For Discussion Easter 2013

 ISAIAH 65:17-25

¹⁷  For I am about to create new heavens 
          and a new earth; 
     the former things shall not be remembered 
          or come to mind. 
¹⁸  But be glad and rejoice forever 
          in what I am creating; 
     for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, 
          and its people as a delight. 
¹⁹  I will rejoice in Jerusalem, 
          and delight in my people; 
     no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, 
          or the cry of distress. 
²⁰  No more shall there be in it 
          an infant that lives but a few days, 
          or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; 
     for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, 
          and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 
²¹  They shall build houses and inhabit them; 
          they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 
²²  They shall not build and another inhabit; 
          they shall not plant and another eat; 
     for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, 
          and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 
²³  They shall not labor in vain, 
          or bear children for calamity; 
     for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord — 
          and their descendants as well. 
²⁴  Before they call I will answer, 
          while they are yet speaking I will hear. 
²⁵  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 
          the lion shall eat straw like the ox; 
          but the serpent — its food shall be dust! 
     They shall not hurt or destroy 
          on all my holy mountain, 
                         says the Lord.

For Discusion 24 March 2013

LITURGY OF THE PASSION ISAIAH 50:4-9A

⁴The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens — wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. ⁵The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turnbackward. ⁶I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. ⁷The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; ⁸he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. ⁹It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

For Consideration

-What exercises do we practice to hear the Word?

Prayer Requests, St Patrick's Day '13

Prayers requested for:
-Our Confirmation Class
-Officer Nominating Committee & Those Being Asked
-Pope Francis

St Francis Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Discussion 17 March 2013

 ISAIAH 43:16-21

¹⁶Thus says the LORD,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷who brings out chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

¹⁸Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

¹⁹I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

²⁰The wild animals will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

²¹the people whom I formed for myself

.so that they might declare my praise.

For Consideration
-In Vs 18 the prophet says, "do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old." even though the first two verses recount the past exile. How does this contradiction help with God's promise to do a "new thing" mentioned in Vs 19? 

Discussion 10 March 2013

JOSHUA 5:9-12

⁹The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. ¹²The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

For Consideration:

-What does this passage have to do with Lent?

-What si the disgrace of Egypt mentioned in Verse 9?

-How do you think the hebrew felt about their new diet?

Prayer Concerns from 3 March 2013

Sam R
Allen P