A Lenten Pilgrimage 2023

    Chief Mountain Alberta   Be redeemed of what hurts you and blessed by what makes you whole. Let   old memories of sorrow drift away onto the gray waters and watch green   life rise out of the ancient ground of love. Turn away from fear and walk   toward the light that makes all things clear. Stand against the wrong and   embrace what is right, knowing that death will never prevail when life   enters the sanctuary of your heart . -Steven Charleston, Author, Native   American Elder Choctaw Nation, Indigenous Episcopal Bishop   John 10:31-42 First Nations Version  The tribal leaders became furious and picked up stones to kill him. Creator Sets Free  ( Jesus) stood his ground and said to them, “I have done many good things, representing  my Father. For which of these do you mean to stone me?” They answered, “not for any  good thing you have done, but for speaking lies against the Great Spirit. H...

  When I agreed to write a Lenten reflection for 2023, the first thing I did was to revisit the meaning and origin of the word Lent. I learned that the origin of the word is old English/Germanic, and among other things means lengthen, as in the lengthening of days during the season. Before even looking at the related readings, this resonated deeply with me. I am getting to an age now where lengthening my time here becomes a matter of greater interest than it has been in years past. Aging brings the realization that our time is as limited as it is precious. Only then did I turn my eye to the readings, when verse 4 of Genesis chapter 17 caught my eye; “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.” Immediately my memory turned to that cold December night last century when I became a parent. I certainly wasn’t thinking of fathering many nations, but like Abraham, I was delighted and grateful to be a father. And as God said to Ab...

  Veggie Tales,   “Stand up for what you believe in”   Daniel 3:13-28   Psalm 24: 1-6,   Romans 10:14-21    John 8: 31-47   Every time I read the story in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego - I remember Veggie Tales. “Rack, Shack and Benny” were the names of the characters who we meet in the passage from Daniel. To my great delight the video can still be found on YouTube (see end of post for video) In a very boppy song toward the end of the video (with dancing peas and a catchy tune) we hear the words, “Stand up, for what you believe in (believe in)….   God, (He’s the one to back you up), will stand with you.” (I am singing it out loud as I type, I know, great image). While we see in the Gospel for today people arguing about who are God’s people, there is no doubt to Rack, Shack and Benny in the book of Daniel. They can identify clearly who they are, who their God is and where they should draw the line. It’s actually p...

  The Bronze Serpent They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [ a ]  to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;  5  they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6  Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  7  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8  The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”  9  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten...

Mariotto Albertinelli - The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel (c. 1510)   Jeremiah 24: 1-3 1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the  Lord  showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the  Lord .   2  One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.   3  And the  Lord  said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.” One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life happened when I was in grad school at Regent College. I was taking an “Arts and Theology” class where we looked at the interplay between our crea...

  Artist: Caroline Absher Ezekiel 37:1-14 I immediately felt like reading spoke to me upon reading it, the metaphors used in the bible are truly beautiful. The metaphor used here, the bones as the spirit of the Israelites, is utterly timeless. Interestingly, a footnote noted that the Hebrew for the word ‘breath’ can also mean spirit or wind. Our spirits as human beings often need to be awoken by God, it is far too easy to slip into the deep graves of our busy lives. When we feel alone, and ‘cut off’ as the Israelites said; God always seems to find us and rejuvenates our spirit.  At times I find myself so overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of everyday life, sometimes it feels like it would be easier if there was not so much going on. Yet, when I am at my busiest, God seems to show himself even more. It is in the little things, like finding a moment of peace in a busy school day. Simply the bright sun shining as I walk to class, or a small sunbeam in the d...

  The Lord Can Do Anything   “The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner (Wikimedia Commons)   In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great,      be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ The Lord God will give him      the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever—      no end, ever, to his...

  Psalm 34:15-22 NRSV 15   The eyes of the  Lord  are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. 16   The face of the  Lord  is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17   When the righteous cry for help, the  Lord  hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18   The  Lord  is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. 19   Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the  Lord  rescues them from them all. 20   He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken. 21   Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22   The  Lord  redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.       The Lord is near to the brokenhearted... his ears are open to their cry.  I wonder at the ways Scripture is...

  Mystery of Faith As I was preparing for this reflection, I was reminded of a dream I had many years ago, though the memory of it is as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. Before I share the dream, I will like to say that this reflection is dedicated to those who are struggling in finding their way. No life should go in vain and no darkness should outshine God’s forgiveness and mercy. That night, years ago as I was getting ready for bed, I was contemplating about Jesus, his sovereign authority and where I resided within it. I was gifted with a dream about Him and His greatness. The dream began as I looked up into a clear blue sky and saw that Jesus was coming, He came nailed to the cross, like the crucifix you see today. I stood there transfixed, watching as he came closer. He was faced horizontal as He moved toward the Earth, and as He got closer, I was able to see the nooks and crannies of the wood that became his cross and I noticed He was transparent...