Making ThanksGiving ThanksLiving

The days are shorter, the nights are longer.  The autumnal sun dances through the colored leaves – it’s as though God had this in mind all summer long. 

It is right, and quite natural, for us to feel a certain thankfulness for all the blessings that come our way – especially at this time of year.

Thanksgiving is one of the most universal of holidays.  And, as you may have heard me say before, it may also be one of the most Christian.

Locked behind cell doors, Paul admonished his new Christian followers to  be thankful in all things.

For us Christians, thanksgiving is a calling. 
It is an attribute of the life we seek to live. 
It is a definition of a way of seeing ourselves in relation to our God who created us, redeems us, and sustains us through the trials and tribulations that have a way of showing up on our life-journey.

Notice, the Ten Commandments do not start with “Thou shalt not...”
But, rather with, “I am the Lord God, who brought you out of Egypt, therefore . . .”

The entire Mosaic Law is to be followed as an act of thanksgiving.  The basic understanding is that because God is God and enables marvelous things to happen and continues to be involved in my life and in the world around me, therefore, I can do nothing other than live in gratitude.

We Christians live in thanksgiving for what God has done and continues to do for us. 
For us, thanksgiving is really thanks-living.

The Psalmist could sing: This is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Greeting each day with thanks for another chance to live and to love is a very Christian thing to do.

It is not without merit that many writers refer to ingratitude as the most basest of sins. 

Even Shakespeare could write:
I hate ingratitude more than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or taint of vice.

Thanksgiving reminds us of how much we owe to forces outside of ourselves.

It behooves us to take an inventory of our blessings and offer up thanks in all things.

This year, expand your thanksgiving thoughts to thoughts about thanks-living. 

Lest We Forget: The Role of the Preacher in the American Revolution

Folks in colonial America heard sermons more than any other form of communication.

The colonial preacher was prophet,
newspaper,
video,
Internet,
community college,
and social therapist all wrapped in one. 
Their  influence on all aspects of life in those days was so great, that even contemporary television and personal computers pale in comparison.

Day after day,
week after week,
ministers drew the people into a rhetorical world that was more compelling and more immediate than the physical settlements surrounding them.
Sermons taught not only the way to personal salvation in Christ, 
but also the way to temporal and national prosperity for God's chosen people.

Events were perceived not from the mundane, human vantage point
but from God's perspective.

The vast majority of colonists were  Presbyterian
to whom things were not as they might appear at ground level:
all events, no matter how mundane or seemingly random, were parts of a larger pattern of meaning, part of God's providential design.
The outlines of this pattern were contained in Scripture and interpreted by discerning pastors.
Colonial congregations saw themselves as the "New Israel,"
endowed with a sacred mission that destined them as lead actors in the last triumphant chapter in redemption history. 

Check it out:  http://www.newcelebrations.com/independencedayusa.html

The American Revolution Was a Religious Event

This week we in the United States of America  will celebrate our 241st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It is significant for us to remember, many historians agree that when understood in its own times,
the American Revolution was first and foremost a religious event.
At the forefront of the revolution were the preachers.
Think about the influence of the preachers:

Over the span of the colonial era, American ministers delivered approximately 8 million sermons, each lasting one to one-and-a-half hours.
The average 70-year-old colonial churchgoer would have listened to some 7,000 sermons in his or her lifetime, totaling nearly 10,000 hours of concentrated listening.

No matter what denomination,
folks in colonial America heard sermons more than any other form of communication.

Check it out:
 http://www.newcelebrations.com/independencedayusa.html

About Memorial Day

Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. They dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated.

Thanks to Abstrakt Goldsmith for this nugget of history that most of us never learned in school.

Reclaim Mothers' Day

If there ever was a holiday that needs reclamation it is Mothers’ Day!

Churches all over the United States report attendance on Mothers’ Day as one of the top three of the year - surpassing Christmas and/or Easter in some cases.

But, what is celebrated and valued is no longer a common-cultural experience for most people.

Significant numbers of our congregation have not had a positive mothering experience - for one reason or another. 
And, of course, a number of our congregation are male and could never experience motherhood.
Other increasing numbers of folks have experienced a loss that precluded them from ever experiencing motherhood.
Others, through choice, or through no fault of their own, have never and will never experience motherhood.
And, still others experience mothering through persons not typical to a culture of 100 years ago. 

It turns out that mothering is a very sensitive issue to very large numbers of people - and it takes a skillful preacher to be sensitive to their issues and craft a sermon that speaks to the needs of all in this day and age.

It is interesting to note that the one person responsible for creating and encourage the widespread adoption of a nationally recognized mother’s day, Anna Jarvis, lived long enough to see what was happening and spent her latter years trying to change the emphasis. 

As we think of a way of celebrating Mother’s Day in a new way, there is much to give fodder to our thought.

Consider the first call for a mother’s day came from Julia Ward Howe, who dreamed of an international gathering of mothers pledging to protect their sons and daughters by ending all war.

And, most recently, a group of folks in the US call for Mothers for Action to work for peace on Mothers’ Day.

For years, after giving nod to the fact that all of us have mothers, I have proceeded to give homage to the roll of women in our church and in our faith.  The preacher doesn’t have to look far for sermon points to lift up the role of women.

