Take up Your Cross

 

Incline your ear, O Lord, 

   and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

 

Preserve my life, 

   for I am devoted to you;

save your servant who trusts in you.

 

You are my God; 

   be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry all day long.

 

Gladden the soul of your servant,

   for to you, O Lord, 

I lift up my soul.

 

For you, O Lord, 

   are good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love 

   to all who call on you.

 

Give ear, O Lord, 

   to my prayer;

listen to my cry of supplication.

 

In the day of my trouble 

   I call on you,

for you will answer me.

 

There is none like you 

   among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

 

All the nations you have made shall come

   and bow down before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

 

For you are great 

   and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

 

Turn to me 

   and be gracious to me;

give your strength to your servant;

   save the child of your serving-maid.

 

Show me a sign 

   of your favor,

so that those who hate me 

   may see it and be put to shame,

because you, Lord, have helped me 

   and comforted me.

 

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

 

Statue of Phillis Wheatley *

The Boston Women’s Memorial

BERGMANN, Meredith

2003

Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts

United States

 

"Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl." -- Psalm 86:16

 

In the scripture texts for today, both from Genesis and from Psalms, the need for God's intervention is powerful in the lives of servants/slaves. This sculpture of the country's first African-American poet reminds us that Hagar's journey is one that has been repeated through millenia. 

 

Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia in 1753. She came to the United States as a slave and was purchased by a Boston family who generously educated her. She became an accomplished writer and published a book of poetry, the success of which won her acclaim and soon after, her freedom. She married and had three children, none of whom survived infancy. 

 

"Against thy Zion though her foes may rage,
And all their cunning, all their strength engage,
Yet she serenely on thy bosom lies,
Smiles at their arts, and all their force defies." 
— from the poem, Isaiah LXIII in “Goliath of Garth” by Phillis Wheatley

 

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20140620154357910&code=ACT&RC=53991&Row=13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As long as individuals serve their own personal interests,

the common good will suffer.

~ Desiderius Erasmus

 

 

 

 

 

The trouble with deep belief is that it costs something.

And there is something inside me,

some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn’t 

like the truth at all because it carries responsibility,

and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them.

It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything.

And it isn’t cool.

~ Donald Miller **

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday evening was Bunco on Linda LaGrange’s wonderful deck.

 

 

Eldred’s very detailed drawing in Memories in the Making at the Seniors’ Resource Center.

 

 

Marilyn titled her painting “And Art Poured Out.”

 

 

 

100 Holes of Golf

Thursday, June 19, 2014

All players were encouraged to find unique ways to get their golf balls in the hole.

Many wore interesting costumes.

Wonder Woman Marcia Walsh will have her 84th birthday next week.

 

 

The Bee Handler with her Busy Bees.

 

 

Tom Scripps

 

 

Laurie Romberg utilized her tennis skills on the golf course.

 

 

This team invented a special ball launcher using compressed air!

 

 

They actually became quite accurate with it!

 

 

Such a beautiful setting above the lake!

The weather was perfect.

 

 

Susie Helmrich (Head Golf Pro), Carolyn Alexander

 

 

Van Farnsworth entertained our Afternoon Book Club 

in her lovely log home.

 

 

 

 

 

May the beauty you love

be what you do.

~ Rumi ***

 

 

 

 

 

June 22, 2014        Second Sunday after Pentecost/Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

* Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic dye."

Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th' angelic train.

        ~ Phyllis Wheatley, from “On being brought from Africa to America”

 

** Sometimes these quotes are hard!!!

 

*** Used in 2011

 

 


[Jesus said:]

"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

"For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Matthew 10:24-39

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

comic

 

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

 

http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/1814.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genesis 21:8-21 

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 

Alternate:   Jeremiah 20:7-13 with

        Psalm 69:7-10 [11-15] 16-18

Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39