Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series: "The Hangover Part II"

Once again it is time for the "Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series," where the sermons will be drawn from issues of faith that appeared in some of this summer's notable movies.  First up this Sunday is the sequel to the smash hit adult comedy, "The Hangover."  The same cast (and much of the same story) returns, but this time the bachelor party that no one can remember is in Bangkok.

Here's a TV commercial for "The Hangover Part II":

Although it will not seem at all relevant at first glance, the Biblical passage that I will be preaching on comes from Mark 8, which is the story of Jesus feeding the 4000.  The similarity comes in the fact that both this film and that story are instances of "deja vu all over again."  What do we do when we see/hear/find the same story again, told mostly the same?  How do we react?  What do we learn, if anything?  These questions affect how we watch movie sequels and how we live out our faith.

Good Friday Service Tonight

This evening, we will remember Christ's crucifixion in a worship service offering reflections on Christ's seven statements from the cross.  (Perhaps some of you read about our service in this morning's top story in the Times West Virginian.)

After an opening hymn, "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," and the reading of the Man of Sorrows prophecy from Isaiah, seven people from our congregation will each offer meditations on the different statements, such as "I thirst," and "Today you will be with me in paradise."

During tonight's service, we will also join with other congregations in the Fairmont Council of Churches in taking an offering to support The Connecting Link, which provides emergency financial assistance to people in our community.

Maundy Thursday Service Tonight

Tonight begins the Holy Triduum, the series of services from Maundy Thursday through Easter, commemorating the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We begin with the Maundy Thursday service, which remembers two things.  First, it is a celebration of the anniversary of Christ's gift of the Lord's Supper to his disciples.  On this night, Jesus gathered to share the Passover meal and gave new meaning to the ancient symbolism of the bread and wine.

Second, we will have a service of Tenebrae, which recalls the terrible details of Christ's arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  This series of readings and special music, which comes after we strip the sanctuary of all its decorations to prepare for Good Friday, is accompanied by the extinguishing of light, representing the darkness of those events.

The service begins at 7:30.

"This Season"

A colleague and friend has a fitting post for this second day of Lent, centering on the wisdom of a poem called "This Season."  As you journey along further into this Lenten season, I hope you will find opportunities to share you good gifts with others and to develop new gifts through a growing relationship with God.

The Gift of Lent

As we begin Lent today, we have another opportunity to approach this weeks between now and Easter as a time of spiritual seeking and growth. Often, Lent is associated with "giving up" something: chocolate, coffee, television, or any number of other pleasurable things. How differently might we approach Lent if we instead saw it as a unique time to gain a new appreciation for our faith and how we live it out.

I was reminded of this when I read an essay about Lent several months ago in the March 9, 2010 issue of The Christian Century. In "Lent's Terrible Gift," Kay Lynn Northcutt, who teaches at Philips Seminary in Oklahoma, writes about how we practice dying during Lent. Balancing a couple of personal stories with the writing of Thomas Merton, Northcutt makes this intriguing suggestion about how to view the season of Lent:

The question "Am I free?" is the terrible gift Lent comes bearing in its arms for us this and every year. Lent asks us how we are living our lives, and reminds us that we die the way we live. Lent is the time not for giving up something of little consequence, but for identifying what is most essential in our lives, what it is that we are living for. As Merton put it, "Ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for" (My Argument with the Gestapo). That is Lent's terrible gift: an examination of our living.

This is a time for asking what are the most important parts of your life right now. After making that list, look it over and pray about it for a few days and ask if these things should be the so important. Death, in Northcutt's assessment, has the potential to help us look at our priorities with fresh eyes, so we can consider whether we are living well or not.

Will you be happy with what you see? Probably not, though I hope you find that certain important things are well balanced and present in your life. After you appreciate those things, imagine what changes you can make to bring other parts of your life into similar balance, with emphasis on the right things. And take the next few days, between now and Easter, to try to better live into that balance. Then this current season of Lent, with it's "terrible gift," will be time well spent.

Lenten Devotional Resources

Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday.  It is a good opportunity to consciously explore and deepen our relationships with God in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter.

Central Christian offers these devotional resources for Lent.

Again, we have purchased copies of the 2011 Lenten edition of "Fellowship of Prayer" from Chalice Press.  This season's devotions are written by Rev. Holly McKissick, founding pastor of Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas.  Copies are available on the front table in the Narthex.

The West Virginia Region has prepared another set of "Mountaintop Prayerscapes," with devotions written by ministers of the region -- including two by me -- and a few by others, including one this year by Rev. Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  This devotional material is available online, although a few printed copies are available on the front table in the Narthex.  You may also sign up to receive the devotions by email, or read them through the Region's Facebook page.

The general church is offering "40 Days... 40 Ways..." this Lenten season, featuring daily devotions from the staff of many of the wider ministries of the denomination.  You can read these on the Christian Church's Facebook page or by signing up to receive the daily devotion here.

Coming Up Sunday, January 23

On Sunday, we'll continue our series "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," exploring how we can keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year. In "Unshaken Consolation," we'll consider Paul's teaching preserved at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, in which he tells the struggling and fractious church in Corinth: "Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation" (2 Corinthians 1:7).

Beginning with inspiration from another popular Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," we will consider how the anxieties and afflictions of our lives threaten the spirit of comfort and joy that most of us enjoy during our Christmas celebrations. We will consider how our faith affects this, both in understanding our challenges and appreciating the hope we have through Christ.

In addition to the sermon on Sunday, we will have a special prayer time as part of the global Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We will again pray Jesus' prayer, recorded in the gospel of John, that "all may be one" through faith.