Fourth Sunday of Lent
April 3, 2022

John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” 

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Something to Do

Fill your house with fragrance

Fill your home with a smell you love and that makes you feel luxurious like something very special is about to happen. Maybe it’s a perfume or the smell of fresh baking or crushed herbs or cut plants. Offer the fragrance as a prayer of thanksgiving.

You always have the poor with you

Set aside the depressing nature of Jesus’ observation and respond to the reality that poverty is indeed still with us. If you have more than you need, give some of it away.

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Something to Wonder

Where do you fit?

There are five characters in this scene at the dinner in Bethany:

• Jesus, the honoured guest facing a difficult path
• Lazarus, the man recently raised from the dead
• Martha, serving the dinner to her guests
• Mary, pouring out valuable ointment on Jesus’ feet
• Judas, challenging and scheming

Who do you identify with? Why? How do you feel about that?
Is there someone you would rather identify with? Why?
Who do you least want to identify with? Why? Read the story again and try your best to enter into it from that person’s perspective.

Pour it out on Jesus’ feet

What treasures do you hold? How can you pour it out on Jesus’ feet as an offering and a gift?

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Something to Learn

Oils and Incense

Worship is a multi-sensory experience which includes our sense of smell. Some churches add fragrance to their worship on purpose, adding scents to the oils used for anointing or burning incense in their services. Even when we don’t add fragrance on purpose, though, it is part of our experience – the smells of our buildings, our fellow worshippers, the grounds around our churches. (At Ascension, we are mindful that some people have sensitivities to scent and try to limit the smells we introduce into our space.)

Learn about the history of anointing in this fascinating Wikipedia article.
And a little about the use of incense in this fact sheet from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

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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.

Third Sunday of Lent
March 27, 2022

Psalm 32

Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!
Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile!
While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.
For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.
Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble;
when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will guide you with my eye. 
Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding; who must be fitted with bit and bridle,
or else they will not stay near you.” 
Great are the tribulations of the wicked; but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord. 
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; shout for joy, all who are true of heart.

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Something to Do

Pray the Psalm in song

The psalms have been sung in prayer since the earliest days. Listen to Psalm 32 in a variety of musical settings:

In Hebrew by a Sephardi Jewish cantor

In English by the monks of the Little Portion Hermitage

In English by the Salisbury Cathedral Choir (Anglican)

A contemporary song by Steve Bell

A livelier setting by The Corner Room

Psalm 135 in Greek by the monks of St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery (I couldn’t find Psalm 32!)

Unburden Yourself

The psalmist sings of the joy that comes when you release your guilts and worries to God for God faithful responds with forgiveness and renewal. Examine your heart and open it up to God. This can be a time of private prayer or you can reach out to Rhonda in order to learn more about the rite of reconciliation.

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Something to Wonder

Happy are they whose sins are forgiven

Think of a time when you have been forgiven by someone you love. What led to that forgiveness? How did it feel? What is your relationship with that person like now?

Think of a time when you forgave someone you love. What let to that forgiveness? How did it feel? What is your relationship with that person like now?

Is there someone you have not forgiven? Is there someone who has not forgiven you? If so, are you on a path towards forgiveness? Do you want to be? Why or why not? What would you need to change the situation?

Bring the situation to God in prayer and ask God what you should be praying for.

Do not be like horse or mule

What things can cause you to wander away from God?
What things (short of a bit and bridle!) help you stay close to God?

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Something to Learn

The Examen

If you have been reading the Story at Home for a while, you may have already been introduced to the prayer practice known as the Ignatian Examen. This prayer comes from St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, and is a powerful tool for engaging with God’s presence in our lives and our own spiritual growth. It can be a general examination of your day or it can be adapted to help you focus on particular areas or issues of concern.

Jesuits.org offers an introduction to the practice and a number of variations, including the everyday examen, an ecological examen, an examen for racism, and a social media examen.

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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.

Second Sunday of Lent
March 20, 2022

Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam – fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'” 

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Something to Do

Pray

Jesus is responding to news of terrible violence – the murder of his fellow Galileans by Roman forces while they were at worship. Join your prayers to his and pray for all those who are killed at the hands of empire. Pray for peace. Pray for justice. Pray for healing.

Bear Fruit

When a tree bears fruit it nourishes life for others and ensures fruit trees for generations to come. Plant something this week – a literal plant, perhaps, or an investment of time in a relationship or a gift of money to an organization doing good work or the creation of a work of art and beauty.

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Something to Wonder

unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

Jesus’ warning needs some unpacking. It is important to notice that it comes after his insistence that tragedy and violence are not the consequences of sin – so he can’t be saying that perishing is the consequence of a failure to repent. What, then, is he saying?

How did the victims of Pilate and the tower of Siloam perish? How would repenting prevent perishing in the same way? What is the connection between this warning and the parable about the fig tree?

why should it be wasting the soil?

Are there aspects of your life or habits of your mind that seem to be “wasting the soil” instead of producing good fruit? Do they need to be cut down to make room for healthier growth? Or do they need to be fertilized and nurtured in order to become fruitful?

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Something to Learn

How do we bear fruit?

The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa’s 125th anniversary lectures have all offered perspectives on the question of how the church is called to bear fruit. Each lecture is about one hour long – the rest of the run time is the Q&A.

The Rev’d Dr. Sam Wells invites us to re-imagine the church so that we can live in God’s future now.

Signs of Hope in the Fight against Climate Change brings together four panelists to educate and inspire action.

The Rev’d Dr. Jason McKinney asks us to rethink our relationship to property in his lecture “The Church as Commons: A Theological Case for Affordable Housing”

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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.

Second Sunday of Lent
March 13, 2022

Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'” 

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Something to Do

the city that kills the prophets

Jerusalem is not just a city. It is THE city. It is the seat of power and, in Jesus’ day, it is the seat of local power under the authority of the Roman Empire.

Prophets are, fundamentally, truth-tellers, carrying the Word of God to the people whether the people want to hear it or not.

Jesus knows those in power do not want to hear the truth he is bringing them – the truth of God’s healing, restoring, transformation love that demands God’s people change their lives and their world.

We are deeply privileged to live in a place where we will not be killed for telling those in power truths they don’t want to hear. Find a way to make use of that privilege this week.

As a hen gathers her brood

This is such a wonderful image of the tender love Jesus – and God – has for us. Unlike some of us, everyone Jesus talking had probably seen the care provided by a hen to her chicks. If you don’t have access to a chicken coop, watch these videos on YouTube instead.

One hen, 9 chicks

A hen on guard

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Something to Wonder

some Pharisees came

Do you, like many of us, have a somewhat caricatured idea of who a Pharisee was? Can you think of other potentially helpful or at least complicated Pharisees in the Bible? If not, why not?

Who else do you think of as a caricature rather than as a person? Why is that? What steps could you take to change that?

as a hen gathers her brood

Have you ever felt like a chick under a wing? Or like a hen, gathering her brood?

How does this image for God make you feel? In what ways (if any) do you particularly like it? In what ways (if any) do you find it difficult? Why?

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Something to Learn

Talking about God

Lent includes the call to study and meditate on the holy scriptures as we seek to turn our hearts and our lives firmly back to God. One reason to attend to Scripture is to seek to deepen and, often, correct our received understandings of God and God’s Word.

Watch this 15 minute lecture by Wil Gafney, Biblical scholar, translator and Episcopal priest, as she discusses the true richness and complexity of Biblical language for a God who transcends gender.

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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.

First Sunday of Lent
March 6, 2022
prepared by Karen McBride

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.'” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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Something to Do

Let yourself be filled and led by the Spirit 

In this week’s Gospel, as we mark the first Sunday of Lent, Jesus is “full of the Holy Spirit” and lets himself be “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness.  In some ways it’s exactly these two conditions – being filled and being led – that characterize the spiritual work and the spiritual richness of Lent which calls us to “return” to God: creating space in our hearts for the Holy Spirit to fill might mean giving up some of those things that currently clutter them up unproductively; listening to God, and then aligning our wills with God’s so we are led in wisdom might mean making some different choices. Make it an intention this week to let yourself be filled by the Holy Spirit, and to be attentive to what the Spirit is saying to you. The good news is that however you make room for that encounter, you can be assured of God’s grace.

Create a simulated desert, then sit in it for a while

The experience of being alone in a desert is more than simply walking solo through an arid and barren landscape. It’s also about solitude, and perhaps about a lack of recognizable sensory inputs. Is it possible to create something of a desert-like experience in your home? Maybe a dark, silent room? Maybe just close your eyes and visualize it? It could feel unnatural and uncomfortable at first but stay with the experience for a short time. Does your awareness shift, and if so, how? 

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Something to Wonder

What is “an opportune time” for the devil?

Unique in Luke’s version of Jesus’ testing in the wilderness, the devil did not simply depart from Jesus after Jesus successfully resisted the temptations, but “he departed from him until an opportune time.” Which begs the question, weakened physically though Jesus was from fasting, what was it about his responses to the devil that protected Jesus from sinning? 

Why does the mystic and well-known writer Thomas Merton call contemplative prayer “a preference for the desert”?

As Merton points out, all religious traditions describe higher forms of prayer that integrate and concentrate the senses, speaking of that integration as occurring in a place of “darkness” or “emptiness” in which there is an “extraordinary flowering of the spiritual senses.” Much like a barren desert, this state of emptiness before God is, as St. John of the Cross describes, the soul at its core, at its substance, “where neither the devil nor the world nor sense can enter; … and the more of purity there is in it, the more abundantly and frequently and widely does God communicate himself.”

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Something to Learn

Explore the Judean Desert

The Judean Desert lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. Major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho, all places which figure prominently in Gospels. In the eastern part of the area, the most arid, rainfall amounts to around 100 millimetres (3.9 inches) annually, compared, for example, to around 600 millimetres (24 inches) in the Jerusalem area. This is due to a “rain shadow” effect, which is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Once every few years, however, after a couple days of rain, a rare phenomenon occurs, and the Judean Desert becomes green for a short period of time. Watch this dramatic change unfold here.  

The Judean Desert is also intimately connected with the establishment and growth of monasticism. One very early example was the Essene community at Qumran, which was an ascetic group who, frustrated with the priesthood in Jerusalem, moved to Qumran during the second century B.C.E. to live there more purely, with special dietary, clothing, ritual, and other practices; it was in the monastic caves at Qumran that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1949-51. Another example are early forms of Christian monasticism, with many Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers and other influential Christian figures who retreated to the Judean Desert, some of whom spent much of their lives there as hermits or as members of monastic communities. Watch this 10-minute video from the Christian Media Center which highlights the biblical and monastic treasures of the Judean Desert.

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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.