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Showing posts with the label communion

These Best-Laid Plans: Genesis 11:1-9

  Pentecost Sunday Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.  2  And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.  3  And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.  4  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”  5  The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.  6  And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.  7  Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one anoth...

All Saints, All Souls, All Peoples: Isaiah 25:4-9

  All Saints Day You have been a refuge for the poor,     a refuge for the needy in distress,     a hiding place from the storm,     a shade from the heat. When the breath of tyrants is like a winter storm 5      or like heat in the desert,     you subdue the roar of foreigners. Like heat shaded by a cloud,     the tyrants’ song falls silent. 6 On this mountain,     the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples         a rich feast , a feast of choice wines,         of select foods rich in flavor,         of choice wines well refined. 7 He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples,     the shroud enshrouding all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe tears...

Rearranging Deck Chairs: 1 Peter 4:7-11

  Communion Sunday, Ordinary Time The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.  8  Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  9  Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  10  Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received .  11  Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.  (NRSVue)             “The most notable fact in religion today is that ministers of all denominations are trying, somewhat desperately but with immense energy and imagination, to find new ways to carry God back into the everyd...

A Holy Land: Gatekeepers and Changemakers (Genesis 28:10-19)

  Ordinary Time Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.  11  He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.  12  And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  13  And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring,  14  and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.  15  Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land...