Presbymom

  I find lectionary a bit confusing reading this gospel lesson the week before Palm Sunday because in the gospel, it actually comes right after Jesus has triumphantly entered Jerusalem. He raised Lazarus from the dead and had his feet anointed by the costly perfume of Mary. The mood of the people is divided – crowds flock to his miracles while others look for ways to separate him from the crowd plotting to destroy him. The words today are Jesus final public discourse. John 12:20-33 20  Now there were some Greeks   among those who went up to worship at the festival.   21  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida   in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”   22  Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23  Jesus replied,   “The hour   has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.   24  Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, ...

John 3:14-21 14 “ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  15  that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  19  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  21  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may...

Dear God, We praise you with thanks, “that you have placed a harmony of lights in the heavens that night is followed by day and the glowing of the moon by the glistening of the sun thanks be to you, O God.” Too many days dawn with a people divided. What causes some to rejoice leads others to fear and regret. That which divides us continues to tear at the seams of the fabric of our nation. We are a Disunited States. The beauty of this nation stretches out before us, across wheat fields and deserts, from the mountains to the prairies, from sea to shining sea. Remind us, O God, that as different as the moon is from the sun, they balance against one another in the skies – shining in turn, moon reflecting the light of the sun, sometimes appearing together, seldom eclipsing one another before quickly moving back into balance. Move us into balance when we feel jumbled and confused, angry with one another, fearful of what the world holds in store. Thank you O God, “that you have placed a harmo...