Month: February 2021

Lent 1^st Sunday
Genesis 9:8-17
1 Peter 3: 18-22
Mark 1: 9-15
Psalm 25: 1-9

Collect

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Lent has always been 40 days in length, the original fast began the Monday after the 1^st  Sunday of Lent in the sixth century it was moved to what we know as Ash Wednesday, which became the first day of Lent. It is a time of repentance and renewal for the entire congregation. Lent urges self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting and self-denial, along with reading and meditating on God’s words. This is not only a time for repentance but a time of renewal of old members and the baptism of new members.  The reading from Genesis gives the conditions of the Covenant. We are given dominion over the creatures as food, but their blood was not consumed. Blood was the essence of life and belonged to God. The life of creation is by God’s grace, Noah is the righteous one that God beholds, the payment of the righteousness is not just salvation for Noah, but the promise of life for the world. To be close to God we must be able to trust God, and we cannot exercise trust when we struggle with doubts, when we have doubts, look at them like a rainstorm that would last for 40 days and 40 nights. Lent is a chance to be aware of the doubts and to see them as an opportunity to trust in God’s promise to us.

Trusting God not just in certainty but also in the midst of doubt is fitting for Lenten discipline. This is especially true if one is struggling with self-doubt. When we grow into a deeper, more trusting relationship with God means being able to trust God. Today psalm has some very powerful feelings a person can be afraid of being put to shame, anxiety of being judged unworthy, the fear that one’s doubts can be forgiven. Trusting in God to love, teach, lead, and extend mercy in response.

In Noah’s time the sinful world was buried in a flood, by God’s grace, Noah, and those with him were saved. We experience salvation through the waters of baptism. We  are buried  with Christ in the waters, and through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, we are forgiven for our sins and granted a clean conscience before God. When we are baptized God made a promise to us  the same way God made a covenant with Noah after the flood.  

Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness, before he entered the wilderness, he was baptized and given a concrete reminder of his identity as God’s Soon and beloved. The temptations Jesus was facing was to assist Him in preparing him for the work he was called to do. Our Lenten practice should be looking for God in our life. The wilderness is about empowerment and exploring new parts of the relationship with Jesus; to help us understand where we are with God and to gather in yet undiscovered ways. This involves facing the unknown, but the is because growth involves the unknown. Lent give us a chance to step into that unknown with God.

Last Sunday after the Epiphany
Year B
February 14,2021

First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Gospel: Mark 9:2-9 

Collect:

O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

FAITH and LIGHT

Imagine Jesus on a normal day walking with three of his disciples, Peter, James and John.

Jesus appears to them to be normal when he asked them to come with him…. But on this day, he leads them high on a mountain, by themselves…Right before their eyes, He was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  

This no ordinary morning, no ordinary walk…the light was so bright, it was almost blinding. We all at one point in our lives have looked at a light so bright, that we had to look away or close our eyes, it was so bright.

Suddenly they see Elijah and Moses talking to Jesus…they were so terrified by this, that Peter, not really knowing what else to say…says, “Rabbi, maybe we shouldn’t be here, you want us to go and prepare three dwelling places, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”? really what else could he say?? Maybe it’s his way to honor them, by putting up areas of worship for them.

Then a great cloud overshadowed them…and a voice came from the cloud.

“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

Let’s go back, they climb this mountain and are separated from the other disciples, then Jesus is transformed before them in a bright light, and two of God’s greatest, are there talking to Jesus.

Next comes the shadow of heavy clouds and a Thundering voice out of the clouds….” This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” And, they start down the mountain Jesus…ordered them…tell no one about this, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.

I am pretty sure they agreed to this, who would believe them and how would they explain it…after all Jesus is still there and they don’t really know what is going on! 

Telling no one about it was the only thing that made since.

Conclusion:

Peter, James, and John have experienced the past, the present, and the future all in an instance.  I wonder how we would find that experience? 

It is possible, that some of us have had different experiences in life, maybe not as clear and involved as the three disciples, but we… all have had our own time on the mountain of life or in the desert in life. 

We all have connected to God in different ways, through experiences of our own through our faith.

And there are people who are still waiting for that one experience in life that will help them believe more than they do. 

We will have times in our lives, when our faith is being tested and challenged.   

Jesus will always be there to help us transform ourselves, we can’t just have one experience and then say, Okay, I made it, and I can stop there, we have to come down the mountain with him and turn around and go back up. 

There is plenty more of growing to do and we have to be ready for that invitation from Jesus to go. 

Keeping a strong spiritual life will help us to be ready when he says, come, we have another mountain to climb.

God spoke twice, when Jesus was baptized and in this scripture. Here God says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

Listen to him in Sunday worship, listen to him when reading the scriptures, Listen to him when you’re in personal prayer.

Say to your self every morning…Lord I am Listening! Let your self be transformed. 

Amen

The Reverend Lola Culbreath

A recording of this service is available at Zoom.

5th Sunday of Epiphany
In the silence of our hearts or in the spoken words let us give thanks for the gift of this day and pray for the life of the world.
Isaiah 40: 21-31
The readings today call our attention to the awesome power of God who works his ministry of Jesus Christ. The work of Jesus continues through each one of us.
The Book of Isaiah is meditation, in a complex configuration, about the destiny of Jerusalem into the crises of exile and promise of Jerusalem out of exile into wellbeing. The book is also the first book of extended poetry.
Isaiah provides hope- the promise of return – to the people of Judah, this was a consolation during the period of exile in Babylon, as their captivity was coming to an end the reassurance is that the absolute power of God, nothing can withstand. There is no one like the Lord.

PSALM 147:1-12

The Psalm echoes the Prophet Isaiah, by calling us to praise God. Gracious is power of the Lord look at how it is revealed in Creation, and the Divine compassion is seen through God’s care for the broken hearted, the powerless, and the wounded. The Lord will restore Jerusalem and gather the outcast of Israel. God provides “rain for the earth” and food to the animals and delights in those who are faithful in love.

1Corinthians 9:16-23
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he writes about the power of ministry of Jesus and the roll that we the faithful have in proclaiming this power to the world. Paul also states that his conversion experience had convinced him, that nothing he had ever done himself had contributed to his own salvation. Paul is setting himself apart from secular recognition; the gospel is God’s message of grace to everyone. Paul is reminding us of our Christian Identity. Who are we as Christians? What is our Christian identity? The Christian identity is centered on the gospel, life & teachings of Jesus. The gospel is not about hearing the text, but about living it and preaching it.

Mark 1:29-39
God’s power and compassion are in the for front of todays gospel reading. It is through the power of Jesus that wholeness and healing of those who come before him takes place. Prior to going to Simons and Andrew, Jesus and his disciples had gone to the synagogue, and Jesus had amazed those present by exorcizing an unclean spirt form a man. This story does not mention anything about having faith in healing. It is often said that someone who was prayed for and does not heal, it is said that the person did not have enough faith. Jesus affirms “that it is often the one close to the Kingdom – the one who is radically open to the Spirit – who is the portal of God’s healing power. Should we pray for God to heal a hangnail, a facelift, or a tummy tuck? Healing prayer should not be taken lightly by healing (like all gifts of God) is for service, not simply personal satisfaction. The message here: individual giftedness from God is for corporate well -being.”

We pray that you may set us free, O God, from the burden of our sins, and grant to us the freedom of abundant life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen