Lenten Devotional: Fri, Feb 19: MOUNTAIN
We’re surrounded by mountains. Our lives are bounded by peaks and valleys, notches and cliffs. When we look toward the horizon, we read it through the heights and depths of the landscape. Light breaks over it, sinks behind it.
To gain perspective, we can go up those slopes. Or walk down them. The steps along the way also matter, since it’s the journey that shapes us. Yet the destination delivers its own gifts.
Summits promise a chance for respite. They serve as a reminder and opportunity to set ourselves apart with time and distance. To create space to collect and center ourselves. To focus. Or to let go .
Seeking out such places also gives us a sense of proportion. We are in the presence of elements larger than ourselves. More eternal. Without awareness or care for our presence, unchanged by our footsteps on their spines. Yet being there changes us.
Remember that self-care and spiritual wellbeing include break time. Like Christ choosing to leave behind the crowds and take time to pray on the mountain, we can follow this model. Removing ourselves from daily needs and demands. Putting aside schedules and deadlines. Permitting ourselves the chance to grow quiet, whether it’s during the walk up and down the mountain, or lingering at the top.
We are invited to find a time and place to be in the presence of ourselves. We are especially guided to also keep company with the unlimited and eternal: Godself. — Rev Gail
Meditations:
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. ― John Muir
If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options.
You can climb it and cross to the other side.
You can go around it.
You can dig under it.
You can fly over it.
You can blow it up.
You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there.
You can turn around and go back the way you came.
Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.
― Vera Nazarian
Kid, you’ll move mountains. ― Dr. Seuss
Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing. ― Barry Finlay
Challenge or Question: What part of your day, and what space, can you set aside as a sacred place and time to grow quiet, focused, and centered, in communion with self and creator? Make it a practice through Lent to honor the same few moments, in a consistent place if possible, to create this set-apart time.
Lenten Devotional – Thurs, Feb 18: CROWDS
Right now, the term ‘crowds’ feels like a bad word. A no-no. As if it comes with fines and punishments. Don’t be caught in a crowd!
We’ve become somewhat accustomed to keeping apart from each other. To distancing. To isolation.
Yet as humans, we’re designed for socialization. For connection. For interaction. In a way, many of us will probably welcome crowds when it’s safe to gather again.
And yet, we’ve been connecting, one way or another, all along, haven’t we? Digital and virtual connections: email, messages, texts. Cards and letters. Phone calls. Zoom chats. Walks outside. Drive-by drop-offs and visits. Small quaran-team circles of connection.
Don’t you find, there’s a crowd in your mind and heart, even if you’re alone? Voices from the past. Personalities from the present. Your memory and your imagination populate life with folks that have something to say to you. Who have shaped your life. Influenced you.
Within that crowd, who do you choose as a leader? Mentor? Guide?
To whom are you listening? A crowd can be a mob. Or it can be a team and a community. Cultivate relationships that lead you away from the crowds that become mobs, and connect you to teams that form community. — Rev Gail
Meditations:
Walking into the crowd was like sinking into a stew – you became an ingredient, you took on a certain flavour. ― Margaret Atwood
I won’t tell you that the world matters nothing, or the world’s voice, or the voice of society. They matter a good deal. They matter far too much. But there are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands. You have that moment now. Choose! ― Oscar Wilde
The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom. ― Osho
Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players. — Larry Bird
Two’s company and three’s a crowd, but seven can be an uprising. And the seven can become 70 or 700 or 7000 very quickly if the sense of being wronged is felt broadly and truly enough. — Michael Leunig
Challenge or Question: What word of kindness can you offer each day? Find at least one person you can compliment, praise, or thank. Try it again, every day, through Lent.
Beatitude Devotional: Wed, Feb 17 – SAW
WEEK 1: Scripture from Matthew 5: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them …
Reflection on words from Beatitudes
Wed, Feb 17 (Ash Wednesday): SAW
To see. To be seen.
Today we burn palm leaves from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration. We burn away the innocent cheerfulness and euphoria — the ‘pomp and circumstance’ — of last year’s Hosannas. Truthfully, we may have a tough time remembering hosannas from last year — it has been a long twelve months. Symbolically, we burn away outer layers, veils and masks, and the external armor that hides us.
As we burn the leaves, we let go of something. We also reveal something.
The green leaves have dried and yellowed. They are only the memory of some portion of our lives that we’ve clung to — preserved for a year — now released by flames. In the flames, they curl and shrivel. Grow black and gray. Change to charcoal, soot and ash.
Today we gather up whatever is left, whatever didn’t go up in smoke. We scoop ashes. Combine them with the oil of anointing, and wear them.
Today is a confession. It’s a submission. It’s a surrender.
Today we bow our heads or fall to our knees, so we can rise again. Rise: known, named, claimed. Rise: beloved.
Oh, to be sure, we don’t become suddenly perfect as we confess. We’re as imperfect as ever. We’re as messy and broken as before, and also as beautiful and possible, as before. Yet we are also accepted and forgiven.
