MINISTERS FOR SUNDAY

WORSHIP NOTES FOR THIS SUNDAY

The Third Sunday of Lent   March 8, 2015

On this third Sunday in Lent, we contemplate our limitations in helping ourselves and in knowing the full import of what we are doing, even in knowing the extent of our offences. Our only true help comes from God, and our only wisdom comes through the power of Christ crucified. Certainly, this does not mean that we are helpless or hopeless!

 Our opening collect for this Sunday, after articulating our lack of "power in ourselves to help ourselves," asks God to "keep us" in both our bodies and our souls from those things that would assault and hurt us.  Some of these things are in the world, external to us, and some of them are within us. The Psalmist writes: "Who can tell how often he offends? Cleanse me from my secret faults."

 Our lesson from Exodus is the Decalogue, more popularly known as the Ten Commandments. We repeated these together, in petition form, on the first Sunday in Lent, remembering that traditionally in the church this has been seen as something we need to read and remind ourselves of regularly. The Decalogue may well have functioned as a kind of creed for the Israelites, as it eventually became in Judaism and Christianity. It is a core of ten rules for living in covenant with God, rules given to protect us from ourselves and to keep us healthy and in right relationship with God, creation, community, family, and self. We like to give some of them more attention than others, but all are equally binding, falling under the overarching command to acknowledge and obey God's authority.

 Even with the benefit of the law, the Psalmist reminds us, sins and mistakes cannot be completely known or avoided. Therefore, we stand in need always of God's mercy, forgiveness, and guidance. Paul likewise addresses the limits of our best wisdom when approaching God. Because of those limitations, we have been given Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God for us, through whose crucifixion we are "saved," kept by and in God.

 Jesus' cleansing of the Temple, overturning the tables of the moneychangers and driving out the vendors of sacrificial animals, is found at the end of Jesus' ministry in the other gospels. John uses it to introduce Jesus' confrontation with the authorities and the established religious practice. When those present ask for a sign to support his action, Jesus offers the temple itself, to be torn down and raised up three days later. Only much later do the disciples realize that he was speaking of his own body. We should remember that the ones driven from the temple understood themselves to be following the right and prescribed order. They did not know their own mistakes, and yet Jesus had come to bring the kingdom to them.

 This Sunday will make the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the failed civil rights march that ended in violence in Selma. As part of the "Let Freedom Ring" initiative led by our county commissioner Mercuria Ludgood, we will join other Mobile churches in tolling our bell at 11:00 a.m. this Sunday. The sound of church bells throughout Mobile is intended to be a sign of our standing together-remembering that violence and suffering are all around us in our world, near and far, and even within us, and above all remembering our baptismal promises to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to love our neighbor and to respect the dignity of every human being, striving for justice and peace among all people. 

 As we consider the third of our Lenten questions for the end of life-what are your goals and priorities-those promises rise above them all. 

The Very Reverend Beverly F. Gibson

Dean

Christ Church Cathedral

"Worship Notes for this Sunday" are posted and archived each week on the Cathedral website.

THE BIBLE CHALLENGE

Week Three: Lent, March 9 - 15, 2015

As those of you undertaking the Bible Challenge prepare to enter your third week, the time of your day given to reading the Bible should be becoming a habit. I hope that this time brings you peace and a sense of connection to the story of God's people. 

In this week's readings from Genesis and the beginning of Exodus, you will encounter the whole of the Joseph saga: his enjoyment of his father's favor; his dreams of greatness; his brothers' revenge and selling him into slavery in Egypt; his repeated pattern of being brought low but then finding favor and honor through his gift of dream divination and his honesty and guilelessness; and then the reason for it all-to preserve the tribes of Israel from famine and death through sending them into Egypt. Then, in Exodus, you will leap forward to the time when a Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph and who feared the Hebrews and oppressed them. Moses is born and preserved to be their leader, a destiny God reveals to him in the burning bush that concludes this week's reading.

As you read your way through the Psalms, I hope that you will use them as an opportunity to pray-as the Psalmist does, for God's help, to be protected, for trust in God, and in thanksgiving.

