Preparing for Worship February 26.

During the season of Lent, I invite you to make use of the Stillspeaking Lenten Devotional: Give it Up! (the invitation to be part of a study group you read above in this email)

In Worship the themes will follow those of Give it Up!

Feb 26 Repentance: Give it Up

Mar 4 Renewal: Give it Up so you can take it on

Mar 11 Jesus: Give it Up so that you can follow

Mar 18 Joke Sunday (we may need humor by now)

Mar 25 Holy Week: Getting Ready Early

Apr 1 Palm/Passion Sunday: No Fooling

Apr 8 Easter

Scripture Readings:

Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

 

Psalm 130

My soul waits for God

¹Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

²Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

³If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

My soul waits for God

⁴But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

⁵I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

⁶my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

⁸It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

My soul waits for God

The reading in Mark takes us backwards: last week we were in the middle of Mark (9:2-9) where God speaks and Peter, James, and John hear him. After the Jesus’ baptism God speaks and only Jesus hears him. In Mark 15:39 the centurion speaks and everyone at the foot of the cross is able to hear him.

Kenneth Samuel wrote in the devotion for Ash Wednesday: … we are mindful of the ashes [dust] from which we were created. With egos in check, we are keenly cognizant of our weaknesses and frailties. And we are humbly grateful for the wondrous mixture of dust and divinity that God has formed in each of us.

The ashes beseech us to never lose sight of how temporal and fleeting life really is. The writer of Psalm 90 says that human life is like grass that flourishes in the morning, but is dried and withered by evening. All in the span of one brief metaphorical day.

As we begin our observance of lent on this Ash Wednesday (or any of the days) let us be mindful of our imminent mortality. Let us repent for being reckless, negligent, and sometimes ungrateful for this precious gift of life. And from this day forward, let us never take another day for granted.

Repentance: the word means to turn or to change one’s mind or direction. How do we turn or change this February? Do we need to? In 2012 what might/should/could we give up and what might/should/could we take on instead?