Poem for The Annunciation of our Lord Luke 1:26-46

The young and innocent one

wondered at the hearing of the words

---- (Greetings)

that thundered from on high

and yet so close

she could almost reach out

--- and touch

------ the messenger

---------- Gabriel

words that announced to the world

a new time

a new life

that would come to all people

---- (you who are highly favored)

through the womb

of this one

innocent one

called Mary

though the  world did not know

and the people did not know

and those in power did not know

and even Mary did not know

still

all

all that is

all that was

all that will be

would be changed

by the message

to this one innocent one

---- (the Lord)

that a child shall be born

and they shall call

---- (is)

his name

---- (with you)

Jesus

10w for April 1st, Annunciation of our Lord.

The following is a 10 minute worship for April 1st, Annunciation of our Lord.  You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Stables" by Dakota Road from the CD "Love Can Break Through"  which can be purchased HERE

 

10w for March 31st, Resurrection Morning.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 31st, Resurrection Morning.  You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Rise Up With Christ" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone who is thirsty, come"  which can be purchased HERE

 

Poem based on The Resurrection of our Lord Luke 24:1-11

In the Spring

I would come out to that place

with the stream flowing

fast clear through the narrows

of the mud

and snow choked hills

The sun would shine warm

and send light bouncing off the water

as it flowed

through the mud

and snow

the sun’s rays felt good

on my ice cold hands

as I enjoyed the beauty

of new life beginning

In the beginning God created all

and it was good

From nothingness came good

and beauty

and joy

tarnished by the desire of us all

to be gods

to run our little dominion

And we did

And we died

And Christ came

in our self appointed winter

confined not to the cold

and dead dungeons of our world

and sprang forth in light and life

to a world made new

As in the beginning

where life

in the midst of our dungeons

burst forth

sparkling in the waters that flow

through the mud and snow clogged narrows

of our soul

To bring us

Life

Opening Litany based on Psalm 118

Give Thanks to the Lord (Psalm 118)

Pastor: Give thanks to the Lord who is good, whose love endures forever.

Congregation: Let everyone say, God’s love endures forever.

Pastor: Open the gates of righteousness and we will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

Congregation: They are the gates through which I may enter and give thanks for the Lord has become my salvation.

Pastor:  I marvel when I see that which was rejected by the world, has become the foundation of humanity

Congregation: This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Pastor:  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, 

Congregation: with boughs in hand we will join the festal procession.

Pastor: You are our God and we give you thanks and exalt your name

Congregation: Give thanks to the Lord who is good and whose love endures forever.

Seder blessing

 Sunday March 31^st, Isaiah 65: 17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. For the people of Jerusalem who were rebuilding the temple after the Babylon captivity, this was good news.  The message brought hope.  It soon turned however to the same old same old.  Today, 2500 years later we are still waiting for Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.  And we, the rest of the world community, must ask ourselves, what part we play in the continuing tragic displays of inhumanity and violence in this region of the world.  As we once again start the talks to move toward peace, we remember that last time we were here.  Following what seemed like hopeful negotiations, the Israeli government flipped the U.S the bird and announced continued building in Palestinian territories, forcing the Palestinian families out of their homes to do so.  At that same time, Israel completed a $30 billion arms deal arranged with the Bush administration in the last days of his presidency.  We will see if the Obama administration makes the same mistakes.  But make no mistake, not all the blame falls on the Israelis, were either major group of Palestinians in charge, though the players might change, the game would be the same.  Throughout the scriptures there is God's dream that Jerusalem would be a delight and its people a joy.  Money, Power, Politics and human hatred, perpetuated by arms deals, looking the other way, as well as the rhetoric of holocaust denial and vows to wipe Israel off the face of the map by the current leadership in Iran and others continue to work against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and Esau.  We all continue to work against the God we worship through Christ, in Allah and in YHWH.  What we are at war with mostly is the desire to play god, to eat of the tree, and to feel mighty having beaten up another kid in the play yard, never noticing the tears streaming down our Fathers face.  Father, forgive us, even though I am quite sure we are fully aware of what we are doing.  Open our eyes to your grace as we recognize you in the breaking of the bread with one another.  We continue to want to break heads, but Jesus calls us to break bread and reminds us that all war is fratricide.  It is only in the breaking of bread together, recognizing in one another our brother and sister that we can truly see our God, no matter what name we use.  At this year’s Seder, where we usually close with "next year Jerusalem" let us close with, "next year, may there be peace in Jerusalem, Judea and on to the ends of the earth.