Taking a clue from the original call for a mothers’ day, we would do well to consider mustering interest in supporting a “cause” near and dear to mothers’ hearts:

Promote awareness of working mother’s issues.
Support a local women’s center.
Get involved in a Big Brothers / Big Sisters project.
Go to a nearby Senior Citizens Center
Support or start a day care center for working women

We received a special offering on Mothers’ Day to support Baby Manna in Philadelphia which supplies baby formula for poor mothers in Southeast Pennsylvania.

The Birthday of A Whole New World

Easter is about transcendence.
It is about creating and choosing new life.
It is about new heavens and a new earth.
It is about a new way of doing religion.
It is about new joy-full living.

Today, along with Christian the world over, we celebrate Easter Sunday –
the single defining event for the faith we hold.

For the fact of the matter is that before Easter there were no Christians!
Before Easter there was no church.
Before Easter there was no Christian theology, no Christian world-view.

Easter is the birthday of a whole new world –
a whole new life –
a whole new way of living –
a whole new way of looking at the world –
a whole new religion!

Easter re-creates our cosmology,
it provides a new perspective on the order of things,
it expands our understanding of things temporal and things eternal.

In Isaiah God announces a re-creation of the
world – new heavens and a new earth,
a new relationship between God and the whole creation,
a new expression of faith,
a new Jerusalem:
a place full of joy and happiness –
"Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create" –
a place where even God will be full of joy.

e.e. cummings has an Easter expression appropriate for each one of us:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of treesand a blue true dream of sky; and for everythingwhich is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birthday of life and of love and wings: and of the gaygreat happening illimitably earth)how should tasting touching hearing seeingbreathing any -- lifted from the noof all nothing -- human merely beingdoubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake andnow the eyes of my eyes are opened)

I thank you God for this most amazing day!
I who have died am alive again today!
Now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened.

Every year now for nearly twenty centuries, Christians have been coming together at this time of year to celebrate the single most important event of their history!

Since Jesus was a Jew, and lived as a Jew,
and preached as Jew,
and spent his entire ministry among Jews,
it was quite natural for his followers to tie this Easter event with the traditional Passover Celebration.

For centuries, the Passover had been celebrated each year to remind people of their unique history and of their unique relationship with their God.
What Passover was to the Jews, Easter became to the followers of Jesus.

For truly, it wasn't until after the Resurrection that the disciple's eyes were opened and they saw for the very first time:
that what they had experienced with this man from Nazareth was indeed a whole new thing.
It wasn't until after the Resurrection that they began to call him the Christ –
and saw him to be the fulfillment of the Passover –
the promise that been made each year over and over again for centuries.

So clear was this to the early Christians, that they began to meet on the first day of each week at dawn to celebrate Easter –
the coming of the new time –
the new creation –
the new week –
remembering the fulfillment of the Passover.

Our story goes that the women went to the tomb that morning concerned about how they were going to move the stone that blocked them from doing their ministerial task with the corpse.

Even though they were concerned and anxious about it, their faith moved them on down the road just knowing that somehow the obstacle would be removed, and they could do what they needed to do.

Of course, we know, when they arrived at the tomb, the obstacle was moved all right,
but they were the first to discover,
and the first to hear,
that something very significant –
something very out of the ordinary –
had happened.

The Jesus they knew so well;
the Jesus they were friends with;
the Jesus they thought they understood;
the Jesus they lived with;
the Jesus they saw defeated and overcome;
the Jesus they watched die;
the Jesus they placed in this tomb --
their friend, Jesus of Nazareth
was much more than they ever thought or understood.

Not only was their religious practice changed significantly;
but now, the known laws of the physical universe were overcome as well.

They came to work on the corpse of Jesus –
and they heard the incredible words:
"Why look for the living here among the dead?"

This made no sense.
They saw him die.
They placed his lifeless body here in this tomb.

And again, the messenger of God spoke:
"Go back where you came from.
Go back to Galilee.
There you will find him.
Alive and well, just as he said you would."

It was the a re-creation of the world –
a new heaven and a new earth –
new definitions of life and religion –
the birthday of a whole new world –
the birthday of life and of love and wings.

Easter announces to all that the presence of Christ cannot be snuffed out.
That God transcends the boundaries of space and time.
New boundaries of our life and faith have been drawn up.
A new heaven and a new earth have been created.

There is a new Jerusalem,
a new religion wherein God and his creation are not so far apart:
Where God no longer dwells above us,
or in ark in the Temple,
or even solely in the confines of a particular person who lived in Galilee some 2000 years ago.
This is something totally new: "a new heaven and a new earth" wherein God is constantly present with us where we live our lives –
defining anew what it is to be human,
what it is to be alive,
what it is to die.

This transcendence of space between God and man,
this transcendence of time between birth and death,
this transcendence of God between heaven and earth is what is behind our celebration of Easter today.
It is what is unique about our Christianity.
It is what enables us to live fully and abundantly.
There is tremendous power at work here:
power largely unrecognized and largely untapped;
but power that can give each one of us a new lease on life.

Some of you may be familiar with the work of Bernie Siegel.
Dr. Siegel is a surgeon and works primarily with cancer patients.
For several years now, an important part of Dr. Siegel's practice and research is with what he calls "exceptional" cancer patients –
patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses –
most given a very short time to live.

Dr. Siegel sees patients sometimes individually, and most times in groups,
and helps them to choose to really live in the limited time they have left.

Time and time again, Bernie Siegel, and other doctors who are doing this now, observe something that is almost beyond belief.
Given just months or weeks to live,
facing their inevitable death, and coming to terms with their mortality,
patients, more often than not, consciously change their way of living.

