Sixth Tuesday after the Epiphany
Lectionary texts:
OT: Isaiah 43:8-13
NT: Mark 2:1-12
I'm changing the order of things this week. We'll have Acts Bible Study on Thursday.
As you may know, I've been having a lot of email problems. Today I at least got my new i-phone receiving all email to the candmwilson401@att.com address. I hope to be buying a new computer this week and start receiving email on it. In the meantime, I want to apologize to Caroline, Glenn, Frances, Nell, Jennifer, Vicki Church, Vicki Wike, and Ed. for not responding to emails you sent me. I have now read them all. To all of you readers, please now send your personal emails and prayer requests to me at: candmwilson401@att.net. Although the candm stands for Christian and Marianne, she has her own email now. Also I would love to hear more comments from you on the comments section of the blog.
I noted last week that I would be looking for the high church--low church differences in regard to Transfiguration Sunday. I watched three services on U-Tube: University UMC (low church), Kindred UMC (contemporary worship) and Duke Chapel (high church). The results bore out my expectations. Kindred had no mention of Transfiguration Sunday nor a reading of the Transfiguration story, nor mention of it in the sermon. University mentioned Transfiguration Sunday on its bulletin but had no mention of it nor reading of the Transfiguration story in scripture and no mention in the sermon. Duke Chapel had all three lectionary texts read (the Transfiguration story was in the Gospel text), and had the lectionary Psalm sung by a soloist. The preacher's sermon was on the OT text but she did include the transfiguration in part of her sermon.
Let me add that University UMC had the wrong color for the paraments and the preacher's stole. The color for Transfiguration Sunday is white. The color UUMC had was green. Kindred had no paraments and the preacher doesn't wear any clerical robe, just pants and a shirt with shirttail out. Duke Chapel had a beautiful white superfrontal on the low altar. The clergy all wore albs and had the appropriate white stoles.
I wrote the above two paragraphs with just the facts, no judgment. My preference is high church. I can worship God in any of these three worship settings and styles.
Just as a footnote, Duke Chapel is Interdenominational but uses the United Methodist Hymnal. "Interdenominational" is not at all the same as "non-denominational." "Interdenominational" essentially means Mainline Protestant denominations and is affirmative of mainline Protestant denominational traditions. "Non-denominational" essentially means the rejection of denominational traditions and affirmation of conservative evangelical theology.
In other Methodist news, there is a new Methodist Holy Order. I have previously noted that I am a member of the only Methodist Holy Order, The Order of St. Luke. Now there are two. The new order is The Order of St. Patrick. It is dedicated to Celtic Christian worship and tradition. It originated within the Oklahoma Annual Conference. It is in all ways inclusive, predominantly lay but includes some clergy. It is not monastic. As much as I love Celtic Christianity, I think I can't handle more than one Holy Order. OSL is more than enough for me.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. All three of the churches I wrote about above observe Lent. All have Ash Wednesday services with the imposition of ashes. We'll talk about Ash Wednesday and Lent tomorrow.
Faithfully,
Christian
1 comment:
Wow, a Celtic church order! That is so cool!
I misread the part about CW pastors wearing no robes as wearing no clothes. Had to do a double take there. I think I'll skip out on the church where the pastor wears no clothes. I know, I'm terribly old fashioned.
My mother preached about Transfiguration Sunday. She talked about how Jesus said not to tell anyone until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. That was a pretty big hint. Had I been a disciple, I think I would have said, "Wait a second. What's up with risen from the dead?"
Post a Comment