SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR ASH WEDNESDAY
March 1 
Psalm 51:1-17
Isaiah 58:1-12
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17\
2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:10
Matthew 6:16-20
 
SUNDAY, MARCH 5 
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

Yesterday, Nancy B and I attended worship at Glade Church in Blacksburg.  Glade is the southernmost congregation in our Shenandoah Association of the United Church of Christ.  Even though I have been in a leadership position with our Association for about five years now, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several of Glade Church’s active members and pastors at Association and Conference meetings, yesterday was the first time I got to visit there.  It was completely delightful, charming and welcoming.

Glade’s building stands in a rural-looking lot, along a country road, just a few minutes away from the Virginia Tech campus. 
As we arrived, greeters were welcoming people at both entrances to the sanctuary.  Their sanctuary is bright and lovely, with a real art gallery on the walls all around.  The people who gathered for worship included a wide variety, a nice mix of ages and types of people.  The attendance there is similar to our number of folks at Bethel, but the diversity is much greater at Glade.
As the service got underway, we soon began to hear about their recent exciting mission activities.  For one, they provided housing, meals, and fellowship for some homeless men, in the room on one side of the sanctuary.  Another of their missions is teaming up with the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership to welcome refugee families from Syria and other countries.  They also go to a local laundromat for “Laundry Love,” where church people make friends with low-income neighbors, lend a hand, and pay for their washing (the cost of doing laundry in a laundromat these days would probably shock you).  And they do much more.
As at Bethel this week, the theme of the Scripture lessons at Glade Church was “transfiguration,” both in the stories of what happened with Moses and Jesus on the mountaintops and also in the transformation of us believers.  Rev. Susan Verbrugge gave us an excellent sermon about appreciating  the brilliant,  mountaintop  moments
that brighten and inspire our lives.
We sang at least six or seven different songs during the service.  While we at Bethel sing ‘Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow’ every week, the folks at Glade always sing this: “What does the Lord require for praise and offering?  What sacrifice desire, or tribute bid you bring?  Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.”
If you are ever in the Blacksburg area, you would do well to visit Glade Church !


With the beginning of Lent this week, Ash Wednesday always brings a reading from the Old Testament prophet Joel.  In the StillSpeaking Daily Devotional  for  last  Saturday,  February 18th, Rev. Bob Thompson of Corinth Reformed Church (UCC) in Hickory, North Carolina wrote this reflection, which meant a lot to me:
“Always Dealing with God”
“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
 Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
   your old men will dream dreams,
   your young men will see visions.”    - Joel 2:28
When the Jews faced the possibility of a 5th century B.C. Holocaust, Joel's little book inspired Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordecai to gather, fast, pray, and trust (Esther 4:3).
When the Apostle Paul was writing the letter to the Romans, he quoted Joel 2:32 as motivation to spread the good news: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 
When the Jerusalem crowd accused Peter and the others of intoxication on the day of Pentecost, Peter noted that Joel had foreseen the day the Holy Spirit would make obsolete what we now call sexism and ageism.  Crisis would help God's people see that we need every human voice as we seek to discern God's.
During our crises we might be tempted to blame or belittle God.  In Joel's day people assumed their crisis implied God's absence or apathy.  Eugene Peterson says God “used a current event in Israel as a text to call [God's] people to an immediate awareness that there wasn't a day that went by that they weren't dealing with God.  We are always dealing with God.”
Prayer:  Whatever disrupts my life, my community, or my world today, Lord, help me discern through unexpected voices how you are dealing with me.  Through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

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Scripture readings for Sunday, February 26th, 2017
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

Many Christian churches follow a calendar of special seasons and days throughout the year.  In truth, no day is really greater or more special than another in God’s estimation, but we keep the calendar as a way to help each other remember the events of the life of Jesus and their meaning.
At the end of last November, we began the church year with the season called Advent.  Week by week, we worshiped God with our thoughts focused on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, getting our hearts ready for the birth of Christ.
Christmas, of course, is our chosen day for remembering Jesus’ birth.

