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The Church of the Ascension in the City of New York

Saturday, March 31, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 85:1-7
Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-53

"God, give me forgiveness." "God, give me peace." "God, grant me salvation." "God, answer my prayers!"

We all seek God for something at different times in our lives. Where's the proof He is listening? Where is the tangible evidence that He does answer us? I have not noticed anyone standing at the top of the Empire State Building with a microphone personally delivering God's answers. I have not gotten any e-mail messages from God.com describing how the world will be united in peace. Does that mean He has turned away from us?

It is hard for me not to look for ultra-obvious signs because I so want the answers to be that simple. Sometimes I do not want to have to pay so much attention. I want it bold and clear!

Nevertheless, I wonder... Maybe God's way of answering us has not changed from the seemingly overt ways described in so many stories in The Bible. Maybe in our complicated, techno-savvy lives we have just lost our ability to recognize His answers. Isn't it possible that the modern conveniences of travel and communication that we take for granted such as, airplanes, cars, telephones, and the internet could all be part of God's master plan for bringing the world together? What if God continually gives us the tools we have been praying for so that we may become one world united and our eyes just are not open enough to see them?

Also, what about the answers to my personal concerns? Is it possible forgiveness came when God welcomed me back into his home by bringing me to Ascension? Perhaps He brought peace to me partly in the form of my new apartment, which has become my safe place. I have a feeling my salvation comes in the joy I get out of being an uncle to my niece and nephew.

Maybe God is working as hard as He can to answer our prayers and bring us together and we just need to pay more attention.

Christopher Montella (2001)

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Friday, March 30, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 18:1-7
Jeremiah 20:7-13
John 10:31-42

In today's Gospel reading, religious leaders were upset with Jesus and charged him with blasphemy because of his claim that he was the Son of God. Jesus, however, argued with them by stating that he was doing the works of the Father. Therefore, if they do not believe Jesus' words, then they should believe his works.

I am an educator, and I know the best way to lead and teach is through example. Today's Gospel reading gives us an excellent case for teaching and leading by example. The lessons Jesus spoke and taught were important, but it was also important for him to demonstrate his good works to those he taught. To be an effective teacher, Jesus needed to demonstrate his teachings. Theories and research on student learning confirm that students learn in many different ways. For instance, some students are visual learners; some learn by reading; and some learn through experience.

Effective educators know that teachers need to use a variety of methods to help students learn. For instance, many of today's college students must complete volunteer activities to fulfill their graduation requirements. Educators call this service-learning. The goal of service learning is for students to learn about our societal issues (e.g., homeless, health care, poverty, environmentalism) through their firsthand experience in addition to their lectures and readings.

Research shows that learning through experience is a powerful method of teaching. Jesus knew this. Not only did he "talk the talk", but he "walked the walk" as well.

Steve Hubbard

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Thursday, March 29, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 105:4-11
Genesis 17:1-8
John 8:51-59

He is mindful of his covenant forever.

Psalm 105 focuses on God's promise to Abraham and his offspring, the reading from Genesis details God's commitment to Abraham's descendents (His "chosen ones") in an everlasting covenant, and in John's gospel reading, Jesus asks His followers to keep His word and they will never taste death, reminding them of His covenant with Abraham.

God's promise, His word, His covenant – each of today's readings emphasizes the commitment we have been given by God if we listen to His teachings. It seems so simple. Why, then, is making and keeping that commitment so hard for me on a day to day basis?

Lent is a time to focus on what is really important, eliminating the material distractions and the petty annoyances of daily living, to live as a Christian. Like any discipline, it takes practice to focus on the importance of keeping our word, being true to our beliefs in the real, everyday world. The difficulty comes when you realize that you are not dealing with concepts, but people; not commandments written in stone but personalities formed by the trial and error of human frailty. The challenge is to make a realistic commitment to God, acknowledge our weaknesses and learn from our mistakes.

Here's my promise: I'll keep trying. Have a holy Lent.

Denise Kelly

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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Canticle 13 (BCP, p.90)
Daniel 3:14-20,24-28
John 8:31-42

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. ...I tell you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
John 8:31

John is a great gospel to read when struggling with truth and lies. John shows us that following the truth leads us to Jesus, who is the Truth, and the Way to God's love. God's love frees us from the lies and sins that enslave us.

Struggling with lies is a part of life. The lies we hear when we are young and the lies we continue to hear need to be brought to the truth of God. The song, "Carefully Taught" from South Pacific contains the familiar line, "You've got to be taught to hate and fear...you've got to be carefully taught." Our families, friends, teachers, books and the media very carefully teach us many half-truths and lies.

Sometimes we are told we are not good enough, or that we are better than others, or that we will be happy through buying the right products. Sometimes lies make us feel good, and at other times the lies can cause severe pain.

Today after spending a few minutes in silence, open your heart and mind to the truth of God. Remember how we are all precious and beloved children of God. Next call to mind one of the lies in your life. Keeping your mind as quiet as possible hold that lie up to the Truth. Ask God to replace this lie with the truth, and to help you to live the truth in freedom from sin.

...You should do what you have heard from the Father.
John 8:38

Lynda Foster (2001)

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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 102:15-22
Numbers 21:4-9
John 8:21-30

The readings for today come from different angles, but for me all point to one vital lesson about listening to God, who is always with us. The Psalm speaks of God hearing the prayers of the destitute, about His hearing us, and serving us. In Numbers we are taught that for those who have turned from God, God always provides a direct route for redemption. He is always there with open arms when we decide to turn to Him. He is the all-forgiving parent with unconditional love who will never spurn one of His children who has strayed but hopes to come home again.

But what is the route back? How do we turn to God? In John, Jesus says, "I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him." For me, this is Jesus acknowledging what any one of us can acknowledge, that God's Will can be done through us, if we listen to Him. God listens to our prayers, but we need to listen back. Jesus goes on to say that, "I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught me." As God taught Jesus, God is teaching us every second of our lives how to please Him. We can please God by listening to what is in our hearts, that inner voice that is insistent, unwavering, true. And when we follow what that voice tells us, then we are following God's specific path for our lives. And it is always right.

I often note how when I do not listen to that voice I am always sorry. It might be not speaking up when you hear a racist remark, not calling the aunt who is gravely ill and finding out she passed in the night, or not telling your partner, due to pride, how much you care even though your feelings are so palpable, so real, coursing through your heart.

This voice is so vital and valid, no matter how small or grandiose the messages received may seem, it spurs us on our own, personal, Godly paths. Follow your gut bravely, even brazenly, this inner wisdom, which is really God speaking to us loud and clear. We just have to be quiet enough sometimes, still, and at peace within ourselves, to hear. Acknowledge, honor and know that He is with you always. Telling you what to do. What is indeed best for you, one of His beloved children. And through us His will can be done. If we only listen.

Jennifer Farber (2001)

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Monday, March 26, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 23
Susanna 1:9,15-29,34-62
John 8:1–11

When Susanna, a virtuous young woman of great beauty, dismisses her two maids from her husband's enclosed garden so that she might perform her ablutions in private, two elders from the village, who had been appointed judges by the people no less, rush over to her (having observed her for weeks to familiarize themselves with her habits, they had hidden themselves in the garden in readiness for this moment). They present her with a deadly ultimatum: lie with us both (!) or we will testify against you that you committed adultery with a young man. Susanna realizes that she has been trapped, but with great courage she rejects them and cries out to God for help. The elders, too, cry out to protect themselves and a great commotion arises.

The next day Susanna is brought to trial and sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. She once again beseeches God for help and this time her prayer is answered through Daniel, a man in the crowd, who sees the truth of the situation. He calls the Israelites fools for not investigating the facts and orders everyone back to court. He then proceeds to outfox the elders by interrogating them separately and, through their own contradictory stories, exposes their deception. The people then "did to them what they had intended to do to Susanna — they put them to death." Susanna's honor and reputation were restored to her.

In this lurid melodrama of stalkers, sociopaths, dirty old men, sex, corruption in high places, an explosive courtroom scene, and a last-minute save from the gallows by a clever young man with plenty of street smarts, we have a story that, despite having taken place several thousand years ago, still resonates today. It could be on the evening newscast, or the material for a trashy best seller or x rated movie. But it seems less a story of divine intervention than a cautionary tale of survival and the moral imperative to be alert, pay attention, listen, challenge received opinions and, by all means, question authority.

In John 8:1-11 we see yet another woman accused of adultery and presented before a different judge — Jesus Himself.

Just as the two elders tried to trap Susanna, so do the Scribes and Pharisees seek to entrap Jesus, for political purposes, by presenting him with a no-win situation–stone the woman caught in adultery according to the law of Moses or jeopardize His own reputation and life. Jesus's approach is very different than Daniel's. In a moment of startling unexpectedness, Jesus responds to this challenge by silently bending down and writing with his finger on the ground (it would be fun to know what He actually wrote). His challengers persist to badger Him with questions. He stands and delivers the oft-quoted line "Let anyone among you who is without sin cast the first stone" and then, once again, bends down to write with his finger on the ground. The accusers, we are told, quietly back away, one by one, and retreat from the scene, until Jesus is alone with the woman. "Where are your accusers? " he asks her. "They have gone away." He tells her to go and to sin no more.

Jesus, the slyest of sly foxes, the master of mob psychology, first deflects the issue and then disperses his challengers with a challenge of His own — one that has continued to challenge down through the centuries. Humor is not that common throughout the gospels but in this instance the grin on the reader's face might possibly reflect the grin that was on Jesus's face. And the seriousness of the alleged crime? Like Susanna, what proof was there that a crime had been committed at all? It could quite possibly have been another trumped-up charge–a ruthless use of power against the powerless for the purpose of entrapment.

In Psalm 23 we have one of the great pieces of Biblical poetry. The thoughts of some mystic/poet penned several thousand years ago under circumstances impossible for our modern sensibilities to imagine, it comes flying towards us through the centuries–past wars, famine, and the rise and fall of empires–to unfold and land in our laps reminding us that if we only just trust to God then " all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well."

Matthew Snow

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Saturday, March 24, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Saturday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 7:6-11
Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:37-52

The readings today give much to think about. The plea in the Psalm is for God to rise up against the writer's enemies. Jeremiah had been banished to Anathoth by Solomon and is here pleading with God to wreck vengeance on his enemies. Both are asking God to, in effect, do their dirty work, they both feel ill used and abused and are asking an all-powerful God to make their enemies suffer. Do you pray to God to punish those whom you feel have harmed you? Many people do at some point in their lives. Is this a valid plea? Is the God you worship, one who delivers harm?

Whereas in John, Jesus is waiting for God's own time, as God is supporting his time schedule by distracting the Jews sent out to bring him to those who condemn him, the Jewish Elders. The key here is the Jewish Elders' condemnation of Jesus, saying he could not be the savior as he is from Galilee, not Bethlehem, and not of David's line. Basically they are blind to the facts, and are not interested in those facts or the truth. After all, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and is of David's line: the two arguments the Jewish elders use against him are false. Is that because they see Jesus as a threat to their power? Their minds are closed, they do not want to know more about Jesus. He is a threat to their authority. Are we practicing the same kind of blindness when we look with disfavor on those different from ourselves? Do we see those different people as dangerous to our prestige or power?

Frank Mackey

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Friday, March 23, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 34:15-22
Wisdom 2:1a,12-24
John 7:1-2,10,25-30

Thank God for Al Gore! Thank God for "alarmists" and whistle-blowers who have martyred themselves, being ostracized and fired from employment for trying to warn the administration that our half-full glass is emptying, due to global warming and the war. I wonder if the Biblical figures who similarly admonished were listened to. The late 1st century AD wisdom writer exhorted Diaspora Jews to hold fast to their faith. Cosmopolitan, pagan cultures in which they now lived brandished temptations of materialism. The "eat, drink & be merry" fat-cats, "blinded by wickedness...did not know the secret purposes of God…who made us for incorruption." (I love the word. According to the RSV, it means Eternity. It seems to me more far-reaching in a temporal sense.) Those who don't get the message, who are "led astray", are condemned.

But perhaps our "Jeremiahs" are being listened to, finally, now that it may be too late. (Scientists warn that at the current rate, the seas are likely to rise two feet by 2100!) The words "climate change" have entered the vocabulary of even George Bush. Business leaders are discovering that it may be economical to "go green." Will they go far enough, fast enough? Or will it "cost too much"? Will fat-cat greed triumph again?

Good old Hollywood is getting in on the act. Babel dramatizes the perils of not listening to one another. Children of Men is an apocalyptic nativity story. It presents a horrifying Armageddon of worldwide destruction, coming soon. It's ghastly. I don't know how I sat through it. Not only is everyone blowing up everyone else, especially "illegal aliens", we've managed to destroy our fertility. As the film opens, the youngest person on earth, an 18 year old, has just died! Just when we need him most, a Babe is sent. In case we don't get the message, Clive Owen must reverently mutter: "Jesus" — and not just once. Good old Hollywood!

Is it too late for us to throw a wrench into this awful spiral? Can we at last acquire a taste for "Incorruption"?

Gretchen Dumler

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 106:6-7,19-23
Exodus 32:7-14
John 5:30-47

Upon reading the first passage in Exodus, I involuntarily flinched and thought, "This sounds pretty severe – God chastening, even threatening to destroy his people for inconstancy and lack of faith. How do I relate to this and what can I say about these verses?" The other passages in the Psalms and John also referred back to this event and didn't really offer much consolation.

It seems to be characteristic of God's people to forget Him and follow other paths. There were many "gods" the ancient Israelites chose to follow rather than the true God. In Moses' time, they made gods of silver and gold. In Jesus' day, the religious leaders claimed to know God but were blinded by their pride in being the righteous (as they supposed) children of Moses. Today, our gods are sometimes similar: careers, material possessions, popular figures or events. I say "gods" to refer to those things that distract us from, or that we substitute for God in our lives.

In Moses' time, God brought the children of

Israel

out of

Egypt

with miracles unparalleled in nearly all of scripture. Nevertheless,

Israel

soon forgot and even desired to return to their taskmasters. It was the reasoned voice of Moses that persuaded God to "relent" (or repent [!] depending on which Bible translation you read) of his decision to destroy them.

Jesus similarly performed great miracles but still they were never enough for the unbelievers of His time. In John we hear his voice trying to persuade the people to believe in Him. Although His words are direct, he emphasizes that he only desires that "ye might be saved." He doesn't presume to accuse them before the Father, but states that Moses, in whom they believe, will condemn them.

Today, we have the accumulated testimony of scripture and we, too, are asked to believe. It is not always easy in this world when we hear daily of war, injustice, disease or natural disaster. At times, we need to ask, as did the father of the child possessed by demons that Jesus healed: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

After considering these passages, the overriding thought that remained with me was my gratitude in knowing that I have a Savior who is a God of grace and love, not of vengeance. I have had my moments of unbelief, but gratefully remember that Christ beckons: "come unto me, and I will give you rest."

Ross Burningham

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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 145:8-19
Isaiah 49:8-15
John 5:19-29

The reading from Isaiah reminds us that life is a journey. Now that we have forgotten all or most of our New Year resolutions, all those healthy new habits we were going to start (after all it is March), what do we do now? We are given a promise that in both good times and bad, God will keep his covenant with us, a covenant which expresses his love for us. All we need to do is to "come out of our prisons," things which separate us from God and from one another. We know our prisons: fear, resentment, pride. Christians are always given another chance to change, and that doesn't just mean our weight or hair color.

During Lent, we are given time to think and meditate about what keeps us from God, what keeps us from journeying more fully in our community's life. However, it is likely that for many of us, we have asked these questions before, and yet we still haven't succeeded as much as we would have liked. How can we make these resolutions of the soul any more effective than our New Year resolutions? The readings give us some clues.

In Isaiah, we are given the sense that it is God who will guide us if we only let him into our life. In the psalm, it is God who lifts up all who are falling.

In the gospel, Jesus says, "the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing." This Lent, we should one again try to see which habits hurt us or others, and with God's help, we can try to change. We need time to reflect on our relationship with God, and how we can better let God into our life in a way that affects change in both our thoughts and habits. We should try to make this Lent a kind of vacation spent with God, a trip to a spa for the soul. As the psalmist says, "the Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth."

Jeff Truglia

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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 46:1-8
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
John 5:1-18

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God
Psalm 46:1, 4

Wherever the river goes, every living creature...will live. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food.

Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.
Ezekiel 47:9, 12, 11

Now in Jerusalem…there is a pool…called Bethesda, which has five porticos. In these lay many invalids.

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful."

But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am working."
John 5:2, 5, 8-10, 17

The Source of life remains present and always working within us, providing all we need to thrive and flourish and realize our potential. But we must work along with divine life. It is in our power to be stagnant marshes, or to bear fruit.

It is in our power to take up our mats, and walk.

Mary Kay Rafferty

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Monday, March 19, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 30:1-6,11-13
Isaiah 65:17-25
John 4:43-54

"Sir, come down before my little boy dies," a royal official pleads with Jesus. Here's a spoiler, if you haven't read it yet: the little boy doesn't die. In fact, the father finds out he began to recover about the same time Jesus replied, "Go, your son will live."

I prayed my heart out last summer when my mom was in the ICU and I took great comfort from this and similar stories from the gospels during those weeks. Just because I couldn't see Jesus didn't mean he wasn't there, healing my mother. He was miles away from the official's son, and yet he healed him, right? In the end, however, my mother died in the hospital, just as we – and she – thought she was nearly cured. It took me more than a few months to feel myself able to pray intercessory prayers again with any conviction.

I was bothered that Jesus seemingly chose to heal that little boy, but not the many other children who die long before their time. Or that he brought Lazarus back to life, but not Marilyn Baker. Is Jesus playing favorites?

"Jesus never promised to erase all poverty, all suffering, all human need. Rather, he announced a kingdom that values the needy above the beautiful and powerful and self-sufficient," Philip Yancey writes in his excellent book Prayer.

After awhile, I remembered there's a difference between praying for a cure and praying for healing, even though I prayed for both last summer. A cure uses the body's own immune system and regenerative abilities to return to a state of acceptable functioning, whatever that might be. But a prayer for healing is a plea to God for wholeness, which may or may not involve a cure, and very likely won't come through what skeptics would consider a "miracle," at any rate.

So here's another spoiler: sometime later in life, the kid, that official's son? He dies anyway. Maybe he's an old man or maybe he's a young man; maybe he got sick, or maybe somebody killed him for some money or for doing something wrong. But however he died, he did so eventually. So did my mom last summer. So will you someday. So will I. And so, thank God, did Jesus – despite even his prayers.

Derek Baker

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Saturday, March 17, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 51:15-20
Hosea 6:1-6
Luke 18:9-14

Whenever I'm asked to engage in an activity like writing a Lenten reflection, I read the Propers and then allow the texts to "percolate" for awhile before putting pen to paper. I pray about, reflect on and ponder the texts in an effort to discern how they are speaking to me and what relevance they might have in today's fast-paced world. Having now followed this process with today's Propers for several days, I have to admit that I've drawn a blank. There's no doubt that I could write about the virtues of the tax collector, a man who was undoubtedly an outcast since he represented the interests of an unwelcome, oppressive, foreign power that was holding the citizens of ancient Palestine captive in their own land. I believe I could even make a case on behalf of the Pharisee. Who knows? Maybe he was merely the Donald Trump of his day!

I think the reason that I haven't come up with a series of thoughts that are more insightful then these is that March 17, St. Patrick's Day, has significant personal meaning for me. You see, it's the anniversary of my father's untimely death some thirty years ago.

Parts of that day flash before my eyes as if they happened yesterday. I remember that I began the day like many other workdays, preparing a mental "to do" list while I drove to the office of one of KPMG's clients in suburban St. Louis. I remember receiving an urgent message from the office to call my wife – it was an emergency! I remember her telling me that my father had suffered a massive heart attack. And I remember ending the day on a long flight that took me home to San Francisco.

While those memories bubble to the surface every St. Patrick's Day, for the most part, they have been supplanted by the memories of the significant and the insignificant life events my father and I shared – the summer trips to various parts of the

United States

and to my father's boyhood home in

Scotland

, his smiling presence at my high school and college graduations and his endless patience while teaching me to drive a stick shift in San Francisco. (Have you ever seen the mountains they call hills?) I know in my heart that these memories are and should be the ones I hold dear. And I know without doubt that someday my father and I will be reunited.

But isn't this the premise that undergirds our Christian faith? After all, the crucifixion is not the end of the story! O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Michael Macdonald

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Friday, March 16, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Friday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 81:8-14
Hosea 14:1-9
Mark 12:28-34

On the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, an arresting image from Isaiah 6 captured my imagination, "And the hem of his robe filled the temple." What a fantastic description of the indescribable. Recently, an entire cable television series was devoted to the history of space exploration. As I viewed one startling image after another, my fascination with space discovery was revived and my sense of wonder with it. That series and Isaiah's words, remind me of one my favorite passages from the entire Bible, I Corinthians 13: 12. "For now we see through a glass, dimly; but then, face to face." How else to properly describe both my feelings of dumbstruck wonder when viewing for the first time those amazing images of the universe and my futile attempts to even imagine what lies within the warp and weave of the robe of God?

What does a healthy regard for the chasm between the known and the unknown have to do with Lent? I believe it lies in a simple question; how well do we know ourselves? The familiar parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector at prayer in the temple serves as a cogent commentary on the ongoing struggle within each and every one of us to define our 'person' relative to God. In a culture pervaded by what Augusten Burroughs penned as a 'raging sense of entitlement', we assign potency and texture to our connection with the Divine through a process of comparative study of our neighbors. While "I am not like other men" may not as readily cross our lips as those of the Pharisee is Jesus' illustration, it surely is tightly woven in the fabric of our frail human psyche. Left to our own devices and desires, our resolve to love God and our neighbor fades like the morning mists in the passage from Hosea. We are all, in our own ways, broken spirits in need of our Savior's redeeming love and guidance.

"O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise." The Psalmist's beautiful words called me to worship during the Matins services of my youth. As an adult, God still calls me through words and witness to manifest my wonder at his unknowable love for me through a life of praise and humble service. God sees to the very depths of our souls, and loves and cherishes us despite all of the imperfection and self-deception. With that knowledge of His divine nature, may we hunger to glimpse our Savior as He is revealed daily in our neighbor's face and the confounding wonder of his creation, hoping, through faith, to share in the final revelation of the complete wonder that is our God at the end of days.

David Cholcher

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Thursday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 95:6-11
Jeremiah 7:23-28
Luke 11:14-23

A few years ago, I was watching a television program featuring herding dogs and how they innately work to organize their flock of sheep while obediently following the commands of their master. The tournament of sheepdogs and their masters took place in the beautiful rolling hills of

Scotland

and the winning sheepdog/shepherd team was presented with a ribbon and trophy. The winners beamed with pride at their accomplishment.

Over the years, my husband and I have had two Old English Sheepdog pets and our family members and friends have been amused with their unique traits. Our last sheepdog bravely moved with my husband and me from the Western Reserve region of Ohio during her senior years of life to Manhattan. She enjoyed life in the country during her first ten years running freely on the grounds of Squire Valley. We loved to see her beautiful coat of hair flowing in the wind as she practiced herding anything real or imagined that might cross her path. While living in Manhattan we watched her adapt and were certain that she enjoyed trying to round up the neighborhood dogs in the Washington Square Park dog run. She indeed must have enjoyed living as a pampered city dog while having a lift/elevator to ease the burden of stair climbing when her legs were becoming lame.

Just this past year, my father, a retired United States Army Officer who worked in the South Pacific Security Commission in

Korea

and now serves as a Methodist Minister, sent me an article from a Military Journal featuring the analogy of the Old English Sheepdog to our American Army. The article described the admirable and brave duty of the men and women serving in the US Army to protect the citizens of this nation and that these men and women have a special calling in that they are the "sheepdogs of our nation." They are the leaders that bravely go to battle to fight for justice and peace under their commander, just as the sheepdog obeys his or her master and keeps out the wolves and leads the herd to safe grounds while risking death. One very recent example of this noble trait was brought to our nations' attention when in New York City, a man retired from the military, jumped onto the subway tracks and used his own body to shield and protect a man that had fallen onto the subway tracks just moments before the train drove over them both with only a miraculously small space secured between them to allow them both to survive unharmed.

In our own ways, we all hold the ability to become sheepdogs and to serve faithfully and obediently to the calling of our Lord. We can reach within our hearts and run with our unique abilities to round up our prayers and send them off faithfully, obediently and abundantly to ward off evil nature and to believe in the miracle of building a future filled with world peace.

Cathleen Dehn

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 78:1-6
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 5-9
Matthew 5:17-19

The second reading and the gospel both emphasize the importance of the "Law." For me it is intriguing when Jesus says, "not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." We certainly don't follow the "Law."

Looking back and knowing how events unfold, we can understand that Jesus is signaling that he is the fulfillment of the Law, and as such has a status totally unlike that of the prophets.

What can he mean when he says he is fulfilling the law? What affect does the law have on its followers?

When I was student, I shared an apartment with a Jewish student who followed kosher dietary rules. What I found fascinating was the impact of following these rules. They aren't particularly burdensome, but because every meal you eat, every glass or dish or utensil you touch requires some thought, you are constantly reminded about religion. Your religion can never become secondary to your existence. The risk with this approach is that in an attempt to follow all the rules, the rules themselves become idols. It is quite easy to forget why they are being followed. I would argue that they were/are followed to keep God's people close to Him in a very practical way.

How does Jesus fulfill the law, which then allows the law to pass away? As the Son of God, the incarnate Jesus is now close to us in a way that the mere Law could never be. Instead of following the law, we now follow Jesus.

Vincent Truglia

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 25:3-10
Song of the Three Young Men (Daniel 3:25-27,34-43)
Matthew 18:21-35

The Song of the Three Young Men, found in the Apocrypha, is one of the "additions" to the Book of Daniel. It should be inserted between Daniel 3:23 and 3:24, and I recommend reading the entire third chapter of Daniel, adding today's reading, along with the entire Song of the Three Young Men, as you go.

In Daniel 3, Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael, Jewish captives in Babylon, refuse to worship the golden image which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (Note they have been given the Babylonian names of Abednego, Shadrach, and Meshach.) By way of punishment for their refusal, they are bound and thrown into the fiery furnace. But God saves them from the fire, and they come out of the furnace unblemished. This chapter in Daniel is about King Nebuchadnezzar's astonishment at seeing the three men saved by their god, and thereby recognizing this God's power; sort of like the scales falling from his eyes.

The Song of the Three Young Men is a window into the furnace, as we see Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael being saved by an angel sent by God to protect them. The section for today is Azariah's prayer. Now that we know the context, we feel him crying out to God, as he and his friends are surrounded by fire. And we see the power of his prayer and of his faith, as God saves them.

So for today, let's remember the power of our prayers, and show others the power of our God through our faith, as we live our daily lives.

Mary Gaillard

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Monday, March 12, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Monday in the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 42:1-7
2 Kings 5:1-15b
Luke 4:23-30

Psalm 42 calls out to God and asks for His help in distress saying, "Where is God?" God lives in every one of us. We need to become acquainted with God daily and recognize Him when He appears to us in our lives. Remember God, not only when we are troubled, but when we are thankful and rejoicing. Learn to see God living in ourselves and in others.

In 2 Kings 5, a story is told of Naaman, a mighty warrior, who has leprosy. He is told to go to the Israeli prophet, Elisha, to be cured. Naaman travels from

Syria

Israel

and Elisha sends a messenger to him with the simple command, "Go, wash in the River Jordan seven times and you will be cured." If the prophet had appeared to Naaman and commanded him to perform a difficult task, he was prepared to do it. He's angry and thinks the task is too simple. Naaman expected God, himself to appear and touch him. In the end, Naaman is persuaded to do as Elisha said, and he is cured. Sometimes miracles are simple, like rain.

In Luke 4, Jesus says that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He's an ordinary man, we know Him, He can't be special. Can He? Every one of us is special, gifted in ways we must share with others to truly experience God's love and power.

What do all three of these stories have in common? They all remind us that God appears to us in ordinary ways, as well as extraordinary ways. God has made us all capable of seeing His wonder in simple things. It is our responsibility to recognize God's good works and Thank Him. Try to find the miracle in each day.

Sara Jones

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Saturday, March 10, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Saturday in the Second Week of Lent

Psalm 103:1-12
Micah 7:14-15,18-20
Luke 15:11-32

When I think of memories of certain people who have paid key roles in my life, I often picture them in certain settings that I experienced them in most often. A lot of memories I have of growing up and spending time with my father are often set sitting in the car with him on road trips or just the drive from my school on a Friday afternoon to his house for the weekend. My father works in sales and I remember hearing him making lots of calls in the car when we'd be riding together during business hours. The one thing that frustrated him the most was when people were not honest with him, especially when they might have been hiding something that was a mistake or a business deal that would not work out as expected. There were so many moments when he would turn to me after a phone call and tell me, "I don't know why people don't just own up to their mistakes, it's so much easier to say you're sorry and try to find a solution."

In my own experience, saying you are sorry, isn't always so easy, but admitting I was wrong and seeking a solution has always been much better than an elaborate web of lies to be maintained and then eventually getting caught and in much more trouble.

In today's readings, we hear a great deal about God's love and compassion for us in terms that are that are magnificent and also quite overwhelming. In Psalm 103 and in Micah, God is forgiving, compassionate, merciful, gracious, faithful and loyal. In Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, the father explains that his welcoming and forgiveness for his younger son who does not mean that he loves the older son any less nor that the younger son is being rewarded for his transgressions, but the celebration of the father is an expression of love and compassion for his genuinely repentant child who has made a difficult journey to return home.

There are so many things that one can take away from all three of these readings, but reading them today, it makes me think of those truly painful moments when I have gasped or groaned at my misjudgments and mistakes thinking I was really in trouble and dragging myself in to face the music. Time and again, I always discovered that a genuine apology and a true attempt to find a solution right what may have been wrong has always been much more welcome than discovery of deceitful alternative paths. I find these readings incredibly comforting and reassuring, that even when my feet stray, even if turning back is really painful, there is a kind, just, compassionate and loving God to embrace me and a renewed openness to the Spirit will only help get me back on track again. Even though this may not seem to be the easier option at the time, it leads to a much better outcome, drawing closer to God once again and working to maintain the trust of those with whom I have relationships.

Jennifer Landis

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Friday, March 09, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Friday in the Second Week of Lent

Psalm 105:16-22
Genesis 37:3-4,12-28
Matthew 21:33-43

What could be more obvious? God works through the brother sold into slavery, the stone rejected by the builders, destroying the evil tenants along the way. We, of course, identify with Joseph and with the just landlord. Yet, as the Evangelist makes clear in verse 45, Jesus was directing the parable of the wicked tenants at the religious people of his day – the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were the people who tried to live the godly life, who were respected in the community, who were the pillars of the religious establishment.

What kind of tenants are we? We at Ascension have been made tenants of a most pleasant corner of God's vineyard. We have been blessed with historic buildings, masterworks of sacred art, splendid music, and the resources to support our common life. As God's guests and hosts at and from the corner of Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street* – God's tenants – what kind of hospitality do we offer to those whom the Lord of Life sends into our midst? I refer not to the friendliness of our ushers or the quality of our coffee, but to our spiritual hospitality.

What kind of hospitality do we offer to the seeker, the lonely, the downcast? To the poor and others in need? To those marginalized by society and church?

What kind of tenants are we?

* This phrase is borrowed and adapted from New Testament Hospitality by Professor John Koenig of General Theological Seminary.

Walter Killmer (2001)

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Thursday, March 08, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Thursday in the Second Week of Lent

Psalm 1
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 16:19-31

There is a sobering message in these passages and it amounts to this: For the wicked, there will be hell to pay; for the righteous, heaven will wait. I have to ask: What is wickedness and who gets to decide? If only there were quotas because I do not know if there are many humans without a few moments of wickedness.

I remember Gregory Maguire's Wicked, the book that became the musical. Mr. Maguire deconstructed wickedness. It turns out that the wicked witch of the west was deemed wicked because she could not and would not live by the conventions of Munchkinland. She was born with green skin. She possessed intelligence superior to munchkins. She had political opinions contrary to what was proscribed by the ruling party, the Wizard. And she possessed an independent character, and people thought she was wicked. Is wickedness defined by who's talking?

Fortunately, we don't have to define what wickedness is. We don't have to decide who goes to hell and who to heaven. This is not asked of us. What is asked of us in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 is to choose between living by a proverbial stream where trees grow deep roots and bear unending fruits and whose leaves never wither (a blessed life) — to living away from and in the absence of this stream (a life without God). The image of a gurgling stream where God abides is hard to resist. I would want to live there and rest my weary shoulders by the stream's mossy bank. I wouldn't want to stray far from here.

Abstractions aside, we do have to choose — between a life that is good and one that isn't (away from the stream). We may not able to define wickedness, but we know for ourselves what is good. We know intimately what good feels like. Luke clarifies where Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 leave off. Luke is saying in the rich man's story: It's not about fine linens, stupid! It does matter how you treat other people. In this also do we have choices. It's not always about what looks good (fine linens, etc.), but also about the good residing in our hearts.

Vinh Do

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent

Psalm 31:9-16
Jeremiah 18:1-11,18-20
Matthew 20:17-28

What is it about Jeremiah that reaches out to us across the millennia? It's said that he was given to the grand gesture: that when the Lord told him to put a yoke of straps and bars on his neck, he did just that, and wandered the streets wearing it.

For one who lived in an ancient agrarian Hebrew society, Jeremiah is incredibly modern in the way he understand the distractions and temptations of a life of prosperity. "I brought you into a plentiful land…but…you defiled my land," he recites.

While we probably think first of the Psalms of David or the fortieth chapter of Isaiah when we are talking poetry in the Bible, there is no more beautiful passage than Jeremiah speaking of the "new covenant written on our hearts." And how many of us after 9/11 searched for solace in the first words of Lamentations, "How solitary lies the city that once was full of people!"

As the kid who attended his first performance of Macbeth commented, it's full of clichés.

Finally, there's the prophet's confidence. The Lord speaks to Jeremiah. Constantly. And Jeremiah never lets us forget it. "The word of the Lord came to me, saying…" Over and over. "The Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth." Well, that's all fine for Jeremiah. But as we try to interpret the words of Jeremiah, how do we know the Lord is speaking to us?

Jeremiah reaches out to us. All of us. He is a favorite of the people of the word as well as to the people of the spirit. If you're a word person, what does this sound like and where does it take us: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you." Hmmmm. Lots of room for misinterpretation.

So stepping into a comment on one of Jeremiah's most well-known passages is more than a little daunting. Yet, it seems so clear.

"So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, and it seemed good to him."

This, after all, is not a new theme for Jeremiah. He repeatedly uses the metaphor of the refiner's fire. Taking the material, seeming to reject it, remaking it. Jeremiah's God is not acting arbitrarily. He can destroy, but here he restores. It is never too late to change. God will help those who want to change. Our God is a merciful God.

Thanks be to God.

Isabel Spencer

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Tuesday, March 06, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent

Psalm 50:7-15,22-24
Isaiah 1:2-4,16-20
Matthew 23:1-12

A common thread for me in all three readings for today — from Isaiah, Psalms and Matthew — is fatherhood. The progression I see in this sense of fatherhood is from righteous anger (Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me), to forgiving God (Hear O my people, and I will speak…I am God, your God…to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God), to full brotherhood in Christ (You are all brethren…call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven).

I was especially struck by the use of upper case and lower case in the word father. It is an important distinction. I dearly love my father. At age 97 he is and has always been a role model for me. He has truly illustrated to me that I am his beloved son with whom he is well pleased, no matter what I have done over my 60 years. It is through such role models that we learn how powerful and amazing the love of God is. In the context of Matthew verses 1-12 I think I know what the Gospel writer means. God is our Father, the Father of all, as we are all His children in God's love. I have always loved the tender way that Christ called his Father "Abba," akin to "Daddy." This is how I refer to my earthly father and that relationship allows me to begin to understand Christ's relationship to God, and in turn our relationship as Children of God to our heavenly Father.

Thanks be to God!

David Lehmann

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Monday, March 05, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Monday in the Second Week in Lent

Psalm 79:1-9
Daniel 9:3-10
Luke 6:27-38

The Measure You Give

As most of us never tire to admit, living in New York provides myriad pleasures and satisfactions, from a walk in Central Park to the enormous variety of experience through the arts, to the vast bustle of shopping, shopping, and more shopping. "The City" is a place of individual and communal accomplishment and enjoyment. Indeed the very streets and subways teem with people who bear a vast array of social, economic, and racial differences, each person with their own rich and complex heritage. As the old film stated, "There are eight million stories in the naked city." Our consideration of ourselves and of "others:" the person down the hall, across from our cubicle, even in the next church pew, seems to be a theme of today's readings.

The psalmist bewails the state of the world and our inextricability from it: "Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?" he asks. In the next reading, Daniel, though penitent decries an "open shame" which exists on the people of

Judah

. He infers they and we have "not listened to the prophets."

In the midst of this deep and disquieting contemplation the Gospel reading offers the seeds for an alternative set of behaviors most us have heard in one form or another since childhood, and which exists in all major religious movements: "do to others as you would have them do to you." How often has this adage been turned into a justification for hitting back against those who have hit us? The language of conflict sometimes appears to be a palliative: "the war on poverty," "the war on drugs," "the war on cancer," to name a few. Might this stance of "war" be a distracting facet of the problem and not the solution? Surely the gospel offers a more complex, alternative message. I'm reminded of Mahatma Gandhi who said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

To reflect critically on ourselves, to pray and contemplate on our habits of mind, to apply these "golden rules" is, of course, enormously challenging. As we rush out the door with our venti lattes and rush through the hubbub of New York with our iPods firmly placed in our heads, I wonder how the measure of our thought, our considerations, and our behaviors might be transformed if this method from the gospel were more fully planted into our souls.

