joy and calls on us to find other ways to offer our praise to God – ways like making space for reflection and self-awareness through fasting or by offering gifts and acts of love and generosity to those in need or focusing more thoughtfully on prayer or study. Instead of shouting with joy, we whisper our confession, our thanks, and our desire to know God more fully. In this way, we prepare ourselves for the fullness of the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter.

Burying the alleluia is a way of marking the movement into our Lenten observance. Read more about the custom here.

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 Resurrection of the Body

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Feb 20, 2022
(a rerun Story at Home from February 2019)

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 

Something to Do

Waiting for Spring

It’s nearing the end of February, the end of months and months of snow and ice and cold.  It can be hard to believe that spring will ever come…but it will. Paul reminds us that the miracle of Resurrection is built into the very order of creation.  Bare seeds are planted in the earth and green life comes forth.
 
Plant a seed this week. Check out this guide for an easy seed starting kit.

Appreciating Winter

It’s the end of February.  Winter will only be with us for a short while longer.  Go out and find a way to enjoy it.  The first man was made of dust – make one out of snow.  You are made of flesh and blood – rejoice in your body’s ability to keep you warm (with help from the right clothes, of course!) and go for a skate or a skit or a snowshoe tramp.  The perishable will not last for ever – enjoy it while you can!   

Something to Wonder

“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.”

Paul reminds us that Resurrection is built into the very order of creation.

Where in your life have you experienced resurrection?
What might be buried now, in preparation for new life?
What might you need to allow to die in order to experience new life?

“…you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” 

We are not only set free after resurrection.  We are set free now, in this life.  Knowing that death and sin have lost their power, we can confront injustice and suffering knowing that the victory is assured – even if we can’t see it now. 

What does that promise mean to you?  How might you remind yourself of this promise when things are hard?

Something to Learn

The Resurrection of the Body

We usually think of life-after-death in terms of an immortal soul that leaves our bodies behind when we die but where does this idea come from and what does it mean?  These two (very brief) essays, one by the dean of an ecumencial evangelical seminary and one by an Orthodox priest, discuss the source of this philosophy and the implications of the Biblical idea of the bodily resurrection.
 
What do we gain from a bodily resurrection? by Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School
 
The Immortal Soul and the Resurrected Body by Fr. Ted Bobosh, Orthodox Church in America.

Purgatory

“Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed…”
Paul doesn’t know how we will be changed – but he knows that our mortal bodies are not equipped for immortality and so, since we have been promised freedom from death, he knows we will be changed somehow. And it is not only our mortal bodies that need to be changed – we need to come to bear the image of the man of heaven, rather than of dust.
 
The idea of purgatory is, in part, an attempt to deal with this sense that we are not, as we are, ready for heaven.  Turn to wikipedia for a primer on purgatory.  
 
Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables books and an astute Presbyterian theological thinker, reflected on the need to ready yourself for heaven by the way you live your life on earth.  Otherwise, the beauty of heaven might be experienced as a condemnation of a selfish life.  Purgatory can, perhaps, be shifted from the afterlife to this one.

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 Righteous and the Wicked

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Feb 13, 2022

Psalm 1

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on this law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither;
everything they do shall prosper.

It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgement comes,
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

Something to Do

Trees planted by streams of water

Ottawa’s trees in February do not look the way I imagine the psalmist’s trees looked. Even the ones planted by the water are barren and cold. Yet we know that they will bear fruit in due season.

Sketch a tree with no leaves. Then, prayerfully, add the leaves.

Their delight is the law of the Lord

The whole of the law is summarized in the two great commandments:

Love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength.

Love your neighbour as yourself.

Sit quietly and hold this law in your thoughts “day and night”.

Something to Wonder

The Righteous and the Wicked

As we sit in the midst of political unrest, these words feel very powerful. I want to name who is wicked and who is righteous – but I know others are doing the same and reaching different conclusions.

How does the psalm suggest evaluating righteousness and wickedness?
How do you understand the psalmist’s assertion that the work of the righteous will prosper but the way of the wicked is doomed?

Happy are they…

Be honest (at least with yourself and with God). Have you ever walked in the counsel of the wicked or lingered in the way of sinners or sat in the seat of the scornful?

Me too.

What are the signs, for you? How can you course correct when you find yourself on the wrong path?

