Articles

A is for Advent

Child friendly Advent wreath

This year we will be journeying through the alphabet as we move our way through Advent towards the Day of Christmas. Last Christmas Day a small group of us gathered for an intimate worship that included getting crafty! I had each letter of the alphabet plainly sketched out on a sheet of paper waiting to be decorated. The thought I had was to hang up these creations throughout the season of Advent. 26 letters in the English alphabet. 26 days from Advent 1 through Christmas Eve this year! Little did we know back then that things hung up in the church would not be seen by many people…

So for the letters I can find, I’ll include an image here. Otherwise there may be some other image that speaks to the word of the day. May these daily reflections through the season of Advent be a gift to you. I’ll also be including a link to a video Advent project of which I was blessed to be a part. These are 5 – 7 minute offerings (longer on Wednesdays) shared with the wider church and those beyond the church. Many thanks go to The Rev. John Michael Longworth, OEF, of Rutland, Vermont for curating this collection and all who contributed.

A Video Advent

God’s mercy

Today’s daily readings <- Click here for all of today’s readings (Psalm 17; 1Chronicles 21:1-17; 1 John 2:1-6

A theme that jumps out to me among these three readings is God’s mercy. God, while desiring our best, is just and forgiving. While we are given countless guidelines for living faithfully, they are hopes for us, not hoops to jump through. Lent can be a time to try and be better, but we always rely on God’s mercy and forgiveness.

I’ve had a hard time starting out my own Lenten discipline. The temptation is strong to berate myself and give up. But the real discipline is to remember God’s mercy. John’s letter makes it clear that we are to strive not to sin, but knowing that we will, he reminds us of Jesus’ role as advocate for us and the whole world. David chooses a punishment meted out by God rather than humans because he is sure of God’s mercy. God is way more forgiving than we are. And others are often more forgiving of us that we are of ourselves.

The following post is from a blog which I don’t follow, but happened upon. I just clicked on a link in a facebook group. But I offer it to you as a framework for how we might approach Lent. I read it for those who were present in worship on Ash Wednesday. I had a request for copies to share, so here’s the original post: http://www.barbmorris.com/a-letter-from-god-to-her-daughters-who-observe-lent/

Ash Wednesday

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10

This year during Lent you will find here a reflection for each of the 40 days. They may be one’s thoughts, a story, a picture, a song, a link to something that someone found useful. It can be as creative as one likes or a simple reflection on a bible verse. And my hope is that many different people will contribute to this collective project.

Today’s reflection is an invitation to contribute to this project. Many of us were raised to give up something during Lent – sweets, caffeine, meat, swearing and technology of some sort have probably been at the top of the list. Lent has been described as a time of sacrifice to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. In recent years there has been some reframing of Lent to make it a time of developing some sort of spiritual practice – maybe pray a little more, practice some meditation, give some extra money to a worthy cause, read the bible more. These too are worthy efforts.

This year I may use Lent as an excuse to work on some new behavior (haven’t quite decided yet), but I have decided to use it as a time to remember. I will do things to remember the new and right spirit that God gives us. It’s a spirit of “I get to” and not just “I have to.” My remembrance will be grounded in my identity as God’s beloved one – something too easily forgotten. I will practice daily, hourly, remembering who I am and whose I am. And you get to join me!

In remembrance, Pastor Gaeta

p.s. There will be a worship service with imposition of ashes and holy communion tonight at 7:30pm

Stewarding our gifts

This Lent, you are invited to steward any gifts you have for sharing reflections on scripture readings. Many of you have the gift of writing, visual art, performing art or curating the work of others in just the right way. If you wish to be part of our daily reflections here, please sign up by clicking here. On the sign up page you will find a link to the list of daily readings for the whole church year in case you want to choose a date based on the reading for the day. Once you sign up you will receive further instructions on how to submit your contribution.

Emmanuel

by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

So often it seems we are so in the mood for Christmas,
but then something awful happens
and it changes everything.
But this is backwards.
Difficulties are constant: awful things happen—
and then Christmas comes along and changes everything.

This is the reason for the season.
“Because these days are dark,” the Beloved says,
“I come to be with you.
I see the pain, the loneliness, the despair.
I feel already the splinters of the manger, the nails.
And—therefore— I have come to be with you.”

