A Message from Pastor Kaji
Dear Church:
The Holy Spirit was alive in worship last Sunday! I mean, she always is. But God’s presence was just…palpable. One of the things we are trying to offer you, in our worship and community life together, is the spiritual comfort of joy no matter what else is happening. We take this role very seriously and are honored when you bring your spirit for nourishment.
Speaking of joy, I was delighted that church member and ballroom Legendary Icon Yohon, Father of the Haus of Tisci, employed his impeccable dance teaching skills to show us how to put our boots on the ground! (You may not know what this is, and if you don’t, that’s ok. You can see the video on our social media, or, better yet, just come to worship on Sunday and we’ll explain everything.) The choreography is complex enough that we’ve only just started to get it together. We’ll all have a chance to learn as he teaches us again on Sunday. Hand fans are optional.
Looking ahead to this Sunday, we’re going to take a fresh look at the story of the loaves and fishes in Luke 9 as a perfect story of temptation. Do you see it?
Meanwhile, let me give you a bit of a cheat for the Bible Nerd Moment in Sunday’s upcoming sermon:
Lent lasts 40 days, not including Sundays, beginning on Ash Wednesday—which is always the Wednesday before the Sunday six weeks before Easter (which is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox)—and ending on Palm Sunday.
As you read this text in preparation for worship, I invite you to reflect on this question:
Where in your life have you been assuming lack instead of expecting abundance?
See you Sunday. Come hungry, beloved.
Pax Christi,
Pastor Kaji
SCRIPTURE
Luke 9:12-17 (Year C, p. 92):
12 Now the day was beginning to fade and the twelve came to Jesus and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a desolate wilderness place.” 13 Yet Jesus said to the twelve, “You all give them something to eat.” But the twelve said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish lest we go buying food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so and made them all—women, children, and men—sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And all—including women and children—ate and were filled. And the remainder was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.