Gospels fit for an Oscar Sunday! No walking the red carpet here but walking the Way with Jesus!

Good Evening Beloved Community!

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has had time for a refreshing Sabbath rest. I know that the Oscars / Academy Awards are on TV at this very moment. I have decided that I won't walk the red carpet but will walk the Way of Jesus instead. The Gospels featured today are rife with enough drama especially the night before surgery. I almost called this blog Angels and Demons but that title has already been used by Dan Brown. How many of you feel as though demons are all around you? I do sometimes but that is when I find myself being brought low. Today I feel as though God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the entire Company of Heaven is present. It that feeling where there isn't any drama only holy and life giving warmth surrounding us. I want everyone to know that I love you and give God thanks for you and I will be writing maybe on Tuesday. Tomorrow morning I have surgery at 7:30 a.m. and I have to be at the hospital at 5: 30 a.m. This is ungodly hour for anyone to be awake. So this blog will follow a similar path as yesterday's. Beloved Community let us gather and spend time as we Pause, Pray, and Reflect. 

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that God is Love.

Be still and know that You are Love.

Be sill and know that I Am Love.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Slowly inhale.

Hold.

Slowly exhale

Pause. Count to 10.

Repeat 4 times.

LIGHT OF THE WORLD PHOS HILARON

LIGHT OF THE WORLD, IN GRACE AND BEAUTY,
MIRROR OF GOD’S ETERNAL FACE,
TRANSPARENT FLAME OF LOVE’S FREE DUTY,
YOU BRING SALVATION TO OUR RACE.
NOW, AS WE SEE THE LIGHTS OF EVENING,
WE RAISE OUR VOICE IN HYMNS OF PRAISE;
WORTHY ARE YOU OF ENDLESS BLESSING,
SUN OF OUR NIGHT, LAMP OF OUR DAYS.

LAK’ECH

TÚ ERES MI OTRO YO.

YOU ARE MY OTHER ME.

SI TE HAGO DAÑO A TI,

IF I DO HARM TO YOU,

ME HAGO DAÑO A MI MISMO.

I DO HARM TO MYSELF.

SI TE AMO Y RESPETO,

IF I LOVE AND RESPECT YOU,

ME AMO Y RESPETO YO.

I LOVE AND RESPECT MYSELF.

LUIS VALDEZ

“One of his disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him.” John 13:23

Pause 

Pray 

God help us to feel close to you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit even when we aren't feeling it. Help us to find ourselves connected even in the stillness and those fallow times where seeds of love, hope, and  nourishment are being planted. 

Reflect 

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Luke 11:14-54 

Jesus and Beelzebul

 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcistscast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

 ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but not finding any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.’

True Blessedness

 While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’

The Sign of Jonah

 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!

The Light of the Body

 ‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’

Jesus Denounces Pharisees and Lawyers

 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

 ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’

 One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.’ And he said, ‘Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’

 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Pause 

Pray 

God we pray that we may learn from Jesus how to cope with the many demons, drama, and dis-ease we may find in our lives. Give us strength and courage to know that we aren't alone and that you walk with us in all shapes and hues of our lives even the bumpy roads in the wilderness. 

Reflect

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Pause,

Pray

God we pray that we may respect all your temples and especially our bodies. We pray for all who are ill and facing surgery, difficult health choices, and possibly the end of this life's journey. 

Reflect.

John 8:1-6 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

8 1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 

Pause.

Pray

Let us say the words of the Lord's Prayer as found in A New Zealand Prayer Book. 

Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever.    Amen.

And this 

Eternal Spirit, 

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, 

Source of all that is and that shall be, 

Father and Mother of us all, 

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! 

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples

of the world! 

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! 

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom 

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us. 

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. 

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. 

From trials too great to endure, spare us. 

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, 

now and for ever. Amen.    

John 16:16-24

Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

16 ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.’ ¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying to us, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”; and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ ¹⁸They said, ‘What does he mean by this “a little while”? We do not know what he is talking about.’ ¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, ‘Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”? ²⁰Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. ²²So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³On that day you will ask nothing of me.^* Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.^* 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Let us in silence pause,pray, and reflect upon the passage above and offer our own prayers and thanksgivings in the silence of our heart homes.

Almighty and most merciful God, kindle within us the fire of love, that by its cleansing flame we may be purged of all our sins and made worthy to worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God as we continue our Lenten pilgrimage may we always remember it is your holy road walk and that there will be challenges set before us. May we feel your presence and know that you are with us and all we have to do is keep ourselves in your loving and redeeming arms. Help us this Lent and always to let go of all the worry, anxiety, and accumulation of things and thoughts and fill ourselves with YOU and YOU alone. Amen.

For the Human Family

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.

For those we love

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come,knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Wisdom, in your loving kindness you created and restored us when we were lost: inspire us with your truth, that we may love you with our whole minds and run to you with open hearts, through Christ our Savior. Amen. (source: Alcuin of York, Mass of Wisdom)

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

― Teresa of Ávila

Jesus, you are the way through the wilderness: show us your truth in which we journey, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit be in us the life that draws us to God. Amen. (source: F.B. McNutt, The Prayer Manual [London: Mowbray, 1961], p. 29, adapted)

We pray for our family members who are hungry for nourishing and life giving food. May their bodies be filled. We pray for all soup kitchens feeding programs food banks, and pantries.

 We pray for our family members who are in need of clothing. May we take time to give our old and usable clothing away for those that need it.

 We pray for our family members who are in need of shelter this evening and if they need to be out in the cold that they may be safely protected. 

 We pray for our family members who are in need of affection we pray that our prayers may encircle them with a virtual prayer quilt of love and compassion. May they feel our prayers as a holy hug and embrace.

 We pray for our family members who are seeking  relationships and that they may come to know that the most important relationships are with God and themselves.

 We pray for our family members who are  hungering for knowledge that education may be made affordable and that everyone will have places in which to learn and grow.

We pray for our family members who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

 We pray for our family members who are hungering for justice,equality human rights, dignity, and respect.

 We pray for our family members who are hungering for CALM (Compassion Acceptance Love and Mercy)

We pray for our family members who are hungering for peace and Peace of Mind.

We pray for our family members who have come to us with their prayer requests remembering especially__________________.

God our healer, whose mercy is like a refining fire: by the loving- kindness of Jesus, heal us and those for whom we pray; that being renewed by you, we may witness your wholeness to our broken world; through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Spirit. Amen. 

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen.

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

Lord, you now have set your servant free *

to go in peace as you have promised;

 

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *

whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

 

A Light to enlighten the nations, *

and the glory of your people Israel.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

 

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

+++++++

Good Night Beloved Community! I love you! I will send you a note tomorrow!

Love and blessings,

Sara

Resources 

E Common Prayer

A New Zealand Prayer Book

In Lak' Ech - Luis Valdez

The Good Book Club

Meeting Jesus in The Gospel of John

#LiveLent

Bible Gateway

Oremus Bible Browser