January 6th each year is called Epiphany, the day to celebrate how the magi came from afar to worship the baby Jesus with precious gifts, thus revealing, or demonstrating, that Jesus is the Messiah (the Christ) who was sent by God.  That’s what Epiphany means: revealing or demonstrating.  Here at Bethel this year, we canceled services on January 8th, when we would have celebrated Epiphany in our worship service.

Tradition calls for remembering Jesus’ baptism on the Sunday following Epiphany... and it doesn’t hurt to reflect on our own baptism then, as well.
​
Since January 6th, we have been in the “season after Epiphany.”  Some years, this is a very brief season— it all depends on the date for Easter. 
Calculating the date for Easter is a peculiar trick, involving the cycles of the Moon and the date for the Spring Equinox— the day when Winter ends, Spring begins, and day and night are of equal length.  The date of Easter has been computed, ever since the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, as the Sunday after the first Full Moon following the Spring Equinox.  This year, Easter comes a little bit on the late side: April 16th.  (It is possible for Easter to come as early as the second day of Spring.)  This is why, this year, we have extra “Sundays in Epiphany.” 
The final Sunday of the Epiphany season each year, we read from the gospels about Jesus’ “Transfiguration” on a mountain, just before he made his final trip to Jerusalem to face crucifixion.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell this story, with somewhat different details.  The point of the story is that God directly told the Apostles who Jesus is:
 
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
                                               2nd Peter 1:16-18
​

So, we in the church get to celebrate the brilliant, shining light of Christ as a “mountaintop experience,” on this final Sunday in Epiphany.
 
The gospels report that Jesus came down from the mountain where his disciples saw him shining in the light of his glory, and he immediately set his face toward Jerusalem and the cross.  That is why, in the church, we gather for a special worship service on March 1st to begin to prepare our hearts to walk with Jesus toward his crucifixion.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of Lent, the forty days (excepting Sundays) before Easter Sunday.  During Lent, Christians prepare for the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
At the Ash Wednesday worship service, we repent of our old life and renew our resolve to trust the good news of Jesus Christ.  The ashes are a traditional symbol of our repentance, and of our resolve to live a new life in Christ.
You will do well to be attentive to this
   as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
   until the day dawns
and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.
                                             2nd Peter 1:20

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, February 19 
​
Psalm 119:33-40
Leviticus 19:1-18
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
          and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding,
          that I may keep Your law
          and observe it with my whole heart.
                                      -Psalm 119: 33 – 35
In recent months, I have found myself in numerous conversations about poor people and how best to help them.  Have you ?
It is easy to get into these conversations: all we have to do is look around at our neighbors who are “struggling,” in one way or another, and begin to ask questions.
One local conversation piece is the line for food boxes at the EAUS Food Pantry on Third Fridays.  Who are these people, and why is it that they are they getting food for free ?
Another conversation piece is folks who are receiving “disability” income.  Who are these people, and why do they get a check when they are not working jobs ?  And what about other women and men who can be seen around town, seemingly having no job, just hanging around ?
Or, have you been in the grocery checkout line when someone is using a “food stamps” (SNAP/WIC) card?  Do you watch and listen, to try to figure out what items they are getting without using ‘their own’ money ?
Here are some other interesting conversation pieces.
Jesus said, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”  (Matthew 5:42)  Really, Jesus?  Can we discuss this ?  Really ?
The LORD said through Moses, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien [foreigner]: I am the LORD your God.
You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.
(Leviticus 19:9-10, 13)
Part of that, we wouldn’t argue, but ....
 
