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Thursday Evening's Hymn

2/25/2019

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I am strident in my hope that more of you will break away from your routines and gather around the table with us this Thursday evening to talk about a hymn.  I know it takes special effort to come out. 

Bring something to eat for yourself from 6-6:45: fun conversation AND/OR
Come at 6:45 -7:30 to talk about a hymn.

This week we will talk about "Healer of our Every ILL" since we will have a healing service on Sunday. Here is some background.

Marty Haugen (b. 1950) wrote this meditative song during the winter of 1985-86. During this time, his family was staying at Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger crashed shortly after takeoff. According to Haugen[MU1] :

"In addition to the loss of seven astronauts, this crash was a symbolic loss for Americans. At Holden we had very infrequent communication with the outside world, so we did not know of the disaster for a couple of days. When we got some information, we held a service in the evening together, and “Healer of our Every Ill” was written as an expression for our community to grieve together (Daw, 2016, 795, quoting Westermeyer, 2010, 451)."
​

Haugen uses the text of this hymn as a prayer for healing, not only of the body but also of the mind and spirit. The refrain, “Give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow,” is a powerful prayer and helps us express thoughts we find difficult to put into words. This hymn is also about joy, as evidenced in stanza two with the words, “your grace is still unfolding.” Stanza three’s text, “Give us strength to love each other,” uses language that urges us, even in times of sorrow and fear, to show love and kindness to our sisters and brothers in Christ. The last verse of the hymn asks us to teach Christ’s way of healing and to fill each heart with compassion.

I hope to see you!
JOY,  PJU


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Love your Enemies...

2/19/2019

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​The lectionary has 3 cycles: A ( Matthew), B (Mark), C( Luke) (The gospel of John is sprinkled through each cycle.) So, in three years, if you would come every Sunday, you would hear the majority of the four gospels.
 
This year is unusual because we are in year C and there are 7 Sundays after the Epiphany (because Easter is laaate). We have not had a 7th Sunday after the Epiphany in year C since 2001. How is that for trivia information?  All of this long introduction is to tell you that the gospel lesson for this Sunday is Luke 6:27-38. It has NOT been read in worship since 2001 (presuming my calculations are correct.)
 
Devotion - Luke 6:27 "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."
 
As many of you know, I lead a course on Louise Penny's mystery series at William and Mary's life-long learning school. A book that I am presenting on Wednesday, deals with the friction between the "Anglo-files" and the "Franco files" that still exists to this day. In 1759 a pivotal battle of the 7 Years War took place on the Plains of Abraham. Due to the cunning of the British General Wolfe, or the mistake of French General Montcalm, Quebec City fell, and the British took over from the French. 260 years have passed and still there is discord over language and customs. "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you... " says Jesus. 
 
At first this controversy is easy to discount because we are not a part of THIS discord.  However, take a few moments of quiet reflection and I am sure that each of us has our backpack filled with contentious memories, hurts that fester, prejudices. I think that the first step is to be more generous with our love and spend less time and memory with what/who is wrong. 
 
The prayer for this Sunday is: Oh Lord Jesus, make us instruments of your peace, that where there is hatred, we may sow love, where there is injury, pardon, and where there is despair, hope. Grant, O Divine Master, that we may seek to console, to understand and to love in your name. Amen
 
Blessings to you and JOY,
Pastor Judy

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    Apostles Lutheran Church
    Gloucester, Virginia

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