Frontpage, March 10, 2019

March 10, 2019 – Lent 1

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The Week Ahead…

March 13 – 10:00-12pm – Ecumenical Bible Study

March 15 – 6pm-8pm – Spanish Bible Study. Email Catherine to help.

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March 17 – 10am – Children’s Education Living the Good News

March 17 – 10am – Adult Education – 1st Corinthians

March 17 – 11am – Holy Eucharist, Second Sunday in Lent

Sunday, March 17 Readings and Servers

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Christian Ed during Lent

Sundays in Lent, 10am

Creating a Scene in Corinth:A Simulation explores 1st Corinthians through a book by Reta Halteman Finger which provides an introduction to the Greco-Roman setting of Corinth and a chapter-by-chapter survey of Paul’s letter and in turn leads to a simulation of a church.

Paul wrote this letter to correct what he saw as erroneous views in the Corinthian church. Several sources informed Paul of conflicts within the church at Corinth: Apollos (Acts 19:1), a letter from the Corinthians, the “household of Chloe”, and finally Stephanas and his two friends who had visited Paul (1:11; 16:17).

The participants divide into four factions – those favoring Paul, Apollos, Peter, and the Christ group (1 Corinthians 1:12). A brief description of the background and nature of the groups gives the participants a sense of their role in the recreation. The characters represent a cross-section of Corinthian society: they include slaves and freeborn, widows and singles, and a number who have suffered deprivation and sexual abuse – much like typical society in that day. The authors encourage the readers/actors to respond to the oral text of 1 Corinthians as if the church hadn’t yet solidified its authority as God’s revelation (as the original listeners did).

In many ways, the church at Corinth was a mess. partisanship, with the Corinthians factionalizing behind rival leaders (1:10–4:21; 16:10–18); incest (5:1–13); prostitution (6:12–21); celibacy within marriage (7:1–7); Christians married to one another asking about divorce (7:8–11, 39); Christians married to pagans asking about divorce (7:12–16); questions surrounding marriage and remarriage (7:25–40); lawsuits (6:1–11).

There were worship issues, including idolatry (8:1–11:1); concerns about women praying and prophesying in immodest ways (11:2–16); chaos in worship, with speaking in tongues and competing voices (chapter 14); inequality in the communal meal (11:17–34); denials of the bodily resurrection of Jesus and of Christians (15:1–58)

Corinthian Links

Introduction

1 Corinthians

A Visit to Ancient Corinth

Corinth video used March 10, 2019

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Fridays in Lent, 6pm-8pm

This class is an experiment in outreach to our Spanish brothers and sisters.

St Peter’s is one of six churches around the country that will be participating in an experimental Latino ministry for Lent. TryTank is providing all material for a Spanish Bible study (Estudio Biblico) and the Bible Study will be offered at St Peter’s on Friday nights in Lent from 6-8PM, beginning on Friday, March 15th. Claudia Villa, a fluent Spanish speaker, will be helping Catherine with this experimental project.

We need help organizing this class and promoting. Email Catherine with your ideas.

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Hymnody in Lent, Mondays in Lent, 12pm-1:30am

Hymnody is the singing or composition of hymns. There are many rich traditions of Lenten hymns to explore. This class will broaden your knowledge of hymns and their functions within our service.

The class will be led by Susan Onderdonk at her home in Fredericksburg, 1209 Rappahannock Avenue, each Monday in Lent from 12pm-1:30pm, beginning March 18. Includes a cover dish luncheon!

Susan earned a masters in music and served for a decade as the Director of Music at St. George’s Episcopal where she taught hymns to many age groups.

Please contact Catherine to sign up for this class.

Google map link from St. Peter’s to her home. Allow 30 minutes to get there

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Way of Love – Last Wed of each month, 8am-10am

During Lent, everyone at St Peter’s will have the opportunity to learn more about a way of life called The Way of Love. This rule of life sums up the way we Christians are already trying to live. People all over The Episcopal Church have joined together to intentionally adopt this way of life in community, and individually. The Way of Love includes the following seven actions—turning, learning, praying, worshiping, blessing, going, and resting. Most of us already do all seven of these things but being intentional and also accountable to a group of people who have also chosen to be intentional will make The Way of Love a powerful spiritual vaccine that can keep us well, and able to walk in love with God and with one another

The 27th will be a breakfast. Way of Love ends just before Bible Study at 10am.

The Way of Love

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Lent Began March 6

Lent is a 40 day Christian festival beginning Ash Wednesday and concluding on Easter (Sundays are not counted).  The 40 day fast of Jesus in the wilderness was responsible for the number 40 being chosen .  It was said by Athanasius in 339 AD to be celebrated the world over.  