For any of you who are still hanging in with this topic... I know that these conversations can be exhausting and disgusting— not to mention, likely to make people get mad at each other as they tell stories and express their feelings. 
I said that it is easy to get into these conversations.  At some point in our lives, many of us become skillful at AVOIDING these conversations, because it is hard to get OUT of them without having to ask ourselves difficult questions and confront the different judgments that we and our neighbors have developed.
In this space, I won’t try to settle these big conversations.  However, as a pastor I will set before you some biblical, spiritual principles that you might want to keep in mind as you wrestle with them.
Many of you know that Jesus uttered the words, “you always have the poor with you....”  Some people take this to mean that Jesus does not expect his followers to erase poverty. 
For one thing, notice that Jesus said those words to his disciples when they were being judgmental toward the woman who “wasted” precious perfume by pouring it on him: in their profound ignorance, the guys failed to see that she was worshiping Jesus as God’s perfect sacrifice for all of our sins and failings.  In their narrow-mindedness, they misjudged her— while thumping their chests about how charitable they would have been toward “the poor.”

Second, when Jesus said those words (Matthew 26:11), he wasn’t just making up a memorable quotation on the spot: rather, Jesus was harking back to the Law of Moses: “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.” (Deuteronomy 15:11)  And, at that very same time, Jesus was building on the lesson which he had recently taught his disciples: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”                                                Matthew 25:40
Finally, two basic principles to guide us:
The wisdom of this world
         is foolishness with God.                                   (1 Corinthians 3:19)
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.               (Leviticus 19:18)

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, February 12 
Psalm 119:1-8
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 15:15-20
1 Corinthians 3:1-8
Matthew 5:21-37

I bet that most of you are familiar with this verse, which is sort of the climax of the book of Deuteronomy:
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. 
     Choose life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The book of Deuteronomy is presented as sermons that Moses gave before the Israelites began to enter the “promised land.”  Deuteronomy re-states the laws that we also find in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, framing them in terms of “How to live in the Promised Land.”
This week, another of our Scriptures to consider comes from the book called “The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira” or “Sirach” or “Ecclesiasticus”— which is found in Bibles that include “the Apocrypha” (a collection of ancient Jewish books that Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformers usually chose to leave out of Bibles that they published).  Reading this today, I feel that it is a wonderful way of thinking about that verse from Deuteronomy. 
I offer it here, in case it’s not in your Bible.
 
Sirach 15:11-20
11 Do not say, “It was the Lord's doing that I fell away;”
          for He does not do what He hates.
12 Do not say, “It was He who led me astray;”
          for He has no need of the sinful.
13 The Lord hates all abominations;
          such things are not loved by those who fear Him.
14 It was He who created humankind in the beginning,
          and He left them in the power of their own free choice.
15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
          and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
16 He has placed before you fire and water;
          stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
17 Before each person are life and death,
          and whichever one chooses will be given.
18 For great is the wisdom of the Lord;
          He is mighty in power and sees everything;
19  His eyes are on those who fear him,
          and He knows every human action.
20 He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,
          and He has not given anyone permission to sin. 

“Be good,” our elders told us. 
In our gospel lesson for this coming week (Matthew 5:21-37) exaggerates that advice.  Jesus says, “Be better than you think you have to be.”  We know, from the Ten Commandments, that we must not murder people or commit adultery.  But Jesus tells us to go far beyond that, and avoid even speaking harshly to people or allowing ourselves to look on another person with lust.  His point grows out of his words that we read last week: "Let your light shine before others so they will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  The behavior of people who claim to follow Jesus ought to reflect the extreme goodness of Jesus.  And that’s a tall order.
All of the talk about being good might make us feel hopeless, as we keep messing up.  Another Bible verse  that  most  of  us  can  quote  comes  from
St. Paul (Romans 3:23): "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  But Paul went on to explain that God freely forgives us as we continue to try to follow Jesus as faithfully as we possibly can. 
Jesus calls us to keep on trying to be better than we have to be.  But he also tells us that he will forgive us over and over again as we need it.
Being good is a sign that we are on God’s team.  It also brings rewards: Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to Him....                                                            -Deuteronomy 30:19-20