Don’t be afraid of the dark days, the broken days,
the hard days, the blank days.
This is where Christmas happens.

May 2023

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? …Pilgrims!
You may have heard me tell this joke at some point this past month. It’s one of my favorites. I even did a project in maybe 5th grade that involved writing a joke book and it was, of course, included. Who knew I’d wind up living in a place where real Pilgrims have had such a lasting influence.

The words “we are pilgrims on a journey” from the hymn Will You Let Me Be Your Servant have been running through my head, creating a connection, tenuous as it may be, between this joke and our journey. The Pilgrims were on a journey away from persecution. My journey of faith is towards God. There are journeys that take one from a certain place to another physical location. And there are journeys where we don’t have to take a single step.

The Bible tells many stories of journeys. Groups of people go from one place to another – Egypt to the Promised Land, Jerusalem to Babylon, through Samaria between Galilee and Judea, from one end of the Mediterranean Sea to the other. There’s barely a passage of scripture where place is not key and a map is a handy companion to understand what is happening.

Yet even if we are not setting out on an epic adventure of a journey, the journey of faith can be just as full of new experience. We can read of people’s journey inward – finding God in ourselves without going anywhere. In this latter part of the Easter season, moving toward the Day of Pentecost, I invite you to journey together more deeply into relationship with God, thus with one another.

Peace in Christ’s name,
Pastor Gaeta

Holy Trinity

Sunday, June 12, 2022 is Holy Trinity Sunday. This is the only festival day that is not based on an event in the life of the Church. The other “big” Sundays are Easter, Christmas and Pentecost. In the Lutheran tradition Reformation Sunday is a pretty big one as well. But these are all days that we recall a specific event.

Holy Trinity is not about an event but is a teaching or belief of the church of the nature of God. We believe God is one AND God is three. How can this be? Many metaphors are used to try and make it make sense. H20 is one thing, but can be water, ice and vapor. The one clover has three leaves yet it is one. God has three parts – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. None of these ways of thinking of three in one and one in three both hold up to logic AND fully articulate the nature of God. We may just find ourselves going around in circles.

The Holy Trinity may serve to point out our limitations as humans. It’s impossible to fully grasp all God is. It’s a mystery. It may be true, but this distances us from the divine. And God, if nothing else, seeks to be right here with us, in our presence. Back to that going around in circles though… John of Damascus, who lived about 700 years after Christ, was said to have used a term to describe the nature of God that literally means going around in circles. Perichoresis comes from a Greek word that is a combination of peri, meaning “around” and choreo, meaning “going/coming.” Such a term conjures continual movement, indwelling and relationship. One might also make a connection between choreo and choreography or dance.

Mosaic over the entrance of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Budva, Montenegro

One of the most famous depictions of the Holy Trinity is an icon written by Russian Andrei Rublev. The interplay between the figures keeps our eyes rotating around the image, suggesting movement. Ultimately, there are no words to fully capture the movement, tenderness, giving and taking of the divine. This doesn’t have to mean that we don’t explore with words and ideas who God is. When we are all talked or thought out though, we can rest in the wonder of it. And God will stir us to the dance once more.

End your day with gratitude

Think of the blessings you have recently had. Write them down in a logbook so you can look back at them whenever you need a boost in your spirits. Remember to thank the Lord for your blessings.You can also share them with someone you love to brighten their day as well.

Example, Last night we saw a beautiful sunset on an evening paddleboat cruise on a lake with our daughter. She booked the cruise to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. We had a very nice time together. Her children even got to drive the boat. It was a nice day to be thankful for.

National Cancer Survivors Day

National Cancer Survivors Day® is a CELEBRATION for those who have survived, an INSPIRATION for those recently diagnosed, a gathering of SUPPORT for families,and an OUTREACH to the community.

