Mothering Sunday

Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep! Romans 12:15

While, on the surface a bit odd, the tradition of "Mothering Sunday" comes from the sixteenth century. The name is drawn from the practice of people returning to their "mother" church (usually, the cathedral of the area) for a service on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent.

The word laetare means to rejoice and is drawn from the first word of the introit:

Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her:

rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow:

that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.

I rejoiced when they said to me: "we shall go into God's House!

Those who returned to the cathedral church were said to have gone "a-mothering." Mothering Sunday is a little hiatus of spring in the midst of Lent. Its placement prompts the question of how open we are to being shaped by joy? Are we willing to be enfolded in the divine embrace and enter into the perichoresis-the dance-of the Trinity?

Mothering Sunday is a reminder that the greater the hollow carved out in sorrow, the more room for joy to dwell therein.

Lenten blessings,

Holy Habit: Dwelling in Paradox

Richard Rohr in his blog yesterday reflected on the nature of paradox as "something that initially looks like a contradiction, but if you go deeper with it and hold it longer or at a different level, it isn't necessarily so. Holding out for a reconciling third, a tertium quid, allows a very different perspective and gives a different pair of eyes beyond mere either/or."

Scripture affords us many opportunities to dwell in paradox. The Apostle Paul's charge to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep provides a beautiful Lenten invitation to dwell in paradox. As Abba Poeman reminds us: "The greater the hollow carved out in grief, the more room for joy to dwell therein."

This week allow yourself to dwell in paradox as you ponder the call to rejoice and also to weep.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Perhaps many of you are aware by now that this past Tuesday Amendment 14F (On Amending W-4.9000 Marriage) received the required majority of presbytery votes to pass. As your Moderator, and on behalf of Council whom just met on Wednesday, I write this brief note for the purpose of passing along three items of information:

First, I want to pass along to you and affirm the content of a well-written letter from Ruling Elder Heath K. Rada, Moderator of the 221st General Assembly (GA) (2014), which can be read at the closing of this letter.

Next, I want to affirm the intention of Council to vote on all of the GA Amendments at our April 25^th Stated Meeting of Presbytery as originally intended and laid out in our previous communication and letter that accompanied the Amendment Booklet from GA. While this particular Amendment (and likely others) will have the required majority vote for approval when we gather, this does not lessen our privilege and responsibility to faithfully engage the process of graciously conversing and voting our conscious on the amendments as prayerfully led by the Holy Spirit.

Finally, we recognize that the announcement of the results of Amendment 14F will come to some as a cause for rejoicing and to others as a cause for lament; it is in love and prayer that Council both rejoices and laments alongside each of you. May we continue to serve together, bringing glory to God, as we pursue God's vision and mission for Muskingum Valley Presbytery.

In Christ's Love,

Mike Parker

Dear members and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Presbyteries have been engaged in conversation, discernment, and prayer concerning the recommendations from the 221st General Assembly (2014) in the nine months since Detroit, Michigan. On March 17, 2015, Amendment 14F (On Amending W-4.9000 Marriage) received the required majority from the presbyteries.

The approved amendment to the Book of Order lifts up the sanctity of marriage and the commitment of loving couples within the church. It also allows teaching elders to exercise their pastoral discretion in officiating weddings and in doing so "... the teaching elder may seek the counsel of the session, which has authority to permit or deny the use of church property for a marriage service."

Though we know that this amendment received the necessary majority for approval, we encourage the congregations, presbyteries, and synods of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to continue to be in conversation about marriage and family. We hope that such "up/down" voting does not mark the end, but the continuation of our desire to live in community; a partnership that requires prayer, the study of Scripture, listening to and with one another, and a dedication to partnership in the midst of our diversity of opinion.

We trust that God whose Word brought Creation into being is also the same Word that speaks to us today. With confidence, we believe that God calls the Church into living as a transformative community that embraces the call to be God's beloved community in the world.

Ruling Elder Heath K. Rada

Moderator, 221st General Assembly (2014)