mean time

Monday April 1^st. Isaiah 65: 23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. This is also the vision of the world in final vision in the book of Revelation. All things will be new. For now, we live in the mean time. It is mean as in “in between” and it is mean as in “nasty.” God calls us to keep our eye on the vision of God, that they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.  It is a call from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ismael and Jacob and Esau to stop the settlements in Palestinian territories, to stop the suicide bombings, to stop the rocket attacks, to stop the closing off of Palestinian movement to and from work, play, hospitals and families, to stop the rationing of water and the random violence.  We are called to stop destroying the lands and livelihoods of all of God’s people, not just those in our political affiliation.  If it is God’s vision that the wolf and the lamb can feed together, surely Israel and Palestinian leaders can talk to one another.   And perhaps, just perhaps, they can find their eyes opened in the breaking of the bread, and perhaps, just perhaps the U.S. can find a way of using the several million a day we give as aid as a lever to hasten the process of peace, not war.

drinking damnation

Tuesday April 2^nd, Acts 10: ³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. The very early church got the message of Jesus, and Peter here explains it well.  God does not show favoritism.  All too often what the world sees is the politics of maintaining order and status quo, and what our Lord sees as fratricide. We are content with maintaining power through the breaking of the heads. Christ calls us to a different vision where in the breaking of the bread, we recognize one another as brothers and sisters and in the process see the risen Christ. It didn't take long for the early followers of Jesus to move from being church to being “the church.”  That is when the walls started to go up and the love started to go down.  You can see it in some of the later pastoral letters of Timothy and Titus, rules about who is in and who is out.  Over the centuries we in the church have gone back and forth from being marginally inclusive to being violently exclusive.  For the most part, even the inclusive times tend to be mostly exclusive.  It is always good to keep an eye on the prize, and the prize is the inclusive love of God.  Our biggest sin is that we are always putting asunder what God has joined together (thanks to Wm Sloane Coffin for that one). Now we recognize our savior, our brother, our sister, in the breaking of the bread, which is not meant to be exclusive communion practices but sitting down together in fellowship and true concern.  Exclusive communion is simply, as Paul would put it, eating and drinking damnation unto ourselves. 

lambs and lions

Wednesday April 3^rd, Acts 10: ³⁹ "We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." We are the witnesses of everything he did.  The pastor is not the witness, the evangelism committee is not the witness, the church building is not the witness.  We, the people of God in every walk of life are the witnesses whom God has already chosen for the task.  And what are we witnesses too?  We are called to be witnesses of and participants in forgiveness, healing, turning from feelings of fratricide to fraternity. That is our job; that is what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ.  We are the ones who offer forgiveness and hope and life and wholeness and the message of God’s love.  We are the ones who call out violence when we see it.  We all are the witnesses, the ones chosen by God.  Our message is to be one of grace, forgiveness, and a calling of the lambs and lions among us to sit down together and recognize one another in the breaking of the bread.  

opened

Thursday April 4th, Luke 24:  1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  OK, mission is over, Jesus is gone and now is it time to get back to work and on with life?  Preparing the body was an act of love and caring, but also an act of bringing to a conclusion, the final chapter the mission and ministry of Jesus.  The only trouble was that it was not so final, the mission and ministry does not just continue, it starts anew, only this time in us.  We tend to see and hear only what we expect to see and hear.  All those predictions and preparations went right over the disciple’s heads.  They go over our heads also.  We expect to see a world in trouble, we expect there to be war and food shortages in parts of the world, we expect to live in peace on this side of the ocean, which is why 9/11 hit us so hard, we expect the Mideast to be a place of violence and therefore feel the way to deal with it is to provide more military hardware.  However, arms sales have more to do with profits than prophets.  We expect certain things to continue and that is what we see and hear and perpetrate.  God calls us to a new vision, a new reality.  God calls us to a vision where Jerusalem will be a delight and its people a joy, a vision where the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, a vision where we as the children of God accept people from every nation who fear God and do what is right, a vision where the Christ can be raised and call us all to a new life and in it a new vision for the world.  God calls us to open our souls to God’s vision for the world and to start to live it now.  All at once our eyes are opened, Suddenly we see, In the bread and wine and water Christ for you and me.

