Easter Sunday

Mark 16.1-8

16

When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Mandala, , Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought perfumed oils so that they could anoint Jesus. 2 Very early, just after sunrise on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. 3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 When they looked, they found that the huge stone had been rolled back. 5 On entering the tomb, they saw a young person sitting at the right, dressed in a white robe. They were very frightened, 6 but the youth reassured them: "Do not be amazed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the One who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 Now go and tell the disciples and Peter, ' Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee, where you will see him just as he told you.'" 8 They made their way out and fled from the tomb bewildered and trembling; but they said nothing to anyone, because they were so afraid.

“Untitled”

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

When I woke up from a forty-year sleep, it was by a song. I could hear

the drums in the village. I felt the sweat of ancestors in each palm.

The singers were singing the world into place, even as it continued to

fall apart. They were making songs to turn hatred into love.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Contemplative Poetry Museum Exhibit Return Prayer Talisman Be in Community Draw Your Spiritual Journey

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Easter Prayer

by Janet Morley

God of terror and joy,

you arise to shake the earth.

Open our graves and give us back the past;

so that all that has been buried

may be freed and forgiven,

and our lives may return to you

through the risen Christ. Amen.

Easter Vigil

Matthew 27.57-66

27

57 When evening fell, a wealthy man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had become a disciple of Jesus, 58 came to request the body of Jesus; Pilate issued an order for its release. 59 Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in fresh linen 60 and laid it in his own tomb, which had been hewn out of rock. Then Joseph rolled a huge stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 But Mary of Mandala. and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.

62 The next day - the one following the Day of Preparation - the chief priests and the Pharisees called at Pilate's residence 63 and said, "We recall that, while he was still alive, the impostor made the claim, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64 Therefore, please issue an order to keep the tomb under surveillance until the third day. Otherwise, Jesus' disciples might go and steal his body and tell the people, 'Jesus has been raised from the dead!' This final deception would be worse than the first."

65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard. Go and secure the tomb as best you can." 66 So they went to seal the tomb and post a guard.

“Sunrise”

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

Sunrise, as you enter the houses of everyone here, find us.

We've been crashing for days, or has it been years.

Find us, beneath the shadow of this yearning mountain, crying here.

We have been sick with sour longings, and the jangling of fears.

Our spirits rise up in the dark, because they hear,

Doves in cottonwoods calling forth the sun.

We struggled with a monster and lost.

Our bodies were tossed in the pile of kill. We rotted there.

We were ashamed and we told ourselves for a thousand years,

We didn't deserve anything but this -

And one day, in relentless eternity, our spirits discerned movement of prayers

Carried toward the sun.

And this morning we are able to stand with all the rest

And welcome you here.

We move with the lightness of being, and we will go

Where there's a place for us.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Contemplative Poetry Museum Exhibit Return Prayer Talisman Be in Community Draw Your Spiritual Journey

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Anima Christi

by Ignatius of Loyola

Soul of Christ, sanctify me

Body of Christ, save me

Blood of Christ, inebriate me

Water from the side of Christ, wash me

Passion of Christ, strengthen me

O Good Jesus, hear me

Within thy wounds, hide me

Permit me not to be separated from Thee

From the wicked foe defend me

At the hour of my death call me

And bid me to come to Thee

That with Thy saints I may praise Thee

For ever and ever. Amen.

Good Friday

John 18-19

18

After Jesus had said all this, he left with the disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. There was a garden there, and Jesus and the disciples entered it. 

2 Judas, the traitor, knew the place well, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 Judas led the Roman cohort to the place, along with some Temple guards sent by the chief priests and Pharisees. All were armed and carried lanterns and torches. 

4 Then Jesus, aware of everything that was going to take place, stepped forward and said to them, “Who are you looking for?” 

5 “Are you Jesus of Nazareth?” they asked. 

Jesus said, “I am.” Now Judas, the traitor, was with them. 6 When Jesus said, “I am,” they all drew back and fell to the ground. 

7 Again, Jesus asked them, “Who are you looking for?” 

They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 

8 Jesus said, “I have already told you that I am the one you want. If I am the one you’re looking for, let the others go.” 9 This was to fulfill what he had spoken: “Of those you gave me, I have not lost a single one.” 

10 Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s attendant, cutting off his right ear. The name of the attendant was Malchus. 

11 Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup Abba God has given me?” 

12 Then the cohort and its captain and the Temple guards seized and bound Jesus. 13 They took him first to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Temple authorities that it was better to have one person die on behalf of the people. 

15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, entered his courtyard with Jesus, 16 while Peter hung back at the gate. So the disciple known to the high priest went back and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter inside. 

17 The doorkeeper said, “Aren’t you one of this guy’s followers?” But Peter answered, “No, I’m not.” 

18 Now the night was cold, so the attendants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were warming themselves. Peter was with them as well, keeping warm. 

19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teachings. 20 Jesus answered, “I have spoken publicly to everyone; I have always taught in synagogues and in the Temple area where the whole Jewish people congregates. I have said nothing in secret. 21 So why do you question me? Ask those who have heard me. Ask them what I said to them—they know what I said.” 

22 When Jesus said this, one of the guards standing by slapped him and said, “Is this how you answer the high priest?” 

23 “If I’ve said anything wrong,” Jesus replied, “point it out; but if I’m right in what I said, why do you strike me?” 

24 Then Annas sent him, still shackled, to Caiaphas the high priest. 

25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. Others asked him, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” 

But Peter denied it, saying, “I am not!” 

26 One of the attendants of the high priest, a relative of the attendant whose ear Peter had severed, spoke up: “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” 

27 Again Peter denied it. At that moment a rooster crowed. 

28 At daybreak, they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. The Temple authorities didn’t enter the Praetorium, for they would have become ritually unclean and unable to eat the Passover seder. 29 So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What charges do you bring against this person?” 

30 They responded, “We wouldn’t have brought him to you if he weren’t a criminal.” 

31 Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him by your own Law.” 

The Temple authorities replied, “We don’t have the power to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill what Jesus had said about the way he was going to die. 

33 So Pilate reentered the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. “Are you the King of the Jews?” asked Pilate. 

34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or have others told you about me?” 

35 Pilate replied, “Am I Jewish? It is your own people and the chief priests who hand you over to me. What have you done?” 

36 Jesus answered, “My realm is not of this world; if it belonged to this world, my people would have fought to keep me out of the hands of the Temple authorities. No, my realm is not of this world.” 

37 Pilate said, “So you’re a King?” 

Jesus replied, “You say I’m a King. I was born and came into the world for one purpose—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who seeks the truth hears my voice.” 

38 “Truth? What is truth?” asked Pilate. 

With that, Pilate went outside and spoke to the people. “I find no guilt in him,” he said. 39 “But according to your custom, I always release a prisoner at the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the King of the Jews’?” 

40 They shouted, “Not him! We want Barabbas!” Barabbas was a robber. 

19

So Pilate ordered that Jesus be flogged. 2 Then the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They went up to him repeatedly and said, “All hail the King of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face. 

4 Pilate came outside once more and said to the crowd, “Look, I’ll bring him out here to make you understand that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out wearing the purple robe and the crown of thorns, and Pilate said, “Look upon the one you accuse!” 

6 When the chief priests and the Temple guards saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 

Pilate told them, “Do it yourself. I find no reason to condemn him.” 

7 “We have a law,” the Temple authorities replied, “that says he ought to die because he claimed to be the Only Begotten of God.” 

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. 9 He went back into the Praetorium and asked Jesus, “Where do you come from?” Jesus didn’t answer. 

10 Then Pilate said to Jesus, “You refuse to speak? Bear in mind that I have the power to release you—and the power to crucify you.” 

11 “You would have no authority over me,” Jesus replied, “unless it had been given to you by God. Therefore the person who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” 

12 Upon hearing this, Pilate attempted to set Jesus free. But the crowd shouted, “If you set him free, you’re no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who claims to be a king defies Caesar!” 

13 Hearing these words, Pilate took Jesus outside and seated himself on the judge’s seat at the place called the Pavement—“Gabbatha,” in Hebrew. 

14 Now it was almost noon on Preparation Day for the Passover. Pilate said to the people, “Here is your king!” 

15 “Take him away!” they shouted. “Take him away! Crucify him!” 

Pilate asked, “Do you want me to crucify your king?” 

The chief priests said, “We have no king but Caesar!” 

16 Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. 

So they took Jesus, 17 carrying his own cross, to what is called the Place of the Skull—in Hebrew, “Golgotha.” 18 There they crucified him, along with two others, one on either side of Jesus. 

19 Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” 20 The notice, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, was read by many people, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. 21 The chief priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write ‘King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This one said, I am King of the Jews.’” 

22 Pilate replied, “I have written what I have written.” 

23 After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothing and divided it into four pieces, one piece for each soldier. They also took the seamless robe. 24 The soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. We can throw dice to see who will get it.” 

This happened in order to fulfill the scripture, “They divided my garments among them and, for my clothing, they cast lots.” And this is what they did. 

25 Standing close to Jesus’ cross were his mother; his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas; and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Here is your son.” 27 Then he said to his disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that moment, the disciple took her into his household. 

28 After this, Jesus knew that now all was completed, and to fulfill scripture perfectly, he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 There was a jar of cheap wine nearby, so they put a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick and raised it to his lips. 

30 Jesus took the wine and said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 

31 Since it was Preparation Day, the Temple authorities asked Pilate to let them break the legs of those crucified, and take their bodies from the crosses. They requested this to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the Sabbath, since that particular Sabbath was a solemn feast day. 

32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of first one and then the other who had been crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced Jesus’ side with a lance, and immediately blood and water poured out. 35 This testimony has been given by an eyewitness whose word is reliable; the witness knows that this testimony is the truth, so that you will believe. 36 These things were done to fulfill the scripture, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again, another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” 

38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus—but a secret one, for fear of the Temple authorities—asked Pilate for permission to remove the body of Jesus, and Pilate granted it. So Joseph came and took it away. 39 Nicodemus came as well—the same one who had first come to Jesus by night—and he brought about one hundred pounds of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes. 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the Jewish burial custom. 

41 There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb where no one had ever been buried. 42 Since it was the day before the Sabbath and the tomb was nearby, they buried Jesus there.

once a marine biologist

told me octopuses have three hearts

by Denice Frohman (b. 1985)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

I wonder what I'd do

with eight arms, two eyes

& too many ways to give

myself away

see, I only have one heart

& I know loving a woman can make you crawl

out from under yourself, or forget

the kingdom that is your body

& what would you say, octopus?

that you live knowing nobody

can touch you more

than you do already

that you can't punch anything underwater

so you might as well drape yourself

around it, bring it right up to your mouth

let each suction cup kiss what it finds

that having this many hands

means to hold everything

at once & nothing

to hold you back

that when you split

you turn your blood

blue & pour

out more ocean

that you know heartbreak so well

you remove all your bones

so nothing can kill you.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A Pen, pencil, crayons, markers, paint, or any other preferred method of drawing.

From Your Envelope:

• A sheet of art paper.

Directions: Draw your Personal Spiritual Journey.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

At the Cross

from A Book of Worship for Free Churches

Lord our God,

who by these words

from the cross

dost speak unto our souls;

let it come to us now

with assurance

and in the might of thy Spirit,

that we may see in Christ

crucified thy power and wisdom,

and the revelation

of thine infinite love.

Maundy Thursday

John 13.1-17, 31b-35

13

It was before the Feast of Passover, and Jesus realized that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to Abba God. He had always loved his own in this world, but now he showed how perfect this love was.

2 The Devil had already convinced Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. So during supper, 3 Jesus - knowing that God had put all things into his own hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God - 4 rose from the table, took off his clothes and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 He then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and dry them with the towel that was around his waist.

6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Rabbi, you're not going to wash my feet, are you?"

7 Jesus answered, "You don't realize what I am doing right now, but later you'll understand."

8 Peter replied, "You'll never wash my feet!" Jesus answered, "If I don't wash you, you have no part with me."

9 Simon Peter said to Jesus, "Then, Rabbi, not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!"

10 Jesus said, "Any who have taken a bath are clean all over and only need to wash their feet - and you're clean, though not every one of you." 11 For Jesus knew who was to betray him. That is why he said, "Not all of you are clean."

12 After washing their feet, Jesus put his clothes bock on and returned to the table. He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you? 13 You call me "Teacher," and "Sovereign" - and rightly, for so I am. 14 If I, then - your Teacher and Sovereign - have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet. 15 I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

16 "The truth of the matter is,

no subordinate is greater than the superior;

no messenger outranks the sender.

17 Once you know all these things,

you'll be blessed if you put them into practice.

31

"Now is the Chosen One glorified

and God is glorified as well.

32 If God has been glorified,

God will in turn glorify the Chosen One

and will do so very soon.

33 My little children,

I won't be with you much longer.

You'll look for me,

but what I said to the Temple authorities,

I say to

you:

where I am going,

you cannot come.

34 I give you a new commandment:

Love one another.

And you're to love one another

the way I have loved you.

35 This is how all will know that you're my disciples;

that you truly love one another."

"Perhaps the World Ends Here"

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

from The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (WW Norton, 1994)

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to

live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has

been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the

corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be

human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our

children. Then laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as

we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the

shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for

burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and

remorse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing

and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Be in Communion with a friend. Be together. Share a meal. Share a story. Enjoy the connection of community.

If you need a place to go, you are welcome at either of these Community Gatherings:

Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, 6:30pm: a special dinner worship service

remembering the Last Supper and breaking bread together.

Northminster Presbyterian Church, 7pm: a brief, simple communion service.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer before a Meal

Prayed by Workers in Community Soup Kitchens in Lima, Peru

God, food of the poor;

Christ, our bread,

give us a taste of the tender bread

from your creation's table;

bread newly taken from your heart's oven,

food that comforts and nourishes us.

A loaf of community that makes us human,

joined hand in hand, working and sharing.

A warm loaf that makes us a family;

sacrament of your body,

your wounded people.

Holy Wednesday

John 13.21-30

13

21 Having said this, Jesus became troubled in spirit and said, "The truth of the matter is, one of you will betray me."

22 The disciples looked at each other, puzzled as to whom he could mean. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was next to Jesus. 24 Simon Peter signaled him to ask Jesus whom he meant. 25 He leaned back against Jesus' chest and asked, "Rabbi, who is it?"

26 Jesus answered, "The one to whom I give the piece of bread dip in the dish." He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.

27 After Judas took the bread, Satan entered his heart. Jesus said to him, "Be quick about what you're going to do." 28 None of the others at the table understood the reason Jesus said this. 29 Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas took the piece of bread, he went out into the night.

"Lines Written During a Period of Insanity"

by William Cowper (1731-1800)

found in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling (WW Norton, 2019)

Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion,

Scarce can endure delay of execution,

Wait, with impatient readiness, to seize my

Soul in a moment.

Damn'd below Judas: more abhor'd than he was,

Who for a few pence sold his holy Master.

Twice betrayed Jesus me, the last delinquent,

Deems the profanest.

Man disavows, and Deity disowns me:

Hell might afford my miseries a shelter;

Therefore hell keeps her ever hungry mouths all

Bolted against me.

Hard lot! encompass'd with a thousand dangers;

Weary, faint, trembling with a thousand terrors;

I'm called, if vanquish'd, to receive a sentence

Worse than Abiram's.

Him the vindictive rod of angry justice

Sent quick and howling to the centre headlong;

I, fed with judgment, in a fleshly tomb, am

Buried above ground.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Your Prayer Talisman that has accompanied you through this season.

Directions: Your Prayer Talisman has played an important role in your Lenten Journey this year. Today we will say goodbye to it in our final Prayer Talisman practice.

Find your Talisman, take it to the place where you found it. Spend time with it in this space. Notice what you notice. What has changed about this place since you first found your Prayer Talisman? What has stayed the same? What has changed about you since you found your Prayer Talisman? What has stayed the same?

Pray into your Talisman one last time in the manner that you have done before, only this time pray prayer of gratitude for the time spent together and hope for the future it might have with the next journeyer on that path.

When you feel ready, lovingly leave it in a space where someone else might find it.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Serenity Prayer

by Reinhold Niebuhr

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Holy Tuesday

John 12.20-36

12

20 Among those who had come up to worship at the Passover festival were some Greeks. 21 They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put forth this request: "Please, we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew, and together the two went to tell Jesus.

23 Jesus replied,

"Now the hour has come

for the Chosen One to be glorified.

24 The truth of the matter is,

unless a grain of wheat

falls on the ground and dies,

it remains only a single grain;

but if it dies,

it yields a rich harvest.

25 If you love your life

you'll lose it;

if you hate your life in this world

you'll keep it for eternal life.

26 Anyone who wants to work for me

must follow in my footsteps,

and wherever I am,

my worker will be there too.

Anyone who works for me

will be honored by Abba God.

27 Now my soul is troubled.

What will I say:

'Abba, save me from this hour?'

But it was for this very reason

that I have come to this hour.

28 Abba, glorify your name!"

A voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

29 The crowds that stood nearby heard this and said it was a clap of thunder; others said, "It was an angel speaking."

30 Jesus answered, "It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

31 "Sentence is now being passed on this world;

now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

32 And when I am lifted up from this earth,

I will draw all people to myself."

33 By these words Jesus indicated the kind of death he would die.

34 The crowd answered, "We've heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, 'The Chosen One must be lifted up.' Who is this Chosen One?"

35 Jesus said to them,

"The light will be with you

only a little while longer.

Walk while you have the light,

before darkness overtakes you.

Those who walk in the dark

don't know what they're doing.

36 Believe in the light

While you still have the light.

Only then will you become

children of light."

After he said this, Jesus left and went into seclusion.

"Friendship"

by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887)

found in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (Doubleday, 1936)

Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts,

Nor measure words - but pouring them

All right our - just as they are -

Chaff and grain together -

Certain that a faithful hand will

Take and sift them -

Keep what is worth keeping -

And with the breath of kindness

Blow the rest away.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Visit this exhibit of Christ in the Dungeon on Google Arts & Culture. This is a large, multi-sensory art exhibit. Spend time with it (at least 20 minutes) -view, listen, read - What do you notice? What do you wonder? Is this a worshipful space? How/How Not?

Alternatively, go to a museum near you and explore an exhibit in-person.

If you like, you can use a piece of the lined paper from you envelope to take notes on what you notice.

Let’s Pray…

Lenten Prayer

from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

God of thundering glory and wondrous love,

you lifted up Jesus Christ from the earth

to draw all people to your holy name.

Like grains of wheat that fall to the dust,

teach us to die - and so to bear much fruit,

giving our lives for the sake of the gospel,

following and serving Christ Jesus forever.

Holy Monday

John 12.1-11

12

Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, the village of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a banquet in Jesus' honor, at which Martha served. Lazarus was one of those at the table. 3 Mary brought a pound of costly ointment, pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. The house was full of the scent of the ointment. 4 Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples - the one who was to betray Jesus - protested, 5 "Why wasn't this ointment sold? It could have brought nearly a year's wages, and the money been given to poor people!" 6 Judas didn't say this because he was concerned for poor people, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the common fund and would help himself to it. 7 So Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You have poor people with you always. But you won't always have me." 9 Meanwhile a large crowd heard that Jesus was there and came to see not only Jesus, but also Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus as well, 11 since it was because of him that many of the people were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

"Oh, to Be So Poor"

by Robert W. Duffey , Jr.

found in Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Vol. 1 (United Church Press, 1994)

She lived life out of a wheelchair.

Barely hearing. Almost blind.

At worship today

Christ's Supper was offered to her,

but she thought the plate of broken bread was the

offering plate.

Bewildered, she said a bit too loud,

"I don't have anything to give."

Poor woman, they all thought.

Not so.

Through any disorientation, we have everything

in the Christ who gives his life for us.

Through our deafness, he hears for us.

Through our blindness he sees for us.

Through our trembling hands, he will take the bread

and cup for us.

We hear Christ's words:

Let not your heart be troubled.

I will hold it.

I will feed you.

I will drink the cup for you.

I will fill you.

I will be your world.

Oh, to be so poor.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Read aloud today's Poem by Robert W. Duffy, Jr. two times. Respond to the poem, noticing what words beckon you, what words challenge you, and what words you find uncomfortable.

If you like, you can use a piece of the lined paper from you envelope to take notes on what you notice.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Touch Holiness

by Ruth C. Duck

Gracious God, we come before you a people too nearly conformed to this world and its values. We fail to develop our God-given abilities, then envy those who do. Too busy for the care of our bodies or the development of our minds and spirits, we neglect the nurture of our own best selves. We serve, but sometimes with resentment, because we say "Yes" to the most insistent caller more than to you. Expecting too much of ourselves, we resent others who seem not to do their share. We waffle between weakness which allows others to walk all over us, and defensiveness which ignores the rights of others. We spend our money on that which is not bread and turn our eyes away from images of those who have no bread. Yet we ignore our own hunger and thirst for you and your righteousness. Transform us by your Spirit and renew our minds. May we find the joy and peace that come from seeking your will, through Jesus, your faithful servant.

Amen.

Palm Sunday

Under the bridge are those who came after John Lewis and that first march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The Gold color of the bridge serves as the halo for 139 names of people of color who have been murdered by the police between November 25, 2006 and April 15, 2021 (the date that this piece was first shown).

John 12.12-16

12

12 The next day, the great crowd that had come for the Passover feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 so they got palm branches and went out to meet him. They shouted joyfully,

Hosanna!

Blessed is the One who comes

in the name of our God -

the ruler of Israel!"

14 Jesus rode in sitting upon a donkey, in accord with scripture:

15 "Fear not, O people of Zion!

Your ruler comes to you

sitting on a donkey's colt."

16 At the time, the disciples didn't understand all this, but after Jesus was glorified they recalled that the people had done to him precisely what had been written about him.

“Untitled”

by John Leax (b. 1943)

found in Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Vol. 3 (United Church Press, 1996)

I write this on a day given to remembering the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. This year the day seems empty and abstract. The events of the week are too overpowering. The knowledge that Christ's entry led directly to his Crucifixion looms too [grimly] ahead. This seems the strangest holiday of the year, a celebration of misunderstanding. In this world, the [dominion] has not yet come, through our hearts long for it and our lives incline toward it.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Contemplative Video Stream-of-Conciousness Poem Community WordCloud Purple Collage Contmplative Art

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Palm Sunday Prayer

from A New Zealand Prayer Book

Jesus, when you rode into Jerusalem

the people waved palms

with shouts of acclamation.

Grant that when the shouting dies

we may still walk beside you even to a cross....

Thirty-Fourth Day

Esther 4.4a, 15-17; 5.1-3; 7.3-7

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

4

4 When Esther's attendants told her what was happening, she was overwhelmed with grief.

15 So Esther sent a message to Mordecai: 16 "Bring together all the Jewish people in Susa now and fast for me. Do not eat or drink, day and night, for three days. After that, I will go to the sovereign in defiance of the law. If I die, I die."

17 Mordecai went and carried out all of Esther's instructions.

5

On the third day, Esther put on her royal garments and went to the courtyard of the palace, in front of the Imperial Court. Ahasuerus was sitting on the royal throne facing the entrance. 2 Ahasuerus was happy to see Esther and held out his royal scepter. Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

3 Ahasuerus said to her, What is your desire, Queen Esther? What do you request of me? Whatever it is, I will give it to you - up to half of my empire."

7

3 Esther replied, "My sovereign, if I have found favor in your eyes and if it be your wish, I ask you to spare my life, and the lives of my people. That is what I desire most. 4 For we, my people and I, have been condemned to be destroyed, slain and turned into chattel - ourselves and our children. Had you merely intended to make us slaves, I would have said nothing. All this has been told to me by a reliable source. Our enemy brings shame upon the imperial court."

5 Ahasuerus said, "Who is this person who would dare do such a thing?"

6 Esther replied, "Our enemy is this scoundrel Haman."

Haman was terrified and shrank in the presence of Ahasuerus and Esther.

7 Ahasuerus rose from the banquet table, enraged, and went into the garden. Haman began to beg for his life from Esther, for he knew that his very life was in danger.

“Ugliness”

by J. Ruth Gendler (b. 1955)

from The Book of Qualities (HarperCollins, 1984)

Ugliness is a thief screaming, "I have been denied. I have been denied, I have been denied."She is trying to steal back the sense of belonging which was stolen from her when she was younger. If you fear that she wants to take your beauty, you are right. She does. If you try to stop her, she will find another way to get you. It is a vicious cycle. If you offer her the bracelet she was eyeing, she will smash it out of shape. She believes anything that comes to her easily must be worthless.

Ugliness has excellent eyes but dull vision. She believes that she has unhealthy hair and bad skin and a weird body. However, she has no idea what she really looks like. She spits at mirrors. She insists that if you are attractive, people will notice, and then they will try to possess you. They will break you apart, consume you, and throw you away. Ugliness spends more time than she'd admit making sure that she doesn't look good. She is so busy no pleasing anyone else that she is never free to be herself. Hurt, Ugliness has decided it is better to steal rather than risk being ripped off again.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Contemplative Video Stream-of-Conciousness Poem Community WordCloud Purple Collage Contmplative Art

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer in Praise of Heroines

by Miriam Therese Winter

O Heroine of heroines,

Your wisdom is reflected

in the stories of our sisters,

and Your power is made manifest

in the outlines of their lives.

You were there when they stood for justice

and You rode with them into battle

against all the evil forces

that surrounded and still surround.

Be with us now as we too face

the hour of our decision.

Make us strong, secure, confident

that You will achieve what we must do.

We praise Your name,

and we thank You

in the name of all women.

Amen.

Thirty-Third Day

While constructed of 30 tons of steel, from the right perspective this ersatz church appears almost invisible.

Esther 2.20-22; [12.4-5]; 3.6-7

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

2

20 During this time, Mordecai was a member of the Sovereign's Gate, 21 and two rebels, Bigthan and Teresh, who were royal eunuchs belonging to the Guardians of the Threshold, hatched a plot to kill Ahasuerus. 22 Mordecai heard about the plot and informed Esther, who, on Mordecai's instruction, told Ahasuerus.

[12

4 Ahasuerus appointed Mordecai to an office in the royal court and rewarded him with gifts. 5 But Haman ben-Hammedatha the Agagite, who had the sovereign's favor, decided to get even with Mordecai on behalf of the two eunuchs.]

3

6 When he was told that Mordecai was Jewish, he was not content just to see Mordecai killed, but wanted to wipe out all of Mordecai's people throughout the empire of Ahasuerus.

7 So in the first month of the twelfth year of Ahasuerus' reign, the month of Nisan, they east the purple - that is, the lot - in front of Haman to determine the day and the month in which determination would begin. The lot fell to the twelfth month, Adar.

"Talking with the Sun"

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

I believe in the sun.

In the tangle of human failures of fear, greed, and

forgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity.

When explorers first encountered my people, they called us

heathens, sun worshippers.

They didn't understand that the sun is a relative, and

illuminates our path on this earth.

After dancing all night in a circle we realize that we are a

part of a larger sense of stars and planets dancing with us

overhead.

When the sun rises at the apex of the ceremony, we are

renewed.

There is no mistaking this connection, though Walmart

might be just down the road.

Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the

earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of

meaning.

Our earth is shifting. We can all see it.

I hear from my Inuit and Yupik relatives up north that

everything has changed. It's so hot; there is not enough

winter.

Animals are confused. Ice is melting.

The quantum physicists have it right; they are beginning to

think like Indians: everything is connected dynamically

at an intimate level.

When you remember this, then the current wobble of the

earth makes sense. How much more oil can be drained,

Without replacement; without reciprocity?

I walked out of a hotel room just off Times Square at dawn

to find the sun.

It was the fourth morning since the birth of my fourth

granddaughter.

