Date: Tuesday, March 14
Contributor: Cindy Lee
Lectionary Link 
 
A Lenten prayer, based on the themes from today's readings.
 
Heavenly spirit, teach us your paths and guide us through our Lenten journey.
Help us to open our hearts and minds with contrite hearts and humble spirits.
And help us to spread compassion, love and faithfulness, and to embrace patience,  forgiveness, equity and mercy.  Amen

Date: Monday, March 13
Contributor: Ann Trapnell
Lectionary Link  
 
Born and baptized in the Roman Catholic church, as a youngster Lent was always and only about sacrifice and penance for me. There would be no meat on Wednesdays and Fridays (my family observed this all year on Fridays, not just during Lent) and you should give up something of great value to you (such as candy or another favorite food, toy, or activity). While my family converted to the Episcopal church when I was still a child, we continued to observe Lent in this very traditional way throughout my youth.
Over time, Lent has become much more for me. It has evolved into a season of reflection and preparation leading up to the celebrations of Easter.  It has become a season of contemplation and anticipation…and yes, for me, I still find meaning in observing the religious traditions. But now, the season is so much more than sacrifice and penance – it is filled with anticipation and hope.
It turns out that while there are just as many ways to observe Lent as there are people observing this holy season, for me it takes on greater meaning if I use each of the 40 Days as a time to “Just Do Something”. Every year, that something is different – but the options are endless. Each day can include an act that symbolizes the importance of the season: Pray for others, volunteer, send a note to someone you care about, meditate, attend a Ways of the Cross service, abstain from social media, invite a friend to pray with you, read a devotional or bible passage, fast, feed others…the list can go on and on.
This Lenten season, I invite you to join me on my journey to Just Do Something for the 40 days of Lent. Who knows, maybe this will form a habit, and we can keep it up all year. Even if together we can’t change the world, together we CAN change our own little corner – if we all Do Something!
 

Date: Saturday, Mar 11 
Contributor: Jennifer Wright
Lectionary Link 
 
2 Samuel 7:4,8-16
Romans 4:13-18
Luke 2:41-52
Psalm 89:1-29
 
Today is Fathers’ Day according to the daily lections, which is to be expected, since today we celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph. The most pervasive metaphor for God in the Bible is that of God as our Father. So it is very important to think about what fatherhood means to us and whether and how that understanding of fatherhood applies to our relationship with God.
 
Of course, we all tend to understand the concept of fatherhood according to our experience of our earthly fathers. For some, the relationship with their father is so difficult that the metaphor of God as our Father can be a barrier rather than a bridge. But for many, the love we experienced from our fathers gives us a way to begin to understand God’s love for all God’s children.
 
My relationship with my own father was complex. On the one hand, I felt the strength of his love and his faith in me. He told me that I could do anything, and I believed him, which enabled me to dare and try many things. He also had a great talent for joy in living, which he most generously shared with those around him. On the other hand, I sometimes felt that my father didn’t really see me, but only his idea of who I should be. I sometimes felt invisible or misunderstood. My father expected high achievement, and I sometimes felt that I was striving for success more to please him than to meet my own goals.
 
In the reading from 2nd Samuel, Nathan is told that God’s love for him and for his descendants will be everlasting. But God also tells Nathan that, when his descendants sin, God will punish them with human punishments.
 
The psalmist tells us that God is loving and faithful, and that we are blessed when we rejoice before God. On the other hand, God is so incredibly powerful that it is only appropriate to fear God’s power.
 
In Romans, Paul tells us that Abraham is the father of us all, not because of his adherence to the law, but because of his faith in God. God’s expectations of us set forth in the law are too high for anyone to meet, but we can still count on God’s mercy through our faith in God’s love.
 
The Gospel lesson from Luke tells the story of Jesus as a boy in the temple. His parents are terrified when they cannot find Jesus in the caravan of pilgrims returning home from Jerusalem. They scold him for disobedience and for making them worry, but he seems oblivious to their parental anger. Instead, he reminds them that he has a calling greater than simply fulfilling their expectations of him as their son. He has a higher duty to fulfill the expectations that God has set for him, as God’s only Son.
 
It's okay to have complicated, even contradictory feelings about our earthly fathers and even about our heavenly Father. The most important thing is to hold fast to faith in God’s love, underlying all our fears, questions, and rebellions. Ultimately, all will be well, because God’s love can sustain and envelop all of our struggles, anger, fear, and ambivalence.

Date: Friday, Mar 10
Contributor: Robyn Schmidt
Lectionary Link   
 
My reflection is on the Genesis story of Joseph's coat of many colors as the KJV names it.  This story has caught the attention of many persons; Dolly Parton wrote a song about her mother making her a coat out of scraps of fabric - her personal coat of many colors - as she was raised in a very poor family.  The Broadway musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" also held audiences’ attention for years (though I think it must be said that any musical with that much flash and color and excitement would draw attention).  
Though Joseph's dad loved him, he didn't do him any favors in respect to his other sons.  They were so jealous they sought to kill Joseph.  Fortunately for Joseph his brother Reuben prevented that though the outcome could have been just as bad.   At any rate, through God's help and his own perseverance, Joseph eventually won the favor of the Pharoah, and the world was his oyster.
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And that, I believe is the crux of the matter:  God's help and our own perseverance during trying times.  And, the icing on the cake was Joseph's reaction to his brothers later in the  story.  Forgiveness.  Though they sold him into slavery, he grew into a powerful man.  Joseph could have done more than just terrorize his brothers; he could have had them killed as he was that powerful.  Instead he forgives.  This is a lesson for us all:  God's love which informs our perseverance and forgiving any hurt we feel may have been done to us. 

​Date: Thursday, Mar 9
Contributor: Madisen Crow
Lectionary Link 
 
One of the things I have always looked forward to most about the Lenten season is the hymns we get to sing each year. Here is a link to a YouTube recording of the Portsmouth Cathedral choir singing a Lenten hymn, Forty Days and Forty Nights. The cathedral is located on the south coast of England. Here is a picture of the cathedral, courtesy of their website, and the lyrics to the hymn.
                                                                                              
 1. Forty days and forty nights
thou wast fasting in the wild;
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled.

2. Should not we thy sorrow share
and from worldly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with thee to suffer pain?

3. Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
grant we may not faint or fall!

4. So shall we have peace divine:
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us, too, shall angels shine,
such as ministered to thee.

5. Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
ever constant by thy side;
that with thee we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.

Date: Wednesday, Mar 8             
Contributor: Becky Lucas
Lectionary Link 
 
These readings today remind me of my father.  I remember my father speaking in church on Sunday morning, starting off by saying, “I am a miserable sinner.”  It was shocking to me because I didn’t view him that way, as I wasn’t my teenage self yet. Today’s lessons remind us that we all frequently fall short of who Jesus hopes for us to be. It brings me comfort to know that we are clay in God’s hands.  We can be molded in a manner more pleasing to him, if we yield to his loving hands.  The first step, in preparing ourselves to yield to God, is to acknowledge that we do need his help to be the people that he wishes us to be.  That is to acknowledge that we are miserable sinners from time to time. It is my prayer that this Lent we can acknowledge our shortcomings and yield to God’s loving hands and be the beautiful vessels he intends for us.

Date: Tuesday, March 7
Contributor: Kathy Hagan
Lectionary Link  
 
Collect: O God, you willed to redeem us from all iniquity by your Son: Deliver us when we are tempted to regard sin without abhorrence and let the virtue of his passion come between us and our mortal enemy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

One text states that the Hebrew word for sin, het, translated literally means ‘miss the mark’. The Oxford American Dictionary defines iniquity, in part, as ‘gross injustice.’  
Delving more deeply into the collect and the rest of the liturgy for this day, I think about the incredible injustices we see around us in the world and in our own community. And I reflect on how I ‘miss the mark’. 