touch and see

Friday April 5th, Luke 24: 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8 Then they remembered his words.  This is when they saw with new eyes and mouths wide open!!!  ;-o  They were still not sure of what was going on and what it all meant.  All they knew was they were left with new eyes and wide open mouths.  Today, most of us are still not sure of what was going on and what it all means.  It is important to note that it was the women who heard this new message first, for it was the women, those marginalized by society in that day as well as ours, who could most clearly hear the message as one of hope.  Power and privilege have a way of plugging the ears and eyes to the love of Christ.  All the teachings from Jesus began to form into a new reality that early morning, and these women, with mouths wide open, were the ones ready to receive it and share it with the rest of the world.  This revelation begs the question then, who are the marginalized ones who can really hear this message of hope today?  Are they the movers and shakers and the writers of books?  Are they the ones who start sentences with, Last night God told me to tell you…?  Are they the ones who start sentences with “those ….. People…. Muslims…. Terrorists…… Liberals….. Conservatives…… etc., etc., etc?  Or is it the ones whose voices are not heard, the least, the lost and the lonely, the ones rejected by the power of the world?  Jesus comes and stands among us greeting us with peace. Take him in your hands and hold him, Touch him now and see.

recognize

Saturday April 6th, Luke 24:  9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.  We generally see and hear what we expect to see and hear.  There was just enough curiosity in Peter to at least go and check it out for himself.  Not a great deal of faith in Peter, the one who had confessed Jesus as Lord, but enough.  What is enough faith in today’s world?  In any sea of doubt there is always a speck of faith.  That little bit of faith floating in a sea of doubt was enough to start the Church.  The marginalized women who saw and believed, the doubting confessing Peter who had to see for himself, the disciples hiding in the room when Jesus appeared to them and who were later still in the room when the one they called doubting Thomas returned.  That was enough to start the church.  If we were able to see beyond what is to what we are called to be, what could the church become?  Look out over the horizon, just beyond what you can see, and now look inside yourself, get to know and love your neighbor and see Christ and the church in a new way.  How our hearts have burned within us every time the Word is read; Now we recognize the Savior in the breaking of the bread.

The Last Letter

A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney

From: Tomas Young

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.

You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.

You can read the rest of the letter HERE

Poem for Good Friday John 18:1-19:42

Who is this man

They cried

This one

--welcomed just three days ago

as the Messiah

the one who would bring peace to the nation

peace to the world

who is this man

who claims to be the Son of God

who would dare to tempt

the systems we have set in motion

we are

--they cried with a voice united

civilized people

we have our laws and order

--and our punishments for those

--who like our friend here

--choose

----(or are chosen)

----to be more than we have room for

this Jesus from Nazareth

hung up there

in pain and death

--just like any common

--------------(scapegoat)

------------------criminal

the King of Jews

with no kingdom of this world

and few to follow

Our

--------(law and order)

------------------Justice has a way

to keep things from getting

out-------------of----------------control

with anyone

------(God)

who would disrupt

this life of ours

who

-------is this Jesus of Nazareth

-------(Father)

that he should come here

where we have things

as we want them

-----------(forgive them)

and want nothing more

------(for they know not what they do)

10w for March 29th, Good Friday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 29th, Good Friday.  You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Benieth the Cross of Jesus" by Lorie Line from the CD "The Heritage Collection Vol. 4"  which can be purchased HERE 

10w for March 28th, Maundy Thursday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 28th, Maundy Thursday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by the Breakforth Band from the CD "Breakforth Vol. 3" which can be purchased HERE

10w for March 27th, Wed. of Holy Week.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 27th, Wed. of Holy Week. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "Were You There" by Mavis Staples from the CD "Spirituals and Gospels dedicated to Mahalia Jackson" which can be purchased HERE

10w for March 26th, Sir, We want to see Jesus, Tue of Holy Week

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 26th, Sir, We want to see Jesus, Tue of Holy Week. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "I Can See Jesus In You" by Twila Paris from the CD "Where I Stand" which can be purchased HERE

10W for March 25th, Prepare the Body, Monday of Holy Week.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 25th, Prepare the Body, Monday of Holy Week. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "Kyrie Eleison" by Dakota Road from the CD "All Are Welcome" which can be purchased HERE

