Sunday, March 27, 2016 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

Sunday, March 27, 2016 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am

O brothers and sisters. O sons and daughters. O Catholic offshoots. O holy, celestial plants, O you who are regenerated in Jesus Christ and born in heaven, listen to me, or rather hear from me the words: Sing to the Lord a new chant. Good, you say. I am singing. Yes, you are singing. I hear you. But let not your life belie your words. Sing with the voice, sing with the heart, sing with the mouth, but sing with your whole life: sing to the Lord a new song. But how should you sing of that which you love? Doubtless it is what you love that you wish to sing of. You would like to know his glory to sing of it. You have heard the words: Sing to the Lord a new song. You want to know what is his glory? His glory is the assembly of the saints. The glory of him who is sung about is nothing other than the one who sings about it. Become yourself the glory that you sing of.

            St. Augustine of Hippo, (d. 430), Easter Sermon on Psalm 149

·       Celebrate with abundant excess, with song and with joy.

Daily readings are from the Sunday Lectionary, Year of Luke, ELW, pp. 26-31.

Saturday, March 26, 2016 - Holy Saturday

Saturday, March 26, 2016 - Holy Saturday

Vigil of Easter: 8:30 pm

Rom. 6:3-11; John 20:1-18

O Night brighter than day;

O Night brighter than the sun;

O Night whiter than snow;

O Night more brilliant than torches;

O Night more delightful than paradise;

O Night which knows not darkness;

O Night which has banished sleep;

O Night which has taught us to join vigil with angels;

O Night terror of demons;

O Night most desirable in the year

O Night of torchbearing of the bridegroom in the Church;

O Night when the devil slept and was stripped;

O Night in which the Inheritor brought the beneficiaries into their inheritance;

An inheritance without end.

            Asterius of Amasea,( d. 410), Easter sermon

• Visit someone. Take them some hot cross buns for their Easter feast. 

Friday, March 25, 2016 - Good Friday

Friday, March 25, 2016 - Good Friday (from “God’s Friday”)

The Annunciation

Worship: 12 Noon & 7 pm

Reading:  John 18:1-19:42

…Hard it is, very hard,

            To travel up the slow and stony road

            To Calvary, to redeem mankind; far better

            To make but one sceptered miracle,

            Lean through the cloud, lift the right hand of power

            And with a sudden lightning smite the world perfect.

            Yet this was not God's way, who had the power,

            But set it by, choosing the cross, the thorn,

            The sorrowful wounds. Something there is, perhaps,

            That power destroys in passing, something supreme,

            To whose great value in the eyes of God

            That cross, that thorn, and those five wounds bear witness.

                        Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), from "The Devil To Pay"

• Bake hot cross buns to break the fast (see recipe below.)

Holy Week: Hot Cross Buns      375° oven            about 15 buns

In a small bowl, combine:

       1 pkg. dry yeast

       ¼ c. warm water

In a small saucepan, scald:

       1 c. milk (or soymilk)

Add:

       1 t. salt

       ¼ c. sugar

       ¼ c. butter

Pour milk mixture into a large bowl. Let cool to lukewarm.

Stir in:

       1 c. flour

Add:

       yeast mixture

       1 egg, beaten

       ½ t. ground cinnamon

       ½ c. raisins or currants

Mix well. Add:

       2½ - 3 c. flour

Knead 5 minutes on floured surface. Place in greased bowl. Cover with clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. Punch down. Turn out onto floured surface; let rest 10 minutes. Shape into round buns (about 2 ½” diameter), and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with towel; let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to racks. Cool.

Mix: (to make a moderately thick frosting)

       1 c. powdered sugar

       2 t. to 1 T. milk

       a few drops of vanilla

Pipe frosting through the snipped corner of a sandwich bag into the shape of a cross on each bun. Makes about 15.

Thursday, March 24, 2016 - Maundy Thursday

Thursday, March 24, 2016 - Maundy Thursday (from “Mandare” – to command) First Day of Triduum (Three Days)

Worship: 12 Noon & 7 pm

Commemoration of Oscar Romero, archbishop and martyr, 1980

Jewish Festival of Purim

Reading: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

                        Guiltie of dust and sinne.

But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack

                        From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

                        If I lack'd anything.

A guest, I answer'd, worthy to be here:

                        Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungratefull? Ah my deare,

                        I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

                        Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marr'd them: let my shame

                        Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?   

                        My deare, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

                        So I did sit and eat.

                                    George Herbert (1593-1633), "Love (III)"

• Clean out a closet. Give away what you don’t need.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016 - Last Day in Lent

Wednesday, March 23, 2016 - Last Day in Lent

Full Moon; Penumbral Lunar Eclipse over the West Coast, Pacific Ocean

Passover begins at sundown

Worship: 12 Noon

Reading: John 13:21-32

Not, Lord, because I have done well or ill;

Not that my mind looks up to thee clear-eyed;

Not that it struggles in fast cerements tied;

Not that I need thee daily sorer still;

Not that I, wretched, wander from thy will;

Not now to thee for any cause I cry,

But this, that thou are thou, and here am I.

                        George MacDonald (1824-1905)," January 26", in Diary of an Old Soul

• Take a walk. Look for signs of spring.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Worship: 12 Noon

Reading: John 12:20-36

I have no wit, no words, no tears;

            My heart within me like a stone

Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;

            Look right, look left, I dwell alone;

I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief

            No everlasting hills I see;

My life is in the falling leaf:

            O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,

            My harvest dwindled to a husk;

Truly my life is void and brief

            And tedious in the barren dusk;

My life is like a frozen thing,

            No bud nor greenness can I see:

Yet rise it shall - the sap of Spring;

            O Jesus, rise in me.

                        Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), "A Better Resurrection"    

• Learn how to say “thank you” in a new language.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Monday, March 21, 2016

Commemoration of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1556

Worship: 12 Noon

Reading: John 12:1-11

His voice as the sound of the dulcimer sweet,

Is heard through the shadows of death;

The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet,

The air is perfumed with his breath.

His lips as the fountain of righteousness flow,

That waters the garden of grace;

From which their salvation the Gentiles shall know,

And bask in the smiles of his face.

O! thou in whose presence my soul takes delight,

On whom in affliction I call;

My comfort by day, and my song in the night,

My hope, my salvation, my all -

Where dost thou at noontide resort with thy sheep,

To feed on the pastures of love?

Say why in the valley of death should I weep,

Or alone in th' wilderness rove?

The roses of Sharon, the lilies that grow

In the vales, on the banks of the streams,

On his cheeks the beauty of excellence blow,

And his eyes are as quivers of beams.

His voice as the sound of the dulcimer sweet,

Is heard  through the shadows of death;

The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet,

The air is perfumed with his breath.

            Joseph Swain (1761-1796)

• Visit www.gratefulness.org