This was the morning I was to present her to the sun, as a

relative, as one of us. It was still dark, overcast as I walked

through Times Square.

I stood beneath a twenty-first century totem pole of symbols

of multinational corporations, made of flash and neon.

The sun rose up over the city but I couldn't see it amidst the

rain.

Though I was not at home, bundling up the baby to carry

her outside,

I carried this newborn girl within the cradleboard of my

heart.

I held her up and presented her to the sun, so she would be

recognized as a relative,

So that she won't forget this connection, this promise,

So that we all remember, the sacredness of life.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Spend 15-20 minutes observing today's image. Ask yourself, "What's going on in this picture?" as a way of checking what you think you see and what you are actually seeing. Reflect on what the sights, sounds, and smells might be for the picture.

If you like, you can use a piece of the lined paper from you envelope to take notes on what you notice.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

An Outcast’s Prayer

by Miriam Therese Winter

We turn to You and Your mercy,

O God of barren places

and friend of the oppressed.

We stand in need of conversion,

from pain to peace,

from sadness to joy,

from guilt to affirmation.

Lead us not into isolation,

but deliver us from anger,

for Yours is the kindness,

the patience,

the strength we desire,

now and forever.

Amen.

Thirty-Second Day

Esther 2.15b-18

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

2

15 ...Esther soon won the esteem of everyone who saw her. 16 She was brought to Ahasuerus at the palace in the tenth month, Tebeth, during the seventh year of his reign. 17 Ahasuerus liked Esther more than all the others - none of the others found as much favor with him. So he placed the crown on her head and proclaimed her to be queen in place of Vashti.

18 Then Ahasuerus gave a great feast in her honor for all the governors and government officials, proclaiming a holiday in all the provinces and making bounteous gifts with royal abandon.

"In Night, When Colors All to Black Are Cast"

by Fluke Greville (1554-1628)

found in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling (WW Norton, 2019)

In night, When colors all to black are cast,

Distinction lost, or gone down the light,

The eye, a watch to inward senses placed,

Not seeing, yet still having power of sight,

Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,

Where fear, stirred up with witty tyranny,

Confounds all powers, and through self-offense

Doth forge and raise impossibility,

Such as in thick depriving darknesses

Proper reflections of the error be,

And images of self-confusednesses,

Which hurt imaginations only see;

And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,

Which but expressions be of inward evils.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Glue, tape or other adhesive product.

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of art paper.

• Sheets of purple tissue paper.

Directions: Find the different shades of purple tissue paper in your envelope. Tear those sheets into size and shape pieces as you are being called to do.

When you're ready attach the pieces to a sheet of art paper from your envelope using glue, tape, or your favorite adhesive product to create a purple collage.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Partnership Prayer

by Miriam Therese Winter

We thank You, O God Within and Beyond us,

for linking our lives

in so many ways,

making a chain of hope

and compassion

long enough

to circle the globe.

When we walk hand in hand,

when we work side by side,

the impossible becomes

the next challenge before us,

and we know we can do

what we dared not attempt.

May mountains of misery melt

with Your Word of concern

which we put into action,

and may there never again be despair or denial

of Your saving grace.

Amen.

Thirty-First Day

Esther 2.1-2, 4-5, 7-9a

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

2

After a while, when Ahasuerus' anger abated, he thought of Vashti and her behavior and the sanctions he brought against her.

2 The members of the imperial court approached Ahasuerus and said, "Why don't we seek out all the most beautiful women of the empire for the ruler?

4 Let Hegai give them all the finery they need to adorn themselves, and let the one who pleases our sovereign most take Vashti's place in the palace." This advice pleased Ahasuerus very much, so he acted on it.

5 Now, in the palace of Susa there lived a Jew named Mordecai ben-Jair ben-Shimei ben-Kish of the tribe of Benjamin...

7 He was the guardian of Hadassah, who was also known as Esther. She was extremely beautiful. Esther was the daughter of Mordecai's cousin. After her parents died, Mordecai adopted her as his own child.

8 After Ahasuerus' edict was issued, a great number of young women came to the palace at Susa and were place under the supervision of Hegai, the chaperone. Esther was among them. 9 It was Esther who caught the ruler's attention; not only did he provide her with everything she wanted for her wardrobe and meals, he also gave her special attendants from his own court and transferred her personal attendants to the best part of the harem.

"Sunday Morning"

by Ariana Brown

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

after washing,

i slip oil through

my damp braids,

sighing

as the oil

slicks

down

my scalp

ribbons of

liquid angels

granting me

their honey.

i say to them

i have a crush

on a girl

named sam.

i imagine

kissing her

with a fistful

of curls

in front of my

bathroom mirror,

in the spot

catching

the most light.

i imagine this is how a baby first

learns reverence,

upon finding

all the color

in the world

can fit into

its palm.

i imagine

holding a girl

named sam

& this

makes me

a woman who

defies logic,

gives in

to herself;

& what kind

of daughter

remembers

to want?

i imagine loving

a girl named sam

as oil lifts

the ache

from my head

after the wash;

easy, clean,

as falling

into myself:

a gracious & simple

anointment.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Today we will create a WordCloud together as a community.

First spend some time meditating on the theme of beauty. Notice what comes up for you when thinking about beauty. Does it feel powerful or vulnerable? How do you identify with beauty? What is beautiful?

When you feel ready, add to our Community Word Cloud here by giving up to 5 responses* (of 25 characters or less) to the question "What is beautiful?"

(*Note: you can submit up to 5 responses, 1 time. Make sure you have written all of your responses before hitting "submit" or enter if you're using a keyboard.)

The WordCloud will continue to form and change in real-time as participants continue to contribute. Check back to see it progress.

Results will be live until April 26.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer

by J. Kyle Wilsor

O Hider of my Heart,

They say that you work in mysterious ways. I do not believe you to be a God of cliches, and yet, I cannot deny that your ways are, indeed, mysterious to me.

I pray today not to see the path ahead of me, not to understand the meaning of my circumstances, nor to feel some otherworldly comfort I can attribute to you or anyone or anything else; instead I pray for the courage to freefall, for the determination to trust. I seek not a result nor plan, but the strength to live peacefully in the knowledge that grace will keep me on my feet.

Make me like Vashti, unafraid to be cast out for my self-possession and poise. Make me like Esther, unafraid to take one blind step after another. Make me fearless so that I may live fully and breathe in the mystery of your heart's path, today and every day.

Amen.

Thirtieth Day

Esther 1.3a, 5b, 10-12

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

1

3 During the third year of his reign,

5 ...Ahasuerus gave a banquet for everyone in the capital city of Susa, both the mighty and the lowly.

10 On the seventh day of the revels, Ahasuerus was drunk after a great deal of wine. He ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who attended to his every need, 11 to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, crowned with the royal diadem, to put on "a show of her beauty" for those present and for the government officials - she was very beautiful. 12 But Queen Vashti rebuffed the eunuchs." and refused to obey the order.

At this, Ahasuerus became irate and his rage boiled over.

"Transcript of Psych Ward Guard #3

(Erasure Poem in Which I Am the White Space)"

by Elena Ramirez-Gorski (b. 1997)

found in Poetry Magazine (May 2021)

What? Who are you talking about? The doctor? He's awful. The meanest. How much do you weigh? I could bench you, wouldn't even break a sweat. The only difference between me and you is I'm wearing this badge. I've got my problems, just like you, believe me. And sure, you've got yours. Once in a while I've lost my temper, I've been wrong, I've said some hurtful things. The only difference is you got to your breaking point but that doesn't make you crazy, we all have a breaking point. Do you wanna be here another week or do you want to go home? Well then, if I was you, I'd mind my p's and q's. Watch your mouth. We all just have to get along. This virus is bringing out the worst in people. Not everything has to be political. We all have a right to our own opinion but you have no right to judge me for mine or shove yours down my throat. Yeah, there's things I don't like about him. But we need to respect that he's still our president. How could you blame all of this on just one guy? I'll tell you what, our economy has never been better. He speaks his mind. He says it like it is. It's like all you people want to do is argue. Where's the civility, man? We need order. We need authority. It's insane, if you think we can survive without police, you're insane. But nowadays I can walk outside and get shot just for being white. It's the truth. That's it. Why are you mad? What, you think I like putting my hands on people? You think I take pleasure in wrestling with an old man? I hate it. I'm just doing my job. Sometimes you have to just throw up your hands and say, well there's nothing I can do. Let God take the wheel. We are his lambs. There's some real shitheads that come through here. I shouldn't curse. I like your group, though. You guys aren't crazy like those motherfuckers. Well, then there's Jeff. Jeff is crazy. Hey, Jeff! Hello-o! See? Nothing going on in there. You guys are completely sane. Jeff's like talking to the brick wall. This is a good group. So you're finally out of here, huh? Well we need to have a little chat first. You're not in trouble, I just want to talk. I'm looking at your discharge survey. I offended you? I was joking. I thought you were smart enough to realize that. I know better now. When these people leave, politics are out there. There's no "power dynamic" here. Why are you scared? What? Speak up. I don't bite. Listen. That's the reality, in my eyes, political conversations are necessary, even around here. You've got to understand that. Look, nowadays, everything is political. As soon as you're out in the real world, it'll be a kick in the guts if we just went and babied you all and that'd be irresponsible. Okay? No hard feelings? See my point? We're good? Shake my hand. Sweet.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A Pen, Pencil, or other writing utensil.

From Your Envelope:

• One or more sheets of lined paper.

Directions: Today you are going to write a stream-of-conciousness poem.

The goal in this poetry form is to write something that more closely resembles the way our internal thoughts process; often in a non-organized form. Therefore, there aren't a lot of rules, formal grammar and spelling don't matter, don't capitalize or punctuate if you don't want to. Just write what comes to your mind as authentically as possible.

While there are no rules or guidelines, here are some suggestions to help you get started:

• Choose a topic. I suggest engaging with today's scripture, poem, and art again, then choosing your topic based on the way those things make you feel.

• Write by hand on paper. There are no more writing practices after today, so use as much of the writing paper as you have left. (There are two writing optional activities - if you are inclined to take part in the writing option save two pages.)

• Be different. Write with your non-dominant hand, write all over the page, not just in lines, write from bottom to top. Write in spirals or shapes. Forget grammar and syntax.

• Don't make any edits for at least 10 minutes. It doesn't matter if it didn't come out the way you meant or you misspelled something - that's all part of it. Keep writing, don't erase anything.

• Take a break. After your editing-free writing time is over, put your work aside for a while before returning to it.

• Review your writing to discover where your poem wants to take you and what tweaks might help.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20-minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer Celebrating Beauty

by Miriam Therese Winter

O Beauty Incomparable,

Grace so accessible,

draw us to You

and through You to all that is good

and beautiful and holy

and worthy of our praise.

Daily we strive to be more like You,

O Joy of Our Desiring.

May we image Your beauty

and grow by Your grace

to the fullness of our being

and the completeness of our call.

For this we pray.

Amen.

Twenty-Nineth Day

Creation (Megaplex) (2013)

by Marco Brambilla

3D high-definition video, Color, and sound, duration: 4 min.

Vignettes culled from hundreds of films, ranging from The Sound of Music to Star Wars, swirl together like a spiral galaxy or a double helix of DNA.

Esther 11.2-12

The book of Esther is something of a hybrid - a Hebrew original with later Greek additions, some of which duplicate the Hebrew text. For the purposes of reading Esther this week, we read from both versions in segments that fall roughly in chronological order, but the verse numbering will not always be sequential. As an indicator, any text set in brackets will be from the Greek additions.

Even a casual reading of the two versions will reveal significant differences between them. One important difference is that the Hebrew account is famous for never mentioning God, while the Greek text does; portions of the Greek additions, probably because of their more overtly religious language, are used in the Roman Catholic liturgy, while the Hebrew sections are not; and the Greek sections make explicit what is only implicit in the Hebrew story.

11

2 [DURING THE SECOND YEAR OF THE REIGN of Ahasuerus the Great, on the first day of Nisan, a dream came to Mordecai ben-Jair ben-Shimei ben-Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin - 3 a Jew living in Susa and holding high office in the imperial court. 4 He was among the prisoners that Nebuchadnezzar the Great of Babylon had exiled from Jerusalem along with Jeconiah, ruler of Judah.

5 In the dream, there were shouts and clamors, thunder and earthquakes and chaos over the whole world. 6 Then two large dragons appeared, each ready for a fight, roaring fiercely. 7 When their voices thundered, every nation prepared to wage war against the nation of the Just.

8 A day of uncertainty and anguish, of sickness and agony, of oppression and tribulation, descended on the whole world. 9 The nation of the Just was sick with trepidation from the fear of the evils lurking in wait for them. They prepared for death as they cried out to God.

10 From their cry, as from a tiny spring, there grew a mighty river, a torrent of water. 11 Dawn came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were raised up to devour the powerful.

12 When he awoke from the dream - this vision of God's plan - Mordecai pondered the matter very seriously, attempting to discern the meaning of the dream.]

"Make It All Still"

by Timothy Chang

found in A Creative Anthology From Pandemic Times (Coastland Commons, 2022)

How long until justice and mercy be available

to us all

When will we leave the oppression of night

and see the sunrise?

Until then, disquiet fills my soul,

my mind

my bones

Will we emerge together or find

we've been shattered to pieces

May God make it all still

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Today's visual art piece is a video. It is a 4-minute video that is intended to be played on loop.

Watch the video for about 15 minutes, or 3 times through. Make sure you turn on the sound for the full experience.

What do you notice? What do you wonder? Does it connect with you differently the first time through than it does the second time? Third time? How does it make you feel?

If you like, you can use a sheet of the lined paper in you envelope to write down what you notice from this experience.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer for the Confused

by Dustin Wilsor

Divine Guide and Source of Clarity,

In the midst of confusion, I turn to you for guidance,

Grant me the wisdom to see through the fog of uncertainty,

And the patience to wait for clarity to emerge.

Bless me with insight to discern the right path,

And the strength to trust in my own intuition.

May I find peace in the midst of confusion,

And the courage to embrace the unknown.

In the name of understanding and peace, I pray,

Amen.

Twenty-Eighth Day

Rain Room (2012-13)

by Random International

Water, injection molded tiles, solenoid valves, pressure regulators, custom software, 3D tracking cameras, steel beams, water management system, and grated floor, 100 sq. meters

The miraculous conceit of the Rain Room: visitors can stroll through the pouring rain while remaining completely dry, as if surrounded by a protective force-field.

Daniel 6.23, 25-28

6

23 Darius joyfully ordered Daniel to be removed from the den, unhurt because he trusted in God[.]

25 Then Darius, ruler of Babylon, wrote this proclamation: "To the nations and peoples of every language, wherever they dwell on earth: May you always have peace and abundance! 26 I decree that throughout my realm the God of Daniel is to be revered and worshiped.

For God is the living God, enduring forever,

whose realm will not be destroyed, and

whose dominion will be without end!

27 God is a deliverer and a savior,

working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth,

and delivering Daniel from the lions' power."

28 Prosperity followed Daniel during Darius' reign, and that of Cyrus the Persian.

"Quantitative Reasoning"

by Chen Chen (b. 1989)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

1

I don't know how much more coleslaw I can take.

2

& I love coleslaw.

3

If Brian is traveling at 71 miles per hour & Ryan is traveling at 74 miles per hour & a dog is barking at another dog for 7 dog minutes, when would be the best time for me to visit you?

4

My boyfriend Jeff routinely gets his younger sister's age wrong. My mother always mixes up my two younger brothers in their baby pictures. These are the mistakes we like to laugh about.

5

Which amount is greater?

A) The electrons in your left foot

B) God's pinkie finger

C) What you wished you had room for last week at Old Country Buffet

6

I find myself envious of Jeff for getting to have a relationship with my mother that doesn't involve the last twenty years. They can just talk about cats & how to bake different things better. Then I think of Jeff saying that it's a good thing I met his family now. After all the divorce & marrying new people & buying new houses.

7

It's never too late for someone else to have your happy childhood.

8

To determine how old my father is, I always have to add five years to my mother's age. Plus five years of the hair dye I will probably use, too.

9

On a scale of 1 to lenticular cloud, what is the median household height of a lonely child's imaginary friend, a friend whose name has remained a well-guarded secret, even after x as well as y amount of years?

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Charcoal Rubbing Self-Portrait Finger Labyrinth Contemplative Music Link 2 Pictures

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer for Freedom from Violence

by Miriam Therese Winter

O gentle, loving, maternal God,

cradle all the bruised

and bleeding hearts

of Your violated children.

Kiss away the wounds of war

with blessings beyond our telling,

and let the scars of all who hurt

be a guarantee of reward.

Hold us all so close to You

that violence dissolves forever

in a never-ending peace.

We praise You, God our Comforter.

Amen.

Twenty-Seventh Day

You and I, Horizontal (2005)

by Anthony McCall

Mixed-media installation

In installations that are part cinema, part sculpture, McCall projects oscillating beams of light through a fine mist, creating planes and chambers of light.

Daniel 6.19-22

6

19 Darius rose very early the next morning and hurried to the lions' den. 20 Drawing near to the lions' den, Darius cried out to Daniel with anguish in his voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Has the God whom you worship so constantly been able to save you from the lions?"

21 Daniel answered, "O Darius, ruler of Babylon, may you live forever! 22 My God has sent an angel and closed the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me. For I have been found innocent before the Most High. Nor have I ever done any harm to you, my ruler!"

Excerpt from "Dog Talk"

by Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

from Long Life (Da Capo Press, 2005)

But I want to extol not the sweetness nor the placidity of the dog, but the wilderness out of which he cannot step entirely, and from which we benefit. For wilderness is our first home too, and in our wild ride into modernity with all its concerns and problems we need also all the good attachments to that origin that we can keep or restore. Dog is one of the messengers of that rich and still magical first world. The dog would remind us of the pleasures of the body with its graceful physicality, and the acuity and rapture of the senses, and the beauty of forest and ocean and rain and our own breath. There is not a dog that romps and runs but we learn from him.

The other dog - the one that all its life walks leashed and obedient down the sidewalk - is what a chair is to a tree. It is a possession only, the ornament of a human life. Such dogs can remind us of nothing large or noble or mysterious or lost. They cannot make us sweeter or more kind.

Only unleashed dogs can do that. They are a kind of poetry themselves when they are devoted not only to us but to the wet night, to the moon and the rabbit-smell in the grass and their own bodies leaping forward.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A Pen, pencil, or other writing utensil.

From Your Envelope:

• Page with two pictures.

• Sheet of lined paper.

Directions: From your envelope, find the page that has two photographs on it. It should look something like this picture.

Take some time to consider these photographs. How are they different? How are they similar? How might they relate to one another?

When you're ready, use a sheet of the lined writing paper from your envelope to write a few paragraphs that links these two photographs to one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Survivor’s Prayer

Divine Source of Healing and Comfort,

Grant me the strength to embrace my journey,

And the courage to continue on the path to healing.

Bless me with resilience in the face of adversity,

And surround me with love and support as I reclaim my life.

May I find peace in the midst of my struggles,

And may my scars become a testament to my strength.

Guide me as I navigate the challenges of my past,

And help me find hope and joy in each new day.

Grant me the wisdom to set boundaries that protect my well-being,

And the grace to forgive, both myself and others.

In the name of resilience and renewal, I pray,

Amen.

Twenty-Sixth Day

Patron Saint of Desperate Situations

Daniel 6.11-16

6

11 Some nobles of Darius, ruler of Babylon, entered the upstairs room of Daniel's home and found him praying and pleading before God.

12 The nobles then went to remind Darius of the prohibition: "Didn't you decree that no one is to address a petition to god or mortal for thirty days, except to you, on pain of being thrown into the lions' den?"

Darius replied, "The decree is absolute and irrevocable under Medean and Persian law."

13 To this the nobles replied, "Daniel, the Jewish exile, has paid no attention to you or to the decree you issued; three times a day Daniel offers prayers."

14 Darius was deeply grieved at this news and decided to save Daniel, racking his brain until sunset to find a way out. 15 But the officials insisted: "Keep in mind that under Medean and Persian law, every royal prohibition or decree is irrevocable."

16 So Darius ordered Daniel to be brought and cast into the lions' den. To Daniel he said, "May your God, whom you worship so constantly, save you!"

"Untitled"

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

Listened to an alto sax players jamming on the street. He played a few jazz standards, mostly popular tunes the people would know who changed buses there. Nice tone. I walked from the hotel into the dusk of the city to listen closer, to speak with him. We shared names, gear info, and other stories of the saxophone road. He told me, "I'm making a living out of small hopes..." There's something about a lone horn player blowing ballads at the corners of our lives.

Today’s Art Practice

Directions: Select one of the songs from today's playlist - it doesn't matter which, just one that speaks to you in the moment. Listen to that song on repeat at least 3 times. Listen to this song, letting the words, tune, and rhythm real themselves to you in a way that is different from what you normally hear.

Notice how this is different from how you normally listen to music. Notice how this is different from how you are normally contemplative.

If you like, you can use a sheet of the lined paper in you envelope to write down what you notice from this experience.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer

by Joyce Yarrow

God be your comfort, your strength;

God be your hope and support;

God be your light and your way;

and may God: Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,

bless you and remain with you

now and for ever. Amen.

Twenty-Fifth Day

Daniel 6.3-9

6

3 Daniel's exceptional abilities outshone all the other ministers and nobles, and Darius wanted to place him in charge of the whole realm. 4 The other ministers and nobles grew jealous and began to look for some way to malign Daniel's administration of the realm, but they couldn't find any fault, since Daniel was completely responsible and trustworthy. Since they could find no carelessness or deceit in Daniel, 5 they said, "We'll never find any reason to accuse this Daniel - unless it has to do with the law of his God!"

6 The ministers and nobles conspired together and approached Darius, Saying: "Long live Darius the Great! 7 We, the ministers of your realm, your administrators, nobles, advisors and governors, have come to an agreement, and we believe that you should issue a decree with the following prohibition: during the next thirty days, anyone who pays homage to any god or ruler other than you is to be thrown into the lions' den. 8 If you would sign this document, the edict will become inalterable, for the law of the Medes and the Persians can never be revoked." 9 So Darius signed the law.

"Cenzóntle"

by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (b. 1988)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

Because the bird flew before

there was a word

for flight

years from now

there will be a name

for what you and I are doing.

I licked the mango of the sun-

between its bone and its name

between its color and its weight,

the night was heavier

than the light it hushed.

Pockets of unsteady light.

The bone-

the seed

inside the bone-

the echo

and its echo

and its shape.

I am resigned

Can you wash me without my body

Coming apart in your hands?

Call it wound-

call it beginning-

The bird's beak twisted

into a small circle of awe.

You called it cutting apart,

I called it song.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Your Finger Labyrinth.

Directions: Before you start, take some time to settle into a position in which you're comfortable. Take some slow deep breaths to centre you in your practice. Before you begin, you may wish to set an intention or ask a question that you will carry with you into the labyrinth, but be careful to keep it open-ended so that you're open to surprise.

Place a finger at the entrance of the labyrinth. Some people suggest that you use your non-dominant hand, as research suggests that our non-dominant hand has easier access to our intuition. As you follow the path with your finger inward, be conscious and intentional about releasing whatever stresses, worries, or distractions you might be feeling.

Breathe deeply and slowly. Pause whenever you want, but don't lift your finger off the labyrinth.

When distracting thoughts come up, simply let them pass and wish them well as they leave your mind.

When you reach the center, pause for a while and receive. Be open to whatever guidance and wisdom you may need, even if it's not what you expected.

When you're ready, follow the path outward, consciously returning and bringing the wisdom of the center out into your life with you.

Don't try too hard. Sometimes the wisdom of the labyrinth is simply the pause that it forces you to take Sometimes nothing obvious shows up, but that doesn't mean it wasn't time well spent. Stay open and receptive.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer for the Powerless

by Miriam Therese Winter

O Sacred Power,

Force for Good

in the midst of so much evil,

we who are powerless

call upon You

for strength

and a share in Your power,

for we are only as powerful

as Your power

empowering us,

this day

and every day of our lives.

Amen.

Twenty-Fourth Day

Daniel 5.10-11, 13, 16-20, 22-23a, 24, 30-31a

5

10 When the queen heard all the confusion, she came into the room and said, "Long live Belshazzar! There is no need to be so troubled or to be so afraid. 11 There is someone in your land who possesses the spirit of the holy gods and was known in the time of your forbear to have keen insight and godlike wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar appointed him chief among all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners.

13 Then Daniel was brought before Belshazzar who asked, "Are you Daniel, the Jewish exile, whom my forebear brought from Judah?

16 I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties; if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple, wear a gold collar around your neck, and be third in the government of the realm."

17 Daniel answered Belshazzar, "You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else; but the writing I will read for you and tell you what it means. 18 Great Ruler, the Most High God gave dominion to your forebear Nebuchadnezzar, with power, glory and honor, 19 and because of this power, all the nations of the earth trembled. Nebuchadnezzar put some to death at will and others he spared at will; some were promoted and others were brought down according to his whim.

20 But when he became arrogant and stubborn and insolent, he was overthrown and stripped of glory.

22 "But even though you, the heir to the realm, knew all of this, you didn't change your ways. 23 You have rebelled against the God of heaven. You had the vessels of the Temple brought before you, so that you and the royal family, the nobles and their families, and the entertainers might drink wine from the,; and you toasted your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.

24 That is why God sent the hand which wrote these things.

30 That night, Belshazzar, the ruler of the Chaldeans, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the realm.

"Self-Portrait"

by David Whyte (b. 1955)

from Fire in the Earth (Many Rivers Press, 1992)

It doesn't interest me if there is one God

or many gods.

I want to know if you belong or feel

abandoned,

if you can know despair or see it in others.

I want to know

if you are prepared to live in the world

with its harsh need

to change you. If you can look back

with firm eyes,

saying this is where I stand. I want to know

if you know

how to melt into that fierce heat of living,

falling toward

the center of your longing. I want to know

if you are willing

to live, day by day, with the consequence of love

and the bitter

unwanted passion of you sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace,

even the gods speak of God.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A Pen, Pencil, Paint, Crayons, Markers, or any other materials needed for writing, or drawing or making the art of your choice.

• A Mirror

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of Art Paper

  OR

• Sheet of Lined Paper

Directions: Today's art and poem are both examples of an artists "self-portrait."

Self-portraits are often less about perfectly capturing the image of the artist at that time, but more about capturing a mood, or essence, or emotion.

Look at yourself in the mirror...look beyond what you look at as you get ready for the day. Look to SEE yourself.

When you're ready, create your self-portrait in whatever way feels right for you in this moment. It could be through writing poetry or writing prose, it could be through a 1-line drawing, abstract painting, collage, a received picture, a song or a speech, or anything else you can think of.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer

from Presbyterian Worship

Merciful God, grant us grace to see within ourselves, to mourn our sins, and to seek the blessing of your forgiving, life-renewing grace, that we may live as your faithful and obedient children throughout all our days; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Twenty-Third Day

Daniel 5.1-6

5

Many years later, Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon, gave a great banquet for a thousand nobles, and drank with them. 2 Under the influence of the wine, he sent for the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his forebear, had looted from the Temple in Jerusalem, so that the royal family, the nobles and their families, and the entertainers might drink from them. 3 When the gold and silver vessels looted from the Temple of God in Jerusalem had been brought in, and while the royal family, the nobles and their families, and the entertainers 4 were drinking wine from them, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly, opposite the lamp stand, the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the palace wall. When Belshazzar saw the hand as it wrote, 6 the ruler went pale; his thoughts terrified him; his hips went slack and his knees began to knock.

"Terror"

by J. Ruth Gendler (b. 1955)

from The Book of Qualities (HarperCollins, 1984)

Terror is stricter than my first Latin teacher. She doesn't want anyone to become friendly with Ecstasy or run through the hills racing the Wind. On the west wall of her living room she keeps a long list of rules and a tally sheet of those she frightens and those who frighten her. In the margins she records your weaknesses. She demands privacy, but she doesn't hesitate to bother others at any hour of the day or night.

When Terror wants power, she has many ways to silence those who oppose her. She is willing to use violence to achieve her ends; often she prefers less obvious means. Terror knows that she can control the body by controlling the mind. When people are in states of confusion, Terror's propaganda passes for truth.

Terror came to our meditation class for a while. It was hard to breathe when she was in the room. However, she never stayed long. After a few minutes, she always opened her eyes. She knew if she sat really still she would scream.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A space (inside or outside) where you can explore a textured surface. (e.g. brick walls, grave stones, public sculpture)

From Your Envelope:

• Piece of Rubbing Paper.

• Charcoal Stick

Directions: Today I invite you to explore a space that you are less familiar with than the previous places you have explored. Perhaps this is a cemetery, a public sculpture park, or even your basement that you avoid.

Bring the Rubbing Paper and Charcoal Stick from your Envelope.

As you explore this unfamiliar space, notice something that compels you to take a rubbing of it home with you.

Perhaps this is a grave stone or a plaque, or a wall with an interesting texture.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Not in My Name

by Johnny Baker

Not in my name

Will we fight terror with terror

Not in my name

Will we exploit the resources of those who are poorer

Not in my name

Will the bodies of the innocent be broken for the evils of a few

Not in my name

Will we deny life to those for whom life is a struggle

Not in my name

Will the name of god be used as an excuse for our own self interest

Not in my name

Will we be blinkered by our flawed sense of justice

Not in my name

Will the bread of life be robbed from the mouths of the worlds hungriest

Not in my name

Will we find salvation in the defeat of our enemies

Not in my name

Will our government wipe out innocent families

Not in my name

Will we reap reward from terrorism and invasion

Not in my name

Will the west get rich through the debts of the poor

We thank Christ for his body broken and blood shed.

We acknowledge his sacrifice for the salvation and redemption of the world.

We acknowledge innocent blood shed and bodies broken

to be enemies of God's Kingdom and a sin against Creation.'

We acknowledge love, truth, grace, justice, righteousness, mercy and humility

to be signatures of God's rule.

May God bless us as we seek to send a clear message to those in authority...

Not in my name!

Twenty-Second Day

Daniel 3.24, 91-95a

verse 24 has been added to the book of Daniel from the Apocrypha. In bibles where this addition is not included, this verse does not exist & verses 91-95 are labeled as verses 24-28.

24 They walked straight into the flames, blessing and singing to YHWH.

91 Then Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in fear, saying to his court, "Didn't we throw these three into the fire?"

They answered, "Yes, your majesty."

92 "But," he continued, "I can see four people walking about in the flames, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a god!" 93 Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the furnace and called out, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faithful ones of the Most High God, come out!" When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, 94 all the nobility, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the provincial officials of the land gathered around them and saw that the fire had not harmed them. Not a hair on their heads had been singed, their clothing was untouched, and they didn't even smell of smoke.

95 Nebuchadnezzar then made this proclamation: "Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent an angel to save these faithful ones, who trusted in God and disobeyed my command!"

“Untitled (For Andrea Smith)”

by Demian DinéYazhi' (b. 1983)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

I Hope… Sit & Observe Finger Labyrinth Draw Prayer Talisman Haiku

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Feminist Prayer of Resistance

by Dustin Wilsor

Divine Feminine, source of strength and wisdom,

Grant us the courage to resist injustice,

And the power to stand up for equality.

Bless our voices as we speak out against oppression,

And guide our actions as we work for change.

May we dismantle the systems that seek to diminish us,

And build a world where all are valued and free.

Grant us the solidarity to lift each other up,

And the insight to recognize our own worth.

May our resistance be fierce and unyielding,

Rooted in love and justice for all.

In the name of equality and liberation, we pray,

Amen.

Twenty-First Day

Daniel 3.13b-20

3

13 [...] When they were brought before the ruler, 14 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you have refused to serve my gods or to worship the image of gold I set up? 15 Now, when you hear the royal orchestra play its music, if you are prepared to fall down and worship the image I have made, I'll give you another chance. But if you continue to refuse, I'll have you thrown into the blazing furnace immediately. No god will be able to rescue you from my hand."

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to Nebuchadnezzar, "Great Ruler, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If you throw us into the blazing furnace, 17 the God we serve is able to overcome the blaze and rescue us from your hand. 18 But even if God does not rescue us, we want you to know, Great Ruler, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you set up."

19 Nebuchadnezzar fumed in anger at what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had told him, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded several of the strongest soldiers in the army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them in the blazing furnace.

"Power"

by J. Ruth Gendler (b. 1955)

from The Book of Qualities (HarperCollins, 1984)

Power made me a coat. For a long time I kept it in the back of my closet. I didn't like to wear it much, but I always took good care of it. When I first started wearing it again, it smelled like mothballs. As I wore it more, it started fitting better, and stopped smelling like mothballs.

I was afraid if I wore the coat too much someone would want to take it or else I would accidentally leave it in the dojo dressing room. But it has my name on the label now, and it doesn't really fit anyone else. When people ask me where I found such a becoming garment, I tell them about the tailor, Power, who knows how to make coats that you grow into. First, you must find the courage to approach him and ask him to make your coat. Then, you must find the patience inside yourself to wear the coat until it fits.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A pen, pencil or other writing instrument.

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of Lined Paper.

Directions: A Haiku is a kind of poem where the only rule is you have to use the correct number of syllables per line.

The first like has five syllables.

The second line has seven syllables.

the third line has five syllables.

For example:

5 Over the wintry

7 Forest, winds howl in rage

5 with no leaves to blow.

Using a sheet of the lined paper from your envelope, write your own haiku on the theme of Power.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer for Keeping Faith

by Miriam Therese Winter

Help us,

O keeper of Faith,

to keep the faith entrusted to us,

faith in a world worth saving,

faith in a dream worth sharing,

faith in a heritage worth keeping

even as we reinvigorate it

to have meaning for us now.

Help us keep faith in You,

and help us not lose faith in ourselves,

for faith is the substance of our hope,

and hope, the assurance of love.

Praise to You, O Faithful One,

now and forever.

Amen.

Twentieth Day

Daniel 2.49; 3.1, 4-6, 8-13a

2

49 At Daniel's request, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to administer the province of Babylon while Daniel remained in the royal court.

3

Nebuchadnezzar ordered a gold image to be built, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and had it set up on the plain of Dura in Babylon.

4 Then the herald proclaimed in a loud voice, "This is the command for all peoples of every nation and tongue: as soon as you hear the sound of the royal orchestra, 5 you must fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will be immediately thrown into a blazing furnace."

8 But some of the Chaldeans came forward to inform upon those who were worshipping YHWH. 9 They told Nebuchadnezzar, "Great Ruler, 10 you have decreed that everyone fall down and worship the image of gold at the sound of the orchestra, 11 and that whoever does not do this will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some who you have set over the affairs of Babylon - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - who have ignored your order. Great Ruler, they neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you set up!"

13 Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

"Myself"

by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)

found in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (Doubleday, 1936)

I have to live with myself, and so

I want to be fit for myself to know,

I want to be able, as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,

And hate myself for things I have done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself, as I come and go,

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of a man I really am;

I don't want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in the struggle for fame and pelf

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to look at myself and know

That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.

I can never hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself, and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Your Prayer Talisman from last week's practice.

• A pen, pencil or other drawing utensil.

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of Art Paper.

Directions: Last week, we used our prayer talisman as a receptacle for our fears. Today we will connect with our talisman to see what it might give to us.

Start by spending some time hold, looking at, feeling and studying it. Once you feel ready, lay it on the table in front of you where you can look at it.

Using a sheet of the art paper in your envelope, draw your talisman.

Take care and effort in this practice, but don't get lost in the perfection of drawing it perfectly the way it looks, instead focus on conveying its essence.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer

by Daniel B. Randall

We have heard it said:

Look after number one...

Get them before they get you...

Better be safe than sorry...

What's someone else's problems got to do with me...?

Only the strong survive...

Money makes the world go round...

Revenge is sweet...

Avoid pain at all costs...

May God forgive us when we, as Christ's own people,

believe these words to be life giving

when Jesus has shown us a better way.

Amen.

Nineteenth Day

These figures from the Parthenon's east pediment are most likely the goddesses Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite. Originally, they flanked a central sculpture of Athena emerging from the cranium of her father, Zeus. The temple was dedicated to the worship of Athena Parthenos, the Virgin. Around 500 CE it was converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, before later becoming a mosque. Today, ownership of the Parthenon Marbles is hotly contested between Greece and Great Britain as they are now housed in the British Museum, London.

Daniel 2.26-28a, 45b-46, 48

2

26 Nebuchadnezzar asked Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and to interpret it for me?"

27 Daniel answered, "No scholar or magician or enchanter or astrologer can tell your majesty the secret about which you ask. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals what is hidden, and it is God who has revealed to Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of this age.

45 [...] "The great God has revealed to the ruler what will be the future; this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure."

46 When he heard these words, Nebuchadnezzar bowed down in homage to Daniel, and ordered that he be given grain and pleasant offerings.

48 Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to a high position in the court and gave him many rich gifts. He gave Daniel authority over the whole province of Babylon and over all the scholars of Babylon.

"Ropes"

by Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

from Dog Songs (Penguin Press, 2013)

IN THE OLD DAYS dogs in our town roamed freely. But the old ways changed.

One morning a puppy arrived in our yard with a length of rope hanging from his collar. He played with our dogs; eventually he vanished. But the next morning he showed up again, with a different rope attached. This happened for a number of days - he appeared, he was playful and friendly, and always accompanied by a chewed-through rope.

Just at that time we were moving to another house, which we finished doing all in one evening. A day or so later, on a hunch, I drove back to the old house and found him lying in the grass by our door. I put him in the car and showed him where our new house was. "Do your best," I said.

He stayed around for a while, then was gone. But there he was the next morning at the new house. Rope dangling. Later that day his owner appeared - with his papers from the Bideawee home, and a leash. "His name is Sammy," she said. "And he's yours."

As Sammy grew older he began to roam around the town and, as a result, began to be caught by the dog officer. Eventually, of course, we were summoned to court, which, we learned quickly, was not a place in which to argue. We were told to build a fence. Which we did.

But it turned out that Sammy could not only chew through ropes, he could also climb fences. So his roaming continued.

But except for the dog officer, Sammy never got into trouble; he made friends. He wouldn't fight with other dogs, he just seemed to stay awhile in someone's yard and, if possible, to say hello to the owners. People began to call us to come and get him before the dog officer saw him. Some took him into their houses to hide him from the law. Once a woman on the other end of town called: when I got there she said, "Can you wait just a few minutes? I'm making him some scrambled eggs."

I could tell many more stories about Sammy, they're endless. But I'll just tell you the unexpected, joyful conclusion. The dog officer resigned! And the next officer was a different sort; he too remembered and missed the old days. So when he found Sammy he would simply call him into his truck and drive him home. In this way, he lived a long and happy life, with many friends.

This is Sammy's story. But I also think there are one or two poems in it somewhere. Maybe it's what life was like in this dear town years ago, and how a lot of us miss it.

Or maybe it's about the wonderful things that may happen if you break the ropes that are holding you.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Your Finger Labyrinth.

• Items for Decorating. (paint/brushes, crayons, stickers, leaves, glue, etc.)

Directions: Today we are focusing on beauty.

Decorate your Finger Labyrinth however you like taking care not to obstruct the path of the Labyrinth with any 3-dimensional decorations.

Once the decoration step is done & dry, your Finger Labyrinth is complete. We will use it for a contemplative prayer practice later in Lent, and it is available for you to use on your own however you wish.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer for Confronting Evil

by Miriam Therese Winter

O Warrior Woman,

You are our God

from the days of the earth's beginnings.

You guard Your precious charges

from the claws of all those predators

who seek to do us harm.

Slay those raging passions

that dehumanize and conquer,

and touch us all

with that gentleness

we need for making peace.

Gentle Woman God,

You are our God,

now and forever. Amen.

Eighteenth Day

Daniel 2.13, 16-19a

2

13 A decree of execution was issued for all the scholars in the land, and a search was made for Daniel and his companions.

16 [...] Daniel begged to be allowed a chance to give Nebuchadnezzar an interpretation. 17 He then went home and told Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions, 18 to pray to God to let them know the secret of the dream so they would not be put to death with all the other scholars in Babylon. 19 And God revealed the secret to Daniel in a vision in the night.

"I am sitting in the dark..."

by Desiray Chee

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

I am sitting in the dark.

In the dark I am sitting...

without singing any sort of song

...without singing I wouldn't be able to talk...

now all I can do is wait, wait for the sun

wait for the birds to sing, and all that

may happen when the sun comes up...

I am sitting in the dark. In the dark I am sitting.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A public space.

Directions: Today we are focusing on observation. Find a public space where you will feel comfortable sitting for 20 minutes. Perhaps this space is the park by your house, the Library, the Lobby of your Apartment Building, a Food Court, etc.

Once you have chose your location, find a comfortable place to sit down.

Sit in that place for 20 minutes and observe the life happening around you.

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

We Wait in the Darkness

from the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand (abridged)

We wait in the darkness,

expectantly, longingly, anxiously, thoughtfully.

The darkness is our friend.

In the darkness of the womb,

we have all been nurtured and protected.

In the darkness of the womb

the Christ-child was made ready for the journey into light.

It is only in the darkness

that we can see the splendour of the universe-

blankets of stars, the solitary glowings of the planets.

It was the darkness that allowed the Magi to find the star

that guided them to where the Christ-child lay.

In the darkness of the night,

desert people find relief from the cruel relentless heat of the sun.

In the blessed desert darkness

Mary and Joseph were able to flee with the infant Jesus to safety in Egypt.

In the darkness of sleep,

we are soothed and restored, healed and renewed.

In the darkness of sleep, dreams rise up.

God spoke to Joseph and the wise men through dreams.

God is speaking still.

Sometimes in the solitude of the darkness our fears and concerns,

our hopes and visions rise to the surface.

We come face to face with ourselves

and with the road that lies ahead of us.

And in that same darkness

we find companionship for the journey.

In that same darkness

we sometimes allow ourselves to wonder and worry

whether the human race is going to survive.

And then, in the darkness we know that you are with us, O God,

yet still we await your coming.

In the darkness that contains both our hopelessness and our hope,

we watch for a sign of God's hope.

For you are with us, O God, in darkness and in light.

Seventeenth Day

Daniel 1.3, 5-8, 12-13, 18-20

1

3 Nebuchadnezzar told Ashpanaz, the chief steward, to bring in some of the Israelite youth, from either the royal house or the nobility-

5 The ruler assigned them daily rations of food and wine from the royal table, and after three years of training, they were to enter Nebuchadnezzar's service.

6 Among these were young Judean nobles: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7 The chamberlain, however, changed their names: Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar, Hananiah was renamed Shadrach, Misael was renamed Meshach, and Azariah was renamed Abednego.

8 But Daniel was determined not to be defiled with the non-kosher food or wine from the royal table, so he begged the chamberlain to spare him such a defilement.

12 "Please test us for ten days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then see how we look in comparison with the other young people who eat from the royal table, and treat us according to what you see."

18 At the end of the time the ruler had specified for the preparation, the chamberlain brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 When he had spoken with all of them, none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and so they entered the royal service. 20 In any question of wisdom and judgment which Nebuchadnezzar put to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the land.

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" (no. 260)

by Emily Dickenson (1830-1886)

found in The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Harvard University Press, 1998)

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you - Nobody - too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!

How dreary - to be - Somebody!

How public - like a Frog -

To tell one's name - the livelong June -

To an admiring Bog!

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Pen, pencil(s), crayon(s), or any other drawing instrument you prefer.

From Your Home:

• Sheet of art paper.

Directions: Start by writing I Hope... in the center on one of your sheets of art paper, then take about 5 minutes to meditate on hope.

What came up for you? What do you notice? What do you wonder? What ARE your hopes?

Using words and/or images, respond to your noticings on paper around the words I Hope... that you wrote.

Make this your own. Don't feel limited to writing and drawing; tear pictures out of an old magazine and glue or tape them if it feels right, gather natural elements from outside if you like.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Parents' Prayer

adapted from Talmud, Berakhot 17a

May you live to see a world that you create.

May your future shine in ways we can scarcely imagine.

May your hope span the generations.

May your heart learn understanding.

May you speak words of wisdom and sing songs of joy.

May your vision be clear before you.

May your eyes shine with the light of wise teachings.

May your face glow with the light of heaven.

May you run to discover the radiance of the Holy Blessed One.

Sixteenth Day

Jeremiah 36.27-32

27 After the ruler burned the scroll containing the words that Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch, the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah: 28 "Take another scroll and write down all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim ruler of Judah burned up. 29 And tell Jehoiakim ruler of Judah, 'This is what YHWH says: You burned the first scroll and said, "Why did you write on it that the ruler of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and cut both people and animals from it?"

30 "Therefore, this is what YHWH says about Jehoiakim ruler of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the judgment seat of David. His body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the cold at night. 31 I will punish him, his children and his officials for their corruption. I will bring down on them, the people living in Jerusalem, and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they did not listen."

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch ben-Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim ruler of Judah had burned in the brazier. And many similar words were added to them.

“Still I Rise”

by Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems (Random House, 1978)

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Receive Pictures In response to “NO” Wander Pray Fear into Talisman Storymatic

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer for Women under Siege

by Miriam Therese Winter

When our back is up against the wall,

we seek You, Shalom,

to empower us,

to encourage us,

to enlighten us

with a vision of hope,

a pledge of support,

a promise of peace

in the midst of all the power

amassed to besiege us.

Then peace will descend

like a singing bird,

like a lilting word,

and our moment of liberation

will come in the name of Shalom.

Amen.

Fifteenth Day

Jeremiah 36.14b-23

14 When Baruch ben-Neriah appeared before them with the scroll, 15 they said, "Take a seat and read it to us," which he did.

16 When they heard what was written down, they turned to one another in alarm, and said to Baruch, "We certainly must report this to the ruler."

17 Then they asked Baruch how he had come to write all this. 18 He explained, "Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down with ink on a scroll." 19 And the officials said to him, "You and Jeremiah must go into hiding so that no one can know where you are."

20 Once they had deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama, the chief adviser, they went to the court and reported the whole affair to the ruler. 21 Then the ruler sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll from the room of Elishama the chief adviser, who read it aloud in the presence of the ruler and the officials attending him. 22 Since it was the ninth month of the year, the ruler was sitting in his winter apartments before a brazier with a fire in it. 23 Each time Jehudi read three or four columns of the scroll, the ruler cut them off with a pen knife and threw them into the brazier. He continued to do this until the entire scroll was burned up in the brazier.

“Visits to St. Elizabeth”

by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

found in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling (WW Norton, 2019)

Visits to St. Elizabeths

1950

This is the house of Bedlam.

This is the man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is the time

of the tragic man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is a wristwatch

telling the time

of the talkative man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is a sailor

wearing the watch

that tells the time

of the honored man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is the roadstead all of board

reached by the sailor

wearing the watch

that tells the time

of the old, brave man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

These are the years and the walls of the ward,

the winds and clouds of the sea of board

sailed by the sailor

wearing the watch

that tells the time

of the cranky man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is a Jew in a newspaper hat

that dances weeping down the ward

over the creaking sea of board

beyond the sailor

winding his watch

that tells the time

of the cruel man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is a world of books gone flat.

This is a Jew in a newspaper hat

that dances weeping down the ward

over the creaking sea of board

of the batty sailor

that winds his watch

that tells the time

of the busy man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is a boy that pats the floor

to see if the world is there, is flat,

for the widowed Jew in the newspaper hat

that dances weeping down the ward

waltzing the length of a weaving board

by the silent sailor

that hears his watch

that ticks the time

of the tedious man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

These are the years and the walls and the door

that shut on a boy that pats the floor

to feel if the world is there and flat.

This is a Jew in a newspaper hat

that dances joyfully down the ward

into the parting seas of board

past the staring sailor

that shakes his watch

that tells the time

of the poet, the man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

This is the soldier home from war.

These are the years and the walls and the door

that shut on a boy that pats the floor

to see if the world is round or flat.

This is a Jew in a newspaper hat

that dances carefully down the ward,

walking the plank of a coffin board

with the crazy sailor

that shows his watch

that tells the time

of the wretched man

that lies in the house of Bedlam.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Pen, pencil, or other writing instrument (you could also do this activity using a voice recorder).

From Your Envelope:

• Prompt page.

• Sheet of lined paper.

Directions: Start by finding the prompt page from your envelope. It looks something like this (likely with different prompts).

The Goal is to get a story onto the page. The three prompts will help guide your story.

The two top (gold) prompts are your character cards, the bottom (white) prompt is a source of conflict between the two characters.

Do not think. Do not edit yourself. Say yes to everything. Write quickly. Write so fast that your hand hurts. Let your imagination go wherever it wants to go, and let yourself just go along for the ride. Nobody writes a perfect first draft. So don't get hung up trying to do that.

There are two essential rules in this activity: your main character must change from beginning to end, and your main character cannot die. You should also include the material from your prompts in a substantial way. These simple parameters will keep you grounded, even as you turn off the editor in your head.

Turning off the editor in your head can take some practice. It can sometimes be scary to turn off the editor. Just give it 20 minutes today and then come back.

*Save this story, we will come back to it later.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayers of the People

by Rick Morley

O God, the days are surely coming when all your promises will be fulfilled to your faithful children. We pray for the church, that we might fulfill our promises to you, and be forgiven for all our failures.

In your time, O Lord, a righteous branch sprang up and you brought justice and righteousness in every land. We pray for our nation, and all nations, that your peace would be manifest in every corner of the earth.

In your Kingdom, O Lord, you bring your people safety and comfort. We pray for the sick, the suffering, and those in distress of any kind; that you would heal all injuries, comfort all grief, and settle all wrongs.

Your great works of redemption, O God, span the ages. We pray for those who rejoice this week that they might be filled with joy and gladness.

In the fullness of time, O God, you sent your son, to be born of our sister Mary. And his name was Emmanuel: God With Us. We thank you for your Presence with us, and we pray that you might be always present with those whom we love but see no longer.

Come among us O God, and hear our prayers; so that when your Son Jesus comes among riding on a cloud and with great power and might, we might come to adore him. Amen.

Fourteenth Day

Jeremiah 36.9-10a, 11-12a, 13-14a

9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim ben-Josiah the ruler of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people of Jerusalem and all the people who came in from the towns of Judah proclaimed a fast before YHWH. 10 Then in the house of YHWH Baruch read aloud to all the people Jeremiah's words from the scroll.

11 When Micaiah ben-Gemariah ben-Shaphan heard all God's words from the scroll, 12 he went down to the house of the ruler and entered the secretary's room.

13 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14 all the officials sent Jehudi ben-Nethaniah ben-Shelemiah ben-Cushi to say to Baruch, "Bring the scroll from which you read to the people and follow me."

“Courage”

by J. Ruth Gendler (b. 1955)

from The Book of Qualities (HarperCollins, 1984)

Courage has roots. She sleeps

on a futon on the floor and

lives close to the ground.

Courage looks you straight in the

eye. She is not impressed with

powertrippers, and she knows first aid.

Courage is not afraid to weep, and

she is not afraid to pray, even

when she is not sure who she is

praying to. When Courage walks,

it is clear that she has made

the journey from loneliness to

solitude. The people who told me

she is stern were not lying;

they just forgot to

mention that she

is kind.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Prayer talisman found during yesterday's practice.

Directions: Start by meditating on fear and courage.

While you are doing this, hold your stone or other prayer talisman in your hands.

Notice what you notice as you do this, as things come up for you, pray those fears into the talisman.

Once you are done, bring your talisman to a sink or bowl of water. Ritually wash the fears that you prayed into it out of talisman.

You can keep this talisman with you throughout the rest of Lent and use this practice when ever you need it.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Psalm 119 Prayer

by Jim Cotter

Eternal Spirit, flow through our being and open our lips that our

mouths may proclaim your praise.

Blessed are those who are honest in their ways,

who walk in the paths of God's Law.

Those who do no evil deeds

are those who tread the way of justice.

May my ways be kept steadfast

on the narrow road of your Love.

With my whole heart I have looked for you:

let me not wander from your Commandment.

I am a traveller upon earth:

hide not your Guideposts from me.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness,

and your Justice is before my eyes.

Take from me the way of lying,

and graciously teach me your Truth.

I shall run the way of your Commandment

when you have set my heart at liberty.

Amen.

Thirteenth Day

Jeremiah 36.1-2, 4-6

36

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim ben-Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from YHWH: 2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I spoke to you about Jerusalem, Judah, and all the nations from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah down to today.

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch ben-Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down on a scroll all the words YHWH spoke to him. 5 Then Jeremiah instructed Baruch: "Since I am prohibited from entering the Temple of YHWH, 6 I want you to go there on a fast day and read aloud to the people all the words of YHWH from the scroll you wrote as I dictated. Read them also to all the people of Judah who come in from the towns.

“The Fault Line”

by Kyle Turver (b. 1984)

from A Creative Anthology From Pandemic Times (Coastland Commons, 2022)

A while back, I read an article that said that the Cascadia fault line is eerily quiet. It noted that even seismologists’ most sensitive instruments could not detect the regular slipping and grinding that is usually present. It said things have solidified, and some are interpreting that to mean complete healing from the previous great earthquake three centuries ago. Healing sounds like a positive, but maybe not. It turns out that usual grinding and movement help vent some of the build-up of energy that causes our ground to shake. The consequence of complete healing is that we are beginning the pressure build to the next big quake - scary stuff.

Later in the day, this quote caught my eye when I flicked past it on my newsfeed: “Our nation is cracking wide open on the fault line of race. In order to repair what is broken, we need each other. We need to heal, to connect, and to be the change.” Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis helped me notice that fault lines are not just moving rocks beneath our feet; they are also present in moving minds, hearts, and soul.

Some of us wonder why all this race stuff keeps coming back up. Hadn’t we grown? Hadn’t we healed? Hadn’t we moved on? Well, maybe we’ve missed what the seismologists have not. Quiet and healing are not good when it comes to fault lines.

There is a race fault line in this country, and we can be fooled by the quiet. We can begin to think it is gone. We can start to believe we won’t be bothered or shaken by its shifting. But as with fault lines, quiet means build up.

______________

Building up of voiceless people,

Building up of poverty and homelessness,

Building up of injustice after injustice,

Building up of families losing young ones to violence and prisons.

It builds and builds.

For Many people, the building is silent. For others whose home is in the fault line, it is as loud as a raging river. And then, it breaks. We know what that breaking feels like: Rodney King, Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd.

Here is a thought I’m sitting with: Maybe humans are made to heal, but fault lines aren’t. Maybe we’ve created a fault line that can’t be repaired, that should not be mended, that must remain moving and grinding. Perhaps we are meant to hear the grinding of the poor, the oppressed, the widow, the sick, the thief, the prisoner, the pastor, the poet, the musician, the businessperson, and so on. Maybe when we stop listening, stop striving to build a world where everyone is included, we should not be surprised when the big one happens.

We humans are made for healing; we are wired to offer and receive forgiveness. We heal, and we heal best when we are together. Dr. King taught: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Maybe the unhealed, grinding fault line that runs through me and your can aid human healing and teach us to listen to those who are different, to be generous in offering and receiving forgiveness. Maybe this is the way forward to wholeness and true equality.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A space to explore.

*This is the first step of a large project. We will come back to it from time to time over the course of Lent.

Directions: Spend at least 20 minutes wandering in a new or familiar place (in my mind, this space is outside, but it can work inside, too). Notice the things you typically look past; what do you see? 

As you wander, find something that you can take with you. This should be something small enough to fit in your hand, but sturdy and able to be submerged in water (e.g. a stone).

We will be using this as a prayer talisman in future practices.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Fault Line Prayer

by Dustin Wilsor

Divine Creator,

We come to you in awe of our power and the wonders of the earth. You have shaped the land with fault lines, reminding us of the constant movement and change in the world around us.

We pray for the wisdom and strength to navigate these fault lines within us, to find healing and reconciliation in the midst of our inner struggles. Grant us the courage to acknowledge our faults, and the grace to grow beyond them.

In our relationships, grant us the empathy to understand the perspectives of others, the patience to bridge our differences, and the resolve to build stranger, more resilient bonds.

May we learn to embrace the beauty of our imperfections, and to see the potential for growth and renewal that lies within. Guide us to find harmony and balance in the midst of life's upheavals.

In your name we pray,

Amen.

Twelfth Day

Jeremiah 25.15-17, 27-29

25

15 These were the words that YHWH, the God of Israel, said to me: "Accept from my hand this cup of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 Once they drink it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword I am sending among them."

17 So I accepted the cup from YHWH's hand and made all the nations drink it, all the peoples to whom YHWH sent me[.]

27 Then God said to me, "Tell the people that YHWH, the God of Israel, says this: 'Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall down and get up no more because of the sword I am sending among you.' 28 And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, say to them: 'Thus says YHWH Omnipotent: You must drink it! 29 See, I begin by bringing disaster on the city breaking my Name; and you think you are going to be exempt? No, you will not be, for I summon a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares YHWH Omnipotent."

[ summer / winter ]

is the worst time to lose a

[ country / lover ]

by George Abraham (b. 1994)

from “Wildness” Issue 10 (October, 2017)

after Joy Harjo

yes, that was me you saw unraveling in the snowfall that mid-February night: teardop crystalizing on phone glass; snow's emptiness mimicking the negative of me;

yes, it was angelic, almost: how under the right stratosphere, water becomes memory of body but never the grief it cradled-

you were inside with the others, perhaps, drunk off your own sweat, learning the shape of an unfamiliar body; a warmth to colonize & become-

or maybe you were a vague acquaintance, who on another day, would have stopped and asked if i needed a hug: a simple touch to take the world away-

yes, that was me you saw bleeding into a kuffiyah the summer i lost a country.

that was my voice, bursting through your speakers at the vigil; the liberal zionists crying as the other Palestinian boy lists off the friends & family lost in the massacre-

yes, that was me you heard at that ivory tower reception, ranting into a microphone about colonization, and my body, and the colonization of my body. did i ruin your dinner conversation? i sure hope i didn't disturb your evening by existing-

that was me you heard quivering in the shower at 3 AM, midsummer; water dancing across body, musicless, shedding its bloodied petals-

yes, he entered my ill-defined borders;

yes, he made a country of me;

yes, he was mine for the taking.

yes, that was me you saw on the ledge of the 3rd floor dorm room window. my legs, dangling over the edge icicles melting above you, the brief moment before the collapse.

it would have been such a spectacle: you, stone-shocked & frigid, silent as a gargoyle, succumbing to the wind like a fallen angel-

yes, that was me you saw praying at the back of the funeral procession; my family, small & hollow before their christ, silent as falling petals; as the rose i kissed & let go as they lowered Her body into the earth-

yes, She taught me how to laugh, even at funerals: to exist loudly, even when grief out-weighs the clouds above us-

that was me you saw dancing that night, drunk & faded with my cellphone off, not thinking of the calls i'd miss nor the ways my body failed me in that moment: not even my own sweat remembered my name-

or how much of me was lost in a language i did not have-

No. She didn't make it home. Her mother crying through the snow & thick phone static.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A pen or pencil for writing.

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of Lined Paper.

Directions: Today's poem by George Abraham is a response to Joy Harjo's "NO," which we read yesterday. Her poem talks of her experience of living in conflict. In response, Abraham uses Harjo's poem as a template to tell of their own experience of conflict in a different time and setting than Harjo's.

Try writing of your own experience with conflict using the structure given by Harjo: "yes, that was me..." ending with "no..."

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

from Jesus Christ Superstar’s “Gethsemene”

by Tim Rice

God, thy will is hard

But you hold every card

I will drink your cup of poison

Nail me to your cross and break me

Bleed me, beat me

Kill me

Take me, now!

Before I change my mind

Eleventh Day

Jeremiah 25.1; 26.2, 4-6, 11-16

25

This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ben-Josiah, ruler of Judah, which coincided with the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon.

26

2 "Thus says YHWH: Stand in the court of the Temple of YHWH and speak to the people of all the villages of Judah who come to worship in the Temple of God. Whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.

4 Say to them, 'It is your God who speaks: If you will not listen to me or live according to the Law I placed before you, 5 and if you will not listen to the words of my faithful prophets - I constantly send them to you, though you do not obey them!-6 I will treat this house like Shiloh, and make this the city that all the nations of the earth will name when they wish a curse upon one another.'"

11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, "Jeremiah deserves to die! He has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!"

12 But Jeremiah replied to the people: "YHWH alone sent me to say all the things you have heard against this Temple and this city. 13 So now reform your behavior and your actions, and listen to the voice of YHWH your God. If you do, YHWH will relent and not bring down on you the disaster that is planned for you. 14 As for myself, I am in your hands. Do with me as you think is good and right. 15 But mark well: If you put me to death, it is innocent blood you bring upon yourselves, on this city, and on its citizens. For in truth it was YHWH who sent me to you, to speak all these things or you to hear."

16 The officials and the people then said to the priests and the prophets, "Jeremiah does not deserve to die. He spoke to us in the Name of YHWH."

“NO”

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

Yes that was me you saw shaking with bravery, with a government issued rifle on my back. I'm sorry I could not greet you as you deserved, my relative.

They were not my tears. I have a reservoir inside. They will be cried by my sons, my daughters if I can't learn how to turn tears to stone.

Yes, that was me standing in the back door of the house in the alley, with fresh corn and bread for the neighbors.

I did not foresee the flood of blood. How they would forget our friendship, would return to kill me and the babies.

Yes, that was me whirling on the dance floor. We made such a racket with all that joy. I loved the whole world in that silly music.

I did not realize the terrible dance in the staccato of bullets.

Yes. I smelled the burning grease of corpses. And like a fool I expected our words might rise up and jam the artillery in the hands of dictators.

We had to keep going. We sang our grief to clean the air of turbulent spirits.

Yes, I did see the terrible black clouds as I cooked dinner. And the messages of the dying spelled there in the ashy sunset. Every one addressed: "mother."

There was nothing about it in the news. Everything was the same. Unemployment was up. Another queen crowned with flowers. Then there were the sports scores.

Yes, the distance was great between your country and mine. Yet our children played in the path between our houses.

No. We had no quarrel with each other.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Your phone's camera app (or a camera)

Directions: Shift your notion of photography from "taking" a picture to "receiving" a picture.

Think about a picture as a gift, a mystery, an experience of wonder and an opportunity for contemplation. Today prepare for five pictures, holding your phone or camera at waist level, focusing the camera on what looks interesting. Don't look through the viewfinder, rather let the camera surprise you as you "receive" five photos.

Afterwards, spend time meditating on what you have received, noticing surprises and new insights.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Take the Time

by Miriam Therese Winter

Take the time to sing a song

for all those people who don't belong:

the women wasted by defeat,

the men condemned to walk the street,

the down and out we'll never meet.

Take the time to say a prayer

for all those people who face despair:

the starving multitudes who pray

to make it through another day,

who watch their children slip away.

Take the time to hear the plea

of every desperate refugee:

the millions who have had to flee

their lands, their loves, their liberty,

who turn in hope to you and me.

Take the time to take a stand

for peace and justice in every land.

Where power causes deep unrest,

come, take the part of the oppressed,

and then, says God, you will be blessed.

May it be so. Amen.

Tenth Day

Amos 9.13-15

13 The days are coming -

it is YHWH who speaks -

when the one who plows

will meet the one who reaps,

when the mountains will run with new wine

and the hills will all flow with it.

14 I will restore the fortunes

of my people Israel.

They will build the ruined cities and live in them,

plant vineyards and drink the wine,

dig their gardens

and eat their own produce.

15 I will plant them in their own land,

and they will never again be uprooted

from the land I have given them.

It is YHWH your God who speaks."

“If You're Ever Going to Love Me”

by Unknown

found in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (Doubleday, 1936)

If you're ever going to love me love me now, while I can know

All the sweet and tender feelings which from real affection flow.

Love me now, while I am living; do not wait till I am gone

And then chisel it in marble-warm love words on ice-cold stone.

If you've dear, sweet thoughts about me, why not whisper them to me?

Don't you know 'twould make me happy and as glad as glad could be?

If you wait till I am sleeping, ne'er to waken here again,

There'll be walls of earth between us and I couldn't hear you then.

If you knew someone was thirsting for a drop of water sweet

Would you be so slow to bring it? Would you step with laggard feet?

There are tender hearts all round us who are thirsting for our love;

Why withhold from them what nature makes them crave all else above?

I won't need your kind caresses when the grass grows o'er my face;

I won't crave your love or kisses in my last low resting place.

So, then, if you love me any, if it's but a little bit,

Let me know it now while living; I can own and treasure it.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

BlackOut Poetry Personified Feeling Finger Labyrinth 1-Line Drawing Adult Coloring Page

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue working or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Christe Eleison

from Wheadon United Methodist Church, Evanston, IL

We praise the Spirit which unites us as one people.

But the plenitude of our gifts disturbs us.

We seek to know the truth, but trust only our own truth.

We seek to feed the hungry, but trust only the manna gathered by our own hands.

We seek to see the plumb line hanging in our midst, but tilt our heads and move our bodies to see the angle we want.

We have failed to celebrate the life fights of all persons.

We have failed, even in this community, to feed and be fed with those gifts.

We have failed to work and to wait for justice.

Ninth Day

Amos 9.1, 7-8, 11

9

I saw God standing at the side of the altar.

"Strike the top of the pillars," God ordered,

"and let the roof come tumbling down

on the heads of all assembled there.

If anyone is left, I will slay them with a sword.

No one will escape! No one will survive!

7 "Aren't the children of Ethiopia the same to me

as you are, children of Israel?

-It is YHWH who speaks.

True, I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt.

But I also led the Philistines in their own exodus

from Caphtor,

and brought the Aramaeans out of Kir.

8 Now, I turn my eyes onto this sinful nation,

and I will wipe it off the face of the earth.

But I will not destroy the House of Jacob

completely -

it is YHWH who speaks.

11 On that day, I will set up again

the fallen tent of David.

I will mend its tears,

restore its ruins,

and rebuild it strong

as it was in the days of old[."]

“How To Shear a Sheep”

by Barbara Kingslover (b. 1955)

from How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) (HarperCollins, 2020)

Walk to the barn

before dawn.

Take off your clothes.

Cast everything

on the ground:

your nylon jacket,

wool socks and all.

Throw away

the cutting tools,

the shears that bite

like teeth at the skin

when hooves flail

and your elbow

comes up hard

under a panting throat:

no more of that.

Sing to them instead.

Stand naked

in the morning

with your entreaty.

Ask them to come,

lay down their wool

for love.

That should work.

It doesn't.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Crayons, markers, colored pencils, paint, or similar

• a space where you can work freely

From Your Envelope:

• Adult coloring sheet

Directions: Spend about 20 minutes coloring this page however you like.

If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Prayer

from Presbyterian Worship

Gracious and loving God, as Jesus our Lord took up the cross of suffering and death for our redemption, grant that we in obedience to his command may take up the cross of self-denial and service, and by your grace in each day die more and more to sin and rise to newer and fuller life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Seventh Day

Amos 7.7-9

7 This is what the Sovereign YHWH showed me:

God was standing by a wall, a plumb line in hand.

8 "What do you see, Amos?" YHWH asked me.

"A plumb line," I said.

Then God said to me,

"Look, I am going to measure my people Israel by plumb line.

I will no longer excuse their atrocities.

9 The high places of Isaac are going to be ruined,

the sanctuaries of Israel destroyed.

With sword in hand,

I will attack the House of Jeroboam."

“For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in its Human Feet”

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.

Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.

Open the door, then close it behind you.

Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth

gathering essences of plants to clean.

Give it back with gratitude.

If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars' ears and back.

Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a

dream planting itself precisely within your parents' desire.

Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians

who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit

before the fire that has been there without time.

Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters.

Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who

accompany you.

Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down

upon them.

Don't worry.

The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates,

checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will

despise you because they despise themselves.

The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a

hundred, a thousand or even more.

Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your

heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time.

Do not hold regrets.

When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the

keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed.

You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant.

Cut the ties you have to failure and shame.

Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your

heart, all the way to your feet. Let go the pain of your ancestors to

make way for those who are heading in our direction.

Ask for forgiveness.

Call upon the help of those who love you. these helpers take many

forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor.

Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of

shame, judgment, and human abuse.

You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.

Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.

Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces,

in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after

being lost for so long.

Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean

clothes.

Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short.

Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through

the dark.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Labyrinth Pattern Base from last week's practices

• Glue or Mod Podge (if you don't have glue, here is an easy DIY recipe for wheat paste)

• a space where you can work freely

• Scissors (Optional)

From Your Envelope:

• White Tissue Paper

Today, we will complete the third step of our Finger Labyrinth.

The third step is about preparation.

If you haven't already, complete the Art Practice from Day 3.

Step One: Cut or tear the white sheet of tissue paper into several small strips. (You don't need to be fussy about size, but you'll want them wide enough to cover the string and adhere to the surface without covering two lines of string and the same time.)

Step Two: Slather glue, Mod Podge, or wheat paste on a section of string. Add a strip of paper and cover the paper with more glue, etc. (The best way to do this is with your fingers, so be prepared to get a little messy.)

Step Three: Keep going until you have the whole labyrinth covered with strips of paper. Some spots are tricky, so you'll have to let go of your inner perfectionist and let it be a little imperfect. (If you need more paper any lightweight paper such as newspaper will do.) Make sure it's all well coated with glue, etc. Let it dry.

Step Four: (Optional) After it dries, put one more layer of adhesive, smoothing it out with a brush. Let it dry. (This will create a smoother surface for the decoration step.)

Try to commit 20 minutes to this activity. If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.

Let’s Pray…

Many of us are crucified with you

by José Oscar Beozzo

Many of us are crucified with you - abandoned in jails, on trash heaps, in the streets, in cardboard shelters, under bridges, with nothing to eat but what others throw away. May we say with you, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

At the same time, there are those among us who crucify you still. We weep at the thought of the cruel persons who crucified you; but we continue to do the same thing, when we abandon our children, or the elderly, when we enjoy our coffee with sugar while farm workers are being subjected to a cruel, unjust exploitation, when we make fun of the imaginary inferiority of blacks, the poor, or other races. Forgive us, Lord, for all the times we have lynched, scourged, tortured, and murdered the poor, blacks, or immigrants, when we have robbed them of their lands, despised them for their customs, and expelled them from our countries because we want to "foreigners" among us.

Lord, stir up in me a great sorrow and sense of scandal at having crucified you by abusing the weak in our country, and grant me a desire to change my life. Help me see the invisible wickedness of my people, that I may repent and begin to walk a new way. Lord, do not permit us to pursue the paths that crucify whole populations. Help us crucify our false values, that we may rise to new values. Lord, I know not the way. But you can do all things. You can accomplish this in me and in my people. Amen.

Sixth Day

The Amistad, Three Painted Panels (1938)

By Hale Woodruff

Oil on canvas

Amos 7.4-6

4 This is what the Sovereign YHWH showed me:

The Sovereign YHWH summoned fire to punish.

It had devoured the great Deep

and was already encroaching on the pastures.

5 Then I said, "Please stop, O God, I beg you!

How can Jacob survive, being so small?"

6 And YHWH relented.

"This will not happen either," said YHWH.

“Fear”

by J. Ruth Gendler (b. 1955)

from The Book of Qualities (HarperCollins, 1984)

Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is quite small. He has a vivid imagination. He composes horror music in the middle of the night. He is not very social, and he keeps to himself at political meetings. His past is a mystery. He warned us not to talk to each other about him, adding that there is nowhere any of us could go where he wouldn't hear us. We were quiet. When we began to talk to each other, he changed. His manners started to seem pompous, and his snarling voice sounded rehearsed.

Two dragons guard Fear's mansion. One is ceramic and Chinese. The other is real. If you make it past the dragons and speak to him close up, it is amazing to see how fragile he is. He will try to tell you stories. Be aware. He is a master of disguises and illusions. Fear almost convinced me that he was a puppet-maker and I was a marionette.

Speak out boldly, look him in the eye, startle him. don't give up. Win his respect, and he will never bother you with small matters.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A pen or pencil for writing.

From Your Envelope:

• Sheet of lined paper

Directions: In today's poem, J. Ruth Gendler has given a personality to the feeling of Fear. Try writing your own poem or short piece of prose in which you personify a feeling.

Start by taking 5 minutes to meditate and notice how you are feeling in this moment.

What is your feeling, and what is your feeling's personality?

Write about that in what ever way feels correct.

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue wandering or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

James 2 Prayer

from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers

Holy Lord, maker of us all,

you call us to love our neighbors as ourselves

and teach us that faith without works is dead.

Open us to the opportunities for ministry that lie before us,

where faith and words and the need of our neighbor

come together in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Fifth Day

Amos 7.1-3

7

This is what the Sovereign YHWH showed me:

I saw a swarm of locusts

at the time when the second crop started to grow,

a swarm of full grown locusts,

after the ruler's harvest was over.

2 After they had devoured the foliage of the land,

I said, "O Sovereign YHWH! forgive us, I beg you!

How can Jacob survive, being so small?"

3 And YHWH relented -

"This will not happen," YHWH said.

“The [Black]Outs : Listen”

by Steffan Triplett (b. 1992)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A marker or other writing utensil. (the charcoal stick from your envelope could work in a pinch)

From Your Envelope:

• Page from the Bible

Directions: Today's poem is an example of Blackout Poetry. The concept is: beginning with a page full of text, the poet eliminates words so that the leftovers create a new poem.

Today, you are going create your own blackout poetry using the page of scripture in your envelope.

Remove the page from your envelope, what part of the Bible did you get? Choose which side you are going to work with, and when you're ready use a marker or other writing instrument to mark out words.

Often times, you need to start before you have a clear vision of the poem you are going to create - it's all part of the process.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue wandering or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Hard Words

from Book of Worship: United Church of Christ

Because we have seen pain without being moved,

because we forget your love with solemn pride,

because we pass by happy before poverty and sadness,

Lord have mercy,

Lord have mercy,

have mercy on us.

For speaking of love without loving our sister or brother,

for speaking of faith without living your word,

because we live without seeing our personal evil, our sin,

Christ have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

have mercy on us.

For our tranquility in our affluent life,

for our great falseness in preaching about poverty,

for wanting to make excuses for injustice and misery,

Lord have mercy,

Lord have mercy,

have mercy on us.

Amen.

Fourth Day

Known as Paradise Garden, the former backyard of preacher and folk artist, Howard Finster, celebrates the primary relationship between God and humanity.

Jonah 4.9-11

9 God said to Jonah, "What gave you the right to be upset about the castor plant?" He replied, "I have every right to be angry , to the point of death!"

10 God replied, "You feel sorrow because of a castor plant that cost you no labor, that you did not make grow, that sprouted in a night, and that perished in a night. 11 Is it not right, then, for me to feel sorrow for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, to say nothing of all the animals?"

“If You Wish to Love a Planet”

by Luke DeBoer (b. 1984)

found in A Creative Anthology From Pandemic Times (Coastland Commons, 2022)

If you wish to love a planet, you must first learn to love a single one of

its flowers.

an individual valley,

A solitary brook,

A particular pine.

We cannot love the whole without first loving the parts. The particular

is the door to the universal.

You wish to love God?

Learn to love particular people.

Today’s Art Practice

Today is a catch-up/revisit day.

There is never as much time as we would like to engage with our favorite creative experiences. Every Saturday will be a day to do the practice that you didn't get to through the week or spend more time with one of your favorites.

Paint with Ashes Wander Finger Labyrinth

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue working or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Lenten Prayer

by Joanna Harader

Whatever wilderness the Spirit has brought you to:

walk in boldness, as a beloved child of God

walk in peace, under the shelter of the Most High

walk in faith, knowing Christ walks with you. Amen.

Third Day

Jonah 4.5-8

5 Jonah then left the city and sat down to the east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat down under the shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then YHWH God sent a castor oil plant to grow up over Jonah to shade his head and soothe his indignation. Jonah was delighted with the castor oil plant. 7 But at dawn the next day, God sent a worm to attack the castor oil plant and it withered. 8 And after the sun had risen, God sent a scorching east wind. the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he was overcome and begging for death, and said, "I'd rather be dead than keep on living!"

“I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain” (no. 280)

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

found in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling (WW Norton, 2019)

280

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum -

Kept beating - beating - till I thought

My Mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but and Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race

Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down -

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing - then -

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Labyrinth Pattern & Base from yesterday's practice

• Glue (if you don't have glue, here is an easy DIY recipe for wheat paste)

• Scissors

• a space where you can work freely

From Your Envelope:

• String

Directions: Today, we will complete the second step of our Finger Labyrinth.

The second step is about concentration and contemplation.

If you haven't already, use glue or paste to attach the Labyrinth template to the base that you selected yesterday.

Glue or paste the string to the black lines on the Labyrinth template. (You will need to cut the string at times in order to keep the path open.)

What do you notice while you do this?

This activity should take about 20 minutes. If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer for New Life

by Pamela C. Hawkins

O God, who makes all things new,

new stars, new dust, new life;

take my heart,

every hardened edge and measured beat,

and create something new in me.

I need your newness, God,

the rough parts of me made smooth;

the stagnant, stirred;

the stuck, freed;

the unkind, forgiven.

And then, by the power of your Spirit,

I need to be turned toward Love again. Amen.

Second Day

Jonah 3.10-4.3

3

10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behavior . And God relented by not inflicting on them the disaster that threatened them.

4

But Jonah grew indignant and fell into a rage. 2 He prayed to YHWH and said, "Please, YHWH! Isn't this exactly what I said would happen, when I was still in my own country? That's why I left and fled to Tarshish: I knew that you were a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness, relenting from violence. 3 Now, YHWH, please take my life! I'd rather be dead than keep on living!"

“This Morning I Pray for My Enemies”

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

found in Conflict Resolutions for Holy Beings (WW Norton, 2015)

And whom do I call my enemy?

An enemy must be worthy of engagement.

I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.

It's the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.

The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.

It sees and knows everything.

It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.

The door to the mind should only open from the heart.

An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• a space where you can explore freely (this could be inside or outside)

From Your Envelope:

• Finger Labyrinth Pattern

*This is the first step of a large project. We will come back to it from time to time over the course of Lent. By the end you will have created and decorated a Finger Labyrinth for your home.

Directions: The first step is about the journey and the discovery.

Spend at least 20 minutes wandering in a familiar place (maybe this is your bedroom, garage, basement, back yard, a favorite park). Notice the things you typically look past; what do you see?

As you wander, find something that you can take with you that will serve a base that you can glue the Labyrinth Pattern onto.

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue wandering or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Psalm 107 Prayer

by Chris Altrock

Lord, I have listened to the stories of your legendary deeds:

Some wandered in wastelands lost and lonely.

They sought you and you saved them.

Some despaired in darkness imprisoned and isolated.

They sought you and you saved them.

Some sailed the sea and were stranded in its storms.

They sought you and you saved them.

Some subsisted in sin, conceited and contemptible.

eventually they sought you and you saved them.

Like those in your Book,

at times I am lost, imprisoned, stranded or contemptible.

Like those in your Book,

may you save me when I seek you.

Day 1: Ash Wednesday

Jonah 3.4, 6-8

4 Jonah moved on into the city, making a day’s journey. He proclaimed, “Only forty days more, and Nineveh is going to be destroyed!” 

6 When the news reached the ruler of Nineveh, he rose from his judgment seat, took off his royal robes and dressed in sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. 7 A decree was then proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the ruler and the ruler’s ministers, as follows: “Citizens and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing! You must not eat anything, and you must not drink any water. 8 You must all dress in sackcloth and call on God with all your might; you must all renounce your sinful ways and the evil things you did.

“Lady Lazarus”

by Sylvia Plath

found in Collected Poems (HarperCollins, 1992)

I have done it again.   

One year in every ten   

I manage it——

A sort of walking miracle, my skin   

Bright as a Nazi lampshade,   

My right foot

A paperweight,

My face a featureless, fine   

Jew linen.

Peel off the napkin   

O my enemy.   

Do I terrify?——

The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?   

The sour breath

Will vanish in a day.

Soon, soon the flesh

The grave cave ate will be   

At home on me

And I a smiling woman.   

I am only thirty.

And like the cat I have nine times to die.

This is Number Three.   

What a trash

To annihilate each decade.

What a million filaments.   

The peanut-crunching crowd   

Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot——

The big strip tease.   

Gentlemen, ladies

These are my hands   

My knees.

I may be skin and bone,

Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.   

The first time it happened I was ten.   

It was an accident.

The second time I meant

To last it out and not come back at all.   

I rocked shut

As a seashell.

They had to call and call

And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.

Dying

Is an art, like everything else.   

I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.   

I do it so it feels real.

I guess you could say I’ve a call.

It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.

It’s easy enough to do it and stay put.   

It’s the theatrical

Comeback in broad day

To the same place, the same face, the same brute   

Amused shout:

‘A miracle!’

That knocks me out.   

There is a charge

For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge   

For the hearing of my heart——

It really goes.

And there is a charge, a very large charge   

For a word or a touch   

Or a bit of blood

Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.   

So, so, Herr Doktor.   

So, Herr Enemy.

I am your opus,

I am your valuable,   

The pure gold baby

That melts to a shriek.   

I turn and burn.

Do not think I underestimate your great concern.

Ash, ash—

You poke and stir.

Flesh, bone, there is nothing there——

A cake of soap,   

A wedding ring,   

A gold filling.

Herr God, Herr Lucifer   

Beware

Beware.

Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair   

And I eat men like air.

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• Water

• several disposable or washable containers for mixing paint in

• something to stir with (the handle of your paint brush will do in a pinch)

• a space where you can paint freely

From Your Envelope:

• Canvas board

• 3 small envelopes labeled "White," "Black," and "Ash"

• Paint Brush

Step One: Mix water into the your White Powdered Paint slowly until you achieve a consistency that you would like to paint with. This will depend on your paint preference, more water will make it more like watercolor, less water will make it behave more like acrylic.

Step Two: Repeat with Black Powdered Paint.

Step Three: Add half of the ashes into each of your prepared paints. (The ash will turn your white paint into an almost silver color, I recommend reserving some of the white to stay white)

Step Four: Use the paintbrush and any other materials you may have at home to create a greyscale painting on the provided canvas board.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

Challenge yourself to spend at least 20 minutes engaging with your art practice. This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue working or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Marked by Ashes

by Walter Brueggeman

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .

This day - a gift from you.

This day - like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.

This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.

This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, 

for we are already halfway home

halfway back to committees and memos,

halfway back to calls and appointments,

halfway on to next Sunday,

halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,

half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,

but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes -

we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:

of failed hope and broken promises,

of forgotten children and frightened women,

we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;

we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with some confidence, 

only because our every Wednesday of ashes

anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you -

you Easter parade of newness.

Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.