The Weekly E-Newsletter and Online Worship Resource from St. James Parish
For he himself knows whereof we are made;
He remembers that we are dust.
Ps. 103:14
He remembers that we are dust.
Ps. 103:14
Beneath are the everlasting arms
And they bear the print of the nails.
No matter how far I have sunk,
He descends to lift me up.
He has plumbed all the hells of this world
That he may lift us upwards.
He is our firm support.
- David Adam
The Edge of Glory
Ashes to Ashes
Human: from the Latin root hum, meaning ground or earth.
At this present time, I find it very comforting to know that I am dust, and to dust I will return. Perhaps it is this brush with my own vulnerability that has done it. I have been waited on hand and foot, and have experienced such love from persons in the parish, as I endeavor to heal from these two sprained ankles. Yet in the midst of such love given me, I find such ways to reproach myself for falling in the first place!
Collect for Ash Wednesday:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN
You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
Want us to wait
For the right time in which to discover
Who we are, where we must go,
Who will be with us, and what
We must do.
So thank you….for the waiting time.
You keep us loving. You, the God whose name is love,
Want us to belike you
To love the loveless and the unlovely
And the unlovable;
To love without jealously, or design or threat;
And, most difficult of all, to love ourselves.
So, thank you…for the loving time.
- From the Iona Community Worship Book
Debra's Midweek Meditation
"In the six hundredth year of Noah‚s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."
Genesis 9:11-12
What does it mean to start Lent with a flood?
When I was in 6th grade, I lived in a river valley which flooded in August. School was delayed that year as silt covered everything that hadn't been swept away by the water.
The images we saw last August of Katrina were not unfamiliar to me.
What can it mean when a flood comes and wipes away the good with the bad, the righteous and unrighteous?
Noah's flood was one, according to our scripture, that only wiped away the unrighteous.
Only God can determine that, but clearly God was so distressed over his own actions that he made a covenant promise-never again!
What I take from the flood at the beginning of Lent is the assurance of God's promise and God's desire to move me to repentance, which is a new path to happiness.
Can I begin to comprehend this Lenten season as an opportunity to live each day a little closer to the happiness of God and a little further away from the misery of self-seeking?
Blessings,
Debra
Daily Morning Prayer:
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm
This Week at St. James
Tonight: Ash Wednesday Liturgy, 8:00 pm.
Sunday: Youth Liturgy 9:00
Youth breakfast, 10:15 in the activity rooms
Inquirer's class, 11:45
Honduras meeting at St. David's 2:00
Monday: Narnia Book Study, 10:00 in the Parish Library
Tuesday: Vestry Administration meeting 7:30 pm
Wednesday: Healing Eucharist 8:30
Women's Bible Study, 9:30
Lenten Series begins, 6:30 soup supper, 7:00 meditation with Nancy Groff
Ashland Presbyterian Church is offering a series of lectures on Islam.
The first one is this coming Sunday, March 5th at 7:30 pm. Entitled An Overview of Islam, the lecture features Dr. Bruce Robinson, professor of World Religions and Islam at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology and Johns Hopkins University. A second lecture, Christ in the Koran, will be offered on Sunday April 2 at 5:30. For more information, call 410-527-1844.
Prayers, ETC.
For those on our Prayer list:
Ellie Anna Nancy Tony Joel Arabella Dave
Tamara Owen Kent Jeffrey Brittany Bill
Jason David Debbie Fred. W.
Mac W. Lovisah Leib & Carlyn Keith Sue
Ron Cathy Jack Alice Jewel
Justin Mary Fox Bernie Clayton Family
Nancy Betsey Steffi Bart Leslie
Dale Lea Kipe Bock Family
For Richard Taylor Cunningham, a Hereford High School student who has died, and his family who mourn.
For Michael and Shane, and the people of El Hogar to whom they travel.
For our seminarian Laura and her husband Lyle.
For those who are deployed and their families.
In Closing:
Gracious and holy Father,
Give us wisdom to perceive you,
Intelligence to understand you,
Diligence to seek you,
Patience to wait on you,
Eyes to behold you,
A heart to meditate on you,
A life to proclaim you,
Through the power of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
Benedict of Nursia
Pax et Bonum,
Loree+
And they bear the print of the nails.
No matter how far I have sunk,
He descends to lift me up.
He has plumbed all the hells of this world
That he may lift us upwards.
He is our firm support.
- David Adam
The Edge of Glory
Ashes to Ashes
Human: from the Latin root hum, meaning ground or earth.