10w for for March 24th, Passion Sunday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 24th, Passion Sunday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "Hosanna Blessed One" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone Who is Thirsty, Come" which can be purchased HERE

Sunday of Passion Luke 22:1-23:56

Hosanna!  Hosanna!

to the one who comes in the name of the Lord

Hosanna to the one who comes to save us

we rejoice

yet sorrow that this one

the Song of God

the Lord most High

has come to this world

in which each one of us dips our bread

with this one

the Churst

and in this act of oneness

of family

we bring death

to our Lord

to our selves

we are all there shouting

Hosanna!

and Crucify Him!

in thought, word and deed

by what we have done

and by what we have left undone

yet not rejected, but loved

by the one we hung on the cross

Hosanna!

Opening Litany based on Psalm 31:9-16

Psalm 31:9-16 (New International Version)

Pastor: Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

Congregation: My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

Pastor: Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends— those who see me on the street flee from me.

Congregation: I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.

Pastor: But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.

Congregation: Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

life

Sunday March 24^th, Luke 19: ²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' “Jesus is always out ahead of us, leading us on the way and pointing us to where God has called us. Get this colt that no one has ever ridden because something new is coming to town.  Something new in which you and I are called not just to follow, but to get out ahead and be the body of Christ in this world. There is no place, physically, mentally or emotionally we can go that Jesus has not already gone to prepare the way for us.  Our sin often is less what we do wrong and more often what we hold back from doing right, or doing at all.  Luther said to sin boldly but rejoice more boldly still.  Take fear out of your life, move forward in trust and hope in what God is calling you to do, and where God is calling you to go.  Know that Christ is already out ahead of you preparing the way, and when you fall, for surely you will, you can get up and dust off your knees and be on your way again, forgiven and anticipating the adventure around the next corner.  

lined up

Monday March 25^th, Luke 19: ³⁵They brought it (the colt) to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  ³⁸"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" ³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" ⁴⁰"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Who were these people.  In Borg and Crossan’s book “the Last Week” they say it was the poor, the landless who had been manipulated off the family land by the wealthy.  It was the hopeless and rejected who were looking for hope.  They awaited Jesus on the East end of town as he came in from Bethany on the southeastern slopes of the Mount of Olives.  On the other end of town, from the west, Pilate came into town not on a donkey, a sign of peace, but on his stallion, army behind him, leather armor and weapons glistening in the sunlight.  He was coming from his villa in the west, Caesarea Maritima on the coast of the Mediterranean.  High on the staff that went before him was an eagle, the emblem of Caesar, who was known as the son of god and the prince of peace.  Pilate also was cheered on his way.  His crowd was the wealthy land owners, the well-connected and those in power in the temple who served at the pleasure of the Caesar.  Thus proving the old adage, the more things change, the more they remain the same.  Is there any doubt conflict would ensue?  Which parade would you attend? 

loved

Tuesday March 26^th, Luke 22: ¹⁴ When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, ¹⁵ and said, "You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. ¹⁶ It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God."¹⁷ Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, "Take this and pass it among you. ¹⁸ As for me, I'll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives."¹⁹ Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory."²⁰ He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.  The Passover, the celebration of freedom is the root of our communion service.  It celebrates the freedom Christ brings from all that enslaves you, from all that holds you back and makes you afraid.  Freedom from sin, both those committed and those many that fall under the heading of things left undone.  The bread is not magic, the wine is not magic, the ceremony is not magic, and their power comes when we realize that it is the sharing of them with God and with one another that is relational, that is the power of the Body of Christ.  Do this in remembrance of me, and when we remember in that way, it is not just thinking of the good old days, it is bringing love to life, to our life.  It is remembering the way Jesus turned to the thief on the cross who asked to be remembered, and Jesus responded that on that day he would be with him in paradise.  It is a remembering that it is a call to action.  When we gather for communion, God is there with us.  When we eat out in a restaurant with friends and family, God is there with us also.  When we gather around the table at home with family, God is with us.  In each setting we are called into a relationship with God who is present with us.  In each setting we are called into a relationship with those who are present with us.  Most importantly, through the miracle of God’s presence, in each setting we are called into relationship with those who are not with us and we are called into action as a child of God in this world to love one another as Jesus loved us.  It is less a celebration of freedom from as it is a celebration of freedom for.  

