As a hen gathers her brood ...

 

31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Luke 13:31-35

 

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Hen and Fox

KOENIG, Peter

20th century

United Kingdom

https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=202203112109266&code=act&RC=58501&Row=28

 

Gospel Text: Luke 13:31-35

---As Barbara Brown Taylor points out in her sermon on this passage, we have here a curious combination of imagery that includes a fox and a chicken. Since we know what foxes like to do once they gain entry into the henhouse, Jesus surely knew what he was doing in calling Herod “a fox” and then comparing the lost citizens of Jerusalem to chicks he wished he could gather under his wings. As a Lenten text, this lection reminds us of the sorrow of Christ’s life and ministry and the truth pathos that drove him. It also reminds us of the fate we face if we likewise refuse to see in Jesus the One who alone can save us and protect us. Of course, there are crosscurrents to it all. Death hangs heavy in the air here. Herod the fox is out to slaughter Jesus the hen. Chicks who try to take refuge under this hen’s wings might well conclude they had chosen the wrong safe house (or coop!). Indeed, by all outward appearance the chicks who refused to flock to Jesus the hen seemed wise. But in choosing to save their own lives . . . There is more gospel lurking in this semi-odd passage than at first meets the eye!

https://cepreaching.org/resources/liturgical-season-resources/lent-year-c/?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=notification%20bar#lent2

 

 

 

 

 

 

From without, no wonderful effect 

is wrought within ourselves,

unless some interior, 

responding wonder meets it.

~ Herman Melville

 

 

 

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 

 

 

It was Brrrr-cold going to Rotary Friday morning!!!

 

Jake Bell (above) and Ptrick Lee gave our club 

a preview of Center Stage’s production of Godspell.

 

Godspell | Ovation West Performing Arts

April 8 & 9 – 7:30 pm – April 10 at 2:30 pm 

at CENTER STAGE, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO 80439

 

Our speaker talked about the NEW Lutheran Medical Center being built.

It is scheduled to open in 2024.

 

Robin Sakamoto made this lovely arrangement for her

mother’s Celebration of Life service this morning

in Pensacola, Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

To live in this world

 

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

 

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

~ Mary Oliver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 13, 2022  Second Sunday in Lent - Year C 

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

1After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." 4But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." 5He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.

7Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." 8But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" 9He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,"

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genesis 15:1–12, 17–18 

Psalm 27 

Philippians 3:17—4:1 

Luke 13:31–35 or Luke 9:28–36

 

THE WORD:

The Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod seeks to kill him – given the growing tension between Jesus and the Pharisees, their warning is more probably an attempt to frighten Jesus away than a concern for his safety.  Jesus stands his ground in the face of that threat; in obedience to the Father, his work of reconciliation and healing will not only continue but will triumph even over death.  In this scene, Luke sets the stage for Jesus’ final confrontation with the Jewish leadership.

The final verses of today’s Gospel are Luke’s record of Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem, the holy city has failed to realize its destiny as God’s “city of peace.”   Jesus sees himself as the last in the line of prophets who will meet his end in Jerusalem, but his death will be the birth of a new Jerusalem (a new “house”) where God will gather his faithful people.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#march13a

 

 

First Reading Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

1After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." 4But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." 5He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.

7Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." 8But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" 9He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,"

Psalm 27

1The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?



2When evildoers assail me

to devour my flesh —

my adversaries and foes —

they shall stumble and fall.



3Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war rise up against me,

yet I will be confident.



4One thing I asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after:

to live in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the LORD,

and to inquire in his temple.



5For he will hide me in his shelter

in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

he will set me high on a rock.



6Now my head is lifted up

above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the LORD.



7Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,

be gracious to me and answer me!

8"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"

Your face, LORD, do I seek.

9Do not hide your face from me.



Do not turn your servant away in anger,

you who have been my help.

Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,

O God of my salvation!

10If my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will take me up.



11Teach me your way, O LORD,

and lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.

12Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,

for false witnesses have risen against me,

and they are breathing out violence.



13I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

14Wait for the LORD;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the LORD!

Second Reading Philippians 3:17-4:1

17Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

1Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Gospel Luke 13:31-35

31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"