In this moment, we drop our guard. Look into the face of God, or ask God to look upon our faces. Doing so, we invite the experience of being fully seen, fully known.
Afterward, sooty leftovers grace our skin as thumbprints, crosses, or circles. We wear Christ’s fingerprints. Mark ourselves. Allow ourselves to be marked.
Thus, at our best, we are honest in these moments when we bare ourselves to holy Love. After all, what’s the benefit of hiding from Godself? We’ve been seen and known all along. The only ones from whom we really hide are ourselves, and maybe other people. God knows us, whether we choose to be known or not.
Yet it makes a difference, when we choose to participate, and to offer ourselves to the Love that sees us. Especially when we then turn toward the world, bearing the mark of being seen and known, and loved. — Rev Gail
Meditations:
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ― Confucius
The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love. ― Meister Eckhart
Challenge: Look in the mirror. And with kindness, with compassion, meet your own eyes and tell yourself you are loved. If you have the chance, look someone else in the eye, and hold that gaze for 10 seconds, and at the end of it, tell the other person, “You are loved.”
Ash Wednesday Schedule: Feb 17
- ASHES to GO
8-10am • JTown Deli
Ashes available in individually-prepared packages, on take-away cards, or in-person from Rev Gail. COVID precautions required: masks and hand sanitizing. - ASHES to GO
11am-1pm • JCC Sanctuary
Ashes available in individually-prepared packages, on take-away cards, or in-person from Rev Gail. COVID precautions required: masks and hand sanitizing. - ASHES to GO
4-4:30pm • Shannon Door
Ashes available in individually-prepared packages, on take-away cards, or in-person from Rev Gail. COVID precautions required: masks and hand sanitizing. - ASHES to GO
6-7pm • JCC Sanctuary
Ashes available in individually-prepared packages, on take-away cards, or in-person from Rev Gail. COVID precautions required: masks and hand sanitizing. - ASH WEDNESDAY WORSHIP
7pm • Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/142985761?pwd=T214WDhHRmxoYXE0dWRCNk53SFppQT09.
Option: Call on touch-tone phone: 929.436.2866, Meeting ID: 142985761, Password: 603603.
Join us for scripture and prayer. Join us (email church for link) for a brief observance of Ash Wednesday. Note that we are also offering ‘Ashes to Go’ throughout the day: 8-10am (JTown), 11am-1pm (JCC), 4-4:30pm (Shannon Door), 6-7pm (JCC).
LENTEN PROGRAMS
MINDFULNESS for INTENTIONAL WELLBEING
with Anjali Rose
Sundays: Feb 28 & March 14
3-4:15pm • Zoom
The deacons at JCC have crafted this two-part series with Anjali Rose to provide a free self-care and mindfulness experience for our faith community. This experience is open to all. Friends and members welcome.
What is Mindfulness and how better might we use this technique to create well-being in our community and lives?
During this Mindfulness for Intentional Well-being (2 part series), Anjali Rose, MEd. 500 RYT, RMT will guide us in exploring the nuances of mindfulness, focusing on the subtle differences each of us can attain in creating awareness for healthy living. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment with openness and curiosity.
It has a variety of research-backed impacts, including reduction in stress, and improvements in job satisfaction, emotional regulation, and focus.Mindfulness is a state, a trait, and a practice.
Mindfulness can be thought of a “state,” a “trait” or a “practice.” You can have a moment of mindfulness, which is the state of your mind. You can also have a sustained experience that is more like a habit or strong tendency to be mindful, a trait. Or you can engage in a more intentional practice of mindfulness by using different forms, postures and activities, such as seated mindfulness meditation, mindful walking, and mindful eating. (Mindfulschools.org)
To join us on Sunday February 28 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Sunday March 14 from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. to explore Mindfulness within this workshop series, simply register here.
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A FATHER’S KADISH
Sun, March 21
4pm • Zoom
Event is free, registration will be required.
Documentary Screening and Q&A with
Artist/Potter Steve Branfman & Director Jen Kaplan.
Co-sponsored by Mt Washington Valley Chavurah & Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation
A Father’s Kaddish tells the story of how Steven Branfman used the art of pottery to help him work through his grief after the death of his 23-year-old son. The film is a potent and moving journey through the universal experience of loss, mourning and rebuilding a life. To learn more about the film, please visit: afatherskaddish.com.
Join us for a live Q & A with the director Jen Kaplan and the film’s featured artist, potter, instructor and subject Steven Branfman.
STUDY GROUP
The Walk by Adam Hamilton
Tuesdays during LENT
- Zoom link and password required. Email the church for this information: jcchurch@jacksoncommunitychurch.org
- Join Sue Davidson for a bible study focused on The Walk by Adam Hamilton. It helps participants develop five spiritual practices that allow us to walk closer with God.
- A few copies of this book will be available to borrow (sign them out please) as of Wed, Feb 17 at noon, inside the front doors, on the Lent-Easter library shelves.