Holy One in Three
and Three in One,
Let me dance with you.
I may not understand
how you can be three distinct persons living in unity,
how you can sing in unison and harmony at the same time,
But I do not need to understand in order to trust your Presence.
I need not Know in order to Love as you love,
as you open the circle to me
and invite me into your dance,
into your grace,
into your wholeness and holiness,
into your love.
Let it be so. Let me dance with you. Amen.
This is it, the final candle in our Lenten journey! We’ve extinguished the candles of temptation, searching, and confession. We recognized joy as an important part of trusting God, and last week we recognized sorrow as an unavoidable part of being human. This week, they all come together in the candle of salvation.
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LENT 5A The Candle of Sorrow
We’ve experienced temptation, searching, confession, and joy through these weeks of Lent.
Today we recognize sorrow.
Let’s review:
Candle 1 – Temptation –We heard about Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan.
Candle 2 – Searching – Lent is a season when we search for God, just as Nicodemus came searching for Jesus in the middle of the night.
Candle 3 – Confession – We recognized that we confess our sins, and we confess the truth that Jesus is Lord. We heard how a Samaritan woman confessed to her neighbors that she had met the Savior of the world, and they believed her.
This week brings us to the Candle of Joy …
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If you missed the liturgy for the first week, you can find it here. The liturgy for the second week is here. This week’s liturgy reflects the story of the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at a well. While Nicodemus came to Jesus at night (John 3:1-17), this woman meets Jesus in broad daylight. And she immediately confesses to her neighbors that she has met Messiah.
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If you missed the liturgy for last week, you can find it here. This week’s liturgy draws on the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night (John 3:1-17). What is he searching for? Why does he think Jesus might have answers for him? And does he ever find what he’s seeking?
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Many Christian churches use an Advent wreath to mark the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Each week, another candle is lit, and some Advent wreaths include a fifth candle in the center, lighting the “Christ Candle” on Christmas Eve.
I grew up in a non-liturgical church. We didn’t celebrate the seasons of the church year – at least not the way our mainline sisters and brothers did. Sure, we had Easter and Christmas, but Lent and Advent? Pentecost? Ordinary time? I had no clue.
Coming into a congregation that observed these sacred seasons shifted my perspective. I grew to love the rhythm of the church year: the waiting, the working, the worship. So when, a few years ago, someone asked if we could do a “reverse Advent wreath” for Lent, I took it as an invitation.
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O Holy Mystery,
infinite, almighty, encompassing the universe,
you came to us as human infant,
God made flesh, glory tucked between your tiny toes;
Love latching onto life –
vulnerable and helpless,
and yet our only help.
Now, in the quiet aftermath of all our frantic striving
to celebrate your birth with our best,
the very best of our best,
we kneel before you,
exhausted,
spent.
Whether we were ready or not, you came.
Whether we are ready or not,
come once again, Lord Jesus.
Latch onto our lives.
Fill us with the mystery of your love,
God made flesh.
Amen.
12/19/2022
We’re coming down to the wire, God. This is the point in Advent where, if I haven’t done it by now, it isn’t going to happen. Those dreams I had of creating the perfect Christmas for my family, my church, myself …. they were lovely, weren’t they, Lord?
But maybe they weren’t the dream you’ve been dreaming all along.
Like the dream you gave Joseph.
Your dream disrupted Joseph’s dreams of the perfect marriage, the perfect family, the perfect life …
Yet Joseph didn’t argue with you (the way I would).
As far as we know, Joseph stayed silent (the way I would not).
Joseph simply obeyed. Mary may have said, “Let it be with me according to your word,” but Joseph quietly acted, even if he didn’t completely understand what you were about to do.
And you chose Joseph, of all the possible people in Nazareth, to be the one who would teach Jesus how to be human.
So, Lord, help us to discern your dreams for us, and make us willing to obey you, just as Joseph did.
Give us courage to abandon our old dreams, dreams that focus on what we want for ourselves, instead of what you want for us. For we know that what you want for us is far greater than anything we can imagine.
Help us to embrace the new dreams you put into our hearts and minds, dreams for peace, for justice, for lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things, dreams for sharing the good news that You are with us, Emmanuel, and you will save us from our sins when we turn to you.
And then, Lord, teach us how to be human, too. Just as Joseph taught Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.
I found this on my phone, as a voice memo from a few years ago. “O give thanks unto the Lord. Praise his name! Praise his name!”
Always. Be. Reforming.
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