+ First, the lectionary reading is alway

+ Second, most of the time the folks who turn out for the first Sunday after Easter are those who REALLY love church. I am a church geek - I have almost always experienced church as a true and loving community of hope and grace - and I think those who show up on this Sunday have come to a similar conclusion. Not that church is always right - it isn't. And not that church is the ONLY place to find/build community - that isn't true either. But for those seeking a connection with the love of Christ in Jesus.... church often feels like home. And on this Sunday - just like the Sunday after Christmas - those who gather are mostly "just folks." Simple sinners and wounded ones who find some solace and healing in Christ's grace.
+ And third, after the drama and high pageantry of Holy Week and Easter, going to church on the Sunday after feels grounded, simple and true. Don't get me wrong I love the boldness of the high holy days - but I don't live most of my time in those places - so I mostly cherish the low Sundays as part of the real journey of faith. I give thanks for the "mountain top" celebrations, but prefer to dwell down in the valley.
So, at the end of a "low" Sunday - after I have mostly rested during the week after Easter and am preparing a humble pot roast for my honey who is worn-out and taking a nap - I return thanks for the ordinary blessings of these times. Like Mary my prayer is:
Sing out my soul, sing of the holiness of the Lord,
who has delighted in a woman,
lifted up the poor, satisfied the hungry,
given voice to the silent, grounded the oppressor
blessed the full-bellied with emptiness
and with the gift of tears those who have never wept;
who has desired the darkness of the womb
and inhabited our flesh.
O sing of the long of our God: sing out from deep within my soul.
credits: Jan Richardson @ http://theadventdoor.com/2008/12/16/mary-magnifier
3 comments:
I was just thinking the other day that our band should resurrect that song...
I am so with you, my dear.
Guess that depends on how you define a "low" Sunday, man. You're right: the good news about the people who show up on "low" Sundays is that they're there because they want to be.
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