AN EASTER PRAYER
 
Lord thank you for loving us more than life itself.
God, life is hard and uncertain. So much pain, hurt and heartache seems to surround us. And yet knowing this, You still willingly gave up your life and became God with us and God who rescues us.
Thank you.
Because of your sacrifice, we can spend eternity with you. There is no pain You cannot conquer, no hurt you cannot heal, and no life you cannot transform.
Your death and resurrection proved that nothing is impossible for You, and that we are more than conquerors because of You.
Today and every day, help us fix our hearts and minds on you. And as we do please give us more of your joy, hope, and peace.
We love you Lord and we want to worship You. Oh, my soul rejoice! Take joy my King in what you hear Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
Amen.
 

Check the website WORSHIP page and Facebook for upcoming videos of worship as we approach Easter. 

A new video has been added to the WORSHIP page of our website for At Home wk 3 from The Bible Project.

My feet stand in a firm place. - Psalm 26:8-18

Jesus took a long trip on Palm Sunday. He took nothing with him. He knew what he was doing—and he knew that it had firm, long-term value.

Someone wise said that walking is just controlled falling. When we put one foot in front of the other, we control our falling every time we move. We make a decision to move on.

The psalmist is not offering a journey. Or a fall. Or good boots for snow and ice. They are not doing rehab for walking or even pre-hab for walking. They are just doing “hab.” That’s a new word I just made up for habit or habituating or habitat-dwelling. Their feet are planted in a firm place. They live where they are, when they are there, like Jesus “habbed” on that long journey to the big city.

We, too, can be firmly planted while on a journey. We can dwell in a firm place while making a cross-country move or a life-changing journey to Jerusalem. Emily Dickinson says we have an inner control of our outer being. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith says of a bag lady trudging along, “I am with you four out of five days, carrying bags I really don’t want, continuing on out of spite more than anything else.”

When we are in these heavily laden moods, it doesn’t matter whether we are carrying a ton on our journey or not. A small purse can feel like it weighs 50 pounds. Conversely, a heavy suitcase can feel light. It matters where our inner feet are planted.

Prayer
Give us a Palm Sunday centre, you who are our focus and our core, and keep us on the big road to your city. Amen.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donna Schaper is Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her most recent book is I Heart Francis: Letters to the Pope from an
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http://www.voluntaryactionangus.org.uk/contact/
 
The above is the link to be copied and pasted into a browser to reach Voluntary Action Angus, the group that is helping with shopping and collecting medicines during the current crisis.  This is  the best and preferred way to contact them although there is a phone number too,   07717 177208.
 
The important thing  is that there is a rumour that there is a £3 charge for this service.  This is NOT the case.  VAA has confirmed that there is no charge for the service-one pays only for the cost of the shopping.  All volunteers have now been issued with badges, but at the very least they should be able to provide some documentation-a form or letter-as proof of who they are working through.  What normally happens regarding payment for the groceries is that the volunteer would  pay for them when shopping and be reimbursed by cash  left in an envelope upon delivery of the shopping, or by a bank transfer into their own account from the client.  The latter is usually best as there is no need for face to facel contact.
 
However, this does not stop any of us from helping out our friends or relatives, neighbours or our district-people who know us, but PLEASE NOTE, there is no charge (except for the cost of your groceries).

Grateful thanks are extended to ALL volunteers at this time who are risking their own health to help others.

​Radical Rest-Taking
Phiwa Langeni
April 4, 2020

 
Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements. - Leviticus 23:3

Growing up in a sabbath-observing tradition, I often found it unfair that my siblings and I weren’t allowed to hang out with our peers over the weekend. Friday night football games weren’t an option for us, and by the time the sun set on Saturday, our peers and their families were home preparing for church on Sunday (when, by the way, most everything else was closed).

While it certainly didn’t feel like a gift growing up, as an adult who is increasingly more attentive to the various unfairnesses of the world, it doesn’t take as long to see the radically subversive and exceedingly compassionate gifts of the sabbath.

Imagine what this would have meant for a people who were forced daily to labor rigorously. Even now, it’s completely unfair that some people have to work long and painful hours to barely make ends meet when others spend countless hours on the golf course passively making more in a day than some will make in a lifetime.

