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Saturday, April 3, 2021
Watch the Easter Sunday 2021 Virtual Choir
Devotional for Holy Saturday
Today's cross: Made from Pecan wood from
Myers Drug & Boutique in San Angelo, Texas.
Charles
Wesley
JESUS
drinks the bitter cup,
The winepress treads alone;
Tears the graves and mountains up
By his expiring groan;
Lo,
the powers of heave he shakes,
Nature in convulsion lies,
Earth’s profoundest centre quakes!
The great Jehovah dies.
O my
god, he dies for me,
I feel the mortal smart!
See him hanging on the tree,
A sight that breaks my heart!
O
that all to thee might turn!
Sinners, ye may love him too,
Look on him ye pierc’d and mourn
For one who bled for you.
Weep
o’er your desire and hope,
With tears of humblest love!
Sing, for Jesus is gone up,
And reigns entron’d above!
Lives
our head to die no more,
Pow’r is all to Jesus given;
Worship’d as was before,
The immortal King of heaven.
Lord,
we bless thee for thy grace
And truth, which never fail:
Hat’ning to behold thy face
Without a dimming vail.
We
shall see our heavenly King,
Help the angel choirs to sing
Our blest triumphant Lamb.
Friday, April 2, 2021
Scriptural Stations of the Cross
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| In passione et morte Domini (On the passion and death of the Lord) |
Join Pastor Charles for a live reading of the Stations of the Cross on today at Noon, via Zoom at this link.
These stations of the cross are based on those celebrated by Pope John Paul II on Good Friday 1991. They are presented here as an alternative to the traditional stations and as a way of reflecting more deeply on the scriptural accounts of Christ's passion. Follow the Scriptural Stations of the Cross at this link.
Devotional for Good Friday
Today's cross: Mesquite wood crosses bought at the Texas Mesquite
Art Festival @ Old Fort Concho - San Angelo, Texas in 2010.
Charles
Wesley
O JESUS my Hope, for me
offer’d up,
Who with clamour pursued thee to Calvary's top:
The blood thou hast shed, for me let it plead,
And declare thou hast died in thy murderer's stead.
Now, now let me know its
virtue below!
Let it wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,
Let it hallow my heart, and throughly convert!
And make me, O Lord, in the world as thou art.
Each moment applied my
weakness to hide,
Thy blood be upon me, and always abide:
My Advocate prove with the Father above,
And speak me at last to the throne of thy love.
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Holy Week message from Bishop Oliveto
Greetings, friends, as we prepare to experience Easter Joy once again.
Today we will gather around a table to remember Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. Whether we are with others in person or virtually, we will recall the night Jesus gathered in the upper room and washed the feet of his disciples. We, too, will take the bread and cup and be nourished by the spiritual food Christ offers us and be made one through the meal.
And we will recall the new, the final commandment Jesus gave, when he turned to them and said, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
But then, the world is turned upside down by hate and death as Jesus is arrested, tried, convicted, scorned, nailed to a cross and buried in a tomb.
Love one another, just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.
In the space between Maundy Thursday and Easter morning it feels as if love has lost. Love seems to have no strength in the face of the powers and principalities that be. And the disciples, the ones whose love should be shining bright, turn from love, turn from Jesus himself, running to protect themselves and even denying they knew him.
I look at our world and in my weakest moments I wonder if love is enough. I look at the heavy cost of racism on siblings of color and I ask myself, where is the love? I see people walking around without masks while a virus still rages and I ask myself, where is the love?
I see children living in poverty and I ask myself, where is the love? I see people alienated, ostracized from their families because of who they are, what they’ve done, what they do, who they love, and I ask myself, where is the love?
How are you making your love visible? Can people tell by the love that you share that you are a follower of Jesus?
Where is the love?
Sometimes it feels as if we have gotten stuck in Holy Saturday’s shadows. The silence too loud to bear, the void too empty, the despair too great. We break our solidarity with one another and with God. All that escapes from us are sighs too deep for words.
Thank God that God doesn’t leave us there. For Easter is coming. The women will come to the tomb and find it empty. Love’s redeeming work is done as death no longer has the final say.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
As Easter morning dawns, may you discover God’s resurrection power which busts us all from our tombs of despair, of violence, of hate to reach for love, which makes all things new. May the many places of death in our lives and world be overcome by Love’s power. May our relationships, our communities, our homes, be infused with this love in which God invites us to participate in life together.
As you view the empty tomb, may you see the living Christ all around you: in the phone call from a friend, in the child who reaches for your hand, in the one who asks for small change at an intersection, in the tear-stained face of one who has felt the sting of racism.
And then may we all soar where Christ has led, following our exalted head, to make Love the visible testimony of our commitment to Jesus as we seek to do the work he began.
May you have a joyous experience of Easter this year!
With love,
Bishop Karen
Virtual Holy Thursday service
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| Mandatum novum do vobis ut (A new commandment I give you) |
Prelude
Entrance: — Pastor Charles and Amy A.
We join a solemn journey of
three days that has changed the world and our own lives. Followers of Jesus
have been taking this journey since His first followers took it, long ago. This
is the night of love.
On the night Jesus took a towel
and basin and washed His disciples' feet. On this night He told them to do the
same for others to show their love for Him and for one another. This is the
night of love.
On this night, followers of
Jesus have invited those preparing for baptism to begin with them a solemn
vigil of prayer and fasting until the day of Christ's resurrection is
fulfilled. This is the night of love.
On this night, Jesus broke
bread and shared wine with His followers for the last time and invited them to
remember Him to encounter Him anew, whenever they did the same. This is the
night of love.
On this night, followers of
Jesus have welcomed those who have returned to the way of Jesus after a time of
wandering and a journey of returning. This is the night of love.
