Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A
Our lectionary gives us three days to ponder Psalm 114 this week. This invites us into three days of contemplation of the miraculous and wondrous ways God is at work. The Israelites were in awe at the saving power of God. They were held captive, and God set them free. They were displaced, and God brought them home. They were suffering under the rule of one who seemed all-powerful. God was more powerful. What is God doing in this time of isolation? Do you think that God will save us? How will God help us find our way to leave our homes one day? Who among us hasn't asked God for a sign? "God, if you send a dog walking all by itself down the sidewalk on its hind legs while wearing a leash, I will do the dishes." Just then, there is a dog walking all by itself down the sidewalk on its hind legs while wearing a leash. This often leads to, "Ok. If you send a cat walking all by itself down the sidewalk while wearing a hat, I will really do the dishes." Just then, there is a cat... These signs often bring smiles to our faces as we sense that God is with us and nudging us to do what we know we need to do. For Gideon, the sign of the fleece was the assurance he needed to go into battle even though he was far outnumbered. Read ahead to see how Gideon whittled the number of his troops down to just 100. How do you like to drink your water? Gideon had a sign that God would be with them. That was all that he needed. We are the people of the resurrection. Richard Prentiss, my Dad's brother, and our Uncle Dick died yesterday from complications of Covid-19. I give God thanks for Uncle Dick. He was someone to behold. With Uncle Dick, you wanted to sit back and watch him tell his stories. His stories were fascinating, especially for a group of kids. They were full of exaggerations, sound effects, twists, turns, bravado, and colorful language. I also give God thanks for Jesus and the power and promise of resurrection. Jesus conquered death. Resurrection is real. It makes me thankful to think of Uncle Dick with his parents Hugh and Ila, his wife Joanne, his brother Norm, his sisters Juanita and Pat, my brother Keith and so many more. They know the Gospel is true. Thank you, God. And, thank you all for the prayers for my Dad and family. Here is a picture of my Uncle Dick reaching out to pull me up from the freezing waters of the St. Clair river. Let's do all we can to protect ourselves and others from the coronavirus. Peace, Dean
1 Comment
Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A
Paul inspires today by telling of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul describes how Jesus appeared to many, even to him. In part, this establishes his credibility for the people of Corinth. But, the more important point is that the Gospel is being lived out through witnesses everywhere. The love of Jesus Christ cannot be contained. Have you ever tried to draw out what a Scripture feels like to you? Let your mind go free and follow where your artistic heart leads you. It can be prayerful and enlightening. I have a sketch app. Today, I tried to sit and draw what I felt about 1 Corinthians 15. I could be very, very critical and negative about myself and the picture I have drawn. I could complain that I am not an artist, that my people look strange, and that this picture is missing so much. But, I will give myself some grace and let this picture speak whatever it needs to say. Do you have paper and some pens, markers, crayons, etc.? Tell the story that must be told. Peace, Dean Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A I had tickets to Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers this year. The game was supposed to be played on May 30. Those plans changed when we learned of Covid-19. Opening Day in Detroit is festive. Part of the joy is the return of baseball. For baseball fans, there is nothing sweeter than the rhythm of the game, the sound of the ball hitting the bat, and the smell of the ballpark. The start of a new baseball season also represents the change from winter to spring. We made it! We survived the cold and the snow to see the green grass and feel the warm sun. I grew up listening to Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey broadcast Tiger games on WJR. Ernie and Paul had a way of telling a story. They were adept at both their ability to talk as well as their skill at remaining silent to allow the game to do the talking. You could close your eyes and imagine the powerful swing of Larry Herndon, hear the crack of the bat, and Ernie exclaim it was "Loooonnnggg Gone!" Poetry. Before the first pitch of every new season, Ernie Harwell would recite these words from the Song of Solomon. It was brief. It was a little quirky (the King James Version says "the voice of the turtle is heard in our land"). But it was just right. It set this game in the context of our broader story. It is a story of God's love in and around and through all things. It infused the experience of being a baseball fan with the experience of being a child of God. When Ernie Harwell was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he said, "I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing." Let's give thanks for baseball today and the stories that connect us with God and one another. I encourage you to read Ernie Harwell's Hall of Fame speech below. Peace, Dean Thank you, Ralph Kiner and thank you folks for that warm Cooperstown welcome. This is an award that I will certainly cherish forever. I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing. I'd like for you to meet my very best friend and she is my best friend despite the fact that this month we celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, Lulu Harwell. Lulu, will you stand up please. My son, Bill, right next to her, his wife Diane, their youngsters, my son, Gray, his wife Sandy, and their three youngsters, and my daughters, Julie and Carolyn. I'm very proud of this award, but I'm even more proud of my family. You know the life and times of Ernie Harwell could be capsuled I think in two famous quotations, one from a left handed, the New York Yankee pitcher and the other one from a right handed English poet. The Yankee pitcher, Lefty Gomez, once said, "I'd rather be lucky than good. " And the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, once wrote in his epic poem Ulysses, "I am a part of all that I have met." Well, I know that I'm a lot luckier than I'm good. I've been