At this present time, I find it very comforting to know that I am dust, and to dust I will return. Perhaps it is this brush with my own vulnerability that has done it. I have been waited on hand and foot, and have experienced such love from persons in the parish, as I endeavor to heal from these two sprained ankles. Yet in the midst of such love given me, I find such ways to reproach myself for falling in the first place!
That self-deprecating approach to brokenness is an icon to me of our human condition. Most of us have at least a bit of the perfectionist in us. Most of us find it easier to give than receive. And I imagine there are many of us that blame ourselves for one thing or another. Meanwhile we are surrounded by the love of this community, and especially by God's love. God remembers that we are dust at all times not just on Ash Wednesday. God neither expects perfection nor is surprised when it is not to be found. We are the ones who need to be reminded of the human condition that we are frail flesh, composed of dust and water, and as imperfect now as humanity has ever been.
We are the ones that must remind ourselves that being dust is a good thing. We are not God. We are not in control. But we serve a God whose loving arms are there to catch us when we fall, and to remind us of the fact that we are human.
Collect for Ash Wednesday:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN
You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
Want us to wait
For the right time in which to discover
Who we are, where we must go,
Who will be with us, and what
We must do.
So thank you….for the waiting time.
You keep us loving. You, the God whose name is love,
Want us to belike you
To love the loveless and the unlovely
And the unlovable;
To love without jealously, or design or threat;
And, most difficult of all, to love ourselves.
So, thank you…for the loving time.
- From the Iona Community Worship Book
Debra's Midweek Meditation
"In the six hundredth year of Noah‚s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."
Genesis 9:11-12
What does it mean to start Lent with a flood?
When I was in 6th grade, I lived in a river valley which flooded in August. School was delayed that year as silt covered everything that hadn't been swept away by the water.
The images we saw last August of Katrina were not unfamiliar to me.
What can it mean when a flood comes and wipes away the good with the bad, the righteous and unrighteous?
Noah's flood was one, according to our scripture, that only wiped away the unrighteous.
Only God can determine that, but clearly God was so distressed over his own actions that he made a covenant promise-never again!
What I take from the flood at the beginning of Lent is the assurance of God's promise and God's desire to move me to repentance, which is a new path to happiness.
Can I begin to comprehend this Lenten season as an opportunity to live each day a little closer to the happiness of God and a little further away from the misery of self-seeking?
Blessings,
Debra
Daily Morning Prayer:
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm
So it shall be at last,
In that bright morning
When the soul waketh,
And life's shadows flee;
Oh, in that hour,
Fairer than day-light dawning,
Shall rie the glorious thought
I am with Thee.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
This Week at St. James
Tonight: Ash Wednesday Liturgy, 8:00 pm.
Sunday: Youth Liturgy 9:00
Youth breakfast, 10:15 in the activity rooms
Inquirer's class, 11:45
Honduras meeting at St. David's 2:00
Monday: Narnia Book Study, 10:00 in the Parish Library
Tuesday: Vestry Administration meeting 7:30 pm
Wednesday: Healing Eucharist 8:30
Women's Bible Study, 9:30
Lenten Series begins, 6:30 soup supper, 7:00 meditation with Nancy Groff
Ashland Presbyterian Church is offering a series of lectures on Islam.
The first one is this coming Sunday, March 5th at 7:30 pm. Entitled An Overview of Islam, the lecture features Dr. Bruce Robinson, professor of World Religions and Islam at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology and Johns Hopkins University. A second lecture, Christ in the Koran, will be offered on Sunday April 2 at 5:30. For more information, call 410-527-1844.
Prayers, ETC.
For those on our Prayer list:
Ellie Anna Nancy Tony Joel Arabella Dave
Tamara Owen Kent Jeffrey Brittany Bill
Jason David Debbie Fred. W.
Mac W. Lovisah Leib & Carlyn Keith Sue
Ron Cathy Jack Alice Jewel
Justin Mary Fox Bernie Clayton Family
Nancy Betsey Steffi Bart Leslie
Dale Lea Kipe Bock Family
For Richard Taylor Cunningham, a Hereford High School student who has died, and his family who mourn.
For Michael and Shane, and the people of El Hogar to whom they travel.
For our seminarian Laura and her husband Lyle.
For those who are deployed and their families.
In Closing:
Gracious and holy Father,
Give us wisdom to perceive you,
Intelligence to understand you,
Diligence to seek you,
Patience to wait on you,
Eyes to behold you,
A heart to meditate on you,
A life to proclaim you,
Through the power of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
Benedict of Nursia
Pax et Bonum,
Loree+