On this National Cancer Survivors Day, we ask you to strengthen both those who are recovering from disease and those who now face death. Bring healing to humanity as it struggles against the coronavirus. Comfort all who suffer and heal the sick. Provide care for all persons afflicted with mental illness, and sustain their families. Please help to find ways to lessen the burdens a cancer diagnosis brings. Visit those whose pain is hidden from us and those we name here before you

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost is often thought to have begun in the New Testament, but in actuality, the word Pentecost is a Greek word referring to the Festival of Weeks, which was one of the main holy festivals of the Jewish people (Leviticus 23:15Deuteronomy 16:9). The Festival of Weeks (or Feast of Weeks) was celebrated at the end of the grain harvest (Exodus 34:22), which occurred fifty days after the wave offering of Passover. It was on this day—the day of Pentecost—that the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers in Jerusalem (Acts 2). Jews from every nation were all gathered together in the city, and witnessed tongues of fire falling on all the believers in Jesus, and they (the believers) were given the ability to speak in all the languages of the Jews gathered there, and they were amazed, saying “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” (Acts 2:7-8).

The day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of the words Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding the Holy Spirit of God, which is represented by wind and fire throughout the Bible. Life was brought to Adam’s physical body when God breathed into his nostrils (Genesis 2:7). God’s Spirit is compared to the wind, when Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). God led the Israelites as a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21), and He is described as a “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24Deuteronomy 9:3Isaiah 33:14Hebrews 12:29). The glorified Christ is also identified by eyes that flame like fire (Revelation 1:1419:12).

But the tongues of fire and the mighty, rushing wind were not the only indications of the Spirit’s presence that day. The Spirit spoke through Peter to the hearts of the people. Every person understood the sermon in their own language as a result of God’s intervention, for God is merciful and “desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). As the crowds listened, they were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and instantly understood the message, as a result of the Spirit’s illumination. God is a Creator, and just as He created physical light to illuminate the world, He creates light in a mind darkened by sin and the fall, so that the person can see Christ clearly and come to Him (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). The day of Pentecost was a day of great mercy, when both Jew and Gentile were given that light, and God’s invisible church, His bride, was born.

https://www.compellingtruth.org/day-Pentecost.html

Abide in my love

John 15:9-14 [Jesus said:] 9
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep
my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Annual Pledge

Regular Giving towards your Annual Pledge to SOV. While we are not gathering in person, you are encouraged to give online. 

Our website has details for setting up an account. https://get.tithe.ly/

“What is a pledge?”  A pledge is a commitment of giving.  Generally, people either promise a regular giving amount (for example, $100 per month) or a total annual amount they plan to give.  This is not a binding contract or a requirement of membership, it is just a statement of your intention to give to the church.  You can also pledge your time and talents as well as your finances.  A good example of this would be offering to volunteer once a week to teach Sunday school or help in the office

“Why should I pledge?”  Many people say that they will give but don’t want to write a specific amount on a pledge card for various reasons.  We welcome all gifts, whether or not they are pledges, but pledging really helps the Church Council to plan for the coming year.  Knowing what people intend to give makes budgeting and financial planning much more accurate and is very helpful!

You can use Tithe.ly for ongoing or one-time donations. You can also mail checks to the church and they will be processed.

As of the end of March we are a bit behind on estimated giving through your pledges.

Thank you!

The Bible

When we study the Bible, and begin to understand it and live by its teachings, we are becoming obedient to God and fulfilling His purpose for us in our lives on earth. The Bible is also one of the longest books in print, and made up of 66 separate books, written over a period of 1500 years. It has been translated from the original Hebrew and Greek into English.

The Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, narrates the history of the people of Israel over about a millennium, beginning with God’s creation of the world and humankind, and contains the stories, laws and moral lessons that form the basis of religious life for both Jews and Christians. For at least 1,000 years, both Jewish and Christian tradition held that a single author wrote the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—which together are known as the Torah (Hebrew for “instruction”) and the Pentateuch (Greek for “five scrolls”). That single author was believed to be Moses, the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and guided them across the Red Sea toward the Promised Land.

The New Testament records Jesus’s life, from his birth and teachings to his death and later resurrection, a narrative that forms the fundamental basis of Christianity. Beginning around 70 A.D., about four decades after Jesus’s crucifixion (according to the Bible), four anonymously written chronicles of his life emerged that would become central documents in the Christian faith. Named for Jesus’s most devoted earthly disciples, or apostles—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—which tells of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.