 The readings from Matthew's gospel this week encompass the central portion of Jesus' earthly ministry. He teaches about the kingdom of heaven by means of parables. In telling the parable of the sower, Jesus explained to his disciples why he used parables: they are meant for those who truly seek, whose eyes and ears strain to know God's kingdom, understanding that they do not already know everything. The parables "proclaim what has been hidden from the beginning of the world," but is now revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. You will read about Jesus' rejection in his hometown of Nazareth, about his miraculous feeding of vast crowds, about his continued healing and deeds of power. Jesus foretells his death and resurrection; he takes his disciples up the mountain to witness his Transfiguration. Peter offers his confession, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God," for which he is named the "rock" of the Church. Finally, you will be reminded of Jesus' teaching that true greatness lies in humility and the receiving and giving of unbounded forgiveness. All those who go astray are sought by God, and found, like that one lost sheep. 

The Very Reverend Beverly F. Gibson

Dean

Christ Church Cathedral

Find Dean Gibson's Bible Challenge study guides on the Cathedral website:  

http://www.christchurchcathedralmobile.org/lenten-discipline-the-bible-challenge  

Reading Schedule

THE BIBLE CHALLENGE: READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR 
An accompanying devotional, The Bible Challenge: Read the Bible in a Year, by Episcopal priest, The Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie, is available in the Cathedral office for $15. Devotional materials are also available free of charge at:  www.thecenterforbiblicalstudies.org. If you are interest in participating as a part of a group here at Christ Church Cathedral, please contact Dean Gibson.  

MUSIC  NOTES FOR THIS SUNDAY

The Third Sunday of Lent          March 8, 2015

This week, at Christ Church, we celebrate the Third Sunday in Lent.  Our organ prelude will be the Passacaglia by Edwin Stube (1922-2001), an Episcopal priest and musician. Fr. Stube served many communities as a priest, but perhaps most notably established the Lawang Bible Training Center in Indonesia. The title of Sunday's prelude is more than a title, for it tells us the form Stube used to compose the piece. The passacaglia form began in Spain as an interlude between verses of a song or between separate pieces, but by the 1620s, the form was adopted and redefined in Italy. Later used by German composers like Bach and Buxtehude, the passacaglia became a popular form all over Europe. Much like the French chaconne dance form, the passacaglia is basically a set of variations over a repeating bass line. However, the passacaglia has historically had a very serious character, and Stube's piece is certainly an example of this. Sunday's prelude is filled with tension and "head-scratcher" harmonies. In order to appreciate this kind of music, one must listen to the overlapping "colors" of the different chords while listening to the repeating bass line. While we don't know what Stube was intending when he composed this piece, I think it creates a very appropriate atmosphere for our readings and themes this week. 

The offertory piece, Forgive?, was composed by this author. This piece was conceived as a modern setting of a poem by John Donne (1572-1631). My piece, set for three high voices, tries to capture the whimsical nature of this poem, printed below. 

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, 

Which was my sin, though it were done before? 

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run, 

And do run still, though still I do deplore? 

When thou hast done, thou hast not done, 

For I have more.

 

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won 

Others to sin, and made my sin their door? 

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun 

A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score? 

When thou hast done, thou hast not done, 

For I have more.

 

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun 

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; 

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son 

Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore; 

And, having done that, thou hast done; 

I fear no more.

At the end of our service, we will sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. This hymn, often sung in connection with civil rights events, is being sung by many churches to commemorate "Bloody Sunday". When looking at the service as a whole, we see how everything connects. Beginning with Stube's intense prelude, continuing with Donne's poem asking forgiveness, and concluding with a memorial to the events in Selma 50 years ago, we are almost overwhelmed with symbolism and a cry for mercy and forgiveness. However, in all of this, we experience hope, change, and challenges for the future. The music ministry hopes you will find inspiration for a holy and thought-provoking Lent in our music and liturgy this week.

In closing, you are invited to attend our third Lenten noonday concert. This week, we feature Douglas Abbruzzese, tenor, and Kendall Register, baritone, from the studio of Professor Howard Reddy of the University of West Florida. Douglas and Kendall will present beautiful art-song from a variety of composers. Come and experiences these great stories and meditations as they are presented in song. 

"Music Notes for this Sunday" are posted and archived 

each week on our new website here: