Reflecting God’s presence
Every once in a while, a theological lightbulb comes on and I metaphorically smack my forehead.
This week, it showed up in my imagination as a book title: “Glorification for Dummies,” an instructional manual that I wish I had read a long time ago. The readings together this week are both a poetic and didactic cartography of faith, as engraved by God, first on stone tablets, then upon our very hearts, endowing our capacity to reflect or “glorify” God’s presence. Jeremiah’s description of God’s new covenant and John’s gospel of Jesus’s pre-game Christology take us right back to the beginning, to the garden — our incarnation — and the gift of free will as one with our own natures, both literal and figurative, in our mortal flesh and transformable spirits.
We tend to tighten up or brace ourselves for Holy Week and its passion. But as we emerge from the wilderness, I think it would be well for us to soften and open eagerly to the possibility of the green shoots that will emerge from our cracked seeds.
Peace be with you,
Kathryn
Kathryn Carroll
Program Manager, Children and Family Formation
Faith Formation and Education
Children’s Time
Sundays at 10am
Join us for Children’s Time on Zoom. We’ll start with a brief opening assembly together and then, each week, children can choose from two different breakout groups.
Godly Play (Preschool and older)
Story: The Faces of Easter 5
Response Time: Drawing and collage materials
Whole People of God (2nd Grade and older)
Lesson Theme: The Seed Who Lived
Activities: Scripted Story and Easter Symbol Tree
Register to join on Zoom, if you haven’t already.
Children’s Time will be on hiatus on Palm Sunday, March 28, and Easter Sunday, April 4. We’ll continue to send resources for your Holy Week and Easter observances at home. Everyone of all ages is invited to join a Palm Sunday Holy Week at Home online workshop on Sunday, March 28, at 10am. Register here.
Discovery
Psalm for the Wilderness
Sundays at 10am
The Season of Lent leads us through changing, and sometimes challenging, spiritual landscapes. Through the close examination of several beautiful and beloved examples, this Bible study will consider how the superlative Hebrew poetry of the Psalms might accompany us and enrich our journeys. Parishioner and poet Chester Johnson will discuss his work on the drafting committee for the retranslation of the Psalms contained in the current Book of Common Prayer.
Learn more and register to join.
Discovery will be on hiatus on Palm Sunday, March 28, and Easter Sunday, April 4. We’ll continue to send resources for your Holy Week and Easter observances at home. Everyone of all ages is invited to join a Palm Sunday Holy Week at Home online workshop on Sunday, March 28, at 10am. Register here.
Spiritual Resources
- Tim Mackie writes about our lectionary passage from Jeremiah and the ways in which God calls us to have transformed hearts.
- Andrew McGowan explains how the Feast of the Annunciation (on March 25) other dates were set in the liturgical calendar.
- In the new covenant that Jeremiah describes, God’s justice is less about punishment and more about forgiveness and atonement. Mr. Rogers reminds us we’re never too old or young to ask for and receive forgiveness.
- Trinity’s children and families are practicing lament with the Psalms this Lent. God is an affirming and forgiving presence in all of our big feelings. If you would like a digital copy of the materials, please email Kathryn Carroll.
- Family Worship: Home Edition