Thanksgiving and Humility
Reformation Sunday
Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
Psalm 65
Harvesters
BRUEGEL,
Pieter
1565
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
New
York, N.Y.
United
States
Psalm 65:13 -- "the meadows clothe themselves with
flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together
for joy."
When it's over, I want to say: all my
life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
~ Mary
Oliver
No man who needs a monument
ever ought to have one.
~
Nathaniel Hawthorne
More
fresh snow in the high country!
Jeanne
Gibbard and I saw "Around the World in 80 Days" at the Arvada Center.
The
Creede Repertory Theater did a wonderful job!
I
had never seen it performed as a play before, just as a musical.
Betty
Astle provided refreshments, and Sharron Leonard led the discussion
of Defending
Jacob, by William Landay, at our Book Club Thursday evening.
Bob
Kadane was inducted into our Rotary Club on Friday morning.
His
wife, Betsy Buckner Kadane, was there for his induction.
Our
speaker at Rotary Friday morning was Dr. Dennis Roop.
Dr.
Roop is the director of a research program in Regenerative
Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Colorado-Denver.
They
have partnered with others including Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto, Japan, joint
winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Dr.
Yamanaka discovered that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become
pluripotent.
An
especially fascinating program!
Barb
and Al Steger are hosting this young woman from Guatemala.
She
is the first one to graduate in the Starfish One-by-One organization.
Ginny
and Tom Boschen at An Evening with the Master Potters of Mata Ortiz.
They
are with Damián Quezada, a nephew of the man who recreated Paquimé pottery.
Ginny
was rather hoping that Tom would purchase the piece of pottery that Damián is
holding.
Perhaps
he did?
An empty vessel
makes the greatest sound.
~
Shakespeare
October 27, 2013 Thirtieth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Parable of the
Pharisee and the Tax-Collector
He also told this parable to some who trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:‘Two men
went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a
tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God,
I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or
even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all
my income.”But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to
heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a
sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than
the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble
themselves will be exalted.’
Luke 18:9-14
Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein
Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
Reformation Sunday
Righteousness through Faith
But now, irrespective
of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law
and the prophets,the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for
all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a
gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward
as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did
this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed
over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time
that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in
Jesus.
Then
what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No,
but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith
apart from works prescribed by the law.
Romans
3:19-28
Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein
Joel 2:23–32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18
Luke 18:9–14
All Saints’ Day—November 1
Daniel 7:1–3, 15–18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1:11–23
Luke 6:20–31