Archive for April, 2010

by Dale Jones

“Finish strong.” I had heard this encouragement from coaches, teachers, and others as a game, season, or school term moved toward an end. Coming into the final week of Lent, I resolved to reclaim my originally-intended but oft-forsaken Lenten discipline. I would set aside that brief quiet time each day, I would get some aerobic exercise most days. So far, I have. With a few days of Lent remaining, my Lenten practice has returned to or exceeded the level of the first week. I am finishing strong.

The problem of course is what I did – or didn’t do – with the weeks in between. In the forty days (plus Sundays) of Lent, I will complete at most twenty days from the “100 Days of Integrity” devotional guide I set out to make a daily part of my Lenten practice. I went days on end without putting on my jogging shoes. Thinking of the few minutes of college basketball I took time to watch during “March Madness,” even though I am now gaining momentum, the clock will run out before I can regain the lead. Often I have rationalized my delinquency because of heavy and unplanned work demands, which seemed to commence and then multiply starting about the second week of Lent. In honesty, however, my intended Lenten practice seems like Lent “lite” – not intense enough for even the most grueling schedule to justify abandoning it so often. Clearly, I have yet to master the discipline of staying focused and keeping priorities ordered when things get fast and furious. A challenge for the days and the Lents to come.

While not claiming a “win” in my Lenten practice, the effort been more than worthwhile. If my Lenten journey has not taken me all the way to Jerusalem with Jesus, it has taken me closer than no journey at all. I am especially grateful to have been part of this blogging project, which proved as I thought initially: the reasons I was reluctant to participate were the very reasons I needed to. Blogging meant identifying a Lenten practice I could blog about, which meant I could not just wholly ignore these weeks of preparation. Even all the times I let urgencies usurp my practice, I was aware of the season, aware of what I should be doing, how I should be living. That awareness at times caused twinges of guilt, true, but more significantly it helped me acknowledge God’s presence in daily situations and settings where I would have otherwise overlooked God. Blogging also meant I read the posts of fellow bloggers, whose candid sharing invariably brought ideas and perspective that enriched my Lenten journey and helped me true up my course.

As noted in an earlier post, I became more aware of measures of grace in my life and undertakings. Words from the old hymn “Grace Greater than Our Sin” have come to me regularly over these last few weeks, almost becoming a substitute Lenten practice during the busiest and most stress-filled occasions:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Grace that exceeds flunking Lent 101, straying from the journey, letting the urgent crowd out the important. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

Hebrews 11 tells us that faith is: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This week, this Holy Week, we walk together in faith. We move with Jesus from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, through the reality of his last supper, to his crucifixion.

It’s easy (and tempting) to move from Palm Sunday to Easter, skipping over Jesus’ final days and death.  Death is scary and painful, and we fear the unknown.  But during Lent, we’ve been asking God to search us and know us. We’ve looked inward so that we can die to the things in our life that keep us from loving God, ourselves, and others. We’ve been dying to fear, addiction, pride, stubbornness, and more.  It takes faith to stay on this journey to the end.  Fortunately, faith isn’t about having all the answers, or removing doubt; faith is about a willingness to enter the unknown, knowing that we never walk alone.  We walk to the cross, like the Disciples, not seeing what is on the other side.

But the good news is, when we make this journey, we live with the hope of new life that will, triumphantly, emerge.  What will you die to? What resurrection is in store for your life?  Please join us at Holy Covenant this week, not just on Easter, but throughout the journey of last days and death, so we can truly find new life that awaits us through resurrection.  We won’t know what’s next as we take this walk, but we WILL know that through God, it will be greater than anything we can imagine.  Thanks be!

*Maundy Thursday, 7pm in the Sanctuary
Join us for a service where we hear the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, light candles, and enact the Last Supper through story and communion.  We’ll move from the table to the cross as we strip the sanctuary in preparation for Good Friday.

*Good Friday, 7pm in the Sanctuary
A reflective service of the passion narrative from the Gospel of John, interspersed with music, silence, and prayer.

*Easter Sunday
6am, Sunrise Service at the Lake, clocktower at Marovitz golf course-Rain or Shine!
9:30 and 11:15am, Festival Service of Resurrection in the Sanctuary with Celebration Choir
7pm, Service of Communion and Candlelight as we greet Jesus on the road to Emmaus

What a wonderful time to invite friends and family (and strangers!) to join you in worship.  Consider who you can bring with you to experience the good news of new life and resurrection.

Grace and Peace,
Kate

by Vicky Nabors

On Monday, while driving Dee (my fiancée) to campus for her morning classes, I was hit by a thought that touched me deeply. Jesus gave his life for me: Victoria Lynne Nabors. And what’s great about this thought is that he didn’t make this heart-wrenching sacrifice because I was male/female, black/white, straight/gay, fat/skinny, sinner/saint, or achieved/under-achieved. He gave his life for me because I was worthy. I didn’t even have to prove myself as worthy by achieving great feats as I’ve had to do most of my life; what an awesome feeling.

I’ve always believed that every interaction, situation, or event is a learning opportunity; and that we’re never too old to learn. Therefore, this Lenten blogging project has taught me the importance of placing life’s pains at God’s feet; after forgiveness is achieved. And even though I have always had a strong determination to stay focused on God, this six week journey thorough the wilderness with Jesus has created in me a higher level of awareness in how I achieve this goal.

As an individual whose characteristics include: Black American, female, butch lesbian, over-weight, eccentric creative/intellectual personality, etc., I know my life will continue to be filled with injustices. I’ll be misunderstood, disrespected, and mistreated; but so was Jesus! I am deeply humbled and grateful to Jesus as I’m reminded of the symbolic importance of this Lenten season. It’s about love, unconditional love! And when I look at the bigger picture of my life, I can see how the weights of my past have prevented me from growing closer to God. What a wonderful feeling it is to step out of this experience feeling like one of a multitude of beautiful bright lights shinning in God’s universe; knowing I am equally loved.

As Pastor Kate said, it’s bitter sweet to internalize how my savior was brutally slain, but then rose from the dead that my sins might be forgiven. My emotions here are profoundly unspeakable.

I’ll close with a prayer of thanks:

“Holy Creator God of light, I am most thankful to you for providing me this spiritual growth opportunity. Thank you for loving me when I could not love myself, thank you for hearing my years of prayers for deliverance from the pains that wrecked my soul, for drying my tears, and providing comfort and guidance when I was lost and felt that every part of me was wrong. Father, I thank you for not letting me fall into the darkness of defeat when I most wanted to. Thank you for showing me the pure trueness of unconditional love and self-acceptance. And Lord, I am most grateful to you God for guiding me to Holy Covenant United Methodist Church … I feel reborn and renewed in your light. Thank you Jesus for giving your life for me – Hallelujah!”

Palm/Passion Sunday Reflections
Holy Covenant UMC, March 28, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

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Luke 22:14-23: The Last Supper

Jesus enters Jerusalem, and it’s like a movie star arriving for a red-carpet premiere. Of course, it’s the first century, so things are a little more low-tech: Instead of a limo, Jesus shows up riding a donkey. Instead of paparazzi shouting his name and flashing photographs, people are yelling “hosanna” “blessed are you” “peace and glory” and waving palm branches. There’s no red carpet laid out, so they whisk off their gray and brown cloaks and spread them on the ground, one after another, to prepare the way for him. Jesus is a celebrity, hailed and welcomed and adored. People see the parts about him that are easy to love and want to follow him. They imagine, as people often do about celebrities, that his life is ideal and he’ll never disappoint them. They pin their hopes and futures on his life so they don’t have to focus on their own.

Now, as the shouts die down and the people have put their cloaks back on, Jesus is turning: turning away from the great crowds and turning towards a small gathering of his closest followers. For he knows that celebrity is fleeting, public love fades, and people will quickly find someone else to love. Someone who’s not so threatening, someone who doesn’t challenge the power structure. So he gathers around those who have been side by side with him on his journey of teaching and healing and feeding and preaching and does what he loves best: He shares in a meal. He breaks bread. (more…)