lucky to broadcast some great events and to broadcast the exploits of some great players. When I went to Brooklyn in 1948 Jackie Robinson was at the height of his brilliant career. With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. When I went to Baltimore the great Brooks Robinson came along to replace my good friend George Kell at third base. And in my 22 years at Detroit it's been a distinct privilege to watch the day by day consistency of Hall of Famer Al Kaline. Yes, it's lucky that I've been there and I've been at some events too. I want to tell you about one that Ralph mentioned Bobby Thomson's home run October 3rd. I felt a little sorry for my Giant broadcasting partner that day, Russ Hodges. Ole' Russ is going to be stuck on the radio, there were five radio broadcasts and I was gonna' be on coast to coast TV and I thought that I had the plum assignment. Well, as you remember it turned out quite differently. Russ Hodges' record became the most famous sports broadcast of all time, television, no instant replay, no recordings in those days, and only Mrs. Harwell knows that I did the telecast of Bobby Thomson's home run. When I got home that night after the telecast she said to me, she said, "You know Ernie when they turned the camera on you after that home run I saw you with that stunned look on your face, and the only other time I had ever seen it was when we were married and when the kids were born." That other saying, I'm a part of all that I have met, I think that would have to begin with my wonderful parents back in Atlanta when I was a youngster five years old I was tongue tied. They didn't have much money, but they spent what they had sending me to speech teachers to overcome the handicap. I know that a lot of you people who have heard me on the radio probably still think I'm tongue tied, but through the grace of God officially I'm not tongue tied any more. Also I'm a part of the people that I've worked with in baseball that have been so great to me, Mr. Earl Mann of Atlanta, who gave me my first baseball broadcasting job. Mr. Branch Rickey at Brooklyn, Mr. Horace Stoneham of the Giants, Mr. Jerry Hoffberger in Baltimore and my present boss, here's to the greatest ever, Mr. John Fetzer and Mr. Jim Campbell. I'm also a part of the partners that I've worked with and there have been so many great ones, beginning with Red Barber and Connie Desmond at Brooklyn and continuing on to my present partner WJR's Paul Carey. But most of all, I'm a part of you people out there who have listened to me, because especially you people in Michigan, you Tiger fans, you've given me so much warmth, so much affection and so much love. I know that this is an award that's supposed to be for my contribution to baseball, but let me say this I've given a lot less to baseball than it's given to me and the greatest gift that I received from baseball is the way that the people in the game have responded to me with their warmth and with their friendship. Yes, it's better to be lucky than good and I'm glad that I'm a part of all that I have met. We're all here with a common bond today. I think we're all here because we love baseball. Back in 1955, Ralph referred to this, I sat down and wrote a little definition of baseball to express my feelings about this greatest game of all. And I know that a lot of things have changed since then. Especially in this strike filled year but my feelings about the game are still the same as they were back then and I think that maybe yours are too. And I'd like to close out my remarks for the next couple of minutes with your indulgence to see if your definition of baseball agrees with mine. Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his (Babe Ruth's) 714 home runs. There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That's baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic. In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another. Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It's a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy. Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville. Baseball is just a game, as simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion. Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World's Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying., "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, "Down in Front", Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner. Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you. Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame Research Library. Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A
Did you sing yesterday? Are you going to sing today? Lift up your song. Trust that God is leading us through this time of fear and isolation into a new day, onto a distant shore. The last movie I saw in the theatre before the coronavirus changed the way we think of gathering together was the movie "1917." I do not particularly enjoy violence or films that depict war. However, I had read that this movie was one to watch on the big screen. So I went. What I witnessed was an intense story of one person on a mission to save the lives of countless others. It was harrowing. My heart was racing as I watched. There were several times that I thought the soldier would not make it. I felt myself running with him, rooting for him. I felt an intense feeling of hope. There is something deep down within us that gives us the courage to do things we otherwise think are impossible. Usually, we rise to this level when we understand our lives as part of something greater than ourselves. The movie 1917 came to mind as I read Joshua 3 this morning. There is a discipline to a common purpose that those in the military could relate to. Just when it seemed like the battle was lost, God provided a way through the waters to the safety of the further shore. Take your pulse as you read this story, and you might find that it rises a bit. Then, stand with the two Mary's. Feel the earthquake as the angel appears to announce that the world had been forever changed. And suddenly, it dawns on you. One person had done what many thought to be impossible. Jesus had defeated death itself and saved the lives of countless people. Including you. Do not be afraid. God will help us find our way through this time. Go and tell. Go and sing. Go and hope. Peace, Dean Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A Here
Singing. Singing has the power to transform our outlook from what is to what can be.