Time and time again, these doctors see from that day on, these patients do only what they really want to do.
They don't let something go unsaid, because they know there may not be a tomorrow.
They became quick with hugs,
quick with "I love yous",
quick with "thank yous",
quick to show appreciation and quick with "I am truly sorry."

Once having made that choice,
and, this is the totally unbelievable part,
and until you have been there, it is so hard to understand, but we need to learn from it:
100% of his patients say that their lives are infinitely better than it was before they were diagnosed with their terminal illness.

They reported things went better for them.

Relationships with other people were more positive.

Life was more fuller, richer.

Days and time had meaning.

Each day was greeted with thanksgiving.

They had new enthusiasm for living – even though they knew their days were numbered.

And, do you know what?

Truly remarkable things happen among the patients.

Once they choose to live each day to the fullest, they actually stop dying!

Oh, they all do die.
We all do.

But, these patients all live well past the expected time limits of their disease, and they live healthier – even with their terminal illness,
and they are freer of pain during their illness.

Through Dr. Siegel and his faith in what they can do and can be, these terminally ill patients come to know what Jesus called an abundant life.

Bernie Siegel writes:
We must all confront the reality that no one lives forever.
Illness and death are not signs of failure;
what is a failure is not living.
Our goal is learning to live – joyously and lovingly.

And, you know, that is exactly what we are about here at Christ Church in Drexel Hill!
Helping people connect with these timeless truths of our faith.
Helping people live more fully, more abundantly, like Jesus said.

I have spoken of my interest in some of the findings of recent comprehensive studies of peoples' health.

One of the findings of one of the studies, hidden among many findings, and virtually ignored by the press, was this:
They found that people who go to church regularly were healthier over all than people who did not go to church regularly.

And hidden among the findings of another large study was this:
People who go to church regularly live longer than those who do not go to church regularly.

Do you hear this?
It's a fact:
People who go to church are healthier, and
people who go to church live longer, than those who don't.

Why do you suppose that is?

Because of some other studies and reading I have done, I found some clues, and I have compiled several reasons why folks who go to church live longer and are healthier than those who do not.

Scientific studies from several fields of inquiry provide evidence that there is real healing power in many of the things that we practice, and teach, and experience here in church.
In the past, I have told you about studies that prove that there is healing power in prayer,
that there is healing power in laughter,
that there is healing power in attitude,
that there is healing power in forgiveness,
that there is healing power in ritual,
that there is healing power in coming together as community,
and, today’s message is that there is healing power in transcendence.

Easter is about transcendence.
It is about creating and choosing new life.
It is about new heavens and a new earth.
It is about a new way of doing religion.
It is about new joy-full living.

Indeed, the chief characteristic of this new world ushered in at Easter is joy and happiness.

Our Scripture describes a God full of joy,
and a joy-full people living in thanksgiving for a full and abundant life.

And that's what we are about here at this church.

Christ Presbyterian Church is "A Center of Faith for Living Abundantly."

Jesus said, "I have come that you might have a fuller, more abundant life."

There are people in this room who know exactly what I am saying, and have experiences to prove it.

And the promise is made to each one of us:
You can live a better, fuller, healthier, longer, more abundant life.
God intends this for you.
And we know how.
Join us, or put another way, let us join you.

This Easter Sunday, when facing the choices all of us make every day, choose life.

Choose to live each day to the fullest.

Choose to be a part of the most powerful force in the universe: the presence of Christ in the world today.

I thank you God for this most amazing day!
I who have died am alive again today!

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard this sermon during the Easter celebration April 24, 2011.

A Message for Good Friday: Giving Up the Ghost and Tearing of the Veil

We are all familiar with the creation stories in Genesis.
The familiar story with its rhythmical structure of seven days occurs in chapter 1.
And chapter 2 of Genesis begins another story of creation.

Now, really, both of these accounts were actually written fairly late in Jewish history –
most probably at the time of King David, when for the first time people had the leisure to sit down and write the stories that had been handed down by word of mouth for centuries.

Verse 7 of the second chapter of Genesis appears to express one of the earliest, most primitive concepts of  the Jew's relationship to God.
Here, God is pictured as     a potter:
Then the Lord God formed (molded) a man from the dust of the ground,
and breathed (a loud breath) into his nostrils the breath of life.  Thus man became alive!  (Gen2:v7)

It seems that from the beginning,
they understood every person's breath is God-given –  life itself –
for the human is critically related to Yahweh,
the God that shared his breath –
the symbol for life itself.

You see, the thing that made the body alive was God.
God was intimately related to your life experience. [Therefore, a life without God was an absurd proposition.]

    Actually, by the time these stories were written down (at King David's court) the understandings of God had changed somewhat.
I’ve talked about this before.
Through the years a concept of God developed that they could put in a box.

At a risk of over-simplifying it:
you may recall that they were a nomadic people, they traveled a lot –
they traveled through lands occupied by people with other religions.
They saw that these religions had their holy places:
they had holy mountains,
there were holy caves,
and there were even holy wells.
Well, having no geographical references for themselves these wandering Jews knew that their God could not be confined to geography.
Their God was not to found in a particular place.

Their God was a traveling God –
but they came to feel that their God did need a home –
God needed a place to be,
a place to rest.
So they built God an ark, a throne, so he could be comfortable.
And they carried this ark wherever they went.
It became a symbol of assurance:
that God was with them as long as they had the box for him.
(We have a lot of stories about people stealing the ark.
So history began to be recorded in terms of who has the box –  who had God on their side.
God was wherever the ark was.)

