Liturgies

GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

Mary and Mary Magdalen loved with such a perfect love that they shed their fear. Certainly they grieved and experienced their hope flagging during the dark moments surrounding Jesus’ death. But they never lost their faith. It remained a small, steady flame that was fanned to brilliant, bold new life in the light of that Easter dawn. They challenge us to love and believe.

Joyce Hollyday, “An Invitation” in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, p. 384, Plough Publishing House, 2003…

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GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION           

The body of Christ by its nature exists to be a healer of the very kinds of wounds inflicted by white supremacy. The Christian church in America bears an extraordinary responsibility to address white supremacy’s thefts of truth, wealth, and power. The church’s complicated history, which tells of both its faithfulness and its failure in the face of white supremacy, demands an honest reckoning. The church must take seriously the work of repair because, in the most profound way, love is simply who we are.

Adapted from/inspired by Reparations, by Gregory Thompson and Duke L. Kwon…

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GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

I stand in the midst of these dark times to make a profession of faith. I am a witness to the truth that no darkness, no illness, no death can overcome the light of life and love that exists within each one of us. No darkness will contain that power. Trust what is within you, and then wait quietly for the stars to begin to sing.

Rev. Steven Charleston, retired Episcopal Bishop, citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
(from his April 10, 2020 post on his Facebook page of daily spiritual reflections https://www.facebook.com/bishopstevencharleston) …

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GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior. The Holy One took one good look at me, and look what happened—I am the most fortunate woman on earth! What the Holy One has done for me will never be forgotten, the One whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. Divine mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before the Divine Mystery. Baring a holy arm, the Holy One showed strength and scattered the bluffing braggarts. The Holy One knocked tyrants off their high horses, and pulled victims out of the mud.…

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GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

Jesus takes the Resistance beyond prophecy, beyond songs of hope and lamentation, beyond satire and mockery, and beyond apocalyptic visions to declare the inauguration of a new kingdom. With his birth, teachings, death, and resurrection, Jesus has started a revolution. It just doesn’t look the way anyone expects.

Rachel Held Evans, Inspired, p. 140…

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