Something to Learn

Understanding “the righteous”

The Hebrew word translated as “the righteous” is a rich and complicated word, containing ideas of justice, compassion, and rightness.

Learn a little more in the essays by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Toba Spitzer.

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.

Fishing for People

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Feb 6, 2022

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. 

Something to Do

Catching people

This is a rather strange image but here is one possible way of understanding it: the fishers’ primary focus was going to shift from fish to people.

Go for a walk somewhere where you will see people (but not in a crowd!). Pay attention to them. Wonder about them. Pray for them.

Just don’t creep anyone out!

Yet if you say so…

Simon and his friends had been fishing all night with no success but, even so, gave it another try at Jesus’ say so.

Give something another try. It can be something significant or something trivial; something you feel called to do or just something you want to do. Pay attention to how it feels to try again. Pay attention to how it feels to fail again – or to have some unexpected success.

Which of those feelings might be shared with the fishers in today’s story?

Something to Wonder

Go away from me, Lord!

Simon is overcome with the awareness that this bounty of fish was not his doing and he responds with both amazement and fear.

Have you ever felt undeserving of God’s grace? Of someone’s love? Of some kind of success? Where does that feeling come from? In what ways can that feeling do damage and in what ways can that feeling lead to something good?

How does Jesus respond to Simon’s reaction?

from now on you will be catching people

What do you make of this famous line of Jesus (perhaps more familiar as “You will be fishers of men”)?

How does it make you feel? Why?
Can you find a way to understand yourself as “catching people” as you follow Jesus? Why not or how so?
Do you feel like you have been caught by Jesus? Yes or no – is that good or bad and why?

Something to Learn

Life on the Sea of Galilee

(The Sea of Gennesaret is the Sea of Galilee)

Take a closer look at what life in the fishing villages on the Sea of Galilee might have been like at the time of Jesus.

Bible Odyssey offers very short articles, including this one on the fishing economy and this one on the excavation of a first century fishing boat.

If you’re up for a little more reading, try this article: Simon Peter in Capernaum: An Archaeological Survey of the First-Century Village.

And if you’re up for more reading, try this one: The Galilean Fishing Economy  and the Jesus Tradition

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.

All You Need is Love

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Jan 30, 2022

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Something to Do

Love, Love, Love….

This passage is a popular choice for weddings (for obvious reasons)but Paul wasn’t writing to a couple preparing for a life of marriage. He was writing to a community and speaking of the kind of love that we are to strive for as community. Much has been made of the differences between types of love but I would argue that these differences can be overstated. This teaching about the truest nature of love applies to couples, to families, to friends, to communities, to faith, and so on.

Who do you love (if imperfectly)? Take the time to list the people and communities you love. Doodle their names in a design or transform your list into a poem or a chant. Turn it into a prayer of thanksgiving and desire for more perfect love.

For now we see in a mirror – A

The mirrors Paul knew were much less clear than ours are so his image is even more powerful than we might at first imagine. Next time you fog up your mirror, try to see yourself and the room around you. Then clear it off and anticipate the clarity of your perspective on the world when you finally see it from God’s view.

For now we see in a mirror – B

Mirrors don’t just decrease clarity; mirrors also warp our view, flipping reality from left to right. Zoom’s video settings offer you the option of turning off mirroring your camera so that you see yourself the way you look to other people – or on an actual video recording – rather than the way you look in a mirror. Give it a try and remember that your own perspective on yourself is not 100% accurate.

Something to Wonder

Love is…

Paul offers us a beautiful description of love.
Which aspect is most meaningful to you? Why?
Which aspect is most challenging for you? Why?

When I was a child…

Hopefully, we are all – no matter our age – in a continual process of learning and growing. Think back to your younger self, whether that is 70 years ago, 20 years ago, 2 years ago, or 6 months ago. What is something you used to think or believe but have come to understand differently? What happened to change your perspective?

Something to Learn

The Way of Love

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, has centred his ministry on calling people to engage with the “Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement” by joining the Way of Love. He is a gifted preacher, teacher, political pastor, and leader.

His highest profile sermon is probably the one delivered at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Watch it here (but don’t compare this Sunday’s sermon to his!)

Find his podcast, in which he outlines the practices of the Way of Love, here.

Listen or read his interview on the PBS Newshour from last January, “Following the way of love through divisions, upheaval, and uncertainty”

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.