The word "Lent" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word lengten, which means "springtime," named so for the time of the year in which it occurs.   The five Lenten Sundays are followed by the Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week, when we relive the events of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death.  

What we now call Lent was originally a period of fasting and study for catechumens who were to be baptized on the Saturday before Easter.  The purpose of this extended fast was to practice self-denial and humility. This was to prepare oneself for receiving God’s grace and forgiveness in baptism, given on Easter Saturday or Easter Sunday.

Lent is:

• A time for looking at the things we do that are wrong or that tempt us, asking God’s and other people’s forgiveness;
• A time for giving up things that keep us from being loving people;
• A time for doing extra things that will help us grow closer to God;
• A time to ask God to help us to be more loving, remembering
that God is always ready to strengthen us.

We have a dedicated Lenten part of the website – Lent at St. Peter’s 2019  which a number of resources.

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Lectionary, March 17, 2019

I. Theme – We should trust in God’s covenants

“ Fox and the Hen"

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Genesis 15:1-12,17-18
Psalm – Psalm 27
Epistle – Philippians 3:17-4:1
Gospel – Luke 13:31-35     

Today’s readings invite us to trust in God’s covenant promises. Each of the readings speaks about a future, a not yet. Abraham’s involves continuation of the tribe and of the name, and of the covenant.  His confidence in the lord’s promise is counted as righteousness. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, trusts in the coming of the Savior and the transformation of our bodies.    Paul wants his readers to be tied to the future that is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the future of Jesus is the future of the true prophet who delivers God’s final word on what will be. The gospel reminds us that although God’s covenant promises are for everyone, nevertheless our effort is required if we are to participate.  

While Advent calls us to awareness, awakening and alertness, Lent helps us appreciate the cloud, the shadow, the wisdom of deep sleep. God’s covenant with Abram is not forged beneath the brilliant blaze of noon but in a deep and terrifying darkness, after the sun has set. That such an important event should happen at night prompts us to question our usual assumptions that everything good occurs in the light.

Jesus introduces another puzzle when he implies that the order of sanctity may not be as rigid as we might think. “Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” He turns this twist into a concrete example in his lament over Jerusalem: site of the magnificent temple. To his listeners, it’s grandeur must seem close to heaven. Yet it is the city that kills the prophets; it will be the scene of his death.

Furthermore, the people most revered in that society, its religious leaders and scholars, wait outside a closed door, seething in bitterness and frustration. Because they have rejected Jesus’ overtures, they have missed their chance to enjoy the banquet of God’s reign.

The question must come to our minds as it did to Jesus’ first hearers. If the elite don’t get in, who does? Perhaps those who are willing to be gathered like chicks, those who admit their vulnerability, those who do not pride themselves on their virtue, those who know they don’t have a corner on truth.

As we grow in loving God, we become more skeptical of the idols that compete for our loyalty. When bureaucrats are inefficient and heroes corrupt, when the traffic is crazy, when time and energy dribble away, when we lose our favorite project, our finest self or our dearest love, when the oppressors triumph, the greedy profit and the innocent are bludgeoned, then we remember Paul’s claim that “our citizenship is in heaven.”

Too much is awry in this world to ever claim it for permanent residence or lasting citizenship. Knowing that the terrestrial stakes are small and the earthly city doesn’t last forever helps us “stand firm in the lord” as Paul would have the Philippians do.

So do not lose heart, as we are reminded in 2 Corinthians. Lent is a journey, and our spiritual lives are a journey. We do not see the end but we know the way we are going. Living for Christ means living for others and not for ourselves. Living for Christ means following God’s ways of love and justice and seeking justice for others. Living for Christ means knowing that the way of this world—to put ourselves first, to seek earthly success and gain, to “have it all”—means to lose it all in the end. Living for Christ means we trust in God, we trust in the hope of God for us, as Abraham and Sarah did so long ago, as Jesus taught us, and as the psalmists sang and Paul preached—we know we shall see the goodness of God in our lives, and we share that hope with others.

Read more..

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Today Tomorrow, and the Third Day (Luke 13: 31-35)

Today where sun rises on hills of fresh sorrow
tomorrow where stars set upon fields of old pain
we will do the day’s work to bring comfort and healing
for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where souls suffer, despairing and fearful
tomorrow where whole lives are crushed under strain
we will do the day’s work to bring peace, to bring courage
for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the parched and scarred earth yields no bounty
tomorrow where war-weary ground gives no grain
we will do the day’s work to bring hope to the hungry
for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the foxes of evil still threaten
tomorrow where tenderness so often is maimed
we will do the day’s work to bring love and compassion
for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the forces of greed rule the kingdoms
tomorrow where powers of death hold their sway
we will do the day’s work to bring justice and caring
for we are Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

– Andrew King

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