March 29: Vulnerability With God

The Church of the Ascension Lenten Devotional

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Today, Maundy Thursday, is by far my favorite service of the year. The way we replicate the act of having our feet washed, the stripping of the altar, and the setting of the reserve sacrament in the side chapel for the overnight watch takes place. It is a service that I feel closest to what it must have been like in the earliest days of being a Christ follower, before the church was ever officially formed, before the government co-opted the faith for its purpose. On this day, I feel a vulnerability with God and therefore with each of you, because during the service we experience our own last supper with God and we get to sit watch with God. This year, while sitting watch, I will meditate on “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you,” and the new commandment Jesus gave us, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” I would love to hear what word or words speak to you as we celebrate Maundy Thursday together.

 

 

 

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Newsletter

Parish News: May 24

In this week’s newsletter, the rector notes Pentecost’s reversal of Babel—not by restoring a single language, but by enabling understanding across difference as each speaks and hears in their own tongue. She treasures hearing parishioners read “God’s deeds of power” in many languages during worship, and invites us to consider what it means to speak of God in our own heart language—whether shaped by mother tongue, place, trust, or profound shared experience. In a time of contempt for difference, Pentecost reveals the blessing of many tongues and the Holy Spirit’s gift of mutual understanding across culture, faith, and ethnic background.

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