Singing gives us hope in these days. An empty house is easily filled with melody. You're free to lift up your voice in song. Dolores Sanford has been making it a point to call people and invite them to sing. It feels good! It gives hope! It builds faith! Sing today. Open up and let it fly. Let the notes tumble out. Sing them to God who is with us now and always. Peace, Dean O Mary Don't You Weep Christ the Lord Is Risen Today One Pair of Hands It Is Well With My Soul 100 Praise and Worship Songs Don't Stop Believin' Detroit Hospital Song of Hope, from the Detroit News Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A
I hope and pray that you had a meaningful Holy Week. It is a complicated, emotional journey from the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem to the burial of Jesus. There are many parts of the story that seem to relate so closely to our own experiences (politics, betrayal, suffering, fear). There are also parts of the Holy Week story that cause us to reflect deeply on God (love, power, faith, hope). Think about what you experienced during Holy Week and how it brought you closer to the Jesus and the cross. Yesterday was a joy! Nothing can stop Easter! We stay with Psalm 118 for three days this week, and it feels so appropriate. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever. How can we not look back on Easter without hearts filled with thanksgiving? We are thankful to God, who is bigger than all our sins. We are thankful for Jesus, who overwhelms suffering with love. We are thankful for incredibly gifted and loving musicians like Dave, Adrianne, Sara, and her brother Ben. Imagine creating music together while never being in the same room. Wasn't the music beautiful? We are thankful for a Bishop with a kind heart. Did you know people who do not have internet received Bishop Bard's sermon in the mail? We are thankful for people finding a way to worship and be the church. We are thankful for life in the midst of death. God is good, and God's steadfast love gives us hope for the days to come. This week the lectionary texts will form us as a new community. We are the people of the resurrection, saved by God. That means we have new opportunities to love and serve one another. We carry God's story as we assemble as new people in new ways. It's the story of God showing a way when there was no way and saving God's people. Read the story of Moses parting the waters to save the Israelites from certain death. Appreciate the humor of the people in the face of such certain doom ("what, were there no more graves available at home? You had to bring us out here to die instead?") Sometimes we have to laugh to keep from crying. But always, we are humbled by the saving acts of God. Again and again. We carry with us the story of women and men singing and worshiping God. The story is one that reminds us that there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! I look forward to the ways that God will meet you this week and bring you closer together, even though we are staying a distance apart. Peace, Dean Daily Lectionary Readings for Year A
Read once. Read aloud a second time. Read again. On this Holy Saturday, my prayers around the lectionary readings join Jesus as he is in the tomb which is filled with the fragrance of a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. What happens in these hours after death and before life eternal? The Apostle's Creed says he descended to the dead. He went there. He confronted our biggest fear, separation from God. In this time in the tomb, Jesus created a pathway from death to life. On this sunny day, hours after the crucifixion but not quite Easter, let us join Jesus in prayer. Peace, Dean Apostles' Creed: Traditional and Ecumenical Versions Traditional Version I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;* the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic** church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Ecumenical Version I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic** church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. *Traditional use of this creed includes these words: "He descended into hell." **universal These are the versions in the current United Methodist Hymnal. |
REv. Dean N. PrentissI am blessed to be the Pastor at Wesley Park UMC. Find Daily Lectionary Readings Here. Archives
February 2021
Categories |