This, then, became a real issue with David as he set out to bring together two nations of people  –  each with their own traditions and history.
David thought: The way to unite the country is to unite their religion.
So, let's build a house to put the ark in.
It will be a temple and will stand in the capital city as a symbol of God's presence in our new nation and people will always know where they can come to meet the Lord.
We'll put his box there and everyone will come to know that's where he sits!


    And the temple was built, and became the house of God.
His box was placed in one end of the building and a curtain was put in front of it – the reredos.
It was called the “Holy of Holies”.
[The curtain was loaded with symbolism –
it protected the people from perishing should they see the Lord face-to-face.
It served the function of keeping God's presence shielded from the people.]

Now, all of this had become quite institutionalized by the time of Jesus.
The temple with its curtain, and the ark, was an important part of the religion.
For the Jew, there was no question what one had to do in order to be religious, to fulfill the law.
Leaders, Rabbis, spent their entire lives studying the law –
and as new situations and questions came up, they wrote new rules to amplify the old law.
The Rabbis were the authority and it was unquestioned  (except maybe for a few splinter groups from time to time.).

    Of particular significance is that Jesus came preaching and teaching  on his own authority –
far outside the established authority of his tradition.
They would say to him:
you totally disregard our tradition.
How can you go around preaching such
contemporariness?

    And he would say:
It seems to me that I don't come to put an end to your traditional ways, so much as I come to fulfill the promises of our tradition.
For instance, look at me.
I live in the same relation with my Father (your God) as described in the ancient poem of our tradition.
I live and breath because God lives and breathes in me.
God is in me as long as I'm alive.
As long as I breathe, God dwells in me and I live in God – so, in this sense, my body is more of a temple in the traditional sense,
than that building is where you go to worship and hope to find God.
This is what I preach.
And whenever the religious law encourages this understanding – it is valid – and whenever it hinders it, it is invalid.
You think you know how to be religious?
You don't!
Your organization gets in the way of your faith!

The New Testament writers took great pains to point  out to us that Jesus came to fulfill the scripture –
he quotes the Old Testament and interprets the tradition anew.
His respect for tradition and history is not questioned.

Neither is his authority,
and his authority is unquestionably contemporary to his time.

Now today, ironically, most of us Christians have the same concepts and attitudes about our Church and our  religion as the Jews did about their  temple and their  religion at the time of Jesus, don’t we?

We have fostered the concept that the church building is God's House –
we should come here hoping to find God –
and we should enter, then,  with appropriate reverence
and appreciate the use of music, prayers and ceremony that will uplift our hearts and inspire our souls so our faith may grow.

There are things we expect from our religion, aren’t there? –
and there are things we are comfortable with –
and we identify those things as "traditional" when the tradition may be not really be very old.

In a real sense,  my call as a laborer among God's people is to seriously come to grips with tradition (religion) that goes back beyond the past 50 or 60 years, even beyond the past 400 years, and beyond the past 2000 years –
attempting to see the contemporary situation our fathers and mothers in the faith faced,
and how they expressed themselves the way they did (and why they did it that way).
And then, facing the situation today, [the world around us in the year 2012],
attempt to react in the same manner and express the same faith –
the same hope for life –
that was expressed in those old situations.
(This manner informs the things we do here in our worship service on Sunday mornings.)

The Easter story is one of encouragement,
of hope,
of enabling dreams and visions of what could be –
if only....

For the story is that Jesus lived as a Son of God –  God lived inside the physical confines of the man Jesus of Nazareth.

And that was the message the disciples were finally beginning to understand –      until Good Friday.

[Now understand that at this point, Jesus was no different than a dozen other God-men in religious history.]

    But, the significant difference comes when Jesus dies.
There, on the cross, we are told, he gives a loud cry –
all that was in his lungs comes out.

He dies.
The presence of God escapes from his body.

Jesus the man, then, is lifeless – 
the body is dead
(and later disappears).

God left the confines of this "body temple."

Not only that, but each Gospel writer carefully records the message that,
when this happened the curtain in the temple was torn in two –
from the top to the bottom.

God came out of the stone temple –
through the curtain.
No more to be separated and encapsulated in a box or a house.
No.  God is not there any more.

God is no longer in the body of the man from Nazareth.
And God is no longer in that box in the temple!

    Where did God go?

    The message was – into Galilee –
back into the world where his followers lived and interacted, as Jesus said he would.
And his disciples were to go there.
That's where they would find him.
Where he said they would:
feeding the hungry,
clothing the poor,
healing the sick,
involved in making the life around them more human,
more hopeful,
more enabling.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  
Because I know the rest of the story . . .

Hear the rest of the story in church Sunday  . . .

 The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church experienced this message Easter Sunday, 2012. 

Palm Sunday: Join the Parade

Today, we remember the parade -- the longest running parade in history!

This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels.

It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday.

It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.


Today we remember Palm Sunday --
the beginning of the week that was –
Jesus' entrance into the city of Jerusalem.

According to Mark and Matthew this was the first time Jesus ever went to the big city.
Up until now, his entire ministry, his entire life,
had been spent out in the hinterlands, in Jabip,
in little rural communities within walking distance of one another in the countryside known as Galilee.
But, now he went to Jerusalem --
the capital city --
the only big city --
the center of commerce for the whole region --
but, more importantly, the sacred city,
the home of the Temple,
the Holy See of the Jewish faith,
the center of all Judaism.

