Reflections

In Jesus and the Disinherited, a book that I use for a class I teach on the history of race, Howard Thurmond makes the point that Jesus’s first audiences were the poor and oppressed people of an occupied country whose very survival seemed to demand and produce fear, deception and hatred-the three “hounds of hell”, he called them.

Thurmond taught that Jesus offered a new survival skill, an interior redirection rooted in love. It was a controversial, and still widely resisted, approach that had the capacity to save the souls of both the oppressed and the oppressor. This interior reorientation towards love was Jesus’s liberating word to those who have every natural right to hate. However, wrote Thurmond, “[Jesus] recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny.”

Thurmond’s two most famous disciples were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Those of us who have spent any serious time in therapy know the psychological truth in what Thurmond (and Jesus! ) meant. We cannot allow the actions of another- oppressor, colleague, family or political adversary- to shape our inner lives, so that they control our destiny.

The spiritual and emotional work required for such inner freedom is part of why we gather around the altar week after week. In our worship we make an offering of ourselves- not simply the good things, but all the pain and hurt and resentments that so control us. We are reminded of God’s love of us, individually, and collectively. Love permeates all things. Creation is rooted in love. I am reminded that my own internal validation and value is not dependent on and controlled by external factors such as success or another’s approval. It is grounded in the love of God, seen so clearly in the person of Jesus, and in the intimacy of food and drink, we receive the capacity to be free through love.

I think this is, in part, what Jesus meant when he said “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).There is within us a divine imprint of eternal love, that when recognized and celebrated, frees us to live lives of grace, joy and hope.

May this Lenten season of prayer, reflection and repentance be, for us, a time of holy liberation.

Other Matters of Interest

Daylight Savings Time Begins This Sunday - March 9! Push your clock ahead an hour so you won’t miss church!

Mission Committee-The monthly meeting of the Mission Committee will be held Tuesday, March 14, at 6:00pm at the BTC building. Meetings are always open. All are welcome.

Lenten Reminders

Bible Study- Sundays at 9:15am thru April 2 at the This Is Noteworthy building.

Evening Prayer-Wednesdays @ 5:30 at the Church. A quiet, reflective moment of prayer during this Lenten season.

Holy Week Schedule :April 2-April 9 (tentative)

Palm(Passion)Sunday -10:30am Holy Eucharist w/ Blessing of Palms. Passion

Narrative read in parts

Tuesday in Holy Week- 5:30pm Holy Eucharist w/ Anointing for healing

Wednesday in Holy Week- 5:30pm Evening Prayer

Maundy Thursday - 6:30pm Holy Eucharist w/Foot washing and Stripping of the

Altar.

Good Friday- 12:00noon Liturgy of Good Friday

Easter Sunday- 10:30am Holy Eucharist w/ Renewal of Baptismal Vows

See you Sunday!

Peace,

Duncan