Amazon.com: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation: Books: Parker J. Palmer

Bishop’s Committee meets tonight at Holy Innocents at 7pm. In the course of the last few months, we have been reading Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak, as we worked toward changing the way we thought about “church at Holy Innocents” and “church in general.” Those of us on the committee had been content until soon after Fr. Ted’s arrival to simply discuss the financial challenges we face – that was more than enough for us! But under Ted’s leadership, we’ve all done a lot of thinking and making attempts at personal growth. We all had to come to terms with the fact that we are leaders, not simply sheep in the flock.

Parker Palmer’s book has added a pleasant dimension to the meetings – we start with a reading, discuss it amongs ourselves, have some reflection time, and then move on to business matters.

I’m not sure many of us have passed this along to friends and family in the Holy Innocents community, but the meetings have helped us to shape our thoughts about what we’re about here at Holy Innocents.

Tonight, we finish with the book. It deals a lot with facing fears and recognizing the strength we all carry within ourselves. Here is an excerpt from what we’ll be discussing tonight:

“We have places of fear inside of us, be we have other places as well — places with names like trust and hope and faith. We can choose to lead from one of those places, to stand on ground that is not riddled w/ the fault lines of fear, to move toward others from a place of promise instead of anxiety. As we stand in one of those places, fear may remain close at hand and our spirits may still tremble. But now we stand on ground that will support us, ground from which we can lead others toward a more trustworthy, more faithful way of being in the world.” From Letting Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.

Also, since we moved the meeting times to the evening hour, we’ve been in the habit of reciting the Night Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book. I have come to love this prayer – it is very different from anything in the US BCP, but it’s very moving.

Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be. The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you. The night is quiet. Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace. The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Ash Wednesday, 6:00 PM March 1 – Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes. Followed by an Agape Meal and Reflection on the Observance of a Holy Lent. Please signup to bring items for the meal during Coffee Hour.

Sunday Morning Adult Forum – Groundwork, Digging Deeper for Change and Growth. Materials supplied by the National Episcopal Church that will be incorporated into the Ministry of the Word at the Holy Eucharist and further explored at the Adult Forum. From the study guide:

“Groundwork is a resource for individuals, congregations and their leaders to assist them in engaging Holy Scripture and the mission of God?s Church… It asks congregational members and leaders to dig deeply into the soil of their mission so that they may do serious and joyful learning about the Gospel and their community of faith.”

Children and youth will focus on Lenten themes during the Sunday Morning Christian Education hour and will also be working with Kristopher Ables preparing to sing at the Easter Vigil.

Wednesday, March 8, 6:30 PM – Lenten Soup/Supper at St. Bede?s Bensenville.

Saturday, March 11, 8:00 AM – Diocesan Leadership and Ministry Fair at Nazareth Academy, LaGrange Park. Please see Bulletin Board for details. Registration required.

Thursday, March 23, 6:30 PM – Lenten Soup/Supper at Incarnation Bloomingdale.

Saturday, March 25, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM – Parish Lenten Retreat led by Fr. Ted and the Bishop?s Committee. Please mark you calendars now and make every effort to attend this opportunity for growth, reflection and renewed excitement about where God is calling us and our church.

Come one, come all and bring a friend!

Sunday’s Readings From The Lectionary Page

The Collect

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Reading

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

and favor is better than silver or gold

The rich and the poor have this in common:

the LORD is the maker of them all.

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,

and the rod of anger will fail.

Those who are generous are blessed,

for they share their bread with the poor.

Do not rob the poor because they are poor,

or crush the afflicted at the gate;

for the LORD pleads their cause

and despoils of life those who despoil them.

The Psalm

Psalm 146 Page 803, BCP

Lauda, anima mea

1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul! * I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, * for there is no help in them.

3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, * and in that day their thoughts perish.

4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!* whose hope is in the LORD their God;

5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; * who keeps his promise for ever;

6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, * and food to those who hunger.

7 The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; * the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

8 The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; * he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.

9 The LORD shall reign for ever, * your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!

The Epistle

James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-1

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved
brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. [For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those
who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.]

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

The Gospel

Mark 7:24-37 Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go– the demon has left your daughter.”

So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”