Jeffrey Johnson

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Saturday, March 03, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Saturday in the First Week of Lent

Psalm 119:1-8
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Matthew 5:43-48

"Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord," the 119th Psalm begins. I can't claim a blameless life, but as it rolls on, I do perceive more clearly the blessings our Friend bestows on those who seek him with their whole heart.

During my recent illness, I knew that the Lord couldn't come to my bedside, phone me, or send me a note to comfort me. But of course I needed him, sought him with my whole heart, searching for acknowledgment a sign that he even knew who I was ("Let's see, Collins, Collins"), let alone what I was going through.

I know now that he trusted you, my friends and fellow parishioners, to carry out that work for him each time I found one of you at my bedside, or in a note, or on the phone, or I thought of you intoning the Prayers of the People, I felt he was there with me through you.

I know that he relies on all of us to embody the truth that God is love, and we are conduits of that love when we reach out to comfort, reassure and support one another. Because he made the point to me time and time again, sending many friends to look after me, cheer me on, and pray for me, I'm welcoming the year 2001 with a special understanding of that charge, anticipating a change for the better in my spiritual as well as my physical health.

Of course I'll keep on trying to live a blameless life, no doubt failing miserably from time to time. But when I think of myself as a conduit of his love for all of us, and that I worship alongside others ennobled by the same responsibility, my whole heart is his indeed. And the task of living a blameless life seems less and less remote a possibility.

Dave Collins (2001)

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Friday, March 02, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Friday in the First Week of Lent

Psalm 130
Ezekiel 18:21-28
Matthew 5:20-26

Lent is not only a time for reflection, penance, and preparation, but also a time of discovery; discovery of ourselves; discovery of God; discovery of our path towards God. I see Lent as a twofer. On one hand, we get to see the humanness of Jesus. We see his struggles, temptations, and anguish. On the other hand, we see how he gets through it all — with the help of God. At the risk of sounding cliché, we can take this as a guide of how to think of the struggles within our own lives.

What has been most remarkable to me about the Lenten Devotional is its usefulness, not just during Lent, but for those times when it just feels like Lent. Occasionally you will hear someone say, "Gosh, it just doesn't feel like Lent." To which I want to respond, "Then rejoice, there are certainly many other times of the year when it does!"

The reading from Matthew deals with a common occurrence in our lives: anger. Living in New York City can be quite infuriating at times—and I won't even mention what it's like living in New Haven. (There's a deadly sin for that, too, I'm sure.) Why do tourists walk so slowly? Why can't that person move into the subway just a little further? Why did it take an hour to deliver my pork lo mein? Why did the taxi driver go down Park Ave instead of 5th? Why are our reactions to these things so important? What does the delivery guy have to do with my relationship to God?

Deadlysins.com defines anger thus: "Anger is manifest in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury." To spurn love, eh? I think we might be on to something. Perhaps it is simply not enough to be just, or enough to be right. To truly love, one must go beyond these things, perhaps one must have mercy. One must — how does the phrase go? — not sweat the small stuff?

When I get angry, though, and I mean, really angry, it is most often at those I love most. I'll spare you tales of my mother, but I am sure you can relate. Perhaps it is this type of anger that does us the most damage. And, just perhaps, the delivery guy or the taxi driver provides us an opportunity to practice patience and mercy. So the next time your taxi makes a wrong turn, think about giving him an extra tip — as thanks!

This, taken with the words of Ezekiel seem to strike a theme. It's hard work to enter the kingdom of God (no surprise). We must be diligent, intentional, and tenacious. It's hard work to haul ourselves out from under the weight of this world (again, no surprise). It's hard work to carve a path to Christ (where am I going with this?). But as the Psalm reminds us: "[For] with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem."

Sometimes all we need is a reminder that we're not in this alone. And no matter when your Lent happens, remember it is always followed by Easter.

Amen.

Robert Brown

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

From AscensionNYC

Thursday in the First Week in Lent

Psalm 138
Esther (Apocrypha) 14:1-6,12-14
Matthew 7:7-12

Sometimes when I read Bible passages, my eyes just glaze over trying to figure out what is the relevance of the passage.

Why should I even care? It is just another ancient tale! Some of the passages are enough to make you wonder who edited this book anyway. Women, who are to be dominated by men, are sprinkled into the passages almost as an afterthought.

What a pleasant surprise to find a reading from Esther in the Apocrypha among today's readings! She was the second queen and wife of King Ahasuerus, whose reign extended from

India

Ethiopia

. She was raised by her uncle Mordecai, who directed her not to reveal her lineage and was also known as Hadassah. A beautiful lady of means!

Type Esther into a search engine, like Google or Yahoo, and you can find over 38 million possible sites that include among them a blog, a podcast, a line of fine chocolates, a photo gallery, an art gallery, a bed and breakfast, and several sites devoted to the late Esther Williams.

Queen Esther is very much like a modern lady. She has pampered herself with fine oils, perfumes, and designer clothing. No doubt she has a personal fitness trainer and eats the best organic foods. She is her "own wholly owned subsidiary" of most of our modern day high end retail outlets. She would fit in very well with today's diva set.

But like all of us at some point, Queen Esther is completely wracked with anxiety. Today it is called "stress." In Lent we are reminded that prayer and meditation are the true relievers of anxiety and stress. As the Psalmist says, "On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul…Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me." In Matthew we are commanded to "Ask…and the door will be opened…" These are comforting words to reflect on throughout Lent and beyond.

Janet Fisher

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