And here comes Jesus – the country-boy,
the itinerant preacher,
a man on a mission –
and a small rag tag band of his followers,
all simple county-folk,
all probably approaching the big city for the first time in their lives.

No doubt there was excitement in the air –
and a lot of fear and apprehension.
They all had heard stories about the city.
How you had to watch yourself at every turn.
They did things differently in the city.
They knew not about city ways, city customs, about city life.

His closest followers tried to talk Jesus out of going:
We've been fairly successful getting the word out around the country-side.
There is still much to be done among our kind of people.
Why rock the boat?
Why move into Jerusalem now?
Why not stay where we are a little longer?

But, Jesus was on a mission.
It was like he was obsessed –
he was drawn to the city –
he had to go.
In spite of the warnings, Jesus approached the city.

Today, we remember the parade.

It is right for us take time each year to remember, and to be reminded of, the parade.

One preacher asserts that it is the longest running parade in history!

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful, than the Mummer’s parade.

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Columbus Day parade, and any “other-Day” parade you can think of.

Our parade could be the original “ticker-tape” parade –
the original million man march –
the original demonstration march.

Parades seem to have a way of stirring up emotions and releasing us from inhibitions, don’t they?
(I believe that is one of the main motivating factors for those who participate in the Mummers Day Parade each year.)
It's what we see in Marti Gras parades.
And it's what we see happening in our scripture reading today.

Contrary to some of the movies you have seen,
not every one in Jerusalem participated in the parade that day.
To be sure, most people didn't know anything was going on – or hadn't a clue what it was about if they did see it happening.
It would have been not unlike a demonstration on Broad Street that ties up traffic during rush hour some times.
Unless you were there, and encountered the crowds, you wouldn't even have known what had happened.
And even if you were there, chances are you wouldn't have had a clue as what they were protesting, or celebrating.

But, the parade into Jerusalem turned into one of the most significant events in the lives of the first century Christians.

This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
It is one of very few events all four gospels describe.
In fact, I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels –
all four gospels speak of Jesus entering into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey
and being ushered through the streets by a parade of folks dancing and singing and carrying on.

It was an important event.
It was a significant event.
It was a meaningful event.
It was an event worth remembering for those early Christians.
I believe that it is an event worth remembering for us, as well.

I think it is important for us to remember Palm Sunday for three reasons:

As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to recognize the Christ that comes in to our busy lives, (even – and maybe especially – when we are not expecting it);
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to take a public stand and give public witness to our faith;
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to party – to celebrate the presence of Christ.

The city was crowded on that day.
It was the high holy festival of Passover.
In those days there were no Synagogues in the towns around Galilee – so everyone had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to for proper observance of the holy day.

Jerusalem was the largest city for hundreds of miles – it was a cosmopolitan place populated by people from all corners of the world –
from all walks of life –
and filled to overflowing with tourists –
visitors – pilgrims –
there for the festival.

The narrow streets were crowded with the hustle and bustle of people going from here to there and back again.
And, every once in a while, someone important would come through.
Horses and chariots were used to make a hole in the crowd and move VIPs through the throngs. Oftentimes the VIPs would have entourages moving through the crowds with them and people would have to stand back and make a way for them go through.
So, there were many mini-parades like this through the streets of the city every day of the year – and even more so this day.

And, so the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus entered the city that day with his entourage –
in many ways mocking the VIP parades.

Now, when I think about this story, I think if I were writing the script it would be somewhat different.
I would have Jesus coming in riding on a blazing white stallion, (you know?), kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along.
The people he passed would be in awe of such a beautiful animal –
but they would be even more awestruck by the man who was riding it.
As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"

You see, there were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do.
As he rode into Jerusalem he would quickly size up the situation and form a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers:
Diablo, the Evil One.
There would be a short fight, (like at the OK Corral) but the outcome would never be in doubt.
Jesus easily defeats Diablo.
He handcuffs the devil and throws him in jail.

As a large crowd of people gathers to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reins.
His pure white stallion stands on its hind legs, neighing loudly, and pawing the air with its
front legs.
When it stands as tall as it could stand, Jesus leans forward in the saddle.
Holding the reins with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other,
he shouts with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior."
As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music begins to play softly and gets louder and louder.
(The William Tell Overture).
{Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}

Well, you know, it really must have seemed rather comic-like to some, when the long-awaited Messiah entered the city –
even though it was all happening according to what the Hebrew Scriptures had said –
the Messiah would come lowly and humble, on the back of a donkey.

While the image should have brought people's minds to the teachings, which one would expect them to recall,
just like us –
in the midst of things happening around us –
they probably did not make the connection,
at least not immediately.
The disciples of Jesus seem to be somewhat confused in the whole thing themselves.

It was, however, a well thought out, pre-planned event, at least on the part of Jesus.
It was in no way a haphazard plan, was it?
It was meant to be an exact representation, which would convey a precise message to all who would see it – hear about it.
We are reminded, nevertheless, that it really did not make all that much sense,
nor was it understood, until after Easter!

While the hosannas and hoopla that accompanied Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem on the spindly donkey colt may have seemed spontaneous, today’s text from Matthew suggests that he knew exactly what he was doing,
and his entourage even knew exactly what was expected of them.

* Jesus set the stage by calling for the scripturally prescribed animal.

* The disciples acted with complete and immediate obedience – a sure sign that they knew something was up.

* And, apparently, at least some in the City that day seeing Jesus approach, already accompanied by his own disciples and by those he had previously healed and taught, knew what they were seeing.