Dignity and sustainability are some of the gifts of sabbath.

Out of curiosity, when was the last time you personally have related to the “complete rest” or “holy convocation” that accompanies the sabbath? Feel free to consult your calendar like I just did if that helps you recall. Ironically, in a society that values constant achievement and over-functioning, sabbath-taking actually increases productivity while keeping us intact.

As we continue on our Lenten journey, we can disrupt the illusion of deservedness and realign our schedules and rhythms to include rests that support our doing and being. Because it turns out that God’s unfairness draws us more deeply into wholeness.

Prayer
Pull us away from productivity. Stir us into stillness. Nudge us toward nap time. Caress us into your care. Remind us to rest … and repeat.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Rev. Phiwa Langeni is the Founder/Director of Salus Center (the first LGBTQ Resource & Community Center in Lansing, MI) and Pastor of Salus Center UCC& First Congregational UCC - Ypsilanti. They are a parent, speaker, writer, transitional coach, designer, and low-key fashion head.

ClicThe Relief of Facts
Quinn G. Caldwell
April 3, 2020

 
So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. - Numbers 21:9 (NRSV)

A novel threat has invaded the camp of the Israelites. Poisonous snakes are biting people, and they’re dropping like flies. Everybody’s terrified. Can you imagine the talk?

“I heard it’s not really snakes.”

“Just hold your breath for ten seconds and the snakes won’t bite you.”

“Those snakes aren’t that fast. I dodged one yesterday. It’s only gonna affect the slow people.”

“If you get bitten, swallow a bucket of sand to soak up the poison.”

In the midst of the rumors and the panic, God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and hoist it up. The story doesn’t say how exactly it worked. Maybe it was a miracle. Maybe it was magic. Or maybe it was this: maybe Moses just forced them to truly look at what they were dealing with.

“This is what it is. This is what is killing you. Not a conspiracy. Not vampires. It’s snakes. These snakes. If you do not change how you live, you will get bitten sooner or later. This is what we’re going to do...”

I imagine Moses remembering how it had gone down for the Egyptians when they’d had their ten novel infestations, what a scared Pharaoh’s leadership had done to them, how in the end they’d been inundated by their leader’s stubbornness. I imagine Moses informing the Israelites, with calm clarity, exactly what needed to be done. I imagine the sweet relief of facts—even hard, sobering ones—and of firm, steady leadership.

I imagine them grumbling, changing, complying. I imagine them surviving.

I imagine them writing the tale down, in case God’s people ever face such a problem again.

Prayer
Grant us leaders, facts, and self-control. Amen.

 
k here to edit.

The latest update from the Church of Scotland is now on our website  -  on the page for office bearers and members which can be accessed from the link on the HOME page or by clicking on the HOME tab and selecting from the drop down menu.

​Honest to God
Talitha Arnold
April 2, 2020

 
My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. - Psalm 31:15

I wonder if Jesus prayed Psalm 31 before his entry into Jerusalem. The Gospel of Luke says that next Friday, he prayed—or more accurately, cried—part of the psalm as he died on the cross: “Into your hand, I commend my spirit” (Psalm 31:5). But I wonder if he prayed the whole psalm sometime this week before he rode into the big city.

As a good Jew, he would have known Psalm 31. As he drew closer to Jerusalem and the religious and political powers arrayed against him, the psalm’s lament would have echoed his own fear:
I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!--
As they scheme together against me,
As they plot to take my life.

It also described the fate that awaited him as he continued to confront those powers:
I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbours…
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.

So I wonder if Jesus prayed this psalm in the days leading up to that parade into Jerusalem. I wonder, too, if it somehow gave him strength and even comfort, because its lament reminded him that in his own prayers, like those of the ancient psalmist, he could be that honest with God about his terror and grief.

Perhaps once he’d named that fear, Jesus could also name his faith: “My times are in your hand.” Perhaps we can, too.

Prayer
God, like the psalmist and like Jesus, may we be honest with you. In that honesty, may we know our lives are always in your hand. Amen.