A friend told me of her neighbor, an immigrant, who as a 10-year-old child started a daily journey at 4 am to fetch water for her family. The trip took nearly two hours each way and then the water had to be boiled before being used. She faced many horrendous situations in her home country. As a young woman she traveled through great peril to find safety here and now strives to learn a new language, a new culture, while struggling to help her children face those same challenges. 
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As I witness the way in which my friend respectfully assists this family, I am aware of how I have missed the mark. As I work through what I perceive to be my own challenges, I forget the basic, foundational commandments of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind and of loving our neighbors as ourselves. I am reminded that I have the ability and the responsibility to clearly and fully observe the world around me including those in my own community. Not only observe them but to be an active participant in loving them as I love myself. I can take steps large and small to witness those around me, to respectfully acknowledge and assist, to advocate for change and to talk about the challenges they face with others.  I am grateful that God allows us to reflect, learn, to grow, and to ask for her help each day as we strive to not miss the mark.  
 

Date: Monday, March 6
Contributor: Barb Hovey
Lectionary Link  
 
Today’s gospel is part of what Luke described as the sermon on the plain. Jesus and his apostles arrived on a plain to be greeted by a multitude of people. In these verses, Jesus gives instructions to love your enemies. There are well known injunctions to turn the other cheek, to be merciful and to forgive.
 
One line stood out to me on the first reading of this lesson: “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. This is commonly described as the Golden Rule. It is an ancient concept and Jesus would have known it as a tenet of Judaism. I am fond of the Golden Rule because it is simply stated but profound.
 
Paul McKenna of Scarboro Missions designed a multi-faith poster showing the Golden Rule in sacred writings from 13 faith traditions. Creating the poster "took five years of research that included consultations with experts in each of the 13 faith groups." This poster has been on permanent display at the Headquarters of the United Nations since 2002.





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​​Date: Saturday, Mar 4   
Contributor: Connie Hendrick
Lectionary Link  
 
Matthew 5:43–48
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
 
Many decades ago, before the Internet and personal computers and online language databases, I studied Middle English as a graduate student.  It was the age of pen and paper, manual typewriters, and vinyl records. We listened for hours to recordings of Middle English prose and poems, eventually reciting along with the well-known pieces.  And when the word Lenten was heard, I knew the poem/song following would describe exuberant, riotous, and earthy springtime.
 
Lenten ys come with love to toune,
With blosmen ant with briddes roune,    
   That al this blisse bryngeth.
 
(From: The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript)
 
I understood that springtime comes with love to town, with blossoms and birds’ secret songs, bringing all this bliss.
 
The Middle English noun Lenten means springtime, derived from the Old English lencten (the lengthening of daylight hours, spring, springtime) and related to Old High German lenzin (spring). Eventually the term Lenten or Lent acquired a specialized usage describing the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, a period of abstinence and penance.  And yes, it takes place in springtime and the lengthening of daylight, but how do I reconcile our modern penitential Lent with the exuberant Lenten of Middle English prose and poetry. Perhaps my focus will be that both, conceptually, are about renewal and love.  Matthew’s verses in today’s gospel speak of love. 
Radical love.
Perfect love. 
​And Lenten has come with love to town.

Date: Friday, Mar 3
Contributor: Gayle Marsh
Lectionary Link 
 
Psalm 130:4-5
I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.
 
A lot of waiting and watching happens in the wee hours. Darkness magnifies fear. Limited vision and creaky nocturnal disturbances have accompanied humanity for millennia. The sixteenth century Cornish Peasants Litany contains the phrase:
“From ghoulies and ghosties and longleggety beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us!”

I ponder and join cycle of prayers offered 24/7 worldwide in faith communities and monasteries around the clock. We are not alone. Angels are present. Joining the communion of all saints past, present and yet to come brings a hopefulness and peace that dispels our fight to fall asleep or get back to sleep. There is comfort as my ever watchful canine companion, Abby, ALWAYS gets up to be with me. And, we note the faithfulness of DOG as GOD spelled backwards. Historically, watchmen are members of a body of people who stay awake to observe villages and towns overnight. In Israel’s time watchers kept track of livestock as we recall shepherds alert at Jesus birth. Few towns had walls to maintain boundaries to protect from poachers or “enemy” attack. Watchers monitor the possibility of fire, of riot, and all manner of things “that go bump in the night”.
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For whom are we are called to stay alert for?
What invitation awaits as we keep watch?