Celebrate,

Understand, Restore, Renew, Hope, Wear the Armor of Light, and

LABOR DAY,

a tribute to the contributions workers have made

to strength, prosperity, and well-being.

 

 

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Exodus 12:1-14

 

 

Celebration

Celebration

SWANSON, John August

Serigraph

1997

http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/default.cfm/PID=1.2.9

 

A joyful portrayal of people uniting in praise and worship.

The colorful style and complex composition create a beautiful image 

that commemorates the joy of the human spirit. 

As the musicians play, the people unite, holding candles up 

in a festive dance of jubilant celebration.

https://www.eyekons.com/john_swanson_serigraphs/john_swanson_celebration_s

 

 

About the Artist:

http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/default.cfm/PID%3d1.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening light, 

just as a candle flame looks beautiful in the light of morning. 

Light within light...It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human soul, 

the singular light within that great general light of existence.

~ Marilynne Robinson

 

 

 

The fingers of your thoughts

are molding your face ceaselessly.

~ Charles Reznikoff

 

 

 

 

 

Traffic jam!

There were about 30 elk taking their time to cross the road.

Then, they started going back the other way.

 

 

This calf decided to start nursing in the middle of the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The greatness of a community is most accurately measured

by the compassionate actions of its members,

a heart of grace, and a soul generated by love.

~ Coretta Scott King

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 6, 2020   Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

                Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18)

             

Previous OPQs may be found at: 

 

 

"If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

Matthew 18:15-20

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

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

 

 

Exodus 12:1-14 | Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship BLCF Church

The First Passover

 

 

color_green.jpg

 

 

 

Exodus 12:1-14 with Psalm 149 or
Ezekiel 33:7-11 with Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

 

 

Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Psalm 149

Praise God!

Sing to God
   a new song,
sing God's praise
   in the assembly
of the faithful.

Let Israel be glad
   in its Maker;
let the children of Zion
   rejoice in their Ruler.

Let them praise God's name
   with dancing,
making melody to God
   with tambourine and lyre.

For God takes pleasure
   in the people;
God adorns the humble
   with victory.

Let the faithful exult
   in glory;
let them sing for joy
   on their couches.

Let the high praises of God
   be in their throats
and two-edged swords
   in their hands,
to execute vengeance
   on the nations
and punishment
   on the peoples,

to bind their ruler
   with fetters
and their nobles
   with chains of iron,
to execute on them
   the judgement decreed.

This is glory for all
   God's faithful ones.
Praise to be God!

or

Ezekiel 33:7-11

So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?" Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Psalm 119:33-40

Teach me, O God,
   the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it
   to the end.

Give me understanding,
   that I may keep your law
and observe it
   with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path
   of your commandments,
for I delight in it.

Turn my heart to your decrees,
   and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
   give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant
   your promise,
which is for those
   who fear you.

Turn away the disgrace
   that I dread,
for your ordinances are good.

See, I have longed
   for your precepts;
in your righteousness
   give me life.

Romans 13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 18:15-20

"If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."