Lord

Wednesday March 27^th, Luke 22: ⁴¹ He pulled away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, ⁴² "Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?" ⁴³ At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. ⁴⁴ He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.⁴⁵ He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. ⁴⁶ He said, "What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won't give in to temptation." Why did Jesus have to die?  Was it to appease an angry god?  Was it to atone for our sins for all time, the perfect sacrificial offering, which is also appeasing a blood thirsty god?  Was it to show the way to obedience?  Or was it the only thing humanity could, and still can, understand?  Perhaps it has less to do with the violent nature of our concept of god than with the violent nature of humanity. Jesus died to show us that even death has no power over us.  Jesus died to show is that confronting the systems of oppression in this world is what we are called to do.  Jesus died to show us the gift and hope of new life that is manifest in the here and now.  Jesus died to show the brutal lengths humanity will go to maintain control.  Jesus died, for you, for me, and for those who will never in their life admit that Jesus is Lord.  

live it

Thursday March 28^th, Luke 22: ⁴⁹ When those with him saw what was happening, they said, "Master, shall we fight?" ⁵⁰ One of them took a swing at the Chief Priest's servant and cut off his right ear.⁵¹Jesus said, "Let them be. Even in this." Then, touching the servant's ear, he healed him.  Even in this moment, Jesus shows us the way.  There is no us and them.  We are all called to be the children of God in the family of God.  We are all called to treat one another as our brothers and sisters in Christ.  All of our weapons, six hundred billion dollars’ worth a year, only help to reinforce the illusion of enemies.  In the midst of the so called enemies, Jesus says, let them be, and then reaches down and heals.  When will we see it?  When will we live it?  

feed

Friday March 29^th, Luke 22: ⁵⁹ About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got "Galilean' written all over him."⁶⁰ Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. ^{6 1}Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." ⁶² He went out and cried and cried and cried. At the church in Jerusalem where this supposedly took place, there is a weather vane on the top of the church in the shape of a rooster.  For all of us it is a reminder of been there, done that!!!  Time and again, in one way or another we have all been there and done that.  For us there is forgiveness and a call to be the church out in the world once again. For us there are fresh starts and the call to offer these fresh starts to others.  Later we are reminded that Jesus restores Peter by asking him to “feed my sheep” three times.  In the midst of our doubts, in the midst of our fear, Jesus restores us and calls upon us to “feed my sheep.”  It is what the church does; it is what you and I as the church are called to do.  

free

Saturday March 30^th, Luke 23: ¹ Then they all took Jesus to Pilate ² and began to bring up charges against him. They said, "We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting himself up as Messiah-King." ³ Pilate asked him, "Is this true that you're "King of the Jews’?” Those are your words, not mine," Jesus replied. ⁴ Pilate told the high priests and the accompanying crowd, "I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me." ⁵ But they were vehement. "He's stirring up unrest among the people with his teaching, disturbing the peace everywhere, starting in Galilee and now all through Judea. He's a dangerous man, endangering the peace."  Jesus IS a threat to our power and all the evil it manages to condone.  As the powers strove to maintain their control and with it the money, all for very good and religiously justified reasons, Jesus was the one who pointed out the fallacy of what they were doing.  As we strive for control and with it all the power and money it will bring, Jesus does the same.  We have heard words of fear for the last year.  Piled up debt, watch out, big government is taking away all your freedom and guns, fear.  Fear is the opposite of faith, and faith calls us to love one another, care for the least, lost and lonely and look to the future with hope.  The old saying goes that when I gave a man a fish, they praised me as a saint, when I asked why the man had no fish they called me a communists.  The modern version would be, when I gave someone free health care, I was called a saint.  When I worked for health care for all, I was called the “N” word and the “F” word and spat upon.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.  Jesus died so that we could be free.  Not free from, but free for the task of not only caring for the least lost and lonely, but putting systems in place so that in the world there are fewer least lost and lonely that fall through the cracks and need to be cared for.  

10w for March 19th, Joseph, Guardian of Jesus.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 19th, Joseph, Guardian of Jesus. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "What a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong from the CD "What a Wonderful World" which can be purchased HERE

10w for March 17th, Zacchaeus, L5NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 17th, Zacchaeus, L5NL. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "Why does God Love Me" by Jennifer Knapp from the CD "Lay It Down" which can be purchased HERE

10w for March 17th, Nard Annointing, L5.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 17th, Nard Annointing, L5. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our email list" or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is "For the Love of it all" by Peter, Paul and Mary from the CD "Lifelines" which can be purchased HERE

Opening Litany based on Psalm 126

Pastor: When my life changed, when God came into my life and turned it around, I was like one who had just entered a dream. 

Congregation: When our lives were changed, when we allowed God in, we could not stop from laughing; our very being was filled with joy.

 

Pastor: Our friends looked at us and knew something was different.  Those who knew us well and who knew the Lord said, the Lord has done great thing for them, and together we rejoiced.

Congregation: Restore our ways O Lord; direct our lives to the paths you have chosen.  Like a river in spring, may your blessings fill to the brim the blessings of your presence in our lives.

Pastor: May those still in sorrow experience shouts of joy.

Congregation: May those who go into the world in sorrow be filled with your love and bring that fruit of your blessing home to friends and family.

Poem for John 12: 1-8 5th Sunday in Lent

In the midst of time spent together

Aroma filled the air

The sweetness drifting into every corner

Filling every nostril and lung

And out into the world.

Wasteful!

Just imagine what we

(I)

could do with that

for a slight fee for handling

all legit of course

I could help some people

And you will

Those in need

The least, lost and lonely

Will be there always

The simple creation of our greed

But their care is less about helping them overcome our greed

And more about our need

To worship

In praise and deed

Worship drives us to the streets

Where the justice work drives us back to worship

And the streets

And worship

Round and round until they blur into one

And the sweet fragrance once again fills the air

rules

Sunday March 17^th, Philippians 3: all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness. All religion has rules and religion all too often is made up of too many rules whose purpose is simply to control.  There are moves to put the Ten Commandments in the courthouses and the right judges on the bench while at the same time, to remove “In God we Trust” from our bills.  We want everyone in the congregation to agree with us on all the important things, and the unimportant ones also while at the same time wishing them their freedom to be in relationship with God on their own without going through an intermediately.  Radio hacks want people to leave churches that preach social Justice when it is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings. When all is said and done, what we are after is not religion at all, but control.  Paul reminds us that the religion of rules is not where it is at, not what is important.  What is important is being in a relationship with Jesus and building relationships with one another, those you agree with and those you don’t.  Some of those rules might be good and some might be bad, but in the end they really don’t matter all that much.  What matters is a relationship with God and a community of support that accepts you for who you are and where you are at. 

insulating

Monday March 18^th, Philippians 3: 10-11 Give up all that inferior stuff and learn to know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.  Christ is not after all that groveling and “poor me” stuff.  When God created all that exist, God said it was good.  That pronouncement of good was as much a part of creation as was the sea and stars and the land we walk upon, also created by the word of God.  God pronounced it good and you can count on that.  All that inferior stuff we tend to hoard in our lives is just a form of security because we can’t quite convince ourselves that the goodness of God is for us also.   If you can’t throw away that security blanket of stuff, at least recognize it for what it is, a security blanket of stuff to cover that deep feeling that somehow you do not quite measure up. And you are right, you don’t measure up.  More importantly, it doesn't matter because God loves you anyway.  All those security blankets are doing is insulating your life from the love and grace of God.  More time with God and less time on the boats, cars, kitchens and baths will make those boats, cars, kitchens and baths more enjoyable.  Using them for the work of the kingdom is even better.  

without a net

Tuesday March 19^th, Isaiah 43: 16 This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? God is way ahead of us.  We tend to look on what has been and then where we are in the present.  From that perspective we judge others based on our perception of what was.  God looks ahead to what could be and then calls us into that future.  Why else would some of the Old Testament “heroes” be chosen?  From Abraham right on down to Paul, most of them wouldn't pass the mustard in today’s world.  But God sees us in a different light, God’s light.  If Paul, the persecutor of the church can go on to be its greatest preacher, what do you think God has in store for you if you give that future half a chance?  So stop looking back for inspiration, rather look up to God, Pray to God, Listen to God and then act in faith.  If it is wrong, God will let you know.  Oh, one more thing, never do this alone, without a faith community of support, you off on the wrong foot before you start and working without a net.