This is the night of love.
And so, on this night, we
welcome the penitent --
all here have wandered- -
and invite all preparing --
all here are still learning --
to join us in hearing and obeying
the commandment of our Master
and to feast at His table,
that we may love one another
as He has loved us.
Come, ye sinners.
Come, ye thirsty.
Come, ye weary.
Come to the night of love.
Hymn: “Come and Fill Our Hearts (Confitemini Domino),” The Taizé Community
Lectio, Reflectio and
Collectio: Inviting All to Listen and Obey the Spirit
Readers: Martha B., Don B., and Louise C.
Reading: John 13:1-7, 12-16,
34-35
The gospel is read three times, with pauses between each reading
for reflection. .
Music: "Holy Spirit, Come to us” (Veni Sanctae Spiritus) The Taizé Community
Sermon: “What’s love got to do with it?” — Pastor
Charles
Music: “In the Lord I'll Be Ever Thankful,” The Taizé Community
Pastor: This is the night of love. And this is the table of love. At this table, Christ, who loves us, is with us. He is with us, and we are His. We belong to God.
And so, we pray:
We are Yours, all Yours, blessed Triune God, all our lives, all our thanks, all our praise, all our fears, all our grumbling, all our hesitations, all our loves, all our joys, all our passions, we give them all to You, with bodies, and minds and voices. Yours, all Yours!
Yours the blessing, Yours the
praise, from the unimaginable silence before the big bang, beyond the farthest
reaches of time and space we may ever find, from infinity to infinity,
everlasting to everlasting, You are God, boundless in love and power.
What are we that you should
notice us? What are we that you should love us? What are we that you should call us into covenant with You, a covenant we continually broke and you continuously sustained. Mercy! How full of mercy!
How can we but praise You, joining
our voices with the song of angels and saints, seraphim and martyrs, strangers,
and family in every generation:
Jesus Christ who comes in our
God's name, You are worthy, worthy! Lamb of God for all creation slain, You are worthy, worthy! Hosanna to our King! Hosanna to our King!
You are holy, O God! You are
worthy, O Christ worthy in Your birth! Worthy in Your living!
Worthy in Your loving! Worthy in Your serving!
Worthy! Worthy! Worthy! You
preached good news that God's kingdom has drawn near and gathered disciples,
then and now, to learn and show the world what life in God's reign means:
Healing for the sick, new life for the dead, cleansing for the lepers, sight for the blinded, food for the hungry, freedom for the possessed, love poured out for all.
Worthy the night You took a towel and basin, washed Your disciples'
feet, and taught them to do likewise.
Worthy too, the same night we betrayed You, when You took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to Your disciples. Worthy when You told them, "This is my body broken for you. Remember me." We remember.
Worthy when You took the cup, praised God and shared it, and worthy when You said, "This is my blood of the new covenant for you. Remember me." We remember.
We remember, and we praise You with
our lives and these gifts of bread and wine, proclaiming with one voice the
mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Come upon us, Holy Spirit. Come upon us, Holy Spirit.
Come upon these gifts. Come upon these gifts.
Make them be for us Christ's body, Christ's blood. Make us one body in Christ enlivened in love by His blood.
One in heart, one in mind, one
in you, Holy Spirit, as you move us to pray for the church and the world: That
we may proclaim the gospel boldly: Hear us, Lord.
That healing may come for
people who are sick, and peoples who are torn and weary: Hear us, Lord.
That many dead and left for
dead may be raised, and death itself vanquished: Hear us, Lord.
That all who are unclean may
receive Your cleansing grace: Hear us, Lord.
That all who are possessed,
oppressed, distressed, depressed and downcast may be set free at last. Hear us, Lord.
That we may love one another,
and all Your creation, as You have loved us. Hear us, Lord.
Even so, come and fill this feast, Holy Spirit, on this night, and every night until we eat it new at the marriage supper of the Lamb! All blessing, honor, glory, and power be Yours, Holy Triune God, now and forever. Amen!
The Lord’s Prayer
Receiving together
Thanksgiving after Communion:
Thank You, God, for uniting us with Jesus in
this holy mystery. We are no longer our own, but Yours. So, send us, and put us
to leading and serving, loving as You have loved us wherever we go. Amen.
Music: “O Lord, Hear My Prayer,” The
Taizé Community
Pastor: This is the night of love. Go forth in the strength of this
feast, in the care of this community, and with the love and blessing of our
Triune God. Amen.
Postlude:
__________________________________________________________
Amy A. (liturgist), Belinda A. (slides/recording), Lorie C. (piano), & Ron R. (song leader)
Burton-Edwards, Taylor. (n.d.) Maundy Thursday in an Alternative/Emergent Mode. Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church. www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/maundy-thursday-in-an-alternativeemergent-mode
Devotional for Holy Thursday
Today's cross: Communion cross found by Pastor Charles
in a drawer at Osmond UMC, Osmond, Nebraska in 1996.
Isaac Watts
‘TWAS on that dark, that
solemn night,
When powers of death and hell arose
Against the Son of God’s delight,
And friends betray’d him to his foes:
Before the mournful scene
began,
He took the bread, and blest, and brake!
What love through all his actions ran!
What wondrous words of grace he spake!
This is my body broke for
sin;
Receive and eat the living food:
Then took the cup, and blest the wine,
Tis the new cov’nant of my blood.
Do this, he cried, till
time shall end;
In mem’ry of your dying Friend;
Meet at my table, and record
The love of your departed Lord.
Jesus, thy feast we celebrate,
We show thy death, we sing thy name,
Till thou return, and we shall eat
The marriage-supper of the Lamb.
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