THIS SUNDAY: March 29, 2020, Zoom; Contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com
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Dear Pilgrims of Lent,
What a wonderful gift it was to see many of you this past Sunday afternoon! From OR to NM, we gathered together. Thank you, all, for tuning in on Zoom this past Sunday. We will connect again this coming Sunday, March 29, 2020, 4-5 pm, via Zoom. I will send out the link to Zoom on Saturday night, and look forward to checking in and seeing all of you again as we move forward on our pilgrimage to Easter.
This Sunday is the fifth Sunday of Lent, or the last Sunday before Palm Sunday, and then Easter. The focus Scripture is John 11:1-45. Jesus and his disciples are drawing near to Jerusalem, and Calvary, and to the cross. The text actually says that they are “two miles away” from Jesus’ death and mourning, to the tomb, and soon enough, to the empty tomb. Jesus and his disciples had gathered in Bethany, where Jesus’ best friends—Mary, Martha, and Lazarus—lived. This is a powerful story, a foretelling of the death and resurrection of Jesus, in which friend Lazarus has died, and Jesus raises him from his own death. What cannot be missed in this reading is the sorrow and grief that consumes the family and friends of Lazarus at his passing. As many in our Fellowship have been touched recently by the passing away of loved ones, we can relate to the sorrow that everyone around the grieving family is experiencing. In my grief, I re-read portions of Yale theologian Nicholas Wolterstorff’s book, Lament for a Son, the story of his experience of grief when his 25-year-old son, Eric, unexpectedly died: “God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers…It is said of God that no one can behold his face and live. I always thought this meant that no one could see his splendor and live. A friend said perhaps it meant that no one could see his sorrow and live. Or perhaps his sorrow is splendor…Instead of explaining our suffering God shares it.” This idea of God being the suffering God who shares in the suffering of others is embodied in Jesus, who openly wept on hearing of Lazarus' death. Join us this Sunday as we explores the contours of faith in the heart that suffers.
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Our service project this Lent is gathering 40 pieces of clothing (for the 40 days of Lent), and donating them to SnowCap, a non-profit that will gladly take our clothes for those in need. Still collect these clothes, and when we meet again, bring them, and we will take them to SnowCap.
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Events!
March 29, 4-5 pm, Zoom Conference Call
April 5, Palm Sunday! 4-5 pm Zoom Conference Call
April 12, Easter! TBD
April 19, 4-5 pm Zoom Conference Call
April 26 4-5 pm Zoom Conference Call
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Requests
* We also have plenty of beautiful leather bracelets for each member of the community! Pick one up this Sunday!
* In the coming months, Pastor Chris and I will be quoting from and referencing sections from the book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily by Joan Chittister, a Benedictine monk, who, in this book, focuses on the nature of living life in an intentional Christian community, which is our aim as Community of Pilgrims. We can either order books for those interested and sending in a request for so-many copies, or feel free to order it or buy it from your favorite book distributor. Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Joan Chittister, San Francisco: Harper One.
* Another book for our consideration: The Intentional Christian Community Handbook by David Janzen (Paraclete Press, 2013). We may use this book as we delve deeper into understanding what it means to be an intentional Christian community of faith.
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
For people with kids at home unexpectedly.
For those who have lost their jobs or are unable to work.
For first-responders and medical personnel.
For the high-school seniors who are missing out on key transitional moments like prom and graduation.
For the prison population, who might be at higher risk due to close quarters.
For those of Asian descent facing the added burden of racial prejudice.
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Poem
Blackbirds, by Julie Cadwallader-Staub
I am 52 years old, and have spent
Truly the better part
Of my life out-of-doors
But yesterday I heard a new sound above my head
A rustle, ruffling quietness in the spring air.
And when I turned my face upward
I saw a flock of blackbirds
Rounding a curve I didn’t know was there
And the sound was simply all those wings
Just feathers against air, against gravity
And such a beautiful winning
The whole flock taking a long, wide turn
As if of one body and one mind.
How do they do that?
Oh, if we lived only in
Human society
With its cruelty and fear
Its apathy and exhaustion
What a puny existence
That would be
But instead we live and love and have
Our being
Here, in this curving and soaring world
So that when, every now and then,
Mercy and tenderness triumph in our lives
And when, even more rarely, we manage to unite
And move together
Toward a common good,
We can think to ourselves:
Ah yes, this is how it’s meant to be.
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Buen Camino!
Pastors Brett & Chris
Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com Rev. Chris Dungan chrisdungan1@msn.com