Scriptures for the season up till Easter

Scriptures for 2012

up till Easter Sunday

January 22

Mark 1: 14-20

January 29

Mark 1: 21-28

Jesus silences a evil spirit

February 5

Mark 1: 29-39

February 12

Mark 1: 40-45

February 19

Transfiguration Sunday

II Kings 2: 1-13 Elisha becomes the prophet

February 26

First Sunday in Lent

Mark 1: 9-15 Temptation of Jesus

March 4

Second Sunday in Lent

Mark 8: 31-38

March 11

Third Sunday in Lent

John 2: 13-22 Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple

March 18

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Numbers 21: 4-9

John 3: 14-21

March 25

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

John 12: 20-26

April 1

Palm/Passion Sunday

Mark 14: 1-15

HOLY WEEK

Among Us

He is born…with those words a new time begins for humanity. A new understanding of God is born with the Child in the manger. God is no more removed: "out there;" but He is here, "Immanuel, God with us."

All children understand the importance of the loving touch of their parents. Studies in Russia during the last century show us that children without human touch soon wither and die. It is the same way with us in our God/human relationship. If God is simply "out there," we lose interest and feel abandoned. An impersonal God is a meaningless God.

But, when God becomes personal to us, things change. When we feel and understand the loving immediate presence of God, our own lives become more vibrant and more concerned with the world about us. Truly Christian people are involved in some way with their world. They are not simply removed from the world, but immersed in it. They are so because of the revelation of God in Christ: the child who grew into a man, suffered, died, and rose again to express to us the way in which God loves us all.

So, the Child in the manger. God's expression of His love for us. Immanuel…God is with us. There can be no more important revelation in the world than this one: "God so love the world that he sent his only begotten Son…"

Amen.

Curtis Rivers

All Saints

All Saints Sunday is the first Sunday of November. This is the day when we recall the lives of those who have gone on before us and who have impacted our lives with their goodness and love. It is one of those great celebrations of The Church, and is one of the most important days of the Christian year.

Each year, as we approach this time, I think of those good people who have affected my life. I recall the death of a saintly woman in my first appointment: Mrs. Pinkie Parker. She had worked all her life in a local mill, and her hands were so gnarled with arthritis that she could hardly grasp anything. That did not deter her love for children, however, and she expressed it in a most sacrificial way.

Every infant who arrived in the Almon community would receive a gift from Mrs. Parker: a set of hand-crocheted booties. She labored endlessly to create one such pair of shoes because of her affliction, yet she was never deterred in making those wonderful gifts for little children.

I sometimes wonder how many households in that community hold a simple pair of handmade shoes for an infant? I'd be willing to say there are many packed away or displayed as gifts of sacrifice and love.

The gifts of the saints of The Church are often small like Mrs. Pinkie Parker's. Tiny gifts of words or deeds which touch untold lives with a touch of love which springs from the heart of God. They are gifts of great importance, for they remind us of lives so touched by God's love that they continue to reach out across years of time: long after the giver has died.

Every year at All Saints, I remember Pinkie Parker. I recall those tiny gifts of love and labor which were, to me and to many of that community, an expression of a greater love that filled the heart of a simple woman from Georgia.

Saints of The Church. They walk among us…simple people so seemingly insignificant on the scale of world events that it is easy to miss them. Their impact, however, is often life-changing, and their love leads people toward God by simple inspiration.

Curtis Rivers

10/30.11

Loving...

Sunday's scripture is about the Pharisees' asking Jesus about which is the greatest commandment. He replies with the Shema: "Hear O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, (He adds this one…with all your mind), and with all your strength." Jesus then says: "This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it; "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

In our world of so much anger and hatred it is hard to see this last commandment being lived out in our society. A current conservative infatuation with the writings of Ayn Rand and her atheistic philosophy of capitalism which she called Objectivism, makes it hard to get people to hear about loving neighbor amid the cries of "What's mine is mine." So much current conservative opinion calls for the divorcement of politics from faith. I find it disheartening.

One major political candidate has called for the building of a deadly fence on the border to kill those who try to pass. His call reflects the even-harsher cries of white supremacist groups, euro-centrics, and Neo Nazis who are calling for the deaths of those who try to enter our nation illegally. Such cruelty is so normative among some groups that it has become a pervasive major then in our national dialogue.

And, there is the gun lobby who think that self-defense is a primary right and discipline we all should practice. At the heart of their call is a distinct divide from the ethics taught by Christ.

Indeed, a call for fairness in demonstrations on Wall Street are met with cries of selfishness from many. Many do not see the role of government as a caring institution, but leave that to individuals who may be so called. Despite the fact that this would lead to massive hardship and the eventual death of people unable to care for themselves, there are many who believe that we are simply individuals, not a community.

All these things are disheartening to those of us who believe in truly loving our neighbor as the goal to which we are all called. So we stand and plead for others to come to the stance to which Christ calls us all: the Law of Love.

Curtis Rivers

10/16/11

Ramblings from The Fall...

I wonder what’s so wrong

With the notion

Of caring for each other?

Our politicians fight

Endlessly about this...

Which you would think

Is such a simple thing

Of mutual love and responsibility.

But we disagree;

Whether one deserves love,

Another deserves care,

Or another’s too lazy,

Or too different in color,

Or language,

Or custom.

So the wealthy ride by

In Maybach limousines

Or Rolls Royces

Or only in the grandeur

Of their own minds,

While the poor

Long for bread,

For clothes,

For a place to lie down

Where it’s warm...

We get lost

In getting and spending...

And making it

To the top.

Perhaps it might help

If we remembered

That God

Lives at the bottom, too.

10/7/11 CR

What if we were a Christian nation?

What would the US look like if it were a Christian nation?

1. Nobody would go hungry.

2. Medical care would be available for all.

3. No person would go without shelter.

4. Sharing rather than "HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS," would be the norm.

5. Hate would die, and love would live.

6. Racism would cease to exist.

7. Everybody would be "somebody."

8. Politicians would quit fighting over ideology and start working on the needs of people.

9. Everybody would be welcome at the table…all colors, undocumented immigrants, the poor, the sick…Nobody would be pushed aside.

10. Moral courage would be the norm, not the exception.

11. No child would truly ever be "left behind."

12. The airways would be filled with love and laughter rather than anger and hate.

13. "Talking heads" who spew hatred would lose their audience.

14. There would be no "least" among us, for we all would be valued.

15. ...

The list goes on.

Would you like to add to it?

In Christ,

Curtis

Tired of this loneliness

Thought I'd share a little of my poetry with you. This poem was written late one evening while sitting at the table in our dining area.

Tired of the loneliness

That I've always known,

Tired of the emptiness

That makes my heart groan.

Tired of the longing

For someone to care,

O Lord, if you're listening,

Please, hear my prayer.

O Lord, fill my emptiness,

Fill my despair,

Fill up this heart of mine,

This is my prayer.

Shine your light upon me

Help me to know

Plant yourself within my soul

And let that seed grow.

Light falls around me

So bright I can't see,

I feel you, I feel you, Lord,

I feel you fill me.

Thank you dear Father,

I now know you care,

Thank you for loving me,

For hearing my prayer.

8/1/11 CR