* Observant Jews, pious travelers on their way into Jerusalem for Passover, had also heard stories of this man Jesus.

Now, as he appeared mounted on the donkey colt, some of the people brought their long-established traditions, their long-held hopes, to life.

They joyfully joined in the moment,
celebrating the symbolic arrival of a messianic figure,
a prophet as foretold,
with the cries and obeisance deserved by such a dignitary.
They recognized and celebrated the presence of Christ in their midst –
even as they had pressing business at hand to attend to.

As we remember and attempt to recreate the moment Jesus processed into Jerusalem,
we reveal a vital truth about ourselves to our friends and neighbors.
This truth is, we are Christians.
Our faith has feet.
This parade is part of a vital heritage,
a history of sacrifice and service,
of triumph and love.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.

So, today, we celebrate and remember.

But where does it go from there?
Does our marching have a destination?

If all we do at the conclusion of Palm Sunday is hunker down and hide our identity, then like those folks that welcomed him with shouts in Jerusalem, we too are abandoning Jesus the moment he gets off the donkey.

How can we justify going back to life as usual when we have just shouted in the arrival of our king,
our messiah, our Savior?
How can we become true participants in the longest running parade in history — the Jesus parade?

It seems to me that the essence of a parade is a party atmosphere and party spirit.
And the faith question for each of us today is:
Can your spirit party even when everything around you is falling down and coming apart?

Can you trust and obey Jesus enough to party through the jeers as well as the cheers?

Can you wave palm branches and sing hosannas in good times – and in bad times,
in the midst of sorrows as well as celebrations,
on Good Friday as well as No-Name Saturday and Easter morning.

Today, we need to remember there really should be one membership requirement for all those who would join the Jesus parade:
Do you promise to party and celebrate the God who became one of us in good times and bad, for better and for worse?

Any church that parades around its block or its neighborhood singing, waving tree parts, and carrying on should also require all its congregation, as part of their membership vows, to sign a party agreement form: you get kicked out if you can’t/won’t party.

What is making us a hardened-heart, stiff-necked people?
What is making us closed-eared, stone-faced, frostbitten?
What is sapping our joy?
What is shutting down our parade?
What is sending us scuttling home to hide?

I think the message for us is that we need to keep the party going
and to keep the parade moving – in good times and bad.

It’s a matter of faith.
It’s a matter of faith affirmation.
It’s a matter of affirming in the face of the whole world around us that Christ is head of our life – come what may, no matter what.

You can’t join the Jesus parade and not celebrate.
When you join the Jesus parade, you party.
You wave your hands and dance for joy –
not just when life is going your way –
but even when that Perfect Storm called Good Friday hits with all its might.

Palm Sunday reminds us to party on people –
in good times and in bad.
Christ is here.
Celebrate!
Hozanna!
Amen!

This sermon was delivered to the congregation at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, March 28, 2010

Top Reasons to Be in Church Palm Sunday

1.    It’s good to just celebrate once in a while.
2.    It’s good to sing out loud in public!
3.    It’s good to join a parade (even if symbolically)!
4.    It’s a way to visibly demonstrate your faith.
5.    Everyone welcomes you.
6.    You will hear a message that could affect your life.
7.    You will be among staunch believers – as well as questioners, sceptics, and seekers.
8.    We, too, like those of old, will be celebrating the presence of Christ in our midst.
9.    Your presence will be noticed by others.
10.    You can come as you are – no matter what.
11.    You will be welcome.
12.    You will be expected.
13.    The more the merrier – and we all need more merry, don’t you think?
14.    You will bring a smile to someone’s face – guaranteed!
15.    Folks banding together can change the world – we see it on TV!
16.    Parades are fun!

Palm Sunday is April 9: Ideas for Childrens' Ministry

1. In the Bible story of Jesus' entry the people called Him
"blessed." 
The children could brainstorm about words they can use
to tell Jesus how special He is. 
You could talk about praise words.
What do people say to thank or praise one another?
What do people say to you to praise you or thank you?
What might we say to God?
These praise words could be printed palm branches which they
make from green construction paper. 
Without doing a big procession, the children could line up on both sides of your
classroom. 
Have them use their imaginations to see Jesus and the donkey. 
Choose a child to lead the donkey who slowly walks down the center, holding a pretend rope over the shoulder. 
As the child leading the donkey walks along, the class will pretend to roll
out blankets and they will say the words which are on their palm
branches. 
These palm branches could then be displayed in the
classroom as a reminder to continually praise Jesus.

2. I have rented or borrowed a donkey before. 
You would not have to lead the procession. 
You can get palm branches for the  triumphant procession or you could have the children put down towels, or jackets down for Jesus on the donkey to pass over.


3.  have also seen the children go around the main sanctuary with the adults putting their jackets and articles of clothing down for Jesus and the donkey to pass over as they march down the aisles of the church while the children are participating in worshiping and
adoring Jesus as they place something for him to ride over and the adults and children are singing praise choruses or Easter hymns. 
This takes no more than five minutes and it is very dramatic and meaningful.

These ideas were found on a website, www.childrensministry.net which is no longer on line. 

In Praise of Celebrating Palm Sunday

It has become increasingly fashionable among lectionary practitioners to recognize Passion Sunday on the Sunday before Easter instead of the more traditional Palm Sunday.  

The usual reasoning is that so few folks participate in Holy Week events that most will never hear the Passion story unless they hear it on the Sunday before Easter.

However, I would suggest that Palm Sunday offers some unique opportunities to witness to the community beyond the believers.

The image of a full-fledged parade celebrating the presence of Christ in our midst is ripe for exploitation and sharing with folks beyond our faithful congregation.

Could there be a more appropriate time for a parade through the streets of your community?

Certainly, the story line is there, the images are there, the raison d'etat is there.

With proper planning - including procuring the necessary permits - a Palm Sunday Parade could involve many many people in your community in a new celebration of a little-celebrated holiday.

One group in Minneapolis holds workshops for neighborhood children and youth for weeks before the parade.  

Workgroups pick an appropriate aspect of the theme of the parade to work out a

demonstration through the use of larger-than-life-size puppets, floats, music, dance, flags, and so on and so forth.  

The whole neighborhood turns out to watch their neighbors -- and actually join the parade to a public park where fair-like activities continue the celebration for the afternoon.

One church actually had an incident when a neighbor called the police to complain about the ruckus of the contingent of bagpipers disturbing the peace as they led the Palm Sunday parade.

I can't remember when our church was accused of being overly enthusiastic about anything enough to disturb the peace.

This is an opportunity for real out-of-the-box thinking.

Brainstorm.

Let your imaginations soar.

Don't we have something to celebrate?

Isn't the Christos Praesence something to shout about?

Wouldn't it be great if we had to say, "If we were to keep quiet,

these stones would have to shout!"?

Hozanna!  Hey-zanna! Zanna, Zanna, Hozanna!

Let No One Suspect

Jesus warns against us doing all pietistic acts in public:
when you pray, go off by yourself and shut the door – and by the way, stop using all those empty phrases.
When you give alms – do it in secret, don’t even let one hand know what the other is doing.
When you fast – that is to say
when you work to break the chains of injustice,
or to get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
or to free the oppressed,
or when you share your food with the hungry,
or when you invite the homeless poor into your homes,
or when you put clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
or when you are available to your own families –
do it on your own time.

These are not things you seek publicity for.
These are not things you should call attention to.
For sure, these things are to be done –
but do it under the radar.
Wash your face and comb your hair.
Let know one suspect.

I think it is clear that we need to pay more attention to these admonitions.
This is essential to the faith that has been passed on to us.
We can choose to ignore it – to our peril.
Or, we can take it to heart and spend these 40 days in Lent to deepen our faith and how it impacts our life – who we are and what we do.

Fasting has nothing to do with diet.

Time and time again the prophets and Jesus reminded people in the past –
and reminds us today –
fasting has nothing to do with diet.

Of course, it is a lot easier for us to think that.
But, Micah tells us, Jeremiah tells us, Jesus tells us – what Isaiah tells us:
"The kind of fasting I want is this:
Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
Share your food with the hungry
and open your homes to the homeless poor.
Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear,
and do not refuse to help your own relatives.”Or, as one translator puts it:
"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.”

Time and time again, folks went astray and thought fasting had something to do with diet –
self-deprivation was a whole lot easier to deal with than what the prophets and Jesus said God has in mind.
Fasting has to do with living your faith –
putting flesh on what you say you believe –
enacting your belief.

Lent: Instead of Giving Up Something

Take Time for A Time Out - a sermon

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.

The main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.
He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.

Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.
He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.

For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it important for us to take a time out as well.

Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.

This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.

Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.

Although we can’t readily see it buried under 2 feet of snow, all around us new life is preparing to break out as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.

Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!

Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.

As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”

The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil that would have derailed his mission.

40 days seems to be God's time for allowing significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world
around us.

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

For us with our total dependence upon clocks and schedules and appointments and meetings and deadlines, taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing any of us could be called upon to do.

And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.

Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .

We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.

Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.

Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.

It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.

Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but it what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.

The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?

For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.

Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.

Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.
Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.

For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.
And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.

This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on February 28, 2010, by Clyde E. Griffith.

LENT: Doing Kosher Acts of Faith

When Jesus addressed the crowd about correct methods of righteousness, everyone knew what he was talking about.

They knew about the three legs on the stool of righteous living.

These days we don’t like to read this passage –
the only time it is brought up in the Lectionary is for Ash Wednesday services.
So folks that never go to Ash Wednesday services never have an occasion to hear this in church, unless their pastor is somewhat eclectic in his or her approach to Scripture.
But, we need to hear these words.

He said: “It is good to put the disciplines of godly living into practice.”
Jesus assumes you will be praying – and even tells you how.
Jesus assumes you will give alms.
Jesus assumes you will fast –
But, he warns about making a show of things when you do these acts of faith –
these acts of godly living.

In fact, Jesus says it is not kosher to do faith acts for show.


Check out the sixth chapter of the Gospel According to Matthew.

How to Celebrate Lent - According to The Lord

From the book of Isaiah, Chapter 58:


7)  What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry

7)  I want you to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people.

7)  Give clothes to those in need

7)  being available to your own families.

9)  Don't mistreat others

9)  Don't falsely accuse others

9)  Don't say something cruel or ugly to another

9)  get rid of unfair practices

9)  quit blaming victims

9)  quit gossiping about other people's sins

10) be generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

13)  treat Sunday with respect by refraining from your normal activities,
    and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals

13) treat the Sabbath as a day of joy

13) make Sunday a day of celebration

Our Lenten Song: To Help You Prepare for Easter

Just A Closer Walk With Thee
WYNTON MARSALIS & JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA 
Municipal House, Prague, July 10, 2013

It's Lent: 11 Ways to Appropriately Observe Lent

11 Ways to Appropriately Celebrate Lent  -  according to Jesus


1.   Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public so that people will see      what you do.        (Matthew 6:1)

2.  Wash your face and comb your hair. (Matthew 6:17b)  

3.   Do not put on a sad face. (Matthew 6:16)  

4.   When you pray, go to your room, close the door. (Matthew 6:6)

5.   When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words. (Matthew 6:7)

6.   When you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it. (Matthew 6:2)

7.   When you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it.        (Matthew 6:3)

8.   Your heart will always be where your treasure is.  (Matthew 6:21)  

9.   Do not worry about tomorrow.   (Matthew 6:34) 

10. Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?   (Matthew 6:27)

11. Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what God requires of you.

       (Matthew 6:33)

 http://www.newcelebrations.com/11ways.html

Get Ready for Lent: Sharing Our Resources

From the beginning, part and parcel of the Lenten observance has been alms giving. 
The purpose of fasting is not so much a bodily discipline as it is a sharing discipline.  Becoming aware of the needs of others, and responding to them with generous gifts of our time and talents and money are particularly transforming.

During this season, many of our Presbyterian Churches will be emphasizing our One Great Hour of Sharing as a concrete way of self-sacrifice for the needs of others. 
The discipline of a daily gift to the One Great Hour of Sharing jar is a concrete way of focusing our thoughts on our individual purpose for living.
It becomes an expression of the faith we proclaim. 

Get Ready for Lent: Receive Free Musical Devotions

Lent Musical Devotions…

by Steve Eulberg

Imagine this:  A twice-weekly email playing gentle music of instrumental ensembles featuring dulcimers, gentle vocals and guitars and videos with instrumental music, together with a message of preparation that is serene, clear-sighted and hope-filled–an anti-dote to the dazed Spring atmosphere that is the backdrop for LENT.
LENT is the 40-day season in the Christian tradition that precedes the celebration of Easter.  Traditionally in the church year this is a season of preparation for baptism, or a season of fasting and giving something up, or, for taking up a new discipline, a season of reflection, repentance and renewal of faith.
This is free and available to you and anyone with whom you share this.

February 19, 2017 by steve@owlmountainmusic.com (Edit)

Get Ready for Lent: Remember to Take Time to Take a Time Out

Lent begins March 1.
Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.  

We need Lent!

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry,
the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.

This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe, looking beneath the surface – within ourselves -- examining our own motives and desires, and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is: to what, to whom, and what it means.

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went out into the desert for 40 days.
For 40 days he lived without food or, presumably water.
For 40 days he confronted his demons.
For 40 days he prayed.
For 40 days he communed with his God.

Suffice it to say, upon completion of his 40 days in the desert, Jesus had a clearer picture of his purpose in life,
of his reason for being,
of his God-given mission.
And he embarked on his course of demonstrating the reign of love on earth.

Traditionally, the church has set aside these 40 days prior to Easter as a time for personal reflection toward discovery of our purpose and renewed commitment to our faith.

Many cultures make a lot over the fasting nature of these 40 days.
Carnival is celebrated in many parts of the world the day before Lent begins as the last chance to eat meat for 40 days!
In this country Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans on “fat Tuesday” – the day before the 40 day fast begins.

Today, we see these 40 days as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.  We are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power.

Because Presbyterians rebelled against all things Catholic, Lent was never celebrated in most Presbyterian churches until  recent years.  But, Lent is such a rich time.
It is an excellent opportunity for us to really focus on things that matter.

Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer –
Spring is right around the corner.  
Signs of life are preparing to bud right in front of our eyes.
And,  we need to prepare ourselves to see these signs!

We need Lent!
Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through a sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:  "As the Father has sent me, so I send you"  (John 20:21). 
Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs,
an Easter that begins a whole new reality – a whole new world.

From the beginning, part and parcel of the Lenten observance has been alms giving. 
The purpose of fasting is not so much a bodily discipline as it is a sharing discipline.  Becoming aware of the needs of others, and responding to them with generous gifts of our time and talents and money are particularly transforming.

During this season, many of our Presbyterian Churches will be emphasizing our One Great Hour of Sharing as a concrete way of self-sacrifice for the needs of others. 
The discipline of a daily gift to the One Great Hour of Sharing jar is a concrete way of focusing our thoughts on our individual purpose for living.
It becomes an expression of the faith we proclaim. 

Get Ready for A Radical Lent: Fasting and Feasting

Fast from fear;
     Feast on faith.
Fast from despair;
     Feed on hope.
Fast from depressing news;
     Feed on prayer.
Fast from discontent;
     Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger and worry;
     Feed on patience.
Fast from negative thinking;
     Feast on positive thinking.
Fast from bitterness;
     Feed on love and forgiveness.
Fast from words that wound;
     Feast on words that heal.
Fast from gravity;
     Feed on joy and humor.
Fast from gossip;
     Feast on the Gospels.
Fast from junk foods;
     Feast on the Bread of Life.
Fast from bad news;
     Feast on “The Good News.”
Fast from darkness;
     Feast on the Light.
Fast from the secular;
     Feast on the sacred.
Fast from despair;
     Feast on hope.
Fast from revenge;
     Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from tears of sorrow;
     Feast on tears of joy.
Fast from getting;
    Feast on giving.
Fast from complexities;
    Feast on simplicities.
Fast from horror;
     Feast on humor.
Fast from listlessness;
     Feast on laughter.