Good morning dear people! Grace and peace to you this morning. One of my favorite stories that Jesus told we read yesterday — the parable of the Prodigal Son as it is often called. I'm still thinking about the extravagant love and grace of God and the image of the sprinting father keeps popping up.
My brother also emailed our family last night as he was reflecting on God's grace too! Jesus Christ Superstar was what triggered him to think about his life of faith and the gift of grace. And, since we had mentioned that musical in the Sunday morning Bible study, I thought maybe this is the Holy Spirit encouraging us to watch that!
Since I've enjoyed the Youtube video on a bigger table that I referenced in yesterday's homily, I want to link it for you too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLsSy64xILI.
Maybe watching these will bring you some meditative moments as well and that would be good because we are so blessed when we meditate on God's love for us -- no matter who we are or what we've done, God's love/grace/mercy is for us!
And, boy does that make me grateful!
Thank you to everyone who blessed Margaret and the Gumke family as we gathered to celebrate Floyd's life and to those who helped with 5 Loaves Saturday! What a gift you are to the community as well as to each other!
Thank you also to everyone who participated in our discussion during fellowship time yesterday. I went home joyful and so grateful for you, this congregation, and for the leading of the Holy Spirit. God's got us!!
Have a blessed day and week! Love and peace be yours.
In Christ,
Pastor Andrea
This week (other meetings/gatherings will be taking place as well but here are some things to note):
Monday, March 28
Friday, April 1
If you wish to watch the videos that accompany the studies, go to Amplify Media and use the church email zionsluth@gmail.com — the password is praynow4Covid19. Join via Zoom at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136424723?pwd=TkxsQVllMmo2bVlSekN0dGZqbzF1Zz09 or phone in by dialing 1-312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 831 3642 4723 Passcode: 865505
Have you noticed a few of the changes as we seek to be more inclusive? The bathroom signage for example and this next Sunday look four our new sanctuary space dedicated to wheelchairs/walkers/strollers! Thanks, John Rygiel for your expert carpentry!
Sunday, April 3 The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Other announcements/dates to put on your calendar:
E-formation
We are nearing the conclusion of Lent. This Sunday’s gospel story is of Mary of Bethany who at the dinner table anointed Jesus’ body as if he were already dead. We gather together this Sunday, remembering the death of Christ, yet feasting on the life of his body in holy communion. Come: join Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Paul, John, and the rest of us at the feast.
The Readings in the Bible
Although John’s unclear adjective pistikos shows a reliance on Mark, John’s account of a woman anointing Jesus’ feet served his theological purpose. So did Mark’s (14:3-9) and Luke’s (7:36-50) differing accounts, and the rich theological diversity within the New Testament is diminished if the three versions are conflated. John focuses on Jesus’ coming death by referring to Lazarus, who was raised from the grave, and to Passover when Jesus was crucified; the event foreshadows Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet in chapter 13. Jesus’ followers, including those in the late first century who read John’s account, are, like Mary, to “keep” the day of Jesus’ death. Spikenard is an aromatic herbal plant from which burial ointment was made. It is culturally odd that Mary’s hair could be unveiled, but Mary of Bethany and her siblings were friends of Jesus. A denarius is a laborer’s daily wage: thus the perfume was worth nearly a year’s wages.
Second Isaiah is composed of texts that speak comfort to the exiles after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and that proclaim God’s promise to restore the people to their homeland. In this excerpt, the poet uses the image of water to describe the new thing God will do: for the people to enter the Promised Land, the water was parted, yet now God will provide water in the desert. Water functions in a new, even opposite, way.
Writing to the church in Philippi in the mid-50s, Paul argues in this excerpt that the regulations of the Torah are not salvific: rather, it is faith in Christ, who died and is raised, that saves. Paul’s pedigree and autobiography mean nothing. “Rubbish” (v. 8) means “shit”: biblical translators sometimes water down the text to accommodate perceived sensibilities. Paul repeats a first-century Jewish idea (v. 11) that at the parousia, God will raise the faithful dead to new life.