Journeying Through Lent
This year for Lent, which begins in less than two weeks, we’re leaning into the image of journeying.
We’ll begin on Shrove Tuesday 3/1 when we gather for fellowship, to burn last year’s palms, to bury an alleluia banner, and to pray Compline. There is a simple beauty that journey of taking the palms we’ve saved for a year, symbols of celebration, and turning them into ash, a symbol of penitence.
On Ash Wednesday 3/2 we’ll enter the season proper and take the first step of this year’s journey. Picking up on our study of labyrinths from last fall, we’re offering a labyrinth meditation resource for Ash Wednesday. You can pick up the booklet beginning Sunday 2/27, and we’ll include it as a pdf in an upcoming email. Labyrinths are all about both physical and spiritual journeys and this resource provides the perfect entry into this holy season.
Walking through Lent will be the focus of our Lenten series as well. We’ll be gathering weekly to pray and walk a labyrinth in our sanctuary. I am grateful to the Rev. Matthew Hanisian and the people of St. Martin’s in the Fields, Severna Park for lending us their large canvas labyrinth for the season. Mark your calendars now to join us at 7:00 pm every Thursday in Lent beginning 3/10.
To continue our daily journey through Lent, this year’s inter-generational resource is designed to both invite us deeper into faith and to brighten our days as we walk towards Easter. A Lenten Floriography Calendar is a set of cards for each day of Lent that uses floriography, the secret language of flowers, to teach us about life, death, and resurrection. These kits will also be available for pick up beginning Sunday 2/27. If you would prefer a pdf of the cards for home printing please let Laura or I know.
In addition to the above devotionals, an assortment of booklets and children’s sticker-a-day journeys from years past will also set out and available.
I pray that the journey ahead brings us all closer to God.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+
Sunday Worship Information
Join us on the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany for Holy Eucharist at 8:30 am or10:30 am, or watch the 10:30 am service livestreamed on Facebook.
A printable bulletin is available here.
Lectionary Readings for this Sunday:
Facebook Livestream
We plan to begin streaming to Facebook at 10:30 am. If you arrive at Facebook and you don’t see the video, please refresh your screen. There is a delay.
Sunday School classes for 3rd – 5th grades with Natalie DelRegno and middle-high grades with Joan Fader, will resume on February 20th indoors at 9:30 a.m. (Masks required and guidelines followed).
Note: K – 2nd grade with Betsy Davis and Yvette Allen will continue on Zoom through the end of February.
Nursery School
There is lots of good news to report from the Nursery School.
- Enrollment is up and the school’s recent registration was very successful with limited spots remaining in the 2’s and 3’s. Our Pre-K4 is at full capacity.
- As recipients of the Child Care Stabilization Grant, the school was able to purchase 7 Air Doctor air purifiers as well as Covid Testing Kits and masks. Keeping our students, staff and volunteers safe continues to be a priority.
- We are excited to announce that The Scholastic Book Fair will be in-person from March 23 through March 25. We will need volunteers for set-up on Tuesday, March 22 and on Friday, March 25 for take-down and replacing sanctuary chairs. If you are able to help please contact the Nursery School office at (301) 829-0014.
Worship Ministries
Lectors
There are 150 prayer-poems called Psalms that most likely were written to be sung or accompanied by music. But not all are alike. As Lawrence Boadt observed,
“Many are brimming with joy and praise of God’s goodness; others are filled with sorrow and lament and a spirit of contribution. Some are aimed at sickness or bad fortune in life; some were used on weddings or other special occasions. But by having them all, we are able to see a depth and width of Israel’s attitude toward Yahweh not present in any other book of the bible.”
Since first person pronouns and verb forms have no gender in Hebrew, it is quite possible that some Psalm authors were women. (See Psalm 131, v2, “…my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.”) This also is buttressed by the fact that women in scripture often praise God in psalm-like form, such as Miriam in Ex.15:20-21, Deborah in Judges 5, and in the book of Ruth. Another example is the canticle of Mary in Luke 1:46-55.
Psalms are ideal for both corporate and personal prayer, but their preservation through hundreds of years suggest that most of the psalms originated in or were used during liturgical services. Specific psalms were most likely used for ceremonies relative to purification and healing, pilgrimages, entrance liturgies, celebrations, weddings, victories, and for royalty. Psalms are used in the Daily Office and in most monastic prayer communities.
While we rarely use music in the reading of the Psalm, we do use a “call and response” format where the lector alternates reading with the congregation by verse or by asterisk. Occasionally, we will all read the psalm together.
During these times, as a lector and a congregant, I read and respond with an eye toward the possible use of the Psalm in past forums of worship, and to identify the quality of God that the Psalmist emphasizes (i.e., holiness, mercy, redemption, protection, righteousness). What is your experience during the Psalm reading and response?
Peter Sabonis is the head of the Lector Ministry. Contact him if you feel drawn to being a lector:peter@dignityandrights.org or 301-639-2561.
Announcements
Outreach Ministry Appreciates You!
The mission of St. James’ Outreach Committee is to serve as a liaison between our church and the wider community. Our Christian faith calls us to seek out those in need or crisis and provide necessary resources.
Over the past year we were very productive from Easter Baskets for Lorien to Angel Tree gifts for foster kids in Carroll County. Our success is made possible in large part by the generosity of your donations and giving of your time.
Please stop by and see us on Sunday in the narthex
and pick up a small gift of appreciation.
Next Week’s Commemorations:
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2022 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you pray to on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
Fred and Jennifer Meisenkothen (Zachary, Emma)
Dee Moore (Kyle)
Glenn Mullett and Averelle Smith (Kenleigh, Lindsay)
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
