Approaching the 2nd Sunday of Lent

Lent Banner by Progressive Church Media

In This Issue

Music for Our Ears by Alex

This Week @ St. James

Saturday Night Specials... Worship, Potluck, Fun, and Faith

Quick Links

Lent Madness

Lent Madness Rules - Check out the Brackets and Play!

It's fun to learn about the Church's Saints. It's even more fun and educational to learn about how people like Oscar Romero, Thomas Tallis, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Absalom Jones and others have shaped and are shaping the lives of Christians today. Ask Tim Rich, Nancy Jacob, or others about Lent Madness and check out the comments and narratives online or in Lu Dunn Hall. You can be hip like me and get a mug or give one to someone else too.

Other Lenten Resources

National Cathedral Lenten Meditations

Episcopal Church Daily Lenten Meditations

HuffPost's Lent 2013

Music for our Ears

Alex's Reflection on Lenten Music

Alex Gartner

Church isn't always an Alleluia...

I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was to discover how much singing we get to do

during our weekly worship services. The previous congregation I served allowed for only four instances

of singing in our weekly worship: and opening hymn, a choir anthem, a

doxology, and a closing hymn. FOUR!

In our weekly services at St. James, we are privileged to sing

eight or nine times with hymns and service music. It's a church musician's dream come true!

But we are used to the same type of music every week. We've got our processional hymn that's usually

loud, the Gloria (which is super long), and who could forget the Doxology. Yet

since Lent has started, all of this has changed. GASP!

Lent is a season characterized by transformation and preparation. Transformation in our

lives as Christians as we acknowledge our sins and practice repentance; and preparation

for the Resurrection of Jesus and the opening of God's Eternal Kingdom for us. It is an

extremely important (if not the MOST important) time in the spiritual year of the church. Thus, we

treat it differently than the rest.

Perhaps the biggest noticeable change is a new Lenten doxology. In our worship services,

the doxology is a hymn of praise to God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and is considered

one of the high points of service music amongst many denominations. Many doxologies also include the word "Alleluia," which is Hebrew for "praise Yahweh." In the Bible, this word is a chief term of praise of the choir of angels as they proclaim the Kingdom of God,

and many liken the singing of the doxology in worship to mean the same thing.

However, during the

season of Lent, instead of focusing on praising the Kingdom of God, we are

preparing ourselves for the coming of the Kingdom through Christ's sacrifice for us... not quite an

Alleluia moment yet.

In this light, we eliminate the traditional doxology and the word "Alleluia" from

our services during this Lenten season, and both will return

triumphantly on Easter Sunday when we proclaim the Resurrection of Christ, who through

His sacrifice opened the Gates of Heaven so that we may sing in the angel choir forever and

ever-a moment truly worthy of "Alleluia."

Peace, love, and (as always) beautiful music...

Alex

St. James Episcopal Church Westwood

Weekly Epistle - February 13, 2013

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Luke 13: 34-35)

Read Sunday's Lessons here.

Christ The Lord Icon by Kathryn Carrington

Jesus doesn't get many friendly greetings in Luke's Gospel. His neighbors in Nazareth strive to throw him off of a cliff. Satan welcomes Jesus to the Wilderness by tempting his basic human needs and spiritual connections to God.

This week, Jesus predicts the not-so-welcome greeting he will receive in Jerusalem. We know, as the Pharisees don't at this point in the Lenten story, that Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem will certainly be triumphantly tumultuous. It gets ugly when he disrupts Passover by turning the tables over in Herod's Temple. He will die 5 days later on Golgotha's Good Friday hill. Prophets and their messages are usually unwelcome guests. Yet, Jesus knows, even at this point in our Lent that he's headed toward such trouble and ultimate mortal execution.

Read Lectionary Reflections and Sermons here.

What's even more perplexing is that Jesus brings life and good news to those who will openly receive him. He's a mother hen striving to offer protection and nourishment to hearers of the word who, unlike the Pharisees, freely accept that God's reign exists for those who set aside their earthly pleasures and powers for deeper communion and devotion to God. Herod, the Pharisees and us too often reject offering ourselves to the possibilities of sharing closer communion with Christ and one another because what we "know" is more comfortably alluring and realistic than what Jesus' abundant Gospel offers.

The Rev. Dr. Susanna Snyder, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Society and Christian Ethics at Episcopal Divinity School recently preached about Breaking out of Prison. Her sermon is worth reading. My attention is particularly drawn to this statement:

Read Breaking out of Prison by Professor Susanna Snyder

"Taking up our cross or breaking out of the prison repeatedly is what Lent allows us to do: it is a season in which we can practice new habits, develop the new muscles needed for healthier, life-bringing ways of inhabiting the world. It is a time to reorient our priorities. It always involves struggle and loss, and particularly when we recognize that the things we are allowing to imprison ourselves are imprisoning others also. ... Lent shouldn't be about life-denying for its own miserable sake, but about the many little deaths required en route to a richer, deeper life with God and others."

Embracing Jesus' life and maternal love usually means willingly letting go of some longstanding pain. We resist change, especially when we have something to lose, healthy or otherwise. Welcoming Jesus into our lives isn't as much about doctrine as it is about belief - believing that a new way of gracious God-given hope and trust are possible, even desirable. The choice to follow Jesus to his cross and our own is our Lenten journey. The pilgrimage, should we decide to continue onward, blessedly leads to Easter's transformational new ways of being.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

This Week @ St. James

Click here for the parish calendar

7:30 PM - Narcotics Anonymous Meeting -

We are looking for parishioners, including our youth to provide childcare for the parents who attend this NA meeting. Please speak w/ Jim

if you would be willing to be a team member to support our neighbors in their recovery & processes.

Thursday Feb. 21 - @ 2 PM

Crossroads Hospice Grief Recovery Program w/ Donna Hartmann. Contact Donna for more info. if you're interested.

@ 6 PM - Evening Prayer and Reflection

Saturday Feb. 23rd @ 6:30 PM

Come as You are and Worship -->

Sunday Feb. 24 @ 9 AM - Adult Christian Formation

Choir Practice

10 AM - Children's Sunday School

Rite II Holy Eucharist

You can still sign up for our Lenten Mustache/Goatee Contest.

Alex is working it with his goatee. Why aren't you?

Saturday Night Worship Experience

Happening on Sat. Feb 23 @ 6:30 PM - Alex is playing the tunes. Jim is offering the Word. Everyone gets communion. Music that's not out of the hymnal. Blue Jeans are encouraged.

(Invite the neighbors and let's see what happens)

Here's a sample of what we will be singing

listen to Strong Tower performed by Kutelss

Potluck and Pucks

Here's a terrific chance for us to get to know our neighbors better. Bring some food & plan on sharing a meal and a hockey game in a couple of weeks.

Westwood Works will be hosting their annual potluck here at St. James on March 9th. Here's a great opportunity to share our hospitality by greeting them here at St. James and sharing a hockey game with them and one another.

About Us

St. James Episcopal Church is called to be a center of worship and common life where Christ's love is visible